Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

98 Yearbook
branch office also wrote sending a copy of the letter from
the Ministry of Economic Affairs and no more has been
heard of that case. In a small town in the Flanders the
local police thought they would ban Jehovah's witnesses and
they took it upon themselves to confiscate a pioneer's literature.
Efforts were made by the company servant and other
brethren of a nearby company to get the literature back,
but to no avail. The branch office advised the nearby company
to organize a public meeting in the town and work it with
a group. When the brethren thus called their bluff the police
did nothing and later the pioneer's literature was returned.
That which has worked the greatest hardship on our
Christian educational work was caused by a circular letter
coming from the minister of justice dated June 6, 1950, which
included the Watch Tower publications with the artistic
and literary works which are prohibited to be transported
by the Belgian railway and postal systems. We were
not informed of this unjust action, but a friend sent us a
copy of the circular. We addressed a written protest to the
minister of justice, and many other Belgian citizens also sent
letters of protest, but until now they have all been ignored.
It is certainly ridiculous to ban our publications from being
transported when they are otherwise permitted to freely
circulate in the country. We are dOing all we can to get this
matter before the proper authorities so that this wrong
may be rectified. It is impossible for Christians to understand
why Bible publications should be hindered in any way from
freely Circulating, especially now that atheism is increasing
everywhere and godless communism is threatening to sweep
across Europe. It is hoped that honest men in the government
will correct this wrong before more harm is done.
Numerous articles have been published in the Beligian
newspapers and magazines accusing Jehovah's witnesses
and the Watch Tower Society of being connected with a
fanatical native movement in the Belgian Congo called the
"Kitawala". In Belgium the law requires that when someone
answers an article published by a newspaper or magazine
the newspaper or magazine must publish the answer. We
have taken advantage of this right to defend the Kingdom
work against these slanderous articles, and our answers
have been published.
Since January 21, 1949, the work of the Watch Tower
Society has been banned in the Belgian Congo and the true
witnesses of Jehovah have had to suffer because of these
false reports. Written protests have been made to the minister
of colonies and ample proof submitted that Jehovah's
witnesses and the Watch Tower Soclety are not connected
with the subversive "Kitawala", but these protests have