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The communist government of East Germany had really grown to like the Mormons in 1982. Which was strange considering apostle Ezra Taft Benson’s relentless condemnation of communism or anything he thought was connected to it (like the Civil Rights movement).
But, as the November 1982 issue of the Sunstone Review reported, “Our preaching of good citizenship, frugality, and conscientious demeanor was pleasing to the government,” said Percy Fetzer, who served as Regional Representative of the Council of Twelve over the German Democratic Republic from 1968–1975. “Our track record of reliability and trustworthiness with the government is remarkable.”
And as a token of its esteem, the government invited the Church to build a temple in Freiberg. In fact, it even granted the Church a natural gas pipeline to heat the temple. “Commercial buildings in the GDR are generally heated with coal,” the article read. But Church architects could not imagine a temple with a steeple belching coal smoke and finally got the pipeline they wanted.
However, the GDR government wasn’t just being nice. It saw the temple as a way to boost its economy and public image.
“The GDR . . . [is] hurting for American dollars,” said Douglas Tobler, an expert on German history at BYU. “The construction of the temple and its upkeep will likely be a great economic aid to them.”
“A temple will also be an ensign to the people that government is not as oppressive as the press indicates,” he added.
The GDR also liked the tradition of large Mormon families, hoping that they would boost the population of frugal citizens with conscientious demeanor. And with a temple nearby, they would be more likely to stay in the country.
Indeed, births were the main way the Mormon population was growing in East Germany at the time, as door-to-door preaching was not allowed. And there really weren’t a lot of Saints to begin with. In 1964, there had been 6400 Mormons in the area. By 1982, there were only 4000.
With such a small LDS population, the temple was the tiniest the Church had built up to that point, at just under 7,500 square feet. For comparison, a typical LDS meetinghouse in Utah is 17,000 square feet. However, the temple has been expanded twice since them, almost tripling its size to 21,500 square feet.
The communist government of East Germany had really grown to like the Mormons in 1982. Which was strange considering apostle Ezra Taft Benson’s relentless condemnation of communism or anything he thought was connected to it (like the Civil Rights movement).
But, as the November 1982 issue of the Sunstone Review reported, “Our preaching of good citizenship, frugality, and conscientious demeanor was pleasing to the government,” said Percy Fetzer, who served as Regional Representative of the Council of Twelve over the German Democratic Republic from 1968–1975. “Our track record of reliability and trustworthiness with the government is remarkable.”
And as a token of its esteem, the government invited the Church to build a temple in Freiberg. In fact, it even granted the Church a natural gas pipeline to heat the temple. “Commercial buildings in the GDR are generally heated with coal,” the article read. But Church architects could not imagine a temple with a steeple belching coal smoke and finally got the pipeline they wanted.
However, the GDR government wasn’t just being nice. It saw the temple as a way to boost its economy and public image.
“The GDR . . . [is] hurting for American dollars,” said Douglas Tobler, an expert on German history at BYU. “The construction of the temple and its upkeep will likely be a great economic aid to them.”
“A temple will also be an ensign to the people that government is not as oppressive as the press indicates,” he added.
The GDR also liked the tradition of large Mormon families, hoping that they would boost the population of frugal citizens with conscientious demeanor. And with a temple nearby, they would be more likely to stay in the country.
Indeed, births were the main way the Mormon population was growing in East Germany at the time, as door-to-door preaching was not allowed. And there really weren’t a lot of Saints to begin with. In 1964, there had been 6400 Mormons in the area. By 1982, there were only 4000.
With such a small LDS population, the temple was the tiniest the Church had built up to that point, at just under 7,500 square feet. For comparison, a typical LDS meetinghouse in Utah is 17,000 square feet. However, the temple has been expanded twice since them, almost tripling its size to 21,500 square feet.
