Paula Johanna Auerbach-Uhlig

Paula Auerbach was born on 14 November 1896 and was a native of Eppendorf near Flöha in Saxony, Germany.

Paula Uhlig met echtgenoot (datum foto onbekend)
Paula Uhlig with her husband (date of photo unknown). (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Selters in Taunus, Germany)

In 1925 she was introduced to the teachings of the Bible Students and a year later, aged thirty, she was baptised.1WTA Selters i.T., data collection, Uhlig, Paula Johanna; WTA Selters i.T., Doc. 05/02/37. She was working as a home help when she was arrested on 27 November 1936. The Special Court in Freiburg near Chemnitz sentenced her to a year’s imprisonment on 18 March 1937. This was local news:

‘Once again a “Bible Student” has come before a Special Court. Members of the International Bible Students Association faced charges before the Special Court because of their upholding the organisation in and around Flöha until July 1936, despite the prohibition of their Association and for their further activities of door-to-door selling of “The Watchtower”, which was also banned. […] Paula Johanna Uhlig from Eppendorf, born on 14 November 1896, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. […] The accused were arrested in November of this year and have been in detention since December. […] The judgements pronounced show that many of the “Bible Students” were sentenced by the judge because of their stubborn persistence in their enemy-of-state fanaticism. The Court was forced to conclude that punishment never led to improvement, but was aimed at isolating these unreasonable people from the community, to frustrate their activities and to deter others from joining them.’2WTA Selters i.T., PER 19/03/37.

Over de bejegening van Jehovah’s Getuigen in het district Flöha/ Saksen werd uitvoerig bericht gedaan.
The way Jehovah’s Witnesses were treated in the district of Flöha/Saxony has been thoroughly documented.  (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Selters in Taunus, Germany)

Paula was deported to the Moringen concentration camp towards the end of 1937. On 21 February 1938 her name was added to the list of political prisoners who were to be transported from Moringen to Lichtenburg.3The file number at the office of the state police on Paula Uhlig was f 4-5117/36 C (WTA Selters i.T., Doc. 21/02/38). Alwine Blöbaum was also on the transportation list for this concentration camp. It was probably in the middle of May 1939 that Paula was transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, which marked the beginning of the most harrowing period of her imprisonment. After spending six years in various concentration camps, Paula was transferred to St. Lambrecht. She was eventually liberated by the British army.

After liberation, Paula Uhlig married Arthur Auerbach.

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