Facing the Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe

Facing the Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe
- by Simone Arnold Liebster
408 pages (2000) 
Facing The Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe is an autobiography written in the voice of a young girl, Simone Arnold. Growing up in Alsace (a location on the French/German border), Simone is an astute and happy child surrounded by a close-knit and loving family. In time, her parents become Jehovah’s Witnesses and Simone too makes the personal decision to embrace the faith with a fiery zeal and enduring fervor beyond her years, that would make any parent swell with pride. However, WWII is just around the corner, and trouble strikes when the Nazis annex the bordering French territory of Alsace, the home of the Arnold family. The Bibelforscher (Jehovah’s Witnesses or “Bible Students” as they were known then) in all of Nazi Europe are quickly put under ban. 

Being conscientious objectors in line with the scriptures’ admonition “You must not murder”, the steadfast Bible Students did not support the war effort in any way whatsoever. They refused to “Heil Hitler”. As a result of their bible-based beliefs and their neutral standing, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses were sent to concentration camps to suffer cruelly at the hands of the Nazi regime. Even though the Bibelforscher were given the opportunity to be released if they “simply” renounced their faith by signing a legal document, these ones remained steadfast and unmovable. Because of their unbreakable allegiance to God alone, and not the state, they became targets of the Nazis’ rage and even their fellow citizens. However, their beliefs and firm reliance on Jehovah God helped these students of the Bible endure the oppression of the camps, some even to the point of death. 

As unwavering Bibelforscher, the Arnold family was not immune to such horrors of the war machine. Soon after the war’s outset, Simone’s father is arrested and is taken away to the Dachau concentration camp and thereafter the infamous Mauthausen. Shortly after Simone is extradited to a strict Nazi reform school, her mother and aunt are also deported to the Schirmeck and Gaggenau camps. 

Facing The Lion is full of heart-rending experiences as Simone recounts physical and mental abuse at the reform school by those who outwardly and secretly conspired to break her spirit. Yet, Simone maintains her strong faith amidst such persecution, and throughout maintains her spiritual and moral conviction. Excerpts from personal letters, documents, photographs of family and detailed drawings by the author herself serve to personalize the events, making for a poignant vicarious experience.

Inspiring, encouraging...this moving life story of a courageous and steadfast young girl has added to my respect and admiration of my rich spiritual heritage; and to all those, including Simone and her family, who struggled courageously to endure man’s inhumanity to man.

08/2002 

Visit the Facing The Lion website