Super intendente de circuito en Gotemburgo, Suecia. Febrero de 2007
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Die Häftlinge mit dem lila Winkel Neue Ausstellung in Ravensbrück FÜRSTENBERG Im ehemaligen Zellenbau in der Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück wird am Mittwoch, 28. Februar, um 17 Uhr die Ausstellung “Lila Winkel in Ravensbrück” eröffnet, teilt die Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten mit. Es ist die erste Ausstellung in der Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück über die inhaftierten Frauen und Männer der Zeugen Jehovas. Den Eröffnungsvortrag hält der Historiker und Leiter der KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, Detlef Garbe. Die als Zeugin Jehovas inhaftierte Ravensbrückerin Magdalena Reuter wird über ihr Verfolgungsschicksal sprechen. Die Sonderausstellung ist eine chronologisch-thematische Darstellung der Geschichte der NS-Verfolgtengruppe der Zeugen Jehovas im KZ Ravensbrück. Anhand von Kurzbiografien werden Lebensschicksale von Frauen und Männern vorgestellt, die von den Nationalsozialisten mit dem Haftgrund IBV (Internationale Bibelforschervereinigung) in Konzentrationslager eingewiesen wurden und von der SS mit dem lila Winkel auf der Häftlingskleidung gekennzeichnet wurden. Eine größere Gruppe von Zeuginnen Jehovas kam 1939 vom KZ Lichtenburg in das neu eröffnete Frauen-KZ Ravensbrück. Sie gehörten zu den ersten in Ravensbrück registrierten Frauenhäftlingen. Im Zellenbau waren im Winter 1939/40 mehr als 400 Zeuginnen inhaftiert, weil sie jede Form von Arbeit für den Krieg verweigerten. Für das KZ Ravensbrück lassen sich bis 1945 rund 850 Frauen und 250 Männer der Zeugen Jehovas nachweisen. Die Ausstellung informiert über den “Bibelforscher-Block” in Ravensbrück und über so genannte Verpflichtungserklärungen, die die Freiheit versprachen, falls die Inhaftierten ihrem Glauben abschworen. Thematisiert werden auch die unterschiedlichen Arbeitskommandos, in denen die Zeuginnen Zwangsarbeit verrichten mussten, sowie Transporte nach Auschwitz und Birkenau. Schließlich beschäftigt sich die Ausstellung auch mit der Situation der überlebenden Lila-Winkel-Häftlinge nach 1945. In der DDR und in der Sowjetunion wurde ihnen nicht nur die Anerkennung als NS-Verfolgte verweigert, sondern sie wurden sogar erneut verfolgt und inhaftiert. “Die Zeugen Jehovas gehören bis heute zu den Opfern nationalsozialistischer Verfolgung, die nicht im Mittelpunkt des öffentlichen Gedenkens stehen”, sagte Gedenkstättenleiterin Insa Eschebach heute anlässlich der bevorstehenden Ausstellungseröffnung. “Daher ist es mir ein besonders wichtiges Anliegen, dass die Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück mit dieser Ausstellung an die mutigen Männer und Frauen der Zeugen Jehovas erinnert, die sich auf Grund ihres Glaubens dem nationalsozialistischen Regime verweigert haben.” MAZ http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/cms/beitrag/10876108/61129/ Assemblea Speciale in Croato Assemblea Speciale in Spagnolo Assemblea di Circoscrizione in Inglese Assemblea di Circoscrizione in Spagnolo Jehovah’s Witnesses serve by sharing God They preach door-to-door, by telephone and to anyone who will take time to listen. They are members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and despite numerous misconceptions about their beliefs, their religious views rest entirely on faith.
Shasta O’Neal, Murray State administrative secretary for media services, said the religious beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses focus on a selected group of believers who are destined to serve God. She said only a special 144,000 people will be chosen to be the servants of Jehovah in heaven. “We believe that there’s a group going to heaven and a group staying on earth,” O’Neal said. As for the afterlife, O’Neal said Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t recognize the existence of a hell. Instead, O’Neal said they believe in the common grave, or a return of the deceased to the earth. O’Neal said not every member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses will be accepted into heaven because there are only 144,000 destined servants of God. But O’Neal said each follower must have faith in God’s plan. “That person knows,” O’Neal said. “You just know you’re one of the 144,000. And our main goal in life is to follow Jesus’ footsteps as close as possible. Basically, to be balanced.” Aside from the religion’s base beliefs, O’Neal said prayer plays a dominant role in the daily lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Prayer is something we do regularly everyday,” O’Neal said. “We meet together (as a congregation) three times a week.” Because of the large number of church members, O’Neal said the congregation divides into two groups to allow everyone to worship and take part in theocratic ministry school, a program to help church members learn how to spread the word of Jehovah. “We call, we go door-to-door, we write letters,” O’Neal said. “Whenever we get the guts up to (preach), we do it.” Dustin Spears, sophomore from Murray, was baptized into Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2000. He said he chose to join the church after much of scriptural study and personal reflection. “Growing up as a kid, I wasn’t actually a Jehovah’s Witness,” Spears said. “I listened to what (church members) said and it made a lot of sense to me. As a witness, you actually have to study up and know what you’re talking about.” After this period of preparation, Spears said he also met with church elders to determine if he was ready to become a member. Spears said this method also allows incoming members to verify that becoming a part of the church is their own decision. “Nothing is force-fed,” Spears said. “You take it pretty seriously.” Since becoming a Jehovah’s Witness, Spears said he has encountered a mix of acceptance and opposition. “A lot of people have different beliefs,” Spears said. Of this opposition, he said there are a lot of negative misconceptions about his religious beliefs. “I’ve been told I don’t believe in Jesus,” Spears said. “Some people believe we’re kind of a cult. Some people will take that preconceived notion as fact.” Still, Spears said the teachings of Jehovah emphasize understanding. “It’s all about if you don’t agree, let’s look it up in the bible,” he said. “We’re more than happy to say what we believe.” This is Vergara Congregation in Mandaluyong City, Philiipines where I am associated. We were singing the last Kingdom Song before the closing prayer. Nice voices =) Feb. 18, 2007 Quick Building de Belgicá (Europa) en 4 fin de semanas El idioma es el Neerlandes o Flaman (es parecido al hollandes) La Creation releve la Gloire de Dieu La Creación revela la Gloria de Dios Attaque de un salon del Reino en la cuidad de Kamatero a 15km de Athenas con un coktail molotov Attack with bomb molotov cocktail we had the night in some Kingdom Hall here in Greece with small material damage . Photos from that Kingdom Hall after some hours klick on the photos to open
Assemblea di Circoscrizione in Cinese Assemblea di Circoscrizione in Inglese UZBEKISTAN: How many forced closures of religious communities? Uzbekistan tries hard to camouflage its religious freedom violations and one way it does this is through statistics. Comparing February 2007 figures from the state Religious Affairs Committee with October 2002 figures, Forum 18 News Service notes that a net total of six Christian churches are indicated to have lost registration, along with one Jehovah’s Witness, one Hare Krishna and one Baha’i community. The figures cannot be independently verified and conceal denominational differences, with an increase in Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic communities disguising loss of legal status of Protestant churches. Religious believers inside Uzbekistan indicate that the reality may be much worse. Some Protestant churches have recently calculated that 38 of their congregations were closed down by the state between 2000 and 2006. Over 100 religious communities of various faiths are thought to have tried unsuccessfully to gain registration. The Religious Affairs Committee asserts that “there there are no restrictions on or hindrances to registration.” Without state registration, all religious activity is illegal and religious believers are subjected to harsh state action. Uzbekistan devotes much effort to trying to camouflage its attacks on religious freedom and one element in the camouflage is statistics. Forum 18 has tried unsuccessfully to get the state Religious Affairs Committee to say how many religious organisations were closed down in 2006. Begzot Kadyrov, chief specialist on non-Islamic faiths for the Committee, said that it had no information on this. This is strange, as collecting statistics on the number of religious organisations is one of the Committee’s main tasks. Attempts by Forum 18 to obtain figures of religious community closures from the Justice Ministry were likewise unsuccessful. Between 6 and 13 February, Forum 18 made numerous attempts to talk to Jalalbek Abdusatarov, head of the Religious Organisations Registration Department at the Ministry. Each time, an employee who refused to give his name said that Abdusatarov was not there and that nobody else was able to provide information. Regional Justice departments have been similarly uninformative. On 14 February, Bekmukhamad Latyrinov, head of the Religious and Social Organisations Registration Section of the Samarkand [Samarqand] Justice Department, refused to answer any questions from Forum 18 by telephone. But, according to statistics from the Religious Affairs Committee published by the government-sponsored website press-uz.info on 15 February, 2,222 religious communities of 16 faiths currently have registration. A total of 2,042 of these are Muslim, 164 are Christian of various unspecified denominations, 8 are Jewish, 6 are Baha’i and one each are Hare Krishna and Buddhist. It remains unclear why neither the Committee nor the Justice Ministry was able to provide these figures to Forum 18 just a few days earlier. The statistics – which cannot be verified independently – compare with the Committee’s figures of a total of 2,152 registered communities in October 2002. Of these, 1,965 were Muslim, 61 Korean Protestant churches, 36 Russian Orthodox, 23 Baptist, 22 Full Gospel, 11 Seventh-day Adventist, 7 Baha’i, 6 Jewish, 5 Catholic, 4 Lutheran, 4 New Apostolic, 2 Jehovah’s Witness, 2 Hare Krishna, 1 Armenian Apostolic, 1 Voice of God Protestant church, 1 Buddhist – as well as 1 Bible Society branch. Comparing the figures, a net total of six Christian churches have lost registration in four and a half years, as well as one Jehovah’s Witness, one Hare Krishna and one Baha’i community. However, these figures conceal denominational differences, with an increase in the number of Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic communities disguising the loss of legal status for Protestant churches. Official figures should be treated with caution. For example, in 2005 the authorities falsely claimed to Forum 18 that a Catholic parish was registered in Nukus, in north-west Uzbekistan (see F18News 2 June 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=575) Amongst the other statistical propaganda tools used to deny religious freedom violations has been an opinion poll conducted by a government-run “non governmental” organisation (see F18News (see F18News 19 December 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=891). This camouflage effort has run in tandem with an increase in the state-rum mass media’s encouragement of intolerance against religious minorities (see F18News 19 December 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=890) Some of the religious communities, known to Forum 18, which have been closed by the authorities in the last 18 months are: the Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Fergana [Farghona] (see F18News 15 February http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=912); the Seventh-day Adventist church and a Korean Protestant church in Samarkand [Samarqand] (see F18News 19 May 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=784); as well as the Full Gospel church in Nukus (see F18News 11 November 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=686). The Bethany Baptist church, in the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent, has long been denied official registration and therefore the right to function. Two church members were deported in 2006 (see F18News 6 September 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=838). The congregation decided to hold a celebratory meal for church members at Easter 2006 in the church building, the first time the congregation had used its church building in two years. Congregation members prepared a traditional plov rice meal and tea but, as Protestant sources told Forum 18, within ten minutes of the event beginning the local police arrived and closed it down. The congregation has not dared to use its church building since. Escalating pressure on congregation members typically follows such closures (see eg. F18News 26 January 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=719 and 5 May 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=774). Adventist sources in Uzbekistan told Forum 18 on 14 February their church in Samarkand was closed by the authorities as “we had been meeting in a building different from the address stated in our registration document. We don’t intend to appeal against the decision.” There are still four registered Adventist churches in Tashkent and Tashkent region. An Uzbek Protestant pastor, who preferred not to be named, told Forum 18 that a number of Protestant churches, of a cross-section of non-Korean denominations, had calculated recently that between them, 38 of their congregations had been closed down between 2000 and 2006 under varying official pretexts. (Christian missionaries from Korea have been quite active in Central Asia.) Forum 18 estimates that over 100 religious communities have been trying unsuccessfully for many years to obtain registration from the Justice Ministry. But only one Christian church per year is being registered: one Protestant church in 2005, another in 2006, and the Armenian Apostolic Church in Tashkent in January 2007. The Religious Affairs Committee continues to deny that any pressure is being exerted against religious communities and brushes aside any complaints of denial or removal of legal status from congregations. “The Committee regards assertions that ‘the republican authorities have increased pressure on Protestants over the last few months’ as groundless,” it claimed in a 12 February statement posted by the press-uz.info agency. “The number of religious organisations in our country is growing. This shows that there are no restrictions on or hindrances to registration.” On 14 February, Aziz Obidov, the Committee’s Press Secretary, refused to make any further comment to Forum 18. “We have already communicated everything we think necessary and we are not going to comment further.” Per sapere l’orario ed il luogo a voi più vicino dove si celebrerà la Commemorazione rivolgetevi ai Testimoni di Geova della vostra zona
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