Apollonia Mauer (14.11.1875 Munich – 22.9.1963 Munich)

This wife of a textile merchant left the Catholic church in 1932 and joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She was arrested at the end of 1936. In the criminal proceedings against her and three other Jehovah's Witnesses from Schwabing, the defendants were accused not only of participating in the protest action of December 12, 1936, but also of participating in Bible study groups, obtaining the “Watchtower,” and rejecting the “German salute” and participation in elections. On June 8, 1937, the Munich Special Court sentenced the 61-year-old to five months in prison.

The judgment says: “They [the four defendants] continued their activity after a large number of supporters of these teachings, especially functionaries of the sect, had been arrested and punished due to violation of the ban. The defendants are still unrepentant. They excuse their misdeeds solely by saying that they had to put God's commandment over the human one. In view of the defendants' stubborn attitude, severe sentences were called for.” (StAM, StAnw 8594) Appolonia Mauer was still pursued by the Gestapo after the end of her prison sentence. She also confessed to being a Jehovah's Witness after the end of the Third Reich.