An important step recently taken by the National Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany has been to establish a special committee, the function of which is to create contacts of mutually helpful cooperation between Bahá’ís and other liberal groups. The country has been divided into different districts, each placed under the jurisdiction of members of the committee, and the preliminary survey proved the essential need of additional Bahá’í literature in the German language. Among the booklets issued for use by this committee, the following titles have been especially helpful: Dr. Esslemont’s What Is the Bahá’í Movement? published by the Bahá’í group in Vienna; The Way to Peace, reprinted from Dr. Esslemont’s book, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, by the Spiritual Assembly of Esslingen; and the introductory article on the Cause entitled The Bahá’í Movement, Its History, Teaching and Significance, by Dr. Hermann Grossmann, published by the believers of Hamburg.

For several years the German Bahá’ís have published a monthly magazine entitled Die Sonne der Wahrheit, in addition to which since March, 1926, the German National Assembly has published an insert entitled Bahá’í Nachrichten, to give the more intimate news of the Cause. Special mention should be made of the publication of Dr. Auguste Forel’s The True Socialism of the Future, by the German Workers’ Abstinence Organization in Berlin; and Present Day Medicine in Self-Expression also by Dr. Forel. The 1927 Year Book of the Esperanto Movement and Palestine by General von Schoenaich are among the German works mentioning the Bahá’í Cause.

An attack on the educational work carried on by the believers of Esslingen, written by F. W. Forester in Die Menscheit, brought forth an effective reply by Dr. Forel.

As is natural, the possibilities of the German Youth Movement have been thoroughly appreciated by the Bahá’ís of that country, and many interesting contacts have been made with leaders of that movement.

Under the direction of Mrs. J. Stannard, an International Bahá’í Bureau has been maintained in Geneva, Switzerland, for two years, providing a meeting-place for Bahá’ís coming to Geneva through their interest in the activities of the League of Nations and of other international bodies centered in Geneva. An international Bahá’í magazine published by the Bureau has rendered signal service by assembling important references to the Bahá’í Cause in the works of European authors and in the European press. This magazine has been printed in German, French and English and the few numbers already brought out have been greatly appreciated by Bahá’ís in all countries.

A number of individual Bahá’ís reside in Italy and are actively distributing literature but conditions in that country make it impossible to publish any formal report.

The countries of northern Europe—Sweden, Denmark and Finland—were visited by Miss Martha Root during 1926 and 1927, and her experience and tireless energy greatly extended the boundaries of Bahá’í interest.. Her visit also proved a great stimulus to the Bahá’ís already resident in those countries, and the work of translating and distributing the literature is now going forward very rapidly.

From the Bahá’í point of view, conditions in Russia are extremely significant. Refraining from any political activities, as they are compelled to do by the Bahá’í teachings, the believers in Leningrad and Moscow have been recognized by the government and their religious meetings so far tolerated.