Thankfulness during wartime struggles

[Updated May 5, 2020]

In January 1947 the members of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Amsterdam, sent this autograph album to The Mother Church in Boston, as a gesture of thanks for the assistance that the Church’s War Relief Committee had provided after World War II. The book has a cover of green leather with gold gilt lettering. It begins with a quotation written in gold from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy and is signed by the members of the Amsterdam church. A member bound the album, which was funded through voluntary contributions.¹

Photograph of autograph album cover, 1946, 1984.37.441.
Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

In the months after Germany invaded Poland on September 1,1939, the members met to find a way to protect their church and the cause of Christian Science. Although the Netherlands would not enter the war until the Nazis invaded the following May, these Christian Scientists recognized the serious position they were in. During the early months of the war, they were still able to receive mailings from The Mother Church and listen to shortwave broadcasts of Christian Science lectures. The lecture committee also scheduled readings of Christian Science lectures translated into Dutch. However after the Nazi occupation began, communication with The Mother Church became increasingly difficult.²

In June 1941 every known Christian Scientist in Germany was arrested and the practice of Christian Science banned.³ Church members in Amsterdam were aware of this and anticipated that the Nazis would likely turn their attention to Christian Scientists in the Netherlands. On October 25, 1943, police did indeed occupy and close the Amsterdam church and its Reading Room. Gestapo agents seized the church’s papers and archives and confiscated all its properties and funds, in accordance with an order from Berlin. Christian Science was declared “a forbidden religion and … any disobedience to this order would be severely punished.”⁴ The church would remain closed until May 1945, when the Netherlands was liberated.

Photograph of autograph album front page, 1984.37.441.
Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

Even under Nazi occupation, church members in Amsterdam worked together to support one another and the cause of Christian Science. They smuggled copies of Bible Lessons from the Christian Science Quarterly from Sweden and Switzerland, secretly copying them. This allowed them to continue holding Sunday services on their own or in small groups. After the British Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the city of Rotterdam in May 1943, they took up a collection to support a member who had lost her home and possessions.

Perhaps most remarkable was the work of Antoinette Fennema-Sillevis. Along with other members of the church, she organized the distribution of funds, clothing, and food during the infamous “Hunger Winter” of 1944–1945, when over 20,000 Dutch people starved to death.⁵

The 1945 liberation of the Netherlands opened the door for greater support from relief agencies. This included The Mother Church, which had been registered as a voluntary relief agency since 1940, organizing with its branch churches around the United States.⁶

The first packages of supplies reached the Netherlands toward the end of 1945, and shipments continued through 1946. The distribution of clothing was conducted at the First Church, Amsterdam, and supervised by members. The Mother Church also sent food parcels containing scarce items, including coffee, tea, and cocoa. Anyone was welcome to receive a parcel, regardless of their religion.⁷

Photograph of autograph album dedication page, 1984.37.441
Courtesy of The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

The value of these relief efforts is evident in testimonies published in the Christian Science periodicals, including one from the Christian Science Sentinel:

Thank you for the food parcel I got from The Mother Church …. I am a member of the committee for the distribution of clothing which was sent by the Christian Science War Relief Committee. I think you will never know how very grateful we are for the supplying of the great need. There were children who had never had a new piece of clothing, and now they had everything new. They looked at us with big eyes full of wonder and joy. Words cannot express our gratitude, and I feel as never before our unity.

What a gift is Christian Science to the world! In the seemingly most difficult times, we felt rich in the knowledge of our Father-Mother’s loving care. When the Germans closed our church and took everything material, they did not know the only real thing we had they could not take.⁸