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42
CATHERINE KINNEN-SCHMIT
1910: born in Michelau (L)
1937: becomes a member of Luxembourg’s Jehovah’s Witnesses
Aug. 1940: arrest and first interrogations of Catherine Kinnen and her husband Nicolas by the Gestapo in Esch/Alzette
Sept. 1940: transfer to Trier police prison (D)
Nov. 1940: signs a “declaration of commitment” that she will no longer be an active Jehovah’s Witness; release from prison
until 1941: remains under obligation to report to the police
Pamphlet of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Luxembourg opposing Hitler and other Fascist governments, like the ones Catherine Kinnen distributed. Fascism or Freedom, Switzerland 1939
Nachdem ich nun eingehend belehrt und gewarnt wurde, bestehe ich auch weiterhin auf meine Anhängerschaft als IBV-Mitglied und Zeugin Jehovas und bin nicht bereit, trotz der zu erwartenden hohen Strafen und staatspolizeilichen Maßnahmen davon abzulassen. Ich bin bereit und gewillt, ohne Rücksicht auf mein Kind, alle mir daraus entstehenden nachteiligen Folgen sowie etwaige Überführung in ein KZ-Lager auf mich zu nehmen.
Catherine Kinnen-Schmit, forced statement after interrogation, 3 Sept. 1940
Work
Catherine Kinnen and her husband became members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses community in 1937. In Schifflange they distributed religious reading material and organized Bible evenings at their home. At one of these meetings she was baptized. Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted under the German occupation. On 30 October 1940 the religious community was officially dissolved and its members arrested by the Gestapo. Catherine Kinnen was imprisoned in Esch/Alzette and probably interrogated by the Gestapo at Villa Seligmann, where she was subjected to threats such as transfer to a concentration camp. Because she refused to give up her faith, she was transferred to Trier prison on 7 September 1940. There, after repeated interrogations and probably torture by Gestapo men, she signed a “declaration of commitment” that she would no longer be active as a Jehovah’s Witness. She was released from custody on 23 November 1940.
Ich versichere hiermit, dass ich mich nie wieder für die Internationale Bibelforschervereinigung betätigen werde. Personen, die für die Irrlehre der Bibelforscher werbend an mich herantreten oder in anderer Weise ihre Einstellung als Bibelforscher bekunden, werde ich unverzüglich zur Anzeige bringen. Ich will künftig die Gesetze des Staates achten und mich voll und ganz in der Volksgemeinschaft eingliedern.
Catherine Kinnen-Schmit, forced “declaration of commitment”, 12 Nov. 1940
In concentration camps, members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses were marked with a “purple triangle”. Catherine Kinnen was released in 1940, so she was not sent to a concentration camp.
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