Germany, Postwar
During the Nazi regime, scholars estimate that about half of all Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were incarcerated in prison or concentration camp. At the time, they were represented by several geographical Bible Students Associations, each of which considered itself affiliated with the Watch Tower Society despite little contact with their Brooklyn (USA) headquarters. When contact was re-established, a minority of German Jehovah's Witnesses either preferred their autonomy or disagreed with the doctrinal changes that had occurred in the meantime. Later, the Communist-influenced East German government campaigned to fabricate and disseminate counterfeit "evidence" and "scholarship" specifically to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses; scholars agree the plot succeeded at least partly. Some disassociated themselves from the Watch Tower Society and some individual members established contact with non-Jehovah's Witness Bible Student groups.
Read more about this topic: Jehovah's Witnesses Splinter Groups
Famous quotes containing the word postwar:
“Fashions change, and with the new psychoanalytical perspective of the postwar period [WWII], child rearing became enshrined as the special responsibility of mothers ... any shortcoming in adult life was now seen as rooted in the failure of mothering during childhood.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)