Max Schmitzberger (20.8.1896 Munich – 17.7.1960 Aichelberg)

This married father of one son had left the Catholic church in 1925, but he was only baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1931. The Munich Special Court sentenced this railway metalworker to ten months in prison on December 17, 1936. The court justified the punishment by stating that Schmitzberger had proclaimed the gospel despite the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses. The justification of the judgment continues: “With regard to the punishment, the following was considered: For several years and on a very extensive scale, Schmitzberger was missing, and on a very extensive scale, even collected funds, visited people in far-off places, and demonstrated in the main trial to be an unteachable representative of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ doctrine.” (StAM, StAnw 8410) As a consequence of his judgment, Schmitzberger also lost his position as foreman at the German Rail Company.