Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb were designated as “international conventions,” and special arrangements were made to accommodate tens of thousands of delegates from other countries.

And entertaining tens of thousands of guests, as did the Witnesses in Budapest and Prague, was an unbelievably massive project.

In Budapest a policeman was asked to compare the Witnesses assembled in the huge stadium with the usual soccer crowds. He smiled, looked up, and said: “The difference is like that between heaven and earth.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” he replied, “just look. Nobody is smoking, there is no litter anywhere, and the people are courteous. They do what you ask them to do.”

The Public Marveled

Pesti Hírlap, a Budapest newspaper, reported: “More than 40,000 spent this weekend at Népstadion. No piece of paper, no breadcrumb, nor cigarette butt was left.” Fehérvár Hírlap, another city paper, said: “Those who strayed into Népstadion by chance between July 26 and 28 were surely pleasantly surprised. . . . They could see the rarely experienced example of Christian conduct and way of life.”

Over the weekend torrents of rain inundated Budapest; more than two inches [5 cm] fell. But it did not stop the Witnesses. “It is fantastic! It is mindboggling!” a policeman was overheard to say. “They keep coming and coming . . . Nothing can hold them back.” On Monday one newspaper headlined its article “Prayer in the Rain” and quoted delegates: “We are only washed by the rain, not washed away!”

Budapest had visitors from 35 countries, most of them from Poland and Germany, but sizable representations also came from many other places, including about 500 from the Soviet Union.

These talks, of course, were translated for the benefit of the three major language groups, and in Budapest and Prague, they were translated into many other languages as well.

The various translators for these language sections stood on the field directly in front of their language group. Loudspeakers focused at that particular language sector made it possible to hear one’s own language without being unduly disturbed by the translations being presented in other languages in other sections. In Budapest, for example, talks by Governing Body members were translated into Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish, in addition to the principal languages of Hungarian, Polish, and German.

In Budapest, 2,203 delegates stayed in private homes.

In addition, many schools and gymnasiums in Budapest and Prague served as living quarters. Over 40 schools were used in Budapest to accommodate 7,930 persons.

Budapest convention, where, rain or shine, the 40,000 delegates enjoyed the program

Hungary (Budapest) 40,601 1,134

In Budapest the languages were Hungarian, Polish, and German;