Adolphe Arnold

Adolphe was born to Catholic parents in Alsace when it was under German rule. He was orphaned at age 12, and was raised by his uncle who sent him to an art school in Mulhouse, where he specialized in design. He married in the village of Husseren-Wesserling in the southern part of Alsace, and in 1930 the couple had a baby daughter. In 1933 the Arnolds moved to the nearby city of Mulhouse.

1933-39: Adolphe worked in Mulhouse as an art consultant for one of France's biggest printing factories. When he wasn't working at home or at the factory, he was studying the Bible, and enjoying classical music. Disillusioned with the Catholic church, Adolphe and his wife decided to become Jehovah's Witnesses. Under the French, they were free to practice their new faith.

1940-44: The Germans occupied Mulhouse in June 1940. While at the factory on September 4, 1941, Adolphe was arrested because he was a Jehovah's Witness and imprisoned in Mulhouse for two months. In January he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was beaten by the SS and subjected to medical experiments for malaria. Adolphe's sister-in-law was able to smuggle to him some Jehovah's Witness literature hidden inside cookies. In September 1944 he was transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Adolphe was liberated in May 1945 in Ebensee, a subcamp of Mauthausen. After the war he returned to France and was reunited with his family.