See review of Separate Identity in previous post
Does anyone recognize this photograph?
I took the picture from a small historical display while
visiting Germany as an international delegate in 2019. I am almost certain it
was at Magdeburg where the old Society’s headquarters still owned (at least in part)
by the Society were used for a Kingdom Hall and a place to feed and entertain
visitors.
There was no caption for the photograph. I assume the photo
must relate to Germany, although it should be noted on reflection that J F
Rutherford is not there is person, this is only his photograph on display. Also
the caption is in English. The other thing I noted was that the group is nearly
all men, although there are a few women dotted about.
So – has anyone else ever seen this with more information?
Addenda
We now know the history of this photo, and it is a little more recent than one might think. Read the comment trail for the full story. With thanks to Bernhard.
7 comments:
This is the german bethel family in Magdeburg. I have a second one from the bethel family with the same persons. And thats the reason why you can see almost brothers.
This is the german bethel family in Magdeburg. I have a second one from the bethel family with the same persons. And thats the reason why you can see almost brothers.
Thanks Bernhard, that makes a lot of sense. It was on a wall in a temporary small exhibition in the basement of the Magdeburg building where the congregation that still met in part of the building upstairs provided hospitality for visitors. I am a little surprised that the notice is in English rather than German, unless the intention was to send the photograph to America.
Thanks for this. Is it possible, please, to give an approximate date to this photo based on the size of the German Bethel family?
In 1931 a new dining room was built in the Magdeburg Bethel. Rutherford was expected to officially open the dining room and other facilities. I think the picture is from that incident where the brothers are rallying to welcome Rutherford. Rutherford was ultimately upset that his picture was hung in the dining room and he forbade distributing his photos. He did the same at the congress immediately afterwards in Berlin, where his photo cards were displayed everywhere.
Thanks for this Bernhard. I’m not surprised Rutherford didn’t like this! Your comments give valuable context to this picture.
Jose,yes that is a well-known picture portraying Jesus Christ next to the photograph of J F Rutherford. If you read the other comments here you will see that JFR was not pleased with the whole picture.
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