• Switzerland and Liechtenstein
    1987 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • What is more, a special issue of The Golden Age was prepared containing all the facts about this convention.

      Here you see the front cover of that magazine depicting a priest’s black hat on a pole before the skyline of Lucerne! The text below the picture reads “Der neue Gesslerhut” (“The New Gessler Hat”). Who was this Gessler? In Friedrich Schiller’s epic Wilhelm Tell, Gessler is portrayed as an oppressive bailiff who tried to subjugate the freedom-loving people around Lake of Lucerne in the 13th century. He is said to have pitched his hat on a pole and forced the people to bow to it in submission and allegiance. So the symbol of despotism​—Gessler’s hat—​figured on the front cover of this special issue of The Golden Age, thus alluding to the clergy-inspired suppression of freedom of speech on this occasion.

      There were 100,000 copies of this issue printed, 20,000 of which were mailed free of charge to all households in Lucerne and its surroundings. A reprint of 18,000 copies became necessary, and these, too, were used up within a few days. Even today that 1936 convention in Lucerne lingers in the memory of many!

      One person whose attention was aroused by that special issue of The Golden Age was Edouard Zysset, who was living in Bern. He contacted the Society’s office, and after a lively discussion with the responsible editor, Brother Zürcher, he left with a stack of publications under his arm.