Four years later, two more Bible Students returned from the United States. They had learned the truth about God and his purposes by attending some of Brother Russell’s public discourses. Brother Russell made it a practice, after such programs, to approach those in the audience whom he had seen attend several times before. He would ask: “Where are you from? What is your nationality? Would you like to return to your relatives and share the truth with them?”

One of these two Bible Students, Károly Szabó, returned to the town of Marosvásárhely (now Tîrgu-Mureş, Romania), which was then in Hungary. The other brother, József Kiss, worked with Brother Szabó distributing literature in that vicinity before returning to his own hometown, Abara (now Oborín, Slovakia). Their activity brought results, for Brother Szabó’s family accepted the truth, and later more people in that area took their stand for the truth and joined in preaching the good news.

Hungarian Field in North America

Andrásné Benedek, Károly Szabó, József Kiss, and the professor from Canada are only a few of the many who learned the truth in North America and returned to Hungary in order to preach the good news.

Later, Károly Szabó wrote to Brother Russell, saying: “The work in Hungary is much more difficult than in America, because the friends, with few exceptions, are very poor, and the work must be done on a much smaller scale. . . . There are at present forty-two small classes in various counties . . . The eleventh and twelfth of May we had a little convention, about 100 being present. . . .

“The pastors and priests of various denominations have sought to stop our work in a legal way. We were haled before the court. We have been able so far to defend our course.”

Szabó Imprisoned

Thanks to Jehovah’s blessing on the zeal of Brothers Kiss and Szabó and others, when World War I broke out, there were study groups in various towns outside the capital​—Hajdúböszörmény, Bagamér, and Balmazújváros in eastern Hungary, and Nagyvisnyó in northern Hungary. Not only was there a group in Marosvásárhely but there was also one in Kolozsvár (Cluj), both of which cities are now in Romania.

The clergy were annoyed by the zealous activity of Brothers Kiss and Szabó and incited the government to take action against them. Both were arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. However, during the 1919 revolution, they were released, and immediately they started to build up communication between the congregations. This became more difficult, though, as a result of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, which stripped Hungary of much of its territory and consigned this to surrounding countries.

A few days after his arrival in Cluj, he met with Károly Szabó and then with József Kiss in order to reorganize the work in both Hungary and Romania. They searched for a suitable place for an office. The preaching of the good news in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania came under the supervision of this office.