In 1938, András Bartha, who had worked at the Society’s office in Magdeburg, Germany, for five years and then had served in what was then Czechoslovakia, found himself in Hungarian territory after parts of Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine were annexed by Hungary. Brother Bartha was promptly assigned to look after the Society’s work in Hungary.

As Brother Bartha had become fully occupied with translation work, in 1940 the Society entrusted János Konrád, a former zone servant (circuit overseer), with the direction of the work in Hungary.