Presos políticos? As Testemunhas de Jeová durante o Estado Novo – intolerância e cerceamento de liberdade

Abstract

Abstract This article demonstrates the intensification of a policy of repression against religious groups that did not align with the interests of the Estado Novo during the 1930s, highlighting Jehovah's Witnesses as a target of persecution. This movement was encouraged by an implicit and strategic relationship between the State and the Catholic Church, which sought to maintain its religious and moral hegemony in the country. The collaboration between these two entities resulted in the imprisonment and persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses following a march held at the Estação da Luz in São Paulo in August 1939.