Seventh-day Adventists in Germany Protest Ban During Nazi Era, Leading to Repeal in 1933

Dr. theol. Johannes Hartlapp, a church historian at the Hochschule Friedensau, has highlighted the protest of Rudolf Stein against the temporary ban on the Seventh-day Adventists in Nazi Germany in 1933. Stein, a preacher trained at Friedensau in 1908/1909 and later a missionary in German East Africa, took an unusual path in response to the Gestapo’s order in Berlin on December 28, 1933, which banned the Adventist community in the Free State of Prussia and ordered the seizure of all printed materials.

In the Free State of Brunswick, the authorities acted even more swiftly. On November 29, 1933, the Political Police confronted Rudolf Stein, informing him of the dissolution of the Adventist community and the seizure of its assets. The Adventist church leadership in Central Europe sought to secure the withdrawal of the ban by appealing to influential NSDAP members. Stein, however, chose a different approach. He wrote an open protest letter to the Interior Ministry of the Free State of Brunswick, questioning whether the state had abolished freedom of faith and conscience and whether political activity against the government could be attributed to the Adventists.

In his letter, Stein declared his protest in the name of Jesus and all faith martyrs, as well as Martin Luther and the Confessio Augustana (Article 28). He also referenced Reich President Hindenburg and Reich Chancellor Hitler, citing an utterance by Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Heß, who had referred to freedom of conscience as a party stance. To demonstrate the Adventists’ loyalty to the state, Stein submitted two brochures detailing their welfare work.

In a second letter on the same day, Stein addressed the actions of individual officials who had closed the meeting room of the Helmstedter Adventists, seizing the private library of the community’s elder. On December 7, 1933, Stein informed the Brunswick government in a handwritten letter that the ban on the Seventh-day Adventists in Prussia had been lifted. The Brunswick government followed suit, revoking its ban on the same day. On December 9, 1933, the ban was officially lifted.

Source: Read the original report (translated from German)