Michael Schuster (30.11.1907 Munich – 5.9.1940 Brandenburg)

Michael Schuster came from a Munich family and after the First World War joined the Bible Students (which in 1931 became known as Jehovah's Witnesses). When he finished school, he worked as a miner and the family lived in Peißenberg. During the Third Reich, he disseminated underground Jehovah's Witnesses writings that were critical of the regime. He was arrested in 1936 after the police found such material in his possession. The Munich Special Court sentenced him to seven months in prison on July 16, 1936. The grounds for the verdict  stressed that he rejected compulsory military service due to his religious convictions. He remained true to this conviction even after the war began. The Reich Court Martial therefore sentenced Michael Schuster to death by beheading for conscientious objection on August 5, 1940. In his farewell letter, he wrote: “Please do not mourn for me, but rejoice with me - I have overcome the world. [...] Dear Martin, dear Liesel, may you be a good support for father and mother. [...] Make your life as beautiful as possible” (Herrberger, p. 324f). The sentence was carried out on September 5, 1940. Michael's brother Martin was sentenced to death shortly before the end of the war. However, the official in charge at Landsberg prison delayed the execution date until US troops arrived and freed the inmates. Martin Schuster lived with his wife in Munich until his death in 1994.