Hans Werner Kusserow

Hans Werner Kusserow was a German adherent of the Jehovah's Witnesses who was persecuted for his faith during the Nazi regime. His entire family was persecuted during the war, with most being imprisoned, sent to concentration camps, and/or executed.

As one of the three youngest children in a family of 11, Hans Werner was abducted from his school along with his sister Elizabeth and brother Paul Gerhard and sent away to a reform school, where the Nazis hoped to break the children's faith and "re-Aryanize" them. After a few months, the school headmaster sent the children home after realizing they had no behavioral issues warranting detainment. The children were intercepted by the Gestapo on their way home and sent to live with foster families in the SS. They continued to refuse to renounce their faith or salute Hitler, and were eventually released after more than six years in Nazi custody.

Birth date from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; story based on personal recollections from older sister Magdalena.