Roger P. One of the largest branches in the West German Mission in , the Bielefeld Branch numbered members, fully one-sixth of whom were priesthood holders.
The city of Bielefeld, located in the northeast corner of the state of Westphalia, had a population of , at the time. The president of the Bielefeld Branch from until after the war was Heinrich Recksiek. Anna Recksiek was the branch Relief Society president during the war and was not employed. Their son, Heinz born , recalled that both branch and district conferences were held in the meeting hall of the clothing factory on several occasions during the first years of the war.
According to the directory of the West German Mission, the Bielefeld Branch met in rooms at Ravensbergerstrasse Elfriede Recksiek born described the rooms rented in that building:. There was one large room, and two smaller ones of which we used one as the cloak room. We also had restrooms in the building. The rooms were on the main floor of the building.
I also remember seeing a sign of our church in the front of the building that indicated that we met there. We had chairs in our rooms, not benches, but that allowed us to move them around. There was also a raised platform in the front of the room. A choir sang sometimes, and we also had a piano and an organ that we could use to accompany.
I would say that we had an attendance of about 50β60 people there on Sunday. I can remember having pictures of Jesus Christ on the wall. The branch observed the usual meeting schedule, holding Sunday school at a.
