HERMANN ZIMMER

Chapter 12.

EPILOGUE

The single reaction of the Bahai Administration to the preceding text might be that they promote me to the status of "enemy of the Bahai religion" without presenting a single proof for this. In 1964 I was recognized in the (private) "Bahai Nachrichten", of October 16, Vol. 12 as a "covenant-breaker" because I had independently spoken in smaller and larger cities in southern and northern Germany about "the Return of Christ" in Baha'u'llah. In this connection I had only made the remark about the Bahai Organization that we should "come to an understanding". At that time, I myself still believed In a "modus vivendi" with the "recognized Bahais" until I was labelled as above. I could not be excommunicated, because I had never belonged to the Bahai Organization, as I was a member of the former Welt-Union-Bahai and the group around Wilhelm Herrigel. Now I was in the best company, namely in that of Ruth White and Ahmad Sohrab. The latter was designated at his death in 1958 as an "unyielding enemy of the organization", Mrs. White twenty years earlier as a "besotted woman", despite the fact that these two had been excellent fighters for the Cause of Baha'ullah and Abdul Baha. From this moment on I read Sohrab's Broken Silence and Ruth White's Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and Testament 1946 as well as Shoghi's publications and the totally modern Bahai literature. Because my mind would no longer be so manageable, as I grew older and the service as teacher left one with too little time and strength to be able to pursue these not-so-simple questions intensively, I took advantage of the first opportunity to retire.

Exactly at this time, a popular scientific book came into my hands: G. Prause's "Niemand hat Kolumbus ausgelacht", 1966, (No One Had The Last Laugh Over Columbus) in which "the forgeries and legends of history were set right". A page of this book was devoted to the "Constantinian Grant", and this strengthened my Intention to study this old falsification somewhat more closely.

With this I came to the not at all surprising conclusion of a great similarity between the two falsifications. By intensive reading of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and the simultaneous study of Shoghi's God Passes By I came upon several similar turns of speech. As I systematically opened these up and categorized them, I obtained the Interesting list of almost Identical linguistic phrases.

My brochure published In 1950 Die Wlederkunft Christi, von der die Prophezeiungen sprechen... (The Return of Christ, of Which the Prophecies Speak...), proves that I am no enemy of the Bahai Cause. In it, I took pains to point out the historical bonds between the religion of Christ and the Bahai religion in the nineteenth century. The former member of the "National Spiritual Assembly of Bahai in Germany and Austria" and member of the "Spiritual Assembly of Bahais of Stuttgart", A. Spieth, a colleague, whom I did not know personally at all, assured me In a letter that this representation of the Bahai teachings was "in order". The problem of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, of the Guardianship and of the Bahai organization were not broached by me at all. After more than eight years' absence in the army and as a POW, I returned home only in 1948 and ended my brochure with the death of Abdul Baha in 1921. The difference in time was too small and — what is still more determining — the necessary literature was not available at that time.

So to whomever now still maintains that I am an enemy of the Bahai religion, I would like to say that in 1937 shortly after the prohibition of the Bahai religion by the Gestapo,  I attempted to request the removal of this ban with the leader of the SS Heinrich Himmler, Boss of the Gestapo in Berlin. In order to lend greater pressure to my written attempt, I went myself to Berlin during my summer vacation in order to speak to the one in charge of the Gestapo. He asked me only one question, "Who gave you the money to travel to Berlin?" When I told him the truth, that I had worked overtime to furnish the money for it, he wanted to know nothing else. Because he could not permit the non-organization Bahais a lifting of the ban of assembly for reasons of principles, I asked him lastly about a time for a renewed discussion about a possible lifting of the ban. He told me I should come back in two years; that would have been in August, 1939. However, there was war in the air by that time, so I did not return to Berlin. My Bahai friends had warned me in 1937 not to travel to Berlin with the words, "You will be put into a concentration camp!" I had only replied to that, "Then I will just be put in a concentration camp."

To whoever further maintains that I am an enemy of the Bahai Religion, I would like to ask one last question: What have you done to get the Bahai religion on the right track? The employees paid by the Bahai Administration, the Hands of the Cause, the secretaries or publishers of all the periodicals are not addressed here. They all sing the song of the one who pays them! Ruth White paid for her critical works herself, Ahmad Sohrab published his criticism of the development of the Bahai religion himself only after the disgraceful trial against him and his employer Mrs. Chanler, who offered her complete means to give the Bahai religion a better start in the USA. Whether my presentation leads the Bahai religion out of its blind alley, I cannot say. Such great organizalions have their own laws, even if there were not "twenty million Bahais" in the world, but perhaps only two million.