THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION/A Focus ON THE SOVIET ATTACK

Worthy of Remembrance

Can you imagine the effort involved in that attack-in one day rounding up thousands of families of Witnesses throughout such a large area?  Think of coordinating hundreds, if not thousands, of personnel-first of all to identify the Witnesses and then, under cover of darkness, to carry out simultaneous surprise raids on their homes.   Following that there was the work of loading the people into carts, wagons,  and other vehicles; taking them to railroad stations; and transferring them to freight cars. 

Think, too, of the suffering of the victims.  Can you imagine what it was like to be forced to travel thousands of miles-for up to three weeks or more-in overcrowded, unsanitary  freight cars that had only one bucket for toilet facilities? And try to imagine being dumped off in the Siberian wilderness, knowing  that in order to survive, you would have to eke out an existence in that harsh environment.

April 1951 marks the 50th anniversary of exile of Jehovah's Witnesses. To tell the story of their faithfulness despite decades of persecution, the experiences of survivors have been videotaped. These reveal that-even as was the case with first-century Christians - attempts to prevent people from worshiping God are ultimately doomed to failure.

Next time: THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION/A Focus ON THE SOVIET ATTACK -What the Exile  Accomplished

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