Michael Tsifidaris: “An Elder from Hamburg”

In a news article entitled “Thousands Attend Memorial Service for Victims of the Hamburg Shooting”, published April 10, 2023, Jehovah’s Witnesses fail to name the man they have used as spokesperson for the Hamburg Shooting. However, they are quick to name both Mark Sanderson (member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses) and Gajus Glockentin (German lawyer & member of the Publishing Committee). Might there be a reason for this omission?

Lester Somrah
April 11, 2023
1:51 pm
3 Comments

Michael Tsifidaris was in attendance at the Hamburg Police Conference the day after the shooting at a kingdom hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses where Philipp Fusz, a baptized Jehovah’s Witness, killed 7 members, including an unborn child, before taking his own life. He said he represented 4000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Altenheim, Hamburg.

At the police conference, Tsifidaris provided additional information about Fusz and the congregation. He claimed that Fusz left the Jehovah’s Witnesses “on his own accord”. He said that a total of 61 persons were in attendance at the meeting on the night of the shooting, 25 of whom “were present online.”

Tsifidaris has been used consistently by the Jehovah’s Witnesses as part of their public relations activity in dealing with this tragedy. Indeed, the April 10th report on JW.org describes Tsifidaris this way, “In the arena lobby, a German television media outlet interviews an elder from Hamburg who was personally acquainted with some of the victims”.

Tsifidaris was personally acquainted with some of the victims. In fact, it might be reasonable to conclude that he was also acquainted with the shooter.

Why did the Jehovah’s Witnesses not name Michael Tsifidaris? One might argue that all glory must go to Jehovah. However, that doesn’t explain why Sanderson and Glockentin were named as being in attendance at the memorial service. The report also named Joachim Szewczyk and Diek Ciupek, both members of the Central Europe Branch Committee. They also named the First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher, President of the Hamburg City Parliament, Carola Veit, and Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Incidentally, the victims, Dan, James, Marie, Romy, Sebastian, Stefan, and Stephanie, didn’t receive a mention until the seventh paragraph. You might notice that I didn’t mention them until the seventh paragraph either but, unlike the jw.org news report, this article isn’t about the victims. It’s about Michael Tsifidaris.

Who is Michael Tsifidaris and why might the Jehovah’s Witnesses not have released his name in their report? Michael Tsifidaris is a founding member of KPS Consulting. It is an international business consultancy firm operating in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2000, has 1200 consultants, has completed over 370 projects, with an annual turnover of about €158 Million.

Similarly to Philipp Fusz, Michael Tsifidaris has a degree in Business Management and he has also written a book. The book is entitled, Management der Innovation: Pragmatische Konzepte zur Zukunftssicherung des Unternehmens. He is not only the founding member of KPS, he is Head of the Strategy & Transformation Consulting. He is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Is it any wonder then that the Jehovah’s Witnesses did not name him in their report? This is a religion that frowns on third level education. And yet their spokesperson, Michael Tsifidaris, would not be as successful a business man as he is today if he had followed the advice of his beloved cult. Instead, he might be cleaning windows in the cold and rain to finance his career as a pioneer peddling worthless magazines and a website for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. And ironically, if he had taken that vocational route, it would be unlikely he’d be their Public Relations spokesperson in Hamburg today.

Michael Tsifidaris may be “an elder from hamburg”, but he is much more than that. He’s a very successful business man and with that backdrop of a career, a most able spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg.