Amazed at What They Saw
LAST summer in many parts of Eastern Europe as well as in distant Kazakhstan and Siberia, Jehovah’s Witnesses were observed in ways they had never before been seen. Local inhabitants and visitors to the conventions in those places were impressed by, yes, even amazed at, what they saw.
Delegates to Zagreb were told time and time again: “We didn’t think you would come!” Most other tourists had canceled their travel plans—but not Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Times of London reported regarding the convention: “It is, in fact, the first to be organised by Jehovah’s Witnesses in a state at war with itself.”
Policemen were especially astonished. One in Zagreb said: “It would be good to show the mass media what is happening in this stadium, right here, where we see Serbians, Croats, Slovenians, Montenegrins, and others sitting next to one another in peace.”
In Budapest a policeman was asked to compare the Witnesses assembled in the huge stadium with the usual soccer crowds. He smiled, looked up, and said: “The difference is like that between heaven and earth.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he replied, “just look. Nobody is smoking, there is no litter anywhere, and the people are courteous. They do what you ask them to do.”
In Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, 14,654 met at Dynamo Stadium, a few of whom can be seen on the cover of this magazine. A Witness there asked one of the police captains whether his men had had to work hard during the convention. “No, the next time we will send you only two policemen.”
“Why two?” he was asked.
“When one falls asleep,” he jokingly responded, “the other one can look after him.”
The Public Marveled
Pesti Hírlap, a Budapest newspaper, reported: “More than 40,000 spent this weekend at Népstadion. No piece of paper, no breadcrumb, nor cigarette butt was left.” Fehérvár Hírlap, another city paper, said: “Those who strayed into Népstadion by chance between July 26 and 28 were surely pleasantly surprised. . . . They could see the rarely experienced example of Christian conduct and way of life.”
Over the weekend torrents of rain inundated Budapest; more than two inches [5 cm] fell. But it did not stop the Witnesses. “It is fantastic! It is mindboggling!” a policeman was overheard to say. “They keep coming and coming . . . Nothing can hold them back.” On Monday one newspaper headlined its article “Prayer in the Rain” and quoted delegates: “We are only washed by the rain, not washed away!”
In Lvov, where 17,531 met at the Central Ukraine Stadium, a police official told one of the Witnesses: “For any other public event with so many people in attendance, we would need hundreds of policemen. For your convention we had ten, and they were not really needed.”
Then, revealing how much he was impressed by the convention, the official noted: “You excel in teaching others what is good, you talk about God, and you do not engage in violence. We were discussing why we used to persecute you, and we concluded that we had not listened to you and had not known anything about you.”
After her visit to the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye, Siberia, a reporter for the Soviet newspaper Leninskiy Put’ wrote: “It was amazing to see the courtesy, as well as the ability to discern and react to the needs of others, that the servants of Jehovah showed toward one another. I will never forget the words uttered at the convention: ‘You must not steal! You must not lie! You must not drink [excessively]! Be industrious! Help your neighbor!’ After all, these are principles toward which people in general should strive. But we often forget them.
“Impressive, too, was the brotherly attitude shown toward others, the willingness to help. One woman offered us a newspaper so that we would not have to sit down on a dusty bench. When it started to rain, the young woman sitting next to me handed me her umbrella with a smile, and nearby a man literally pulled a soaked young boy under his umbrella. . . .
“The very atmosphere at the convention somehow made a person a little better, a bit more cultured, more noble. It was impossible not to respond with a smile to the kindness displayed by strangers. . . . We left the stadium feeling cleansed, feeling that we had come in touch with something beautiful.”
For the convention in Kiev, over 2,000 came from Moscow and some 4,500 from the Caucasus. An information desk was set up at the airport, and Bible literature was displayed. Many asked questions that were graciously answered. One evening a man approached and said: “I have been observing you for a long time. I am amazed at the kindness with which you talk to people about the Kingdom. Please permit me to give you these flowers as a gift for your excellent work.”
During the baptism at the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye, a newsman was impressed when he saw a number of Russians hugging and congratulating a newly baptized person who was from the Buryat people. Although Siberia is generally free of national prejudices, real friendships between Russians and such peoples are rare. “How were you able to overcome these national barriers?” the newsman asked.
“By applying the Bible principle ‘you must love your neighbor as yourself,’” he was told.
An International Brotherhood
What was so heartwarming especially at the three international conventions was the loving interchange between delegates from around the world. Budapest had visitors from 35 countries, most of them from Poland and Germany, but sizable representations also came from many other places, including about 500 from the Soviet Union. Prague had delegates from 39 countries, including more than 26,000 from Germany, nearly 13,000 from Poland, over 900 from Italy, 570 from the Netherlands, 746 from Sweden, and 743 from Japan. Zagreb had visitors from 15 countries, despite the threat of civil war.
At each international convention, three platforms were set up on the field facing different parts of the stadium. From these platforms the entire program was presented simultaneously in three languages. In Budapest the languages were Hungarian, Polish, and German; in Prague they were Czech/Slovak, Polish, and German; and in Zagreb they were Croatian/Serbian, Slovenian, and Italian. During the instructive Bible drama, which drew from the experiences of ancient Ezra and his associates, delegates speaking different languages could watch the presentation from any of the three language-sections in which they chose to sit.
Most of the principal talks of the conventions were delivered in English simultaneously by different members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Each of these spoke from one of the three platforms. These talks, of course, were translated for the benefit of the three major language groups, and in Budapest and Prague, they were translated into many other languages as well.
The various translators for these language sections stood on the field directly in front of their language group. Loudspeakers focused at that particular language sector made it possible to hear one’s own language without being unduly disturbed by the translations being presented in other languages in other sections. In Budapest, for example, talks by Governing Body members were translated into Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish, in addition to the principal languages of Hungarian, Polish, and German.
At each of the international conventions, the motivating final talk was given by three members of the Governing Body. Their challenge was to finish as closely as possible at the same time. Afterward, voices of many nationalities joined in song, and finally hearts were united in fervent prayer of thanks to Jehovah God for blessing these marvelous gatherings with success.
When the concluding “Amen!” was said, no one wanted to leave. Tears streamed down thousands of faces. From across the large stadiums, handkerchiefs, scarves, and umbrellas were waved back and forth in a parting salute to beloved friends who had maintained integrity to God in the face of long years of bans and imprisonment. In Prague many friends remained for more than an hour, singing and enjoying fellowship.
The marvelous success of these conventions did not come without effort. Literally hundreds of thousands of hours were spent by Jehovah’s Witnesses not only in making preparations to attend but also in caring for the hundreds of details necessary to make these conventions a success.
Preparing the Facilities
The mammoth Strahov Stadium in Prague, which had not been used for a large gathering in years, was in desperate need of repair. There were only about 55,000 usable seats, not nearly enough to handle the number expected for the summer’s largest convention in Eastern Europe. So a broken planing machine was located, repaired, and used to build over 12 miles [18 km] of benches for seating an additional 30,000 or so people.
Making and installing benches, of course, was only part of the work. Painting, cleaning, removing weeds, and general repairs were also needed. Finally, the stadium was decorated with 8,300 pots holding 33,200 flowers and 1,357 coniferous trees. At times a thousand workers were on hand. Altogether over 66,000 hours were spent by volunteers from 260 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Similar work was done to get the stadiums ready in Budapest, Zagreb, and other cities. About 4,000 volunteers spent over 40,000 hours working at the convention grounds in Lvov. Their work was taken as payment for the rental of the facilities. All the benches in the stadium were repaired and painted, and all the toilets were cleaned and fixed. Also, a one-hundred-foot-long [33 m] brick building was constructed that contained additional restroom facilities. Similarly, at Khimik Stadium in Usolye-Sibirskoye, 52 extra toilets were constructed for use during the convention.
The chief engineer at the stadium in Lvov said: “In all my life, I have never seen such strange people. You are working as one big family. I cannot understand it, but working with you is very pleasant.” The administration of the stadium prepared a statement in which they thanked the Witnesses “for their commitment to the work they did and for their fine qualities and sense of responsibility.” The statement concluded: “We wish you a successful convention in Lvov.”
In Kiev the floor of the room where the cafeteria was to be set up needed repair. In two days the work was finished. Two stadium workers came to see the “miracle,” one saying to the other: “In two days they accomplished a task that it takes our people half a year to finish.” The president of the club for aquatic sports told the convention overseer: “You transformed the stadium so much that we can no longer recognize it.”
The staff of the stadium in Kiev wrote in appreciation: “We are thrilled from the heart by the organization of the convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses. . . . As spring creeks join to form an overflowing stream, so the stream of Jehovah’s Witnesses from small to great is flowing together to their feast. This deserves admiration. We are seeing it for the first time. We thank you that you have taught us something by your example.”
Caring for Delegates
One of the largest tasks was the arranging of accommodations for thousands of visitors. Local Witnesses opened their homes to delegates. For the Prague convention, the Czech Witnesses accommodated 6,280 from Poland in their own homes. In Budapest, 2,203 delegates stayed in private homes. And the 278 Witnesses in Kiev accommodated some 750 to 800 visitors.
In addition, many schools and gymnasiums in Budapest and Prague served as living quarters. Over 40 schools were used in Budapest to accommodate 7,930 persons. In Prague, 12,530 slept in schools and gymnasiums. Thousands of air mattresses were obtained for use in these facilities. Over 29,000 who attended the Prague convention stayed in student dormitories and youth hostels, and thousands more were accommodated in regular hotels.
At some conventions, arrangements were made for delegates to sleep on the trains that brought them. About two thousand Witnesses from Zakarpatskaya Oblast used the train coaches as their sleeping quarters in Kiev. Others coming from the Caucasus to Kiev did the same. Likewise, Lithuanian Witnesses traveling to the Tallinn, Estonia, convention slept on the trains that brought them.
Even after they arrived, delegates were cared for in many ways by their thoughtful hosts. For example, arrangements were made in Prague to operate 40 buses to strengthen a line normally covered by one bus only. In addition, because of an advance payment, delegates were able to travel free on public transportation to the convention in the morning and home in the evening simply by showing their convention badges. In the Soviet Union, 11 buses on their way to the convention in Usolye-Sibirskoye from nearby Angarsk were kindly escorted by two cars of the traffic police, one in front and one behind!
Efforts to Attend
Particularly did delegates to certain Soviet conventions travel long distances at great personal expense. Some saved an entire year to pay for their trip. A delegation came all the way from the Pacific Ocean port of Vladivostok, traveling over 2,000 miles [3,200 km] to Usolye-Sibirskoye. Twelve other delegates were from the island of Sakhalin in the Pacific Ocean north of Japan. One was a 20-year-old youth who was accompanied by three other youths with whom he conducts Bible studies.
A bus driver from Sayanogorsk, who intended to be baptized at Usolye, persistently asked his employer for a few days off to attend the convention, but his boss was unwilling to let him go. So the man drove to the city of Abakan and obtained a copy of the Soviet document of this past March 27 that officially recognizes Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religious organization. Despite seeing the document, his boss still would not grant him permission to leave. Early on the day of his departure, after fervent prayer, the man appealed again and finally received permission to go.
Baptism and New Publications
The baptism was a thrilling feature of all these Eastern European conventions. By the symbolic act of water immersion, 18,293 persons attending these conventions went on record before witnesses that they had unreservedly dedicated their lives to serve Jehovah God. One young baptismal candidate in Prague, who had recently received an attractive job offer, noted: “I felt that I had a choice between a trinitarian deity consisting of the U.S. dollar, the German mark, and the Austrian shilling on the one hand and Jehovah on the other. I decided for Jehovah and rejected the offer.”
The baptism in Tallinn was held in an outside pool near the Baltic Sea where an old fortification once used as a prison could be seen in the background. Here many Estonian Witnesses were kept before being sent to labor camps in Russia in the early 1950’s. What a thrill, especially for such older ones, to see 447 new believers symbolize their dedication to Jehovah in a public ceremony!
Another exciting feature of the conventions was the release of new publications. The Lithuanian friends in Tallinn literally leaped from their seats and cried when they were told that the brochure “Look! I Am Making All Things New” was now available in their language. Similarly, a highlight of the conventions in Romania was the release in Romanian of the book Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!, and for the Czechs and Slovaks in Prague, it was the receiving of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in their languages.
Yet, at most of the conventions, the release that brought overwhelming delight was the new book The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived. Already ten million copies have been printed in 59 languages.
Using Freedom Aright
Today, Bible literature is welcomed into Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union. Trucks loaded with The Watchtower and Awake! leave the huge printery of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Selters/Taunus, Germany, and stream across the borders into Eastern European countries. How different from the times when, at the risk of imprisonment, the Witnesses had to smuggle literature into these countries!
Illustrating the wonderful change, the following conversation took place between a customs official and one of Jehovah’s Witnesses about the time of the convention in Tallinn:
“What do you have in that small carton?”
“Magazines.”
“What magazines? Are they God’s magazines?”
“Oh, yes, they are.”
“Jehovah God’s magazines?”
“Yes!”
“Jaa’a, that is good. You may go ahead.”
After the Budapest convention, Arpad Goncz, president of Hungary, invited for a visit a Witness who had been his cellmate during the time of Communist oppression. Mr. Goncz spent an hour with him and afterward asked his former cellmate to convey his best wishes to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Lovers of godly freedom everywhere are truly grateful that present officials, such as Mr. Goncz, now permit freedom of worship in Eastern Europe.
Showing that Jehovah’s people are using their freedom aright, The New York Times this September described a scene in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), explaining: “The slow notes of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ drift across the River Neva . . . The notes floated past rotund sunbathers, toddlers chasing dogs, vendors selling maps of old St. Petersburg and Jehovah’s Witnesses looking for converts.”
Yes, the Witnesses are zealously using their freedom to preach the good news! Would you like to know more about their message? The Soviet newspaper Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda explained: “Detailed information about their activities can be obtained at the places of Bible education of Jehovah’s Witnesses in any city.” Wherever you may live in the world, do not hesitate to inquire.
[Chart on page 13]
CONVENTIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE SOVIET UNION
Country Peak Attendance Baptized
Czechoslovakia (Prague) 74,587 2,337
Hungary (Budapest) 40,601 1,134
Poland (12 cities) 131,554 4,250
Romania (8 cities) 34,808 2,260
Soviet Union (7 cities) 74,252 7,820
Yugoslavia (Zagreb) 14,684 492
Total 30 conventions: 370,486 18,293
[Pictures on page 8, 9]
Right: Translating for different language groups in Prague
Below: Strahov Stadium in Prague filled with over 74,000 delegates
[Pictures on page 10]
Above: Convention in Tallinn, Estonia
Budapest convention, where, rain or shine, the 40,000 delegates enjoyed the program
[Pictures on page 15]
Above: Some of the toilets built for use at Usolye-Sibirskoye, Siberia, convention
Painting stadium and making benches for extra seating in Prague
[Pictures on page 16]
The Bible drama and baptism in Zagreb
[Pictures on page 17]
Upper: Dedication in June 1991 of first Kingdom Hall built by Witnesses in Hungary
Middle: Over 20,000 slept in schools and gymnasiums in Budapest and Prague
Below: Distribution of the book “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” in Usolye-Sibirskoye, Siberia