blishment of a national Haziratu'l-Quds in the capital city of
Austria, as well as of national endowments in that country--measures that
will herald the formation of an independent National Spiritual Assembly,
and the erection of yet another pillar of the Universal House of Justice,
in the heart of the European continent--should be regarded as the paramount
objectives of this second phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which we are now
entering.

No less vital and urgent is the task of establishing, in the course of
this second stage in the unfoldment of this world spiritual Crusade, of a
Baha'i Publishing Trust, similar, in its essentials, to the one already
functioning in the British Isles, and of lending a fresh impetus to the
translation, the publication and dissemination of Baha'i literature in the
German language--a task which will greatly accelerate the all-important
teaching work, and enhance the prestige of the Faith, and promote the
vital interests of its institutions.

The Community of the German and Austrian believers, the recipient of such
signal honours from the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant in the past; born
and nurtured in its infancy under His fostering care in the course of the
concluding decades of the Apostolic Age of the Faith; eminently successful
in laying the foundations of its Administrative Order in the years
immediately following His Ascension; emerging, purified and strengthened,
from the fire of a severe and prolonged ordeal after the conclusion of the
second world war; demonstrating its capacity and resilience through the
initiation and prosecution of a carefully designed Plan, despite the
exhaustion of a terrible and harrowing conflict that endangered its life
and shook it to its foundations,--such a community has now risen to assume
its rightful place in the world-encompassing Crusade launched by the
followers of Baha'u'llah; has splendidly initiated its Ten-Year Plan
through the inauguration of its glorious Mission in foreign fields, and is
now forging ahead, with magnificent courage, resolution, thoroughness, and
fidelity, in its endeavour to win fresh laurels in the course of this
second and newly opened stage in the unfoldment of the Plan to which it
stands committed.

May the vision of its members remain undimmed, their resolution never
flag, their steps never falter. May they, as the years go by, demonstrate
afresh the solidity of their faith, the nobility of their motives, the
sublim