Part 2: Rebuilding Zion

While serving as missionaries in Dresden, we received the following letter, dated October 10, 1989:

Dear Elder Davis,

Several weeks ago in Dresden, we were conversing about the history of the Church in the GDR, in particular about the old branch house in which you are now living. We agreed that too many of the experiences which ought to be preserved were in danger of being lost.

At that time, I mentioned that I was in the process of collecting and writing a few things as a CES project, and you expressed an interest in reading this material when it was completed. I am now finished, and I am enclosing a copy of this work for you to read. Perhaps it will be of interest to you even though you will not be familiar with the brothers and sisters discussed, nor with the places which lie outside the Dresden area. But much of what you find here is representative.

Keep it as long as you wish, and return it to me when you have an opportunity.

Greetings from a brother in the gospel,

[signed] Manfred Schütze

With the exception of “My Mission” by Käthe Würscher (which was translated from a manuscript given us by John W. Welch), all the material in part 2, “Rebuilding Zion,” is translated from the “few things” mentioned in the letter above. Manfred Schütze was at that time president of the Leipzig stake and director of the institute program for the Church Educational System. With his kind permission, I have translated this material and publish it here. The reader will recognize from the shifting between first and third person that President Schütze has combined commentary and journal entries.

All of the persons who report their experiences in this section are from the “war generation”; that is, they were old enough to have experienced the war and its immediate aftermath, including the consequent struggle to “rebuild Zion.” 

Inga and Manfred Schütze. Manfred Schütze collected most of the materials in part 2. Courtesy Manfred Schütze.