Critics further state that the Witnesses opened the convention with the German national anthem. Actually, the convention began with “Zion’s Glorious Hope,” Song 64 in the Witnesses’ religious songbook. The words of this song were set to music composed by Joseph Haydn in 1797. Song 64 had been in the Bible Students’ songbook since at least 1905. In 1922 the German government adopted Haydn’s melody with words by Hoffmann von Fallersleben as their national anthem. Nevertheless, the Bible Students in Germany still sang their Song 64 occasionally, as did Bible Students in other countries. The
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