NATIONALISTIC OPPRESSION RESURGES

The Nazi regime had been defeated, but the nationalistic spirit became more virulent than ever before. Satan began using this as a new weapon against those who represented God’s Kingdom. As they no longer needed to work underground, the foreign brothers who had escaped being tracked down by the Nazis made their presence known to the Belgian and American authorities. Brother and Sister Hartstang requested a resident’s permit from the authorities. Not only was it refused but on June 4, 1947, the minister of justice gave them eight days to get out of the country! All appeals against this unjust decision proved to be useless.

Pioneers Fritz Schneider, Erwin Klose and Willy Klopper were imprisoned and accused of being Nazi agents. That was really the last straw—the ones who had been tracked down like wild beasts by the Gestapo! Brother Schneider was imprisoned and afterward went back to Germany, a sick man suffering from a lung condition. He died a few years later. Brother Klose was imprisoned for 11 months along with Nazi agents in spite of petitions made by hundreds of brothers and even by local authorities. The American and British military authorities tried, though in vain, to prove that he was a Nazi agent!

PRIESTS EXERT PRESSURE

As the name Jehovah became more familiar to the public, the clergy opposed the Witnesses in countless ways. For example, at the instigation of the priest, opposers chased the brothers out of Lantin by hurling firecrackers at them. At Bolland, a small village near Herve, the priest distributed a pamphlet to his parishioners. It told them what to do when the Witnesses call: “(1) Close your door to these peddlers of the Devil; (2) if they enter unawares, turn your radio up loud or, if that is not possible, two saucepan lids banged together will do the trick.”

It was very difficult to rent a hall to give talks because of clergy pressure. At Tervueren the priest told the owner of a hall that he would rather see it ‘rented to the communists than to the propagandists of this new god.’ In another village the priest mobilized all the children and sent them to the hall, where they made such a noise with saucepan lids that the talk could not be given. On another occasion the priest threatened the owner of a hall that if he rented it to the Witnesses his business would be ruined. The priest would see to it that none of his parishioners would patronize that man’s shop.

The mental attitude of village people toward the Witnesses at that time is well illustrated by the following experience. Brother Schrantz had to visit a brother, but he did not know his address. So he simply asked the first one he met in the village: “Do you know where a man who has a strange religion lives?” He was immediately directed to the house without even mentioning his name!

BAN ON TRANSPORTING BIBLE LITERATURE

In 1950 Belgium was in a state of turmoil because of the return of King Leopold III. Upon the king’s return from exile, demonstrations, strikes and threats of civil war disunited the Belgian people over the royalty question. The Witnesses, now numbering 2,462 ministers, took a neutral stand amid such restlessness. During this time of national tumult and only two days after a new Catholic government came to power, Satan again tried to cripple the Kingdom work.

On June 6, 1950, without any advance notice, the minister of transport prohibited the transportation of the Society’s publications by the Belgian railroad and postal systems. The government ignored all letters that the branch sent in about the matter. How would the brothers and subscribers now receive spiritual food?

The Society organized magazine and literature delivery by truck to all the congregations. Then the publishers delivered the magazines to the subscribers. Jehovah richly blessed this arrangement, which gave the brothers an opportunity to make regular calls on the subscribers.

After repeated requests throughout the 31 years, it was not until October 30, 1981, that the Belgian government removed the ban on the transportation of the Society’s literature!

IN THE ARDENNES AND FLEMISH TERRITORY

In 1951 the number of publishers exceeded the three thousand mark. The prosperity of the 80 congregations greatly alarmed the clergy, who lamented that congregations of Witnesses were springing up even in the extremely Catholic villages of the Ardennes. The Belgian Catholic journal, L’Avenir du Luxembourg (the Belgian province of Luxembourg) of December 2, 1950, showed its concern, saying: “We do not know what is going on . . . but we notice that in several villages in the vicinity of Neufchâteau and Bertrix, Jehovah’s witnesses have taken root.”

Though the clergy’s influence on the people had diminished in the larger cities and towns, the priests still tried to maintain a tight grip in the villages. In Erps Kwerps (Flemish territory) a priest ordered a pioneer to leave the village, but the brother refused. The next day the priest again ordered the brother to leave the village. Since the brother still refused, the priest began to accompany him from door to door, accusing him of being a Protestant and of selling Bibles, which the people were forbidden to read. At each door the pioneer refuted the priest’s accusations. This continued for three hours. Finally, the priest stopped going to the doors. He stood in the middle of the street and loudly spoke to the people, all the while following the brother. On the third day the priest again followed the pioneer, but this time the brother called the police and the priest disappeared. The police no longer were at the beck and call of the clergy.

THE AUTHORITIES SHOW MISTRUST

Because of the Witnesses’ stand for Christian neutrality the authorities did not seem to trust the organization’s peaceable, educational work. Two plainclothes policemen attended almost all the public talks. They would take notes during the talk. As soon as a public talk was advertised, two policemen could be seen in the audience even in small congregations of about 15 publishers. The policemen would often have to sit in a brother’s small kitchen that had been transformed into a Kingdom Hall. In view of the situation at that time, it was deemed advisable that the foreign brothers, including the traveling overseers, not give public talks.

PRIESTS RESUME FORMER WAYS

The brothers were able now to give the unassigned territory more attention. During 1952 the publishers worked 591 towns and villages despite strong opposition from the priests who thought that the Witnesses would never come back, at least not to the remote territories. This time the priests resumed their former ways of doing things, but without police support. They incited the people to chase the Witnesses out of town. During a circuit assembly in Bastogne, the priest tore a handful of pages from the Catholic Bible that a sister was using in the witness work, and another sister was beaten by a fanatical woman who had been egged on by the priest.

In Antwerp other false shepherds tried to prevent an invalid sister from doing street work, which she did in her wheelchair at a location near a store. The storekeeper tried to get rid of her. First he called the police, but the policeman said she was within her rights. Then he enlisted two priests who tried to persuade the sister to leave the place, but to no avail. So the priests decided to push her wheelchair down the street. At this, some taxi drivers from across the street who had been observing the proceedings quickly ran over and told the priests that unless they wanted trouble they had better get on the move. Needless to say, they scurried off.

PROGRESS WITH HELP OF MISSIONARIES

Despite the opposition, the number of publishers increased to 3,623. The Gilead graduates continued to strengthen the brothers and help them to take on added responsibilities. Very soon Belgium was no longer considered a missionary field, so the majority of the missionaries were used in a supervisory capacity, serving at Bethel or as traveling overseers. At that time all the district and circuit overseers were foreigners, and at the branch office there were only three Belgian brothers.

BRANCH OVERSEER EXPELLED

Once again the representatives of the Catholic government expressed their hatred by attacking the brothers who were taking the lead. On April 11, 1953, Brother Calvin Holmes, the branch overseer, received notice that he was being expelled from the country even though he was married to a Belgian sister. Brother G. van der Bijl was appointed as branch overseer in his place.

And what about Brother André Wozniak, whom the Gestapo had been unable to catch and whom a former Catholic government had tried in vain to expel in 1934? This brother was requested to appear before a committee, which decided on his expulsion from the country. But before this could take place there was a change of government. The new minister of justice, not a Catholic, decided not to enforce the decision to expel Brother Wozniak. As in 1934, he again escaped from his persecutors.

The new government, more liberal than the previous one, proved to be somewhat favorable toward the Kingdom work. In fact, on July 28, 1954, one of the government ministers wrote a letter to the Society, saying that the placing of Bibles and Bible literature would not be considered peddling but rather a charitable and nonprofit work.