00:00:21 The locals call this Boden’s Pool,
00:00:24 after the Germanic pagan god
00:00:26 who was credited with creating earth, sky, man, and woman.
00:00:31 The water is the source of the River Lippe,
00:00:34 which flows from the spa town of Bad Lippspringe
00:00:37 into the Rhine and the industrial areas of the Ruhr Valley.
00:00:40 Today, it’s a peaceful and prosperous little town,
00:00:43 just as it was 60 years ago
00:00:45 when Franz and Hilda Kusserow arrived here with their 11 children.
00:00:50 What began as a peaceful idyll became an epic battle between good and evil,
00:00:55 as the Kusserows defied Hitler and the Nazi regime.
00:00:59 Franz and Hilda Kusserow were married in 1911,
00:01:02 three years before the Great War that traumatized Europe.
00:01:07 Franz Kusserow fought for his country, but his life and beliefs were transformed.
00:01:15 The Kusserows’ story has been lovingly chronicled
00:01:18 by the eldest of the 11 children, Annemarie, now age 78.
00:01:27 Annemarie’s parents were born
00:01:29 into a comfortably-off Protestant environment,
00:01:32 but the First World War
00:01:34 and the chance meeting with a Jehovah’s Witness
00:01:36 dramatically changed their lives.
00:01:39 Franz, a post-office clerk, and Hilda, a former schoolteacher,
00:01:42 became full-time missionaries
00:01:44 for the International Bible Students Association.
00:01:49 They came to this house on the outskirts of Bad Lippspringe
00:01:52 to set up congregations in North Westphalia.
00:01:55 No Kusserows live here today,
00:01:58 but when members of the family do return, there are vivid memories.
00:02:02 Magdalena is the Kusserow’s fourth daughter.
00:02:05 What are your early memories of this house?
00:02:07 Well, it was so nice.
00:02:09 We played here in the garden,
00:02:11 in this little place, and then there also.
00:02:14 We had some trees
00:02:16 with apples and some fruit.
00:02:19 We had some potatoes,
00:02:24 salad, and different things.
00:02:29 We played. We danced together.
00:02:31 And then we took some flowers and made a ring on the head.
00:02:40 Then we went down with the geese to the river
00:02:45 —to the river to bring the geese.
00:02:48 They have to—
00:02:50 They could . . .
00:02:51 Swim?
00:02:52 Swim also, yes.
00:02:53 And we swam also.
00:02:55 You took the geese for a swim?
00:02:56 Yes.
00:02:58 And on the way, they took the grass, and they ate.
00:03:00 And we had much fun.
00:03:08 It’s a long time since I was here
00:03:11 —not since 1939, I think.
00:03:14 The door seemed bigger then.
00:03:20 Hans-Werner, now 63, was the Kusserows’ tenth child.
00:03:26 It was a very happy time,
00:03:29 especially as I had so many brothers and sisters.
00:03:32 Everything was happy until I went to school.
00:03:36 That was bad, of course.
00:03:38 Every day when children went to school,
00:03:41 they thought in advance:
00:03:44 ‘What will happen today?
00:03:46 What will happen today?’
00:03:50 I remember many things.
00:03:51 I remember how strong we were,
00:03:54 how we didn’t salute the flag,
00:03:56 how we wouldn’t say “Heil Hitler,”
00:03:58 and how we acted a bit differently from other pupils.
00:04:03 Some days were hard.
00:04:05 The teacher was like a devil.
00:04:07 She took my hand, and she said:
00:04:09 “Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!” and beat me.
00:04:12 Would you say you were frightened when they would hit you?
00:04:14 Did you never say “Heil Hitler”?
00:04:16 No, no, we never said it because my father said:
00:04:19 “Look, ‘Heil Hitler’ means
00:04:22 “that the salvation comes from Hitler.
00:04:26 “As we learned from the Bible,
00:04:29 the heil—the salvation— comes by Jesus Christ.”
00:04:36 The Kusserows’ house was known as “The Golden Age.”
00:04:39 A huge sign advertising the Jehovah’s Witness magazine
00:04:42 was emblazoned in gold letters outside their home.
00:04:46 Inside, the parents gave the children their love and their time,
00:04:51 and they taught the Bible and music
00:04:53 —lessons which would have a lifetime’s impact.
00:05:46 The Kusserows, then and now,
00:05:48 firmly believed the creed of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
00:05:50 —that our world, now influenced by Satan,
00:05:53 will soon be transformed into the Thousand Year Reign of Christ
00:05:56 promised in the Bible.
00:06:05 The evil will die,
00:06:07 while the good and faithful will be physically reborn into Paradise.
00:06:36 I was from morning to evening
00:06:39 visiting people who liked to know what the Bible says
00:06:43 about the preaching work, or missionary work.
00:06:46 They liked to receive me.
00:06:50 Much of the literature distributed by the Kusserows
00:06:53 came from the Witnesses’ headquarters in New York.
00:06:56 In Germany, the Witnesses were a very small sect of just 20,000 people,
00:07:01 and yet Hitler saw the movement as a rival ideology to the Nazis.
00:07:05 So he set out to seize their literature and wreck the organization.
00:07:10 So where were the books and the literature? Where were they hidden?
00:07:13 Here also. Here also and there.
00:07:15 Under the stairs?
00:07:16 Yes, from there and also . . .
00:07:18 Up here.
00:07:20 And how many times did the police come to the house?
00:07:23 Oh, many, many times.
00:07:26 And they hid them here?
00:07:28 Here? Yes.
00:07:30 Here.
00:07:33 So under the eaves?
00:07:35 Yeah, in the roof.
00:07:37 And then the books here—ten meters.
00:08:01 They came how many times did you say?
00:08:04 Eighteen times—16, 17, 18.
00:08:08 And they always searched in this area?
00:08:11 And did not find the books.
00:08:14 The Nazis weren’t easily dissuaded.
00:08:17 “The Golden Age” sign on the Kusserows’ house was blacked out.
00:08:21 But although the Witnesses had been officially banned,
00:08:24 the family maintained their religious activities in secret.
00:08:28 She said: “Magdalena, you go behind
00:08:31 “—three, four meters behind me.
00:08:34 You carry the Bible, and I’ll have nothing in my hands.”
00:08:37 And she spoke with the people.
00:08:40 And there was one man; I don’t know who he was.
00:08:45 He was a stranger.
00:08:46 He didn’t belong to Bad Lippspringe, and he denounced us.
00:08:51 He called the police.
00:08:53 In 1936 was the first time
00:08:57 my mother was arrested in Paderborn.
00:09:01 This was the first time.
00:09:04 Franz and Hilda Kusserow were among the hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses
00:09:08 arrested by the Gestapo in 1936.
00:09:11 They were briefly reunited in 1937
00:09:15 when this last complete family photograph was taken.
00:09:18 Later that year,
00:09:19 their son Siegfried died in a swimming accident.
00:09:23 His death signaled the end of the idyll.
00:09:27 By now, most Germans were wallowing in nationalistic pride
00:09:29 and revived economic fortune.
00:09:32 Communists, gypsies,
00:09:34 homosexuals, dissidents, the handicapped and, above all, the Jews
00:09:38 were hunted down even in Bad Lippspringe.
00:09:43 Today, the town memorializes its former Jewish residents.
00:09:47 Little more than 50 years ago,
00:09:49 they were hounding them out and baying for their blood.
00:09:54 It seems a long while ago.
00:09:56 For the moment, dissidents are tolerated.
00:10:02 Jehovah’s Witnesses can sell their magazine, The Watchtower,
00:10:06 and openly recruit converts.
00:10:11 In the 1930’s,
00:10:13 this street in Paderborn was dominated by the prison.
00:10:16 And this is where the Kusserows were jailed.
00:10:19 Witnesses began to lose their jobs and pensions.
00:10:22 The Gestapo stepped up their surveillance.
00:10:25 But the Kusserows’ garden was still supplying fresh produce.
00:10:29 The three youngest members of the family were being well cared for.
00:10:32 They were the next target.
00:10:40 At that time, I was ill and didn’t go to school.
00:10:44 I was lying in bed here.
00:10:51 Suddenly, a car drove up.
00:10:54 There seemed to be two civilians in it.
00:10:56 I could see them from the window.
00:11:03 They burst in and wanted me to go with them.
00:11:06 They hesitated because I was ill, so for appearances’ sake,
00:11:10 they took me to a doctor to see if I could be taken away.
00:11:19 Then they collected my sister and brother from school,
00:11:23 and we left.
00:11:33 We were taken from school.
00:11:35 My brother who was ill was collected from home.
00:11:40 We were taken by two policemen to the orphanage in Dorsten.
00:11:49 I can still remember how I vomited all over the jacket of one of the policemen.
00:11:54 It took a lot of effort to clean it up once the car stopped.
00:12:01 Then the journey continued to Dorsten and the orphanage.
00:12:12 In the morning, he again told us to give the Hitler salute.
00:12:17 And when we refused, he took us into a room,
00:12:20 laid us across the table,
00:12:22 and beat us black and blue.
00:12:26 It was bad.
00:12:32 We took a shower every evening,
00:12:34 and when the female head of the house saw us,
00:12:37 she made us bathe separately
00:12:39 so that the other children would not see.
00:12:42 It was very bad.
00:12:45 When the Second World War began,
00:12:47 the two oldest Kusserow daughters, Annemarie and Waltraud,
00:12:51 escaped surveillance and left to find jobs in Berlin.
00:12:55 It was more difficult for their brothers.
00:12:57 In December 1939, Wilhelm, after refusing military service,
00:13:02 was thrown into jail.
00:13:05 “Dear Parents, Brothers, and Sisters:
00:13:07 “All of you know how much you mean to me,
00:13:10 “and I am repeatedly reminded of this every time I look at our family photograph.
00:13:15 “How harmonious things always were at home!
00:13:17 “Nonetheless, above all else,
00:13:20 “we must love God —as our Führer, Jesus Christ, commanded.
00:13:24 If we stand up for Him, he will reward us.”
00:13:29 As predominantly Aryan Germans,
00:13:31 Jehovah’s Witnesses were sometimes allowed the privilege of a Nazi trial.
00:13:36 Later, Wilhelm’s court-appointed lawyer, Dr. James Roher, wrote to the family:
00:13:42 “I had long conversations with your son before his trial
00:13:45 “and admired his calm confidence of faith.
00:13:48 “He never wavered,
00:13:49 “although he was severely pressed from all quarters.
00:13:52 “He calmly accepted the announcement of the hour of his execution,
00:13:56 “refusing again to change his mind,
00:13:59 “that is, to abandon his faith and save his life.
00:14:04 “On the morning of the execution, I took his hand and said in consolation:
00:14:08 “‘Mr. Kusserow, you have been wonderfully strong.
00:14:12 “Remain strong now.’
00:14:14 “He squeezed my hand and smilingly replied:
00:14:17 “‘No, Doctor, don’t be troubled.
00:14:20 “‘I am gaining everlasting life.
00:14:22 “All this is only a change.’
00:14:25 “He asked me to send you his greetings.
00:14:29 He stood upright when facing death and was dead at once.”
00:14:37 Unable to browbeat the Witnesses,
00:14:39 the Nazis tried lies and subterfuge.
00:14:42 With an elaborate ritual of deceit, they issued certificates and reports
00:14:46 declaring that Wilhelm Kusserow had died a hero’s death,
00:14:50 fighting for Hitler and the Third Reich.
00:14:56 For some unknown reason,
00:14:58 the Nazis allowed the family to collect Wilhelm’s body
00:15:01 from Münster Prison, where he’d been shot.
00:15:04 His sister Waltraud helped to arrange the funeral.
00:15:08 It shocked me deep,
00:15:10 but Wilhelm was true until his death.
00:15:14 I have seen the body
00:15:17 in the little hall there,
00:15:21 and he was in a pilot suit.
00:15:27 And here, like, here . . .
00:15:32 The bullet holes?
00:15:34 Yeah, holes and some blood was in the mouth.
00:15:38 There was a big funeral with the secret police around
00:15:43 and with persons in uniform —policemen.
00:15:48 And my brother Karl
00:15:52 said some words.
00:15:56 And later, my brother Karl
00:15:59 because he spoke a few words and the prayer,
00:16:04 the Gestapo kept him.
00:16:08 Karl, son number three, was the next arrested.
00:16:11 He was brutally tortured in Dachau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps.
00:16:17 In April 1941, the Gestapo swooped again.
00:16:21 After a brief release from jail, Franz and Hilda Kusserow were rearrested,
00:16:25 as were their daughters Hildegard and Magdalena.
00:16:29 Nazi tenants took over the house
00:16:31 that once proclaimed the dawning of a golden age.
00:16:35 The Kusserows were sent to concentration camps,
00:16:37 where the Witnesses were forced to wear distinctive insignia.
00:16:41 The Jews wore a yellow star;
00:16:43 the Witnesses, a purple triangle.
00:16:46 When we went through the concentration camp,
00:16:51 we saw this purple triangle.
00:16:55 Then I knew that there’s my sister.
00:16:57 I said: “Hello, Sister. How are you?
00:17:00 What’s your name? Where do you come from?”
00:17:03 The Witnesses fared better in the camps than many prisoners.
00:17:06 Absolute conviction in their faith and strict discipline
00:17:09 helped their morale.
00:17:11 Soon Magdalena was joined at Ravensbrück
00:17:14 by her mother and her sister Hildegard.
00:17:16 I saw my mother.
00:17:18 I was so happy, and she told me everything.
00:17:22 She was happy.
00:17:23 And it was really good because I had swollen arms.
00:17:26 I couldn’t walk.
00:17:27 I couldn’t dress myself because of this sickness or something.
00:17:33 And my mother dressed me; she fixed my hair.
00:17:39 Despite the evil and hardship at Ravensbrück,
00:17:41 Frau Kusserow kept her faith.
00:17:44 Her son Wilhelm had given his life for the faith,
00:17:47 and his younger brother Wolfgang, when called for military service,
00:17:50 showed true Kusserow defiance.
00:17:53 I was brought up as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
00:17:56 according to God’s word contained in the Holy Scriptures.
00:18:00 The greatest and most holy law he gave mankind is:
00:18:03 “You shall love your God above all else
00:18:06 and your neighbor as yourself.”
00:18:09 Other commandments read: “You must not kill.”
00:18:13 Did our Creator have all this written down for the trees?
00:18:20 Just as Jesus Christ and his disciples were persecuted,
00:18:24 so are God’s people also persecuted today.
00:18:28 I know for sure that if Jesus Christ were to live on earth today,
00:18:32 he would be persecuted just as he was then.
00:18:39 Wolfgang was beheaded on March 28, 1942.
00:18:43 The night before, he wrote:
00:18:46 “My Dear Parents and My Dear Brothers and Sisters:
00:18:49 “I shall leave you as your third son and brother
00:18:51 “early in the morning.
00:18:53 “Be not sad.
00:18:54 “The time will come when we shall be together again.
00:18:57 “Those who sow with tears will reap with joy.
00:19:03 “At James 1:12, it says:
00:19:06 “‘Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
00:19:08 “for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,
00:19:12 “which [Jehovah] hath promised to them that love him.’
00:19:15 “In this faith and in this conviction,
00:19:18 “I go from you.
00:19:19 Your son and brother, Wolfgang.”
00:19:26 By now, Waltraud had returned from Berlin
00:19:29 and managed to find work in this florist shop in Paderborn.
00:19:35 She was ordered to greet customers with the “Heil Hitler” salutation.
00:19:40 She refused.
00:19:48 After being given eight days to change her mind,
00:19:51 she still refused and was arrested
00:19:53 and imprisoned in Paderborn and told to make ammunition.
00:19:58 I cannot work for the war.
00:20:01 For this, I cannot work; this is for the war.
00:20:04 My brother was killed, was shot.
00:20:06 My other brother was beheaded.
00:20:08 My three sisters, little ones,
00:20:11 the Gestapo have kept.
00:20:15 And my other brother is in a concentration camp;
00:20:18 my mother is in a concentration camp;
00:20:20 my two sisters and also my father are in prison.
00:20:23 No, I cannot make them.
00:20:27 By 1944, just one member of the Kusserow family was free,
00:20:32 Annemarie, who was still in Berlin.
00:20:35 Every week,
00:20:37 I had with me in my apartment
00:20:41 some persons
00:20:43 to have a Bible study.
00:20:46 And therefore, I was arrested.
00:20:51 There must have been a person who had observed us.
00:20:59 The Nazis had rounded up every single member of the family.
00:21:02 Some were dead and the future for the rest uncertain.
00:21:07 Yet, they had a lifeline.
00:21:08 Unlike all other prisoners,
00:21:10 Jehovah’s Witnesses could secure their release
00:21:13 simply by signing a declaration that they’d abandon their faith.
00:21:17 Of the thousands arrested, only a handful did so.
00:21:23 I was not ready to sign.
00:21:26 I thought:
00:21:28 ‘Oh, I have to think of my parents,
00:21:32 ‘my little children
00:21:35 ‘—I mean my brothers and my sisters.
00:21:39 ‘They are so faithful, so obedient,
00:21:43 ‘although we were all separated.
00:21:46 ‘We were all separated.
00:21:48 ‘And when I am now free,
00:21:52 ‘what should I do?
00:21:56 ‘My conscience —I have thought it over.
00:22:00 It is impossible to be unfaithful.’
00:22:03 How could I sign that I am not a Witness?
00:22:08 How could I leave my faith?
00:22:10 Never, never, never!
00:22:15 In April 1945, Ravensbrück concentration camp was liberated.
00:22:20 Hilda Kusserow and her daughters were released.
00:22:23 Imprisonment had strengthened their faith,
00:22:25 and morally the Witnesses had defeated the Nazis.
00:22:29 Hilda was reunited with her husband
00:22:31 and, with the surviving members of their family, rebuilt their lives.
00:22:37 Although they never returned to their “Golden Age” home,
00:22:39 they always remained faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses.
00:22:43 They were back in a Germany where the Protestant and Catholic churches
00:22:47 were still the predominant religious groups.
00:22:50 Despite rebellion and martyrdom by some believers,
00:22:53 most church leaders had bowed the knee to the Nazis.
00:22:56 Hitler, confirmed a Catholic, was never excommunicated.
00:23:01 The church was silent while millions of Jews and others died.
00:23:06 Among the organized Christian religions in Germany,
00:23:09 it was only the Jehovah’s Witnesses
00:23:11 who refused any compromise at all with Hitler and the Nazis.
00:23:15 Like the first Christians, they too were reviled and ridiculed
00:23:18 and they were martyred.
00:23:20 Among the millions who perished in the Holocaust,
00:23:23 there were some 5,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses,
00:23:25 and yet those who survived proclaimed that there is a purpose to all this.
00:23:30 There is a God.
