In 1937, just two years before Hitler invaded Poland, President Heber J. Grant made a memorable journey from Salt Lake City to Europe (fig. 1). President Grant had served as president of the European and British Missions from 1903 to 1906 and was now returning to Europe as prophet of the Church. He was the second Church President to visit Europe while serving in that capacity. His predecessor, Joseph F. Smith, visited Europe in 1906 and again in 1910.

Although the close succession of President Smith's two visits probably raised hopes among the European Saints that such frequent visits would continue, circumstances prevented any Church President from traveling to Europe again until 1937. The worldwide depression, for example, had forced President Grant to concentrate his efforts on saving the Church and its members from economic catastrophe while maintaining the Church's missionary effort, temple work, and daily affairs.

Finally, the centennial of the 1837 founding of the British Mission provided President Grant a reason to visit Europe that temporarily superseded his duties at home. Despite his nearly eighty-one years, the prophet was eager to make the arduous journey to fulfill the Saints' righteous desire to hear the voice of the Lord's anointed.

Before joining the Saints in the British Isles for their celebrations— scheduled for late July and early August 1937—President Grant went directly to the continent and spoke to the American Club of Paris on June 24, 1937. His talk was published in the prestigious Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. He then met with the Saints and others in the French, Swiss-German, Czechoslovakian, and German-Austrian missions as well as with the media and government officials.

Following the festivities in the British Isles, President Grant's party returned to the continent to visit several more missions, passing through the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. While in the Netherlands, they stopped at the International Boy Scout Jamboree. They returned to the United States on September 4.

While the history of each of these European missions makes special note of his visit, President Grant's travels in Switzerland and Germany were particularly well documented by a series of photographs offering a rare glimpse of President Grant among the German-speaking Saints. A selection of those photographs is published here, several for the first time.

Historical Context of the Photographs

President Grant left Salt Lake City on June 13, 1937, accompanied by his personal secretary, Joseph Anderson; Sunday School general superintendent George D. Pyper; and recently appointed British Mission president Hugh B. Brown. A few days later, they boarded the Canadian Pacific steam liner Empress of Australia for the journey across the Atlantic, landing at Cherbourg Harbor on the northernmost tip of France the evening of June 22, 1937. The party disembarked the following day and was greeted by Elder Richard R. Lyman, a member of the Twelve Apostles and the current president of the European Mission, by French Mission president Octave F. Ursenbach, and by several others.

Following a visit to Paris, France, and Liege, Belgium (headquarters of the French Mission), President Grant's party made its way to Switzerland, finally arriving in Basel (headquarters of the Swiss-German Mission) on June 28, 1937. Swiss-German Mission president Philemon M. Kelly, along with his wife and a few others, greeted President Grant at the train station. Upon arriving, President Grant reflected that it had been about thirty-three years since he last visited "this lovely land." President and Sister Kelly hosted the visitors in the mission home, where the group enjoyed a brief break from traveling.

The next day, President Grant left Basel (fig. 2) for the French-speaking regions of Switzerland. President Kelly remained behind to continue his labors in Basel. President Grant spent the next three days visiting local congregations of Saints before leaving Geneva on July 1 for Neuchatel, Switzerland. President Kelly joined the party to begin a tour of the Swiss-German Mission on July 2, and President Ursenbach returned to Liege.

. . .

From Zurich, President Grant and his party traveled back through Basel and on to Frankfurt, Germany, to address a large gathering of Saints on the evening of July 8. Members congregated from six districts—Frankfurt, Ruhr, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, München, and Nürnberg—to hear President Grant speak. Many Saints traveled several hours for the opportunity to hear the prophet.

The general meeting for members of the Church and friends was held later that evening (fig. 8). A missionary who attended those meetings noted in his journal that "there were about 870 people present at the meeting, one of the largest group [sic] of saints that have Ever came [sic] together in Europe." Presidents Brown, Lyman, and Kelly all spoke before President Grant, who addressed the members at around nine o'clock. President Grant spoke for almost an hour about the Book of Mormon, the Articles of Faith, and "the first principles of the Gospel." Afterward, he visited and shook hands "for nearly an hour" with the people attending the meeting.

. . .

President Grant and his companions spent the night in a local hotel before leaving for Prague, Czechoslovakia, the following day. En route, they changed trains in Nürnberg, Germany (fig. 9), where a group of about thirty Latter-day Saints and missionaries greeted them. The party spent the next several days in the Czechoslovakian Mission before returning to Germany for a tour of the German-Austrian Mission. On July 12, they visited Hamburg and then made their way to Dresden, Breslau, and Berlin.