Public Conventions

After the large-scale arrests of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the early 1950’s, it was very difficult for any of them to attend large conventions. From time to time, some of the brothers managed to get to large gatherings held abroad as was the case in 1963 with the “Everlasting Good News” Assembly series. From 1978 to 1988, a limited number of Hungarian delegates were also able to listen to district convention programs in their own language in Austria. The others assembled in the woods of their home country​—first unofficially, then, from 1986 on, with the knowledge of the authorities.

But in 1989 after Jehovah’s Witnesses were granted legal recognition, public conventions were quickly organized. The month after the ban was lifted, 9,073 attended the “Godly Devotion” District Convention in the Budapest Sports Hall. The following year, conventions were held not only in Budapest but also in Debrecen, Miskolc, and Pécs.

In 1991 our first international convention was held in the largest stadium in Hungary, the Népstadion, where 40,601 met to enjoy the warmth of brotherly love. John E. Barr, Milton G. Henschel, Theodore Jaracz, and Karl F. Klein represented the Governing Body and encouraged the Hungarian brothers as well as the visitors from 35 countries by delivering upbuilding talks.

[Pictures on page 108, 109]

From a “forest convention” in 1986 to an international convention in the Népstadion in the capital in 1991