They were replaced by Josef Bahner and Bohumil Müller.

The first person imprisoned as a Christian neutral in this country was Bohumil Müller. He wrote: “I was to take up military service on October 1, 1937. My conscience, however, told me that God does not want his servants to ‘learn war.’ (Isa. 2:4) I relied on Jehovah to give me enough strength and endurance for the trials ahead. Because of my stand, by the end of March 1939, I had been summoned before a military court four times and each time sentenced to several months in prison. Looking back at those days, I can now say that I am grateful for those trials because they prepared me for much worse times to come.”

On April 1, Bohumil Müller was released after serving a prison term for being a Christian neutral. On his way from prison to the train station, he phoned the branch office. He later said: “I told them I would come the next day to do whatever I could. Three of us were at Bethel that day. There was much work to do. Some of the printing equipment was already prepared at a port for shipment to the Netherlands. The rest needed to be packed immediately. Brother Matejka and I took care of this task while Brother Kapinus was clearing the offices and Bethel premises. In the meantime we were also translating magazines—The Watchtower and Consolation (now Awake!). We also managed to move out a large quantity of Czech books and booklets that the Gestapo had not been interested in during a raid in March. Nevertheless, the Gestapo visited the branch several times during the liquidation.”

After the occupation began, it was evident that conditions for preaching would be very difficult. Many brothers left Czechoslovakia. Brother Dwenger left for Switzerland just the evening before the Gestapo came to arrest him. Brother Müller was also preparing to leave. He had received the necessary permission from State authorities to do so when a letter arrived from the branch in Bern indicating that it would be beneficial if he could continue in his assignment, providing needed oversight and encouragement to the brothers in Czechoslovakia. Brother Müller immediately agreed, and in order to keep from changing his mind, he destroyed his passport.

Forty-eight years later, he said: “If someone would ask me now if I ever regretted not leaving Prague in the spring of 1939, I would definitely answer, ‘No!’ I never regretted staying. In time, I realized that this was where I belonged. Here is where Jehovah and his organization put me. Why, all the cruel suffering and beatings that I often endured were far outweighed by the joy I felt as I observed the growth of the work from year to year and the increase in the crowd of joyful worshipers of the Almighty around me!”

But when Brother Müller, formerly his coworker, met him in 1940, Kopetzky was a different man. It happened this way: The brothers had mimeographed a Bible publication and put it into envelopes for mailing. Brother Müller put them in a bag and rode his bicycle from one post office to another in Prague. He dropped a few envelopes into each mailbox. He said: “When I entered one of the post offices, I saw a man waiting at the counter, dressed in the uniform of a member of the SS. I stopped, but before I decided what to do, the man turned around and we stood face-to-face. For a moment we stared at each other. Much to my surprise, I was looking into the face of a former brother, Karel Kopetzky! I quickly regained my composure, walked to one of the counters and grabbed a form, exited the post office, and sped away on my bike.”

The following year Brother Müller, who was then providing oversight for the work in this country, was arrested and taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp.