But the forces of evil were not idle. Nazi soldiers were goose-stepping, and the regime's attitude toward the Church soon manifested itself. In May 1933 Nazi soldiers interrupted a gathering of the Saints; that same month in another part of Germany two missionaries were beaten by a uniformed Nazi. In 1934 the Church's Boy Scout movement was disbanded by government order, and the tract Divine Authority was prohibited. A year later Articles of Faith by Elder James E. Talmage was banned, and copies of the book were ordered burned. In 1937 permission was withdrawn for distribution of most of the other tracts of the Church. A year later some leading German Latter-day Saints were jailed and charged with "high treason" for fulfilling their religious duties. The shadow of Hitler had been cast.

Despite these difficulties, the forces of righteousness were not left without preparation for that which was to come. It is inspiring to read that on July 2, 1935, instructions were sent to all missionaries in Germany to find and set apart local leaders as branch presidents and counselors. The Lord's faithful were not to be left untrained in the principles of the priesthood.

The instructions came none too quickly, for on August 25, 1939, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Council of the Twelve arrived in Germany to inform all missionaries to leave at once. And herein lies one of the most inspiring stories of World War II. President Douglas Wood called a tall, 200-pound missionary from Idaho into his office and said, "Elder, we have 31 missionaries lost somewhere between here and the Dutch border. It will be your mission to find them and see that they get out."

The young elder set out with 500 marks and some tickets for Denmark and London, and was told to follow his impressions entirely. He boarded a train and headed westward, not knowing where to go. Cologne was not his destination, but he felt impressed to get off the train there. The large station was filled with thousands of people. How was he to find the missionaries? He began to whistle "Do What Is Right," and in a corner of the station an elder and a married missionary couple heard the call and quickly received their tickets for Denmark.

The tall elder again boarded the train and continued his mission, getting off at border stations at town after town only when he felt inspired to do so. Led by inspiration, he found 17 missionaries, who were able to flee Germany that night. Shortly thereafter a report reached mission headquarters that all missionaries were safely out of Germany. Nine days later the war broke out.

The story of the Church in Germany and Austria during the war years is full of inspiring incidents. Few dared speak against the Nazis, yet three young members of the Church did. After listening to a British radio program, these youths printed and distributed the information in public places. One of them, Helmuth Hübener, was given the death sentence for high treason and beheaded by an ax. The other two were sentenced to concentration camps. Today, a building in Hamburg honors young Brother Hübener, a Latter-day Saint who dared to speak out.

Some of the poignant stories surround the efforts of German branches to gather clothing for other German Saints who had lost their belongings in the air raids, such as the efforts of the Altona Branch on behalf of suffering members in the Ruhr District.

Many times during 1943-44, when the Allies were bombing heavily, the Saints were inspired to leave their sacrament or Sunday School meetings to prepare for an air raid.

In 1945, toward the war's end, District President Willy Deters wrote: "Hell has opened its fiery portals. It is almost impossible to visit the branches. Planes attack trains constantly. No rest can be found at night. Many of the brethren are called into the service that are either very young, 15, or over 50 in an organization called 'Volkssturm,' so that they might save the fatherland. Reasoning now has changed to madness."

The war had reaped its terror and destruction, and had left its mark on millions of Germans. More than 600 Saints were known to have been killed, another 2,500 were missing, and more than 80 percent were homeless. In Bremen alone, 95 percent of the Saints lost their homes. There was little food, and in Danzig members lived on "weeds, cats, dogs, a few potatoes, and carcasses of animals. As the old and sick couldn't obtain even these things, it was suggested that this 'food' should be tithed, and accordingly a tenth of it was given to the most needy." No finer testimony to the gospel's power and effectiveness need be given. Tested in the crucible of fear, hunger, and destitution, the faithful Saints who found themselves victims of man's worst expression— war—were characterized by love and brotherhood.