This year, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of a branch office in Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands. Throughout our theocratic history, our brothers and sisters there have demonstrated unbreakable faith and courage.

The good news reached the Netherlands soon after the turn of the 20th century when a young man named Heinrich Brinkhoff began reading literature published by the Watch Tower Society and the International Bible Students Association. He soon began sharing what he learned with others. Those seeds of truth began to grow. In 1920, Brother Joseph F. Rutherford visited Europe and established a branch office in Switzerland. That office also had oversight of the Netherlands. In 1921, Brother Rutherford assigned Brother Adriaan Block to oversee the work in the Netherlands. In 1922, the branch office was established in Amsterdam.

With the branch office operating, the preaching work became better organized. The number of servants of Jehovah steadily grew. Shortly before World War II, about 500 publishers were active in the country.

When the war broke out, the Netherlands came under Nazi occupation. Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others, were made special targets of persecution. During the occupation, some 300 Dutch Witnesses were deported, many of whom were sent to concentration camps. Some 130 of our brothers died due to illness and other hardships. Despite this persecution, the number of Witnesses in the Netherlands grew to 3,125 by the end of the war in 1945.

However, the end of the war did not bring the end of trials. The Catholic Church actively opposed the Witnesses, especially in the southern part of the country. One notable example occurred in 1952 when the Catholic Church attempted to stop an assembly in Venlo. This opposition motivated vendors to cancel the contracts for the convention venue and related services. Undeterred, the brothers erected a tent in an open field and hosted the convention there instead.

The opposers continued. At one point, a crowd of over 1,000 people arrived to disrupt the program. Police officers even raided the convention site and arrested some brothers during the Sunday afternoon session.

None of these efforts by opposers were successful. Assisted by the careful direction of the branch office, the responsible brothers were able to proceed with the convention program.

Jehovah continued to bless the steadfastness of the brothers. In 1983, the Netherlands branch moved to a new facility in Emmen. In 2022, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Netherlands is nearly 30,000.

The history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Netherlands testifies that Jehovah ‘will neither desert nor abandon’ his people.—Deuteronomy 31:6.