Richard Rudolph (concentration camp survivor)

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Richard Rudolph (June 11, 1911 – January 31, 2014) was the last surviving victim of "double persecution"[1] in that he was incarcerated for nearly nine years in Nazi prisons and concentration camps and then was imprisoned for a further ten years in the communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany). He was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen, Neuengamme,[2] and Ravensbrück concentration camps and the Salzgitter-Watenstedt Leinde subcamp of Neuengamme in addition to various police, penitentiary and juvenile prisons.

Grounds for his imprisonment and persecution in the Nazi era were his stand as a conscientious objector, for which he barely escaped being executed on several occasions, and his beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness.[3] Jehovah's Witnesses supported neither Nazi racist and militaristic policies nor communist suppression of religion. Rudolph's experiences have been documented in the book Im Zeugenstand: Was wir noch sagen sollten, 100 Fragen—900 Antworten, Interviews mit Holocaust-Überlebenden und NS-Opfern,[1] released in English as Taking the Stand: We Have More to Say, 100 Questions—900 Answers, Interviews with Holocaust Survivors and Victims of Nazi Tyranny,[4] by Bernhard Rammerstorfer, an author and film producer regarding Holocaust subject matter.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Rammerstorfer, Bernhard (2012). Im Zeugenstand: Was wir noch sagen sollten, 100 Fragen—900 Antworten, Interviews mit Holocaust-Überlebenden und NS-Opfern (in German). Herzogsdorf, Austria. ISBN 9783950246230.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ "Neuengamme: Excerpt from an article printed in the daily Bergdorfer Zeitung: 'It's our duty to remember!'". ALST.org. Arnold Liebster Foundation. April 23, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  3. ^ Garbe, Detlef (2008). Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich. Translated by Dagmar G. Grimm. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299207946.
  4. ^ Bernhard Rammerstorfer (2013). Taking the Stand: We Have More to Say. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4797-9418-8.