As he already informed you before, he felt that the generous contribution of dear Mrs. Collins towards the purchase of a national endowment for Austria should be used for that purpose only, and not diverted to anything to do with the furnishing or embellishing of the Hazíratu’l-Quds.
He hopes that the presence of a devoted American Bahá’í, Mrs. Edna Johnson Norvell in Austria will be of help to the friends. She is most eager to serve and assist them in every way she can.
It has been recently a great pleasure for the Guardian to receive here as his guests four of the pioneers to Athens. This contact has been most welcome, and he feels that your Assembly can be proud of these fine young people, who are making every effort to achieve the goals set for the German Bahá’ís in Greece.
He has also had the great pleasure of receiving here the first German Bahá’í since before the war; namely, Miss Weber, one of the pioneers to Crete.
He hopes that the German Bahá’í Community will make every effort to send forth a greater number of pioneers to the countries which have been made their particular responsibility under the World Crusade, and also to reinforce the work in Austria. They must never forget that one of the first “pioneers”, before the days when that term was even in use, was dear Mr. Benke, who sacrificed his life in the service of the Faith with such an exemplary spirit of devotion that the Guardian felt impelled to call him the first European martyr for the Faith. This was a great distinction and blessing conferred on the German Bahá’ís, and should stimulate many others to follow in his footsteps.
The Guardian is very sorry that there has been so much delay as regards the Temple in Frankfurt, both because of the difficulty of obtaining permission to build on the site chosen, and the difficulty in coming to a decision about the design.
He feels that, as this is the Mother Temple of Europe, and an institution which will be supported by contributions from Bahá’ís all over the world, that it has a very great importance; and must under all circumstances be dignified, and not represent an extremist point of view in architecture. No one knows how the styles of the present day may be judged two or three generations from now; but the Bahá’ís cannot afford to build a second Temple if the one that they built at the present time should seem too extreme and unsuitable at a future date.
In view of this, he has pondered very carefully over the designs which were submitted to him, and also consulted Mr. Remey. He hopes to come to a decision, and will inform your Assembly accordingly.
He appreciated very much the cooperative spirit shown by many of the German architects and their offer to come here and consult with him. This would have been impractical, and a waste of the money of the Faith; but, if your Assembly has occasion, he would like it to please thank these gentlemen for their friendly and cooperative spirit as regards our Temple.
He feels that the National Hazíratu’l-Quds in Frankfurt should act as the Secretariat of the National Assembly as well. This is the main reason why the Bahá’ís have National Headquarters—so that the office of the National Spiritual Assembly can operate from the National Assembly’s permanent address. It may not be convenient at times, but it is essential that this should be done. He has informed other national bodies of the same thing, that is, those who had not already placed their Secretariat in their Hazíratu’l-Quds.