He does not force you to do this at once; but urges you all to decide to withdraw from your churches and political groups within, say, a year, and then to help each other to do this. You will find your spiritual strength greater for taking this step. Please assure dear Mrs. Schwarz of his loving prayers on her behalf. He will also pray for you all in the Holy Shrines, and urges you to persevere in your services to our beloved Faith.... [From the Guardian:] Dear and valued co-workers: I was so pleased to receive your message and so thankful for the evidences of devotion, of determination and love it contained. The Austrian believers are dear and near to my heart, and I deeply sympathize with them in the ordeal and tribulations which they have suffered, and which have demonstrated the quality of their faith and the depth of their devotion. The funds accumulated for their relief and for the development of the Faith in their land will, I trust, be soon forwarded to them, and will no doubt greatly contribute to the rehabilitation and growth of their beloved community. Persevere in your meritorious labours, and rest assured that you are often in my thoughts and prayers, and that I will continue to supplicate for you all the Master’s richest blessings. Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi P.S. He feels that the German and Austrian believers are one in language and that the Austrian friends should consider the N.G.R. as their National Assembly, the same as before the war. We are Bahá’ís and have no nationalistic feelings in such matters. Our ties are purely spiritual. But you can consult the European Teaching Committee if the NGR is too difficult at present. The Guardian wishes you to know that as soon as there are a sufficient number of Bahá’í assemblies in Austria she will naturally have her own NGR. LETTER OF 27 SEPTEMBER 1947 (SUMMER SCHOOL) 27 September 1947 (Summer School) Dear Bahá’í Friends: Your letters to our beloved Guardian reached him through Mr. ..., and he was delighted to see that so many believers had been able to attend the school at Esslingen this summer. It shows the vitality of the German Bahá’ís and their intense desire to further the interests of our glorious Faith in Germany, and build up its institutions. He urges you all, in your work for the Cause in your local Communities, to stress the need for the greatest love and unity amongst the Bahá’ís themselves. It is this love and spiritual solidarity that is so sadly lacking in the world today, and for which its people are starving. When they see within the Bahá’í Community the true spirit of brotherhood exemplified, they will turn to Bahá’u’lláh and embrace His Message. He also urges you to exert yourselves ceaselessly in the teaching field, and build up new Bahá’í centers, establish new spiritual assemblies, and convert the existing groups into assemblies by April of next year.