00:00 In the late 1950’s,
00:03 the opposition against Jehovah’s Witnesses
00:05 in the former Soviet Union
00:07 resulted in homes being searched, brothers being followed,
00:11 and many of our brothers and sisters being sent
00:14 to Communist concentration camps
00:16 in Siberia, among other places.
00:18 In 1956 and 1957,
00:22 over 462,000 convention delegates worldwide
00:27 unanimously adopted a petition
00:29 which clearly outlined the treatment Jehovah’s Witnesses were enduring.
00:33 It was sent to the Soviet authorities,
00:36 but sadly, not much changed.
00:39 The next year, at the 1958 international convention
00:43 at Yankee Stadium in New York,
00:45 a talk was given entitled “Behind the Iron Curtain.”
00:49 During the talk, delegates were surprised
00:52 when a recording of greetings and songs from brothers
00:54 and sisters in the Soviet Union was played.
00:57 Despite the risk of losing their freedom,
01:00 the brothers produced and sent these recordings.
01:03 Well, a few months ago,
01:05 some of those who were involved in making the recording
01:09 were able to listen to it for the first time
01:12 Several of them found out only then
01:15 that the recording had been played at the convention at Yankee Stadium.
01:18 Our team was present at that gathering.
01:38 The brothers told us to prepare songs for a recording.
01:42 When we were singing, I never imagined
01:46 that it was for a convention, because I did not know about that.
01:49 We sang as usual.
01:51 The chorus was made up of about 20 persons,
01:56 and the recording was made in a room
01:59 in a barrack-like building.
02:07 I just looked after the chorus to give them the right tone.
02:12 If someone sang a little off-key, she would right away remark:
02:16 “Altos, you are off!” or “Tenor, you are off!”
02:20 so that there would be no slips, no mistakes.
02:26 We had to be very careful
02:28 when we were recording.
02:31 And so we knew not to talk.
02:33 I could not tell anyone about it.
02:36 It was secret —absolutely secret.
02:45 They chose a brother who spoke very good Russian,
02:47 who had good intonation, and who had a good voice.
02:50 And as I recall, we made the recording on our first attempt.
02:58 Brother Yuriy Dobychin said the greetings.
03:04 I was young then, and I had a good voice.
03:08 So I had to say the greetings
03:12 from the brothers in the Soviet Union
03:15 for the brothers gathered at Yankee Stadium.
03:30 As the brothers who made the recording told me,
03:34 the most difficult assignment for them
03:36 was how to get this recording
03:38 across the border.
03:42 The brothers cut it up into pieces
03:44 and sewed it into the lining of a jacket
03:47 because that’s how confidential letters were sent.
03:52 One married couple from Poland,
03:55 who were vacationing in Russia,
03:57 agreed to take it back with them
03:59 —to take it out of the Soviet Union.
04:03 And that’s where they ran into serious problems.
04:11 From Brother Scheider’s letter,
04:13 who received the audio recording in Poland:
04:19 “The security officers separated our brother from the others.
04:23 “Then an officer said to him:
04:26 ‘Please give us the film and the three letters you have with you.’
04:30 “The brother saw now, of course,
04:32 “that there had been a traitor somewhere.
04:34 “He and his wife were now thoroughly searched.
04:37 “Every square centimeter of their cases
04:40 “was carefully examined together with their contents.
04:44 “Then both were stripped naked.
04:46 “While this was going on, they yelled at the brother:
04:49 ‘Tell us where you have hidden everything or to whom you have given it!’
04:53 “They were absolutely convinced that he had everything with him.
04:57 “Several times they took him to the office
04:59 “of the frontier police and to the security police,
05:02 “searching him again and again
05:05 “and being terribly angry.
05:08 “But they finally had to give up.
05:10 “They kept him back for 24 hours
05:12 “and questioned him in the presence of ten specialists.
05:16 But he came out victorious.”
05:24 Sadly, even the brothers
05:27 who were involved don’t know who this couple
05:30 who brought the tape into Poland was.
07:19 Well, for me it was, of course, a great joy, since the goal was reached after all.
07:22 Everything was so wonderful at that time.
07:25 I really enjoyed it all!
07:27 Nothing could describe the joy I felt.
07:31 I was overwhelmed with feelings.
07:40 And so my voice was recorded, and the greetings were heard
07:45 in New York at Yankee Stadium.
