Chapter 19
LETTER OF 31 JULY 1946
31 July 1946
Dear Baha'i-Brother:
Your letter of July 1st was received by our beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
He was delighted to hear of the Baha'i wedding which recently took place in your Community of Stuttgart Baha'is and he thanks all the dear friends who were present, whose names you forwarded to him on the list enclosed in your letter, for their greetings and their loving thought of him.
In connection with the National Administrative Center of the Faith being in Frankfurt, he wishes to point out to you the following:
This is a purely practical measure because Frankfurt a/M is so much more centrally located than Stuttgart in the south of Germany. The dear friends of Stuttgart must not for a moment feel that this detracts from the unique place their city occupies in the history of the Faith in Germany.
It is very similar to what has happened in the United States; 'Abdu'l-Baha conferred many honours on New York and called it the "City of the Covenant", but this did not prevent Chicago from being chosen as the National Administrative Headquarters owing to its central position in America.
The Stuttgart friends should do all in their power to foster the development of this Administrative Headquarters in Frankfurt, and to ensure its success, as this is what is best for the development of the Faith in Germany. But you can be sure Stuttgart holds a unique position and has received from the Master Himself unique distinction.
It is probable, but not certain, that the first Temple will also, for the same reason, be in Frankfurt. The publis.h.i.+ng work, likewise, should be there in the future, but at present its location is for the N.S.A. to decide.
He was very pleased to hear you are requiring all Baha'is to withdraw from church members.h.i.+p and similar organizations; he considers your Community the mother community in spirit, and is confident it will continue to lead the way in its exemplary conduct.
You may be sure his loving prayers will be offered for the success of the teaching and administrative work of the Stuttgart believers...
P.S. In the future Stuttgart must naturally have its own administrative headquarters for that city, and he hopes you will soon have found a suitable meeting place.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
I was so pleased to receive your most welcome letter. The friends in that centre are very dear and near to me, and I cherish the brightest hopes for their future in the service of our beloved Faith. The Beloved poured forth His manifold blessings upon them and greatly admired their spirit. May His Spirit continue to guide, sustain and bless them in their future services and high endeavors for the promotion of His Faith.
Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi
LETTER OF 22 NOVEMBER 1946
22 November 1946
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your most welcome letter of Aug. 21st reached our beloved Guardian after a long delay, as you can see, but brought him great joy. He has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.
He is fully aware of the very sad and difficult conditions under which you are labouring to reestablish the spiritual well-being of the German and Austrian believers, but he feels confident that your great faith, determination and devotion will enable you to achieve your ends and the aid of Baha'u'llah is surely vouchsafed you as you serve His Cause and seek to bring enlightenment and inner comfort to the war-weary German people.
In connection with the various points you raise in your letter:
He is very anxious to see the "Sonne der Wahrheit" published again; as it will greatly a.s.sist you in sustaining and guiding the German believers and in teaching other German-speaking people. He urges you to go on pet.i.tioning the U.S. authorities for permission to resume this important activity.
That so many members of the former "Baha'i World Union" should now be seeking enrollment as believers greatly pleases him, and he feels you should by all means accept them as registered Baha'is,
He would like to receive regularly the minutes of your a.s.sembly's meetings in German; it is not necessary to translate the whole thing each time, but if a short summary of the important points could also be sent in English he would appreciate it.
The flouris.h.i.+ng activities of the Baha'i Summer School at Esslingen greatly pleased him, and he is so happy to see the way the friends have not only protected this Baha'i Home during the long years of war and persecution, but immediately rallied around it again and made it once more a source of unity and a center of Baha'i study.
The long sessions of your National a.s.sembly meetings are very essential for the promotion of the work in Germany and the rehabilitation of the affairs of the Cause there. In your meetings he urges you to give considerable attention to carrying out the following very important tasks: It is of the utmost importance that the friends be well supplied with not only Baha'i literature, but with a regular Baha'i News letter-the organ of your a.s.sembly-and also with their own magazine, the "Sonne der Wahrheit".
He therefore urges you all to persevere in pus.h.i.+ng these publication matters forward. Needless to say the translation work must also go on uninterruptedly and receive first attention, as there is now a wealth of Baha'i literature in English for you to draw upon and which is much needed by the German friends to help deepen their understanding of the Divine Cause, and better enable them to teach it.
The teaching work is, of course, the most important of all. He has been very encouraged to see the efforts the friends are making in the U.S. Zone and to hear of the good results they are achieving. But the primary responsibility for this great work rests on your a.s.sembly, and you must devise as many ways and means as possible for prosecuting your teaching plans on a wide scale and covering a wide field. Now that your country is in such a state of despair, and the people have suffered so deeply, their hearts are more receptive, as you pointed out in your letter, and therefore at this time they must be approached with the Divine Message before internal integration and new problems or new possibilities arise to sidetrack their attention. He hopes that you will continually urge the friends to arise and teach, that you will devise ways and means (such as the summer-school and various conferences, committees, etc.) of training more of them-particularly the youth-as public speakers and teachers and, in short, leave no stone unturned in prosecuting this major task.
Hand in hand with this intensification of the teaching work must go the multiplication of groups and their development into Spiritual a.s.semblies.
Another important matter to which he wishes to draw your special attention is that of the Nat. Baha'i Headquarters in Frankfurt. He fully realizes the obstacles which must be overcome in order to carry out this historic project, but feels sure that Baha'u'llah will help and guide you to find a suitable spot and make preliminary arrangements. Ten thousand pounds is now reposing in the special fund he has established in?ihran for the rehabilitation of the Faith in Germany and the relief of the dear friends there. A considerable part of this he himself has contributed to this community which both the Master and he love so dearly-so you see the means to help you carry out the many great tasks confronting you are there. He is most anxious that this money should reach you, and hopes ways can soon be found of sending it to your a.s.sembly; you should constantly bear this in mind, and let him know of any possible means you find of transmitting this sum.
I need not a.s.sure you of how dear your work is to the heart of our Guardian, of how eagerly he receives news of your activities, of how much he appreciates your many self-sacrificing and exhausting labours for the promotion of our beloved Cause! You are very often remembered in his prayers, and he feels sure that the Master is extending you His own aid in serving His Faith in that country He loved so much....
[From the Guardian:]
Dearly-beloved co-workers:
It is such a joy, mingled with feelings of deep thankfulness to Baha'u'llah, to be able to resume direct correspondence with the elected national representatives of a community that has achieved so much in the past for our Faith, that has been so dearly loved by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and is destined to spread, as He foretold, the light of G.o.d's sacred Revelation not only in the heart of Europe but throughout that dark, war-devastated spiritually famished continent. Now that the shackles imposed upon that community have been removed, and its chief and central administrative inst.i.tution is again vigorously functioning, a concerted, sustained and systematic effort must be made, not only by its members, but by the rank and file of its supporters throughout that land, to expand, multiply and consolidate the community's nascent inst.i.tutions, widen, considerably and rapidly, the range of its literature, establish, firmly and definitely, in however rudimentary a form its national headquarters in Frankfurt situated in the heart of that country, reinforce and develop the work a.s.signed to its national committees, revitalize its summer-schools and other subsidiary inst.i.tutions, maintain and develop its contact, through correspondence, with national and local administrative bodies throughout the Baha'i world, devise effective measures for the proclamation, boldly and determinedly, of the message to the ma.s.ses, fortify and enrich its corporate life and lay an una.s.sailable foundation for its future development. The task is immense, the opportunities are priceless and manifold, the hour is critical and challenging, the promises given by 'Abdu'l-Baha are clear, unmistakable, and soul-refres.h.i.+ng, His a.s.sistance ready and unfailing. All that is required, in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed to this community by Baha'u'llah is to arise with courage, high resolve and clear vision, to carry out the immediate task in its entirety, and thus prepare the way for the opening of a new and still more glorious chapter in the history of the evolution of the Faith in that land. I pray from all my heart for the speedy and complete realization of the high hopes I cherish for that dearly-beloved, long-suffering, richly blessed community.
Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi
LETTER OF 18 FEBRUARY 1947 (SUMMER SCHOOL)
18 February 1947 (Summer School)
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your letter sent to our beloved Guardian from the Esslingen Baha'i Summer School session of August 1946, brought him great joy, and he has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.
It is wonderful to see that the German believers are not only free at last to meet and propagate the Faith of G.o.d, but that they are also receiving public recognition from officials, and that their numbers are constantly swelling!
All the sufferings the German believers have endured are not in vain; they now see before them many, many of their fellow-countrymen ripe to receive the Message of Baha'u'llah, which, some of them, in the past, would never have listened to for a moment.