The Kusserow brothers, Wolfgang (left), Wilhelm, and Karl-Heinz in the countryside near the family home in Bad Lippspringe.
Overview
- Caption
- The Kusserow brothers, Wolfgang (left), Wilhelm, and Karl-Heinz in the countryside near the family home in Bad Lippspringe.
- Date
-
1936 - 1939
- Locale
- Bad Lippspringe, [North Rhine-Westphalia] Germany
- Variant Locale
- Lippspringe
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Waltraud & Annemarie Kusserow
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Waltraud & Annemarie KusserowSource Record ID: Collections: 1988.134
Keywords & Subjects
- Photo Designation
-
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES -- Families/Portraits
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Franz and Hilda Kusserow were the parents of eleven children. The Kusserow family was active in their region distributing religious literature and teaching Bible study classes in their home. Their house was conveniently situated for fellow Witnesses along the tram route connecting the cities of Paderborn and Detmold, and was adorned for a while with two signs, one of which read "Read the Golden Age [magazine]". For the first three years after the Nazis came to power, the Kusserow's endured moderate persecution by local Gestapo agents, who often came to search their home for religious materials. However, in 1936, Nazi police pressure increased dramatically as a result of the Kusserow family's continued Bible study activity, as well as in response to the refusal of Jehovah's Witnesses to serve in the military, which had been made compulsory in 1935. The result was the eventual arrest of the family and its members' internment in various concentration camps. Most of the family remained incarcerated until the end of the war. Franz Kusserow (b. 1/25/1882) was released from Kassel prison in 1945 after spending 7 years and 4 months in prison. His wife Hilda (b. 7/9/1888) survived a death march from Ravensbrueck after spending 4 years and 6 months in prison. Annemarie (b. 1/26/1913) was released from a Berlin prison in 1945 after spending nine months in prison. Wilhelm (b. 9/4/1914) was condemned to death and shot in Muenster on April 27, 1940. Siegfried (b. 9/9/1916) died in an accident before the war. Karl-Heinz (b. 12/7/1917) spent five years in Dachau. Waltraud (b. 10/5/1919) spent two and a hal years in prison, and Hildegard (b. 12/24/1920) was released from Ravensbrueck after over four years incarceration. Wolfgang (b. March 1, 1922) was condemned to death and beheaded on March 28, 1942. Magdalena (b. 1/23/1924) was incarcerated for 4 years and 3 months and survived a death march from Ravensbrueck. The three youngest children Elizabeth (b. 4/16/1925), Hans Werner (b. 8/2/1928) and Paul Gerhard (b. 6/25/1931) were taken from school and kept in Nazi custody for just over six years.
- Record last modified:
- 2007-12-19 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1076712
