LEGAL PROBLEMS

From 1924 to 1926 the State Revenue Department had considered the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society strictly charitable in nature and had demanded no taxes on literature placement receipts, but this exemption was retracted in 1928. A trial resulting in a good deal of publicity was the outcome, since the Society had seen to it that the public was notified by means of The Watch Tower and The Golden Age of this attack instigated by the leaders of the two large church systems. That this attack had come from the churches was later openly admitted by them with the explanation that it was ‘to hinder the Bible Students in their distribution of Biblical information.’ The brothers urged all righteously disposed persons to sign a petition against this unjust action. It is understandable that the court was deeply impressed when a petition with no less than 1,200,000 signatures was presented. The courts later ruled in our favor.

Another means by which the religious leaders tried to halt the tremendous progress of the work was to get the publishers into conflict with the laws of the land. As early as 1922 came the first cases of “illegal peddling and refusal to pay peddling taxes.” In 1923 there were additional legal cases, and once again the accusation was “violation of peddling regulations.” Severe sentences were meted out. In 1927, 1,169 brothers were arrested and brought to trial for “violation of peddling laws” and “peddling without a license.” In 1928 there were 1,660 court cases, and in 1929 there were 1,694. But the clergy kept searching for a law that could be used as a weapon to silence the Bible Students. Finally, they thought they had found that for which they had been looking. The Saarbrücker Landes Zeitung of December 16, 1929, referred to this:

“Unfortunately the police have been powerless in doing anything about the work of the Bible Students. Arrests made up until now . . . have all ended up in acquittal . . . Now, however, the Court of Justice in Berlin in a similar case has upheld a sentencing, laying down the principle that the offering of religious literature from house to house and on the streets comes under the police ordinances regarding keeping the sabbath rest of Sunday and holidays in those cases where physical effort is involved, thus putting it under the jurisdiction of work, and where the public takes notice of such.

“Fortunately several courts in the Saar territory have been able to sentence defendants in similar cases since hearing about this ruling. This offers an opportunity to now put an end to the work of the Bible Students.”

ACTION IN BAVARIA

Attempts to do this took place all over Germany, but Bavaria held a predominant position, more arrests being made there than any place else. For a time local laws even succeeded in banning the work briefly. In 1929 the Society decided to make a concerted “one-day attack” on the section south of Regensburg by sending in some 1,200 publishers to preach on a single Sunday. Arrangements were made with the railroad company for two special trains, one to start in Berlin and pick up brothers from Leipzig, and a second from Dresden to pick up brothers from Chemnitz and other cities in Saxony. Each passenger would pay a fare of some 25 marks, which, at that time, was a goodly sum. But the brothers were more than willing to make this sacrifice. They only wanted to make sure that they would be able to take part in this action, for the enemy was not sleeping.

While arrangements were being made for this campaign the brothers were convinced that the clergy would make use of their influence to prevent it should they hear about it beforehand. For that reason the brothers did all they could to keep it secret. Despite this, they were unable to prevent the clergy from finding out, in some way or another, about a week before. Suddenly the railroad was unwilling to let us have the two special trains. Immediately all the congregations involved were instructed to rent buses. The clergy heard about this too, and arranged for all the roads leading out of Saxony to be heavily policed on the coming weekend. These police officials would find some reason for stopping all the cars filled with Bible Students, delaying them long enough so that they would have to return home with their mission unaccomplished.

In the meantime the railroad company had heard about our bus arrangements and, deciding that they were losing a great deal of business, agreed at the last minute to permit the two special trains to run after all. The brothers at once canceled the buses. This last change in plans, just two days before time of departure, went undiscovered by the clergy. So, while they were out in force watching all the highways, the two special trains were joined together at Reichenbach (Vogtland) and entered the Regensburg vicinity as one single special train about 2:00 o’clock in the morning. From there on, the train stopped at every railroad station to let some of the brothers off, some of whom had brought their bicycles along so that they could go out into the countryside and work there too.

A tremendous witness was given that day, for everyone had been provided, not only enough literature to place on a contribution, but also plenty to give away free. The brothers had decided to try to leave something at every home. A number of brothers were arrested and were unable to return home with the special train, but those who had the privilege of taking part in this campaign never tired of talking about it thereafter. We are certainly not mistaken in assuming that our adversaries also long remembered this weekend.

MORE COURT CASES

During 1930 another 434 court cases were instituted. That meant that, together with the cases already pending, there were now 1,522 cases up before the courts for settlement.

But our religious enemies had a difficult time attempting to brand us as lawbreakers in 1930, because a circular directed to all police officials from the Ministry of the Interior, dated April 19, contained the following sentence: “The association at present pursues solely religious objectives and is not politically active . . . in the future the introduction of criminal proceedings, especially as regards violations of the Reich’s Peddling laws, is to be avoided.”