Throughout the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, their beliefs, doctrines and practices have engendered controversy and opposition from the local governments, communities, or religious groups. Persecution has been a recurrent experience of Jehovah's Witnesses since its foundation. Ken Jubber writes that "Viewed globally, this persecution has been so persistent and of such an intensity that it would not be inaccurate to regard Jehovah's witnesses as the most persecuted religion of the twentieth century".[1] Many Christian denominations consider their interpretations and doctrines to be heresy. Some religious leaders have accused Jehovah's Witnesses of being a cult. According to law professor Archibald Cox, in the United States, Jehovah's Witnesses were "the principal victims of religious persecution... in the twentieth century... Although founded earlier, they began to attract attention and provoke repression in the 1930s, when their proselytizing and numbers rapidly increased."[2]
Political and religious animosity against Jehovah's Witnesses has at times led to mob action and government oppression in various countries, including Cuba, the United States, Canada and Nazi Germany. The religion's doctrine of political neutrality has led to imprisonment of members who refused conscription (for example in Britain during World War II and afterwards during the period of compulsory national service). During the World Wars, Jehovah's Witnesses were also targeted in the United States, Canada and many other countries for their refusal to serve in the military or help with war efforts. In Canada, Jehovah's Witnesses were interned in camps along with political dissidents and people of Japanese and Chinese descent. Activities of Jehovah's Witnesses have previously been banned in the Soviet Union and in Spain, partly due to their refusal to perform military service. Their religious activities are currently banned or restricted in some countries, for example in China, Vietnam, and many Islamic states.
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Countries
Cuba
Under Fidel Castro's communist regime, Jehovah's Witnesses were considered "social deviants", along with homosexuals, vagrants and other groups, and were sent to forced labor concentration camps to be "reeducated".[3]
Canada
During both world wars, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for their evangelical fervor, abhorrence of patriotic exercises and conscientious objection to military service.
In 1984, Canada released a number of previously classified documents which revealed that in the 1940s, "able bodied young Jehovah's Witnesses" were sent to "camps", and "entire families who practiced the religion were imprisoned."[4]
Sallot and Yaffee wrote that "Recently declassified wartime documents suggest [World War II] was also a time of officially sanctioned religious bigotry, political intolerance and the suppression of ideas. The federal government described Jehovah's Witnesses as subversive and offensive 'religious zealots'... in secret reports given to special parliamentarian committees in 1942." The report on Jehovah's Witnesses concluded that, "probably no other organization is so offensive in its methods, working as it does under the guise of Christianity. The documents prepared by the justice department were presented to a special house of commons committee by the government of William, Lyon, McKenzie King in an attempt to justify the outlawing of the organizations during the second world war."[5]
France
Even before the beginning of World War II, the French government banned the Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France and ordered that the French offices of the Watch Tower Society be vacated.[6]
After the war, Jehovah's Witnesses in France renewed their operations. In December 1952, France's Minister of the Interior banned The Watchtower magazine, citing its position on military service.[7] The ban was lifted on November 26, 1974.[8][9]
In the 1990s and 2000s, the French government included Jehovah's Witnesses on its list of "cults", and governmental ministers made derogatory public statements about Jehovah's Witnesses.[10] Despite its century of activity in the country, France's Ministry of Finance had long opposed official governmental recognition of the religion; it was not until June 23, 2000 that France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses qualify as a religion under French law.[11] France's Ministry of the Interior has sought to collect 60% of donations made to the religion's entities; Witnesses have called the taxation "confiscatory" and have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.[12][13]
In recent years, Jehovah's Witnesses in France have reported hundreds of criminal attacks against their adherents and places of worship.[14]
French dependencies
During the ban of the The Watchtower in France, publication of the magazine continued in various French territories. In French Polynesia, the magazine was covertly published under the name, La Sentinelle, though it was later learned that The Watchtower had not been banned locally.[15] In Réunion, the magazine was published under the name, Bulletin intérieur.[16]
Georgia
Regarding the country of Georgia, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information noted:
In an ongoing campaign of persecution against Jehovah's Witnesses, there have been numerous acts of mob violence against them, including the destruction of personal property and the burning of tons of religious literature by religious extremists. Although the victims have filed more than 800 criminal complaints, no one has been punished, and in most cases no charges have ever been brought, or laid, by prosecutors against those accused of the violence. [17]
Just the year after Georgia adopted its post-USSR Constitution,[18] the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs began a campaign to illegally detain tons of religious literature belonging to Jehovah's Witnesses.[19][20] Governmental officials refused permits to Jehovah's Witnesses assemblies, and law enforcement officials dispersed legal assemblies. For example, in September 2000, "Georgian police and security officials fired blank anti-tank shells and used force to disperse an outdoor gathering of some 700 Jehovah's Witnesses in the town of Natuliki in northwestern Georgia on 8 September, AP and Caucasus Press reported." [21]
In cases when the instigators were formally charged, prosecution was impeded by a lack of cooperation by government and law enforcement.[22] In 2004, Forum 18 News Service referred to the period since 1999 as a "five-year reign of terror" against Jehovah's Witnesses and certain other religious minorities.[23] Contemporaneously, Amnesty International noted: "Jehovah's Witnesses have frequently been a target for violence...in Georgia... In many of the incidents police are said to have failed to protect the believers, or even to have participated in physical and verbal abuse." [24] Individual Witnesses have even fled Georgia seeking religious refugee status from other nations.[25]
On May 3, 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the government of Georgia for its toleration of religious violence toward Jehovah’s Witnesses and ordered the victims be compensated for moral damages and legal costs.[26][27][28]
Germany
During 1931 and 1932, there were over 2,000 legal actions against Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, initially by official efforts to dismiss them from employment;[29] persecution intensified in 1933, and continued until 1945.[30]
On October 4, 1934, congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany sent telegrams of protest and warning to Adolf Hitler. According to notarized eyewitness testimony of Karl R. A. Wittig, “On October 7, 1934...Dr. Frick showed Hitler a number of telegrams protesting against the Third Reich’s persecution of the Bible Students... After which Hitler jumped to his feet and with clenched fists hysterically screamed: ‘This brood will be exterminated in Germany!’ Four years after this discussion I was able, by my own observations, to convince myself...that Hitler’s outburst of anger was not just an idle threat. No other group of prisoners of the named concentration-camps was exposed to the sadism of the SS-soldiery in such a fashion as the Bible Students were. It was a sadism marked by an unending chain of physical and mental tortures, the likes of which no language in the world can express."[31][32] The memoir of then-loyal Nazi party member Ludwig Wurm recalls, "[Hitler's] bombastic speeches, which held audiences spellbound, were full of hatred against all opposers of the Nazi Party, including international Jewry and the International Bible Students, now known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. I clearly remember his boast: “This enemy of Great Germany, this brood of International Bible Students, will be exterminated in Germany.”"[33]
The German-language newspaper Der Deutsche Weg (The German Way) of May 29, 1938 quoted Hitler as saying, "These so-called Earnest Bible Students [Jehovah’s Witnesses] are troublemakers; ... I consider them quacks... I dissolve [Jehovah’s Witnesses] in Germany.’”[34] Because Jehovah's Witnesses would not give allegiance to the Nazi party, and refused to serve in the military, they were detained, sent to concentration camps, or imprisoned during the Holocaust. Unlike Jews, homosexuals and Gypsies who were persecuted for racial, political and social reasons, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted on religious ideological grounds. The Nazi government told Jehovah's Witnesses that they would be freed if they would renounce their faith, submit to the state authority, and support the German military, though very few agreed.[citation needed] Approximately 12,000[35] Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps where they were identified by purple triangles. According to Jehovah's Witnesses, about 2,000 of their members died while incarcerated under the Nazi regime.[36] A pamphlet about Jehovah's Witnesses published by the United States Holocaust Resource Center and Archives states that "an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 Witnesses died in the camps or prisons.[37] More than 200 men were tried by the German War Court and executed for refusing military service"[38]
Despite more than a century of conspicuous activity in the country, Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were not granted legal recognition until March 25, 2005, in Berlin;[39] in 2006 Germany's Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) in Leipzig extended the local decision to apply nationwide.[40]
Malawi
In 1967, thousands of Witnesses in Malawi were savagely beaten by police and citizens for refusing to purchase political party cards to become members of the Malawi Congress Party.[41]
Singapore
Jehovah's Witnesses males are currently imprisoned in Singapore for refusal to participate in compulsory National Service.[42]
Soviet Union
Jehovah's Witnesses were one of the most persecuted religious groups in the Soviet Union.[citation needed][when?] Members were arrested or deported; some were put in soviet concentration camps. Witnesses in Moldavian SSR were deported to Tomsk Oblast; members from other regions of Soviet Union were deported to Irkutsk Oblast.[43]
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov proposed the deportation of the Jehovah's Witnesses to Stalin in October 1950. A resolution was voted by the Council of Minister and an order was issued by the Ministry for State Security in March 1951. The Moldavian SSR passed a decree "On the confiscation and selling of the property of individuals banished from the territory of the Moldavian SSR", which included the Jehovah's Witnesses.[43]
In April 1951, over 9,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were deported to Siberia under the plan called "Operation North".[44][45]
Importation of Jehovah's Witnesses' literature into the Soviet Union was strictly forbidden, and Soviet Jehovah's Witnesses received their religious literature from Brooklyn illegally. Literature from Brooklyn arrived regularly, in good condition and in large quantities through unofficial and well-organized channels, not only in many cities, but also in Siberia, and even in the penal camps of Potma.[citation needed]
In September 1965, a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers cancelled the "special settlement" restriction of Jehovah's Witnesses, though the decree, signed by Anastas Mikoyan, stated that there would be no compensation for confiscated property. While released, Jehovah's Witnesses remained the subject of state persecution due to their ideology classified as anti-Soviet.[46]
United States
The religious beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses forbid them from saluting the flag, recite the pledge of allegiance, or join the armed forces. As a result, they have often become victims of religious bigotry. Some states passed laws that made it illegal for them to distribute their literature, and children of Jehovah's Witnesses in some states were banned from attending state schools. Mob violence against Jehovah's Witnesses was not uncommon, and some were murdered for their beliefs. Those responsible for these attacks were seldom prosecuted.[47]
After a drawn-out litigation process in state courts and lower federal courts, lawyers for Jehovah's Witnesses convinced the Supreme Court to issue a series of landmark First Amendment rulings that confirmed their right to be excused from military service and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.[citation needed][when?]
The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses for their refusal to salute the flag became known as the "Flag-Salute Cases".[48] Their refusal to salute the flag became considered as a test of the liberties for which the flag stands, namely the freedom to worship according to the dictates of one's own conscience. It was found that the United States, by making the flag salute compulsory in Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940), was impinging upon the individual's right to worship as one chooses — a violation of the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause in the constitution. Justice Frankfurter, speaking in behalf of the 8-to-1 majority view against the Witnesses, stated that the interests of "inculcating patriotism was of sufficient importance to justify a relatively minor infringement on religious belief."[49] The result of the ruling was a wave of persecution. Lillian Gobitas, the mother of the schoolchildren involved in the decision said, "It was like open season on Jehovah's Witnesses."[50]
The American Civil Liberties Union reported that by the end of 1940, "more than 1,500 Witnesses in the United States had been victimized in 335 separate attacks."[51] Such attacks included beatings, being tarred and feathered, hanged, shot, maimed, and even castrated, as well as other acts of violence.[52] As reports of these attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses continued, "several justices changed their minds, and in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette(1943), the Court declared that the state could not impinge on the First Amendment by compelling the observance of rituals."[53]
References
- ^ Jubber, Ken (1977). "The Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Southern Africa". Social Compass, 24 (1): 121,. doi:.
- ^ Cox, Archibald (1987). The Court and the Constitution. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.. p. 189.
- ^ Philip Brenner, Marguerite Rose Jiménez, John M. Kirk, William M LeoGrande. A contemporary Cuba reader.
- ^ Yaffee, Barbara (1984-09-09). Witnesses Seek Apology for Wartime Persecution. The Globe in Mail. pp. 4.
- ^ Secret Files Reveal Bigotry, Suppression. The Globe in Mail. 1984-09-04.
- ^ "France", 1980 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 87-89, "THE ORGANIZATION IS BANNED In mid-October 1939, about six weeks after the beginning of the war, the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses was banned in France."
- ^ "France", 1980 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 128
- ^ 1976 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses
- ^ "Announcements", Our Kingdom Ministry, February 1975, page 3
- ^ "France: International Religious Freedom Report 2006", U.S. Department of State, As Retrieved 2009-08-19, [The French] Government has a stated policy of monitoring potentially "dangerous" cult activity through the Inter-ministerial Monitoring Mission against Sectarian Abuses (MIVILUDES). ...In January 2005, MIVILUDES published a guide for public servants instructing them how to spot and combat "dangerous" sects. ...The Jehovah's Witnesses were mentioned"
- ^ "Highest administrative court in France rules that Jehovah's Witnesses are a religion", News release June 23, 2000, Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-19
- ^ "France: International Religious Freedom Report 2008", U.S. Department of State, As Retrieved 2009-08-19, "Jehovah's Witnesses awaited a ruling by the ECHR on the admissibility of a case contesting the government's assessment of their donations at a 60 percent tax rate. The government had imposed the high rate relative to other religious groups after ruling the group to be a harmful cult. If the assessed tax, which totaled more than 57 million euros (approximately $77.5 million) as of year's end, were to be paid, it would consume all of the group's buildings and assets in the country."
- ^ "French High Court confirms 60-percent confiscatory tax measure on religious donations", News release October 6, 2004, Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-19, "France's highest court of appeal, the Cour de cassation, has handed down its decision in a case between the Association Les Témoins de Jéhovah, a not-for-profit religious association used by Jehovah's Witnesses in France, and the national tax department, the Direction des services fiscaux. Following a tax inspection lasting 18 months, the tax department established that Association Les Témoins de Jéhovah, whose sole revenue consists of religious donations by its adherents, was run in a completely benevolent fashion, and that its activities were not commercial or for profit. Nevertheless, the tax department levied a 60-percent tax on the religious donations made over a period of four years, between 1993 and 1996. ...This is the first time in their 100-year existence in France that Jehovah's Witnesses have been taxed in this manner. ...Furthermore, this tax has not been imposed on any other religious organization in France. The Association Les Témoins de Jéhovah has decided to institute proceedings against this confiscatory taxation before the European Court of Human Rights."
- ^ "France: International Religious Freedom Report 2008", U.S. Department of State, As Retrieved 2009-08-19, "According to representatives for the Jehovah's Witnesses community, there were 65 acts of vandalism against the group in the country through December including Molotov cocktails aimed at Jehovah's Witnesses' property. ...According to the leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses community in the country, there were 98 acts against individuals for 2006 and 115 acts in 2007."
- ^ 2005 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. pp. 88-89.
- ^ 2007 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 255
- ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia: Chronology of Acts of Violence and Intimidation", Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ That is, 'the year after 1995'. See Parliament of Georgia website, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "THE CONSTITUTION OF GEORGIA Adopted on 24 August 1995"
- ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia: Chronology of Acts of Violence and Intimidation", Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "September 6, 1996 The Head of the Eredvi Regional Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Mr. Giorgi Turashvili, illegally detains seven tons of religious literature belonging to Jehovah's Witnesses."
- ^ "Georgia Country Reports on Human Rights Practices", U. S. State Department, February 23, 2000, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "Customs and security officials impounded six tons of religious materials being imported by Jehovah's Witnesses on April 23. The materials, some damaged, were not released until early July and then only after the intervention of the National Security Council official responsible for human rights. Representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses traveled to where the materials were impounded with a letter authorizing their release in hand. However, local officials and a gathering of demonstrators, including a Georgian Orthodox priest, prevented the release. The representatives returned to Tbilisi. The central Government retrieved the materials and brought them to Tbilisi."
- ^ Encyclopedia.com, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ "GEORGIA: INTIMIDATION SABOTAGES TRIAL OF VIOLENT PRIEST" by Felix Corley, Keston News Service, February 7, 2002, Keston Institute, Oxford, UK, as cited by Eurasianet.org, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "[A lawyer for Jehovah's Witnesses] does not believe judge Chkheidze did enough. "He should have done more to protect the security of participants. Five policemen were present but left the courtroom before the hearing started. We don't know why. Maybe they were instructed to do so." In a statement issued after the trial, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported that about three hundred of Mkalavishvili's supporters, mostly men, armed with metal and wooden crosses, tried to invade the courtroom before the hearing began. "Many entered and occupied areas reserved for attorneys as they rang their religious bell and waved large anti-Jehovah's Witness banners. As the victims' attorneys made their way through the mob to Judge Ioseb Chkheidze's chambers, they overheard security police being ordered away from the scene. The courtroom was left with no security." Attorneys explained to Chkheidze that under these circumstances it was impossible to proceed with the trial as it was too dangerous for the victims or their attorneys to attend [emphasis added]"
- ^ "GEORGIA: Will violent attackers of religious minorities be punished?" by Felix Corley, F18News, Forum 18 News Service, published 16 August 2004, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ AmnestyUSA.org, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ T. L. v. Ministry of Internal Affairs, V SA 1969/95, Poland: High Administrative Court, 17 September 1996, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "On 12 May 1995 during the "status interview" conducted by the officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Office the applicant declared additionally that, among others, she could not return to the country, because since 1989 she had been the Jehovah Witness [[[sic]]] and she feared that she could be arrested for that reason."
- ^ "CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF JUDGMENTS AND PUBLISHED DECISIONS", EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS,As Retrieved 2009-08-26, page 203 of 285, May 3, 2007, Listing "7148 3.5.2007 Membres de la Congrégation des témoins de Jéhovah de Gldani et autres c. Géorgie/Members of the Gldani Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Others v. Georgia, no/no. 71156/01 (Sect. 2), CEDH/ECHR 2007-V"
- ^ The ECHR's findings are quoted here: Violent assault on a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses by a group purporting to support the Orthodox Church and lack of an effective investigation: violation. 97 MEMBERS OF THE GLDANI CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND 4 OTHERS - Georgia (No 71156/01) Judgment 3.5.2007 [Former Section II] Facts: The case concerns an incident in October 1999 in which a fanatical group of Orthodox believers led by a defrocked priest attacked a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. ...including women and children, were violently assaulted by the attackers, who punched and kicked them, struck them with sticks, iron crosses and belts and pushed them down staircases. ...Although attempts were made to alert the police, the officers on duty were initially reluctant to intervene. One of the applicants was even told by the officer in charge that he would have given the Jehovah's Witnesses “an even worse time”. The attack was filmed by one of the assailants. Recordings in which a number of the attackers were clearly identifiable were broadcast on national television and their names given to the authorities by the victims. However, although 42 applicants lodged criminal complaints, only 11 were granted [merely] civil-party status. The criminal proceedings were beset by various problems: they were repeatedly suspended, allegedly because the attackers could not be identified... Little, if any action was taken to bring the assailants to justice... Law: Article 3 – (a) ...Conclusion: violation in respect of 45 of the applicants (unanimously). (b) The authorities' response: ...once [the attack] had been reported to them, the police had failed to act diligently. ... It was regrettable that the Government had continued to assert that the perpetrators of the violence could not be identified, particularly in view of the available video evidence. In sum, the police had refused to intervene promptly...with total indifference on the part of the authorities who, for no valid reason, had refused to apply the law. ...Conclusion: violation... (unanimously). Article 9 – [Jehovah's Witnesses] had been attacked, humiliated and severely beaten because of their religious beliefs. Their religious literature had been confiscated and burnt while they were forced to look on. One of the applicants had had his head shaved as religious punishment. The applicants [Jehovah's Witnesses] were subsequently confronted with total indifference and a failure to act on the part of the authorities... the authorities' negligence had opened the doors to a generalisation of religious violence throughout Georgia by the same group leaving the applicants to fear renewed violence on each fresh manifestation of their faith. In those circumstances, the authorities had failed in their duty... Conclusion: violation (unanimously). Article 14 in conjunction with Articles 3 and 9 – The police's refusal to intervene promptly was largely due to the applicants' religious convictions. ...This suggested possible complicity on the part of State representatives. Conclusion: violation (unanimously). Article 41 – Various awards were made" As cited at ECHR website, As Retrieved 2009-08-26, pages 13-14 (of 53)
- ^ "European Court rules against Georgia’s campaign of terror", Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ "Firm in Faith Despite Opposition", The Watchtower, June 15, 1967, pages 366-367
- ^ "Germany", 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, pages 116-117
- ^ "Foreign Activities Under Fascist-Nazi Persecution", The Watchtower, August 1, 1955, page 462
- ^ "Germany", 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 138
- ^ As quoted by "My Hate Turned to Love", Awake!, January 8, 1995, page 11
- ^ Citation and translation by Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, ©1993 Watch Tower, pages 659-660
- ^ The Watchtower - Feb 15 2006, p. 32. | “What Does the Purple Triangle Mean?” | © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
- ^ Revelation Its Grand Climax At Hand p.185 updated in 2006
- ^ Shulman, William L. A State of Terror: Germany 1933–1939. Bayside, New York: Holocaust Resource Center and Archives.
- ^ [1].
- ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Granted Legal Status", Deutsche Welle, March 25, 2005, http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,1530197,00.html As Retrieved 2009-08-26], As Retrieved 2009-08-26, "A Berlin court ruled on Thursday that Jehovah's Witnesses are entitled to the same privileges enjoyed by Germany's major Catholic and Protestant churches, ending a 15-year legal fight about the group's status."
- ^ "Germany Federal Administrative Court Upholds Witnesses’ Full Exercise of Faith", Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses, As Retrieved 2009-08-26
- ^ Jubber, Ken (1977). "The Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Southern Africa". Social Compass 24 (1): 121–134. doi:.
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2005 — Singapore, U.S. Department of State (2005). Available online at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51529.htm
- ^ a b Pavel Polian. "Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR", Central European University Press, 2004. ISBN 9789639241688. p.169-171
- ^ "Recalling Operation North", by Vitali Kamyshev, "Русская мысль", Париж, N 4363, 26 April 2001 (Russian)
- ^ Валерий Пасат ."Трудные страницы истории Молдовы (1940-1950)". Москва: Изд. Terra, 1994 (Russian)
- ^ "Christan Believers Were Persecuted by All Tolatitarian Regimes" Prava Lyudini ("Rights of a Person"), the newspaper of a Ukrainian human rights organization, Kharkiv, December 2001 (Russian)
- ^ cf. Peters, Shawn Francis. Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution p.11. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2000.
- ^ Hall, Kermit L. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States p394. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
- ^ ibid p.395
- ^ Irons, Peter. A People's History of the Supreme Courtp. 341. New York: Viking Penguin, 1999.
- ^ Peters, Shawn Francis. Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution p10. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000.
- ^ Peters, ibid p. 8.
- ^ Hall. ibid. p.395.
Additional reading
- Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi Regime Edited by Hans Hesse ISBN 3861087502
- Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity, ISBN 0-689-10728-5
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