According to the records of the East German Mission, the Halle Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held its meetings in rented rooms at Rathausstrasse 14 in the Hinterhaus. Whereas the city had nearly 200,000 inhabitants when World War II began, only thirty-three were members of the Church.

The Halle Branch had only a few youth and no children (under twelve) at the end of the year 1939. Nevertheless, there is evidence suggesting that the branch was vibrant and perhaps even growing. For example, the history of the East German Mission shows that when the branch moved into the rooms on Rathausstrasse 14 on July 3, 1938, there was a formal dedication ceremony, on which occasion Alfred C. Rees, the president of the mission, delivered the dedicatory address. More than seventy persons attended.[2]

The new rooms must have been of ample size for the branch membership because a conference of the Leipzig District was held there later that year. Once again, President Rees presided over the meeting and this time 203 members and friends attended. The conference sessions were held on Saturday and Sunday, December 3–4, 1938, and most of the attendees would have come by train from as far as fifty miles away (Halberstadt and Magdeburg).[3]

As of this writing, no eyewitnesses or writings of members of the Halle Branch during the war have been located.

In Memoriam

The following member of the Halle Branch did not survive World War II:

Ida Therese Knorre bp. 7 Sep 1935; d. 1 Apr 1941, age 81 (Sonntagsgruss, no. 24, 15 Jun 1941, 96)

Notes

[1] Presiding Bishopric, “Financial, Statistical, and Historical Reports of Wards, Stakes, and Missions, 1884–1955,” CR 4 12, 257.

[2] East German Mission Quarterly Reports, 1938, no. 29–31, East German Mission History.

[3] Ibid., 1938, no. 49.