The Parting of the Ways - 2

 

There is a certain poignancy to these two advertisements from the Washington DC Evening Star for October 7, 1922, page 10. In the Church Notices under Bible Students you were given two choices.

There were the regular meetings of the IBSA group at the Pythian Temple Auditorium. G W Walters was a local man, whose lectures were often advertised at this venue over 1921-1922. The visiting speaker was W E Van Amburgh.

But there was also a meeting being sponsored by the Associated Bible Students, which was the name now used by those who separated from the Watch Tower Society. The speaker here was F H Robison. Robison and Van Amburgh had been at Bethel together for many years and were jailed together as part of the “Brooklyn 8” in 1918. But Robison had left Bethel and his position on the Watch Tower editorial committee early in 1922. His journey would lead him into Universalism by 1923.

Here they were at the same city, lecturing at different venues. Interestingly, the timing as advertised would have allowed any wavering or curious to attend both meetings.

Franz Zürcher

Although relating to events a little more recent than the general focus of this blog, this is an account that some may find of interest. Thanks are due to “Franco” who kindly sent the scans used originally.

 

Franz Zürcher (1891-1978) worked at the Bible Students/Jehovah’s Witnesses Central European Office in Switzerland for nearly 55 years. He started in 1923, although his first couple of years were spent taking the Photodrama of Creation film out to Belgium, Alsace-Lorraine, along with locations in Switzerland. For many years he was the Branch Servant in Switzerland. In the 1930s he was the editor of the German edition of The Golden Age magazine. In 1943 he was sentenced to gaol (i.e. jail) for his activities.

He is known for writing a book published by the Society, which apparently was never officially translated into English. Crusade Against Christianity was first published in German in 1938, and then translated into French and Polish in 1939. It detailed the persecution of the witnesses under the Nazi regime, and some of the material appeared in the English edition of Golden Age.

Here are some covers of the three language editions.

First published in German in 1938. The publisher was Europe-Verlag, Zurich-New York.

 

Translated into French and Polish (both 1939)

The French translation was also published by Europe-Verlag, Zurich-New York. However, you will note that the Polish translation added Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Berne.

Franz Zürcher remained an active witness in the Berne Bethel until the end of his life, and is one of the comparatively few witnesses to have an obituary in the Watchtower magazine. See Watchtower for August 1, 1978, page 31.

Report on Foreign Missions