With the increase in theocratic activity, it was necessary to build new branch premises. The site selected was in downtown Athens on Kartali Street. Work started in 1953; by October 1954 a new three-story building was ready to house the Bethel family, factory, and offices. That year saw a new peak of 4,931 publishers.

Blessings Continue Despite Attacks

When the Society’s film The New World Society in Action was shown in 1955 in Athens, 80 brothers and sisters were arrested. The film and projector were confiscated. Nine brothers were charged with proselytism. To see what kind of film it was, the authorities showed it to some 200 guests, including priests, professors, and police officers. The film made quite an impression, and a number of newspapers commented on the matter. The film and equipment were returned to the brothers after a favorable court decision.

The Greek Orthodox Church declared 1959 to be an “antiheretic” year. Its goal: the “wiping out of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” according to an Athens newspaper. Far from being wiped out, God’s people were greatly blessed that year.

Brother Knorr visited in May and spoke to 1,915 at a theater and at the Bethel Home in Athens. A week later Brother Henschel visited Salonika and spoke to 1,250 at the Olympion, the city’s largest cinema. Smaller assemblies were held throughout the country. In Macedonia, near ancient Philippi, 27 brothers and sisters were baptized in the same river near which Paul once preached to people who had met for prayer.​—Acts 16:12-15.

For a one-day assembly on July 30, 1963, the Society rented the “Panathinaikos” stadium in Athens. The police had granted the permit, thousands of visitors from foreign lands had been invited, and hotel rooms had been booked. But suddenly the government collapsed! The new government, under pressure from the Orthodox Church, canceled the assembly.

Some of the disappointment this caused was alleviated in 1965, when the Society announced a five-day Greek-language convention to be held in Vienna, Austria. The joy of the 1,250 brothers and sisters who made the trip was boundless. The 12-car train chartered for the journey became a “moving Kingdom Hall.”

In mid-1966 a young Witness named Christos Kazanis was sentenced to death for his stand on Christian neutrality. This case received widespread publicity and led to a tremendous witness throughout Greece and beyond. The major Athens newspapers commented extensively each day about the sentence and the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Finally the sentence was reduced to four and a half years’ imprisonment. The archbishop, Chrisostomos, came under harsh criticism in the matter, since he gave the impression that he approved of executing a young man who refused to use a gun.

Political Takeover

Suddenly, on the night of April 21, 1967, the military took over the Greek government. Articles of the Constitution protecting freedom of assembly and of the press were suspended. The printing of The Watchtower had to stop. By law, no more than five persons could attend any meeting. The preaching work had to be carried on with caution. As usual, the Orthodox clergy used the prevailing conditions to cause trouble for the brothers.

The work continued underground. The brothers had to meet in isolated places in the forests. When F. W. Franz, who later became the Society’s fourth president, visited Greece in 1969, he spoke to over a thousand brothers in a forest near Salonika.

Hatred of Jehovah’s Witnesses was especially apparent in a case in 1974. A couple named Polykandritis, whose baby died shortly after birth, were refused a permit to bury the infant. Why? Newspaper reports explained that the parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, married as such in 1954. But during the previous government, the Ministry of the Interior had sent out a decree saying that all marriages that had been performed by Jehovah’s Witnesses were invalid, and this had the support of the Greek Orthodox Church. So the local registrar insisted that the parents had to state that their child was illegitimate before he would allow a burial. The father refused. He was not prepared to lie, tarnishing his family name and his own conscience. As the dispute dragged on, the child’s body was kept in a refrigerator for four days. General opinion in Greece condemned this bigoted persecution. To Vima, an Athens newspaper, labeled it “The Middle Ages in all their wretchedness.”

Despite the hardships of military rule, the Kingdom-preaching work continued to progress. The number of publishers rose from 10,940 in 1967 to 17,073 in 1974. Bible studies and meeting attendance also soared during that difficult time.

Construction Projects for an Expanding Organization

Jehovah’s Witnesses have many meeting places in Greece, but until recently, they were not allowed to call them Kingdom Halls. Many were therefore simply termed “lecture halls.” To date, only about 25 meeting places in Greece bear the name “Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Yet, some 117 congregations with about 9,500 Witnesses meet just in Athens alone!

For 25 years the branch premises had been located on Kartali Street in Athens. During that time the number of publishers had increased from under 5 thousand to more than 18 thousand; more space was clearly needed. In 1962 a 2.5-acre [1 ha] site was purchased in Marousi, a suburb of Athens. This was now an ideal place to construct new Bethel premises, which would have 27 bedrooms, a factory, offices, and other facilities. The dedication took place on July 16, 1979, and Lyman Swingle represented the Governing Body for the occasion.