1. 1940-07-00 —
   Gerrard Sluter, a German with Canadian citizenship and previously a pioneer in Guatemala (1939-1940) and Honduras, arrived in Colombia, the first Bahá'í to settle in the country. [BW8p1036; BW8p1036; BW9p1000; The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America: Some Remembrances by Artemus Lamb]
   • He later became a Covenant-breaker and caused much difficulty to the Bahá'ís in many South American countries. In response to a query to the U.S. National Bahá'í Archives we receive the following information.
     During 1946 and 1947 he wrote copiously to the U.S. National Assembly and to the Inter-America Teaching Committee, making diffuse accusations against those bodies and against several Bahá’ís in Colombia..... The last message we found from the US National Assembly to Sluter is dated January 10, 1947; it counseled him to moderate his actions and referred to an earlier decision by the Bogota Assembly, ..,. The correspondence with Sluter in both the NSA and Inter-America Teaching Committee files ends in 1947. [email message from Edward Sevcik, Archivist, 2025 May]

1. 1927-00-01 —
   The formation of a Bahá'í Youth Group in Montreal, perhaps the first in the Western World. [OBCC78, 85]
   • Some of the members were: Mary Maxwell, George Spendlove, Rowland Estall, Emeric Sala, Mary Gillis, (later Rosemary Sala), Teddy Edwards Alizade, Norman McGregor, Judie Russell Blakely, Dorothy and Glen Wade, Edward Dewing, Gerrard Sluter, David Hofman, Rena Gordon and Eddie Elliot.
   • The Bahá'í youth group was a social club organized by Ruhiyyih Khanum called the "Fratority Club." By this word, Ruhiyyih Khanum meant to put together the words "fraternity" and "sorority" and had invited to belong to it people, mostly young students at McGill, who would otherwise not have been able to find membership in the exclusive fraternities and sororities around the campus. [Black Roses in Canada's Mosaic: Four Decades of Black History by Will C. van den Hoonaard and Lynn Echevarria-Howe]
   • When advised of the formation of this group Shoghi Effendi replied, in part
     ...I urge them to study profoundly the revealed utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and the discourses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and not to rely unduly on the representations and interpretation of the Teaching given by the Bahá'í speakers and teachers. [MtC30-31]
   • A Bahá'í youth group had been started in California in 1912, but the Montreal group was the first in North America to systematically study the Teachings—an exercise that had a long—lasting influence on the development and growth of the Bahá'í community in Canada and elsewhere. Members of the group would later distinguish themselves as some of the best-known teachers, administrators, pioneers, and writers of the Bahá'í Faith. [BWM46]
2. 1939-08-27 — Gerrard Sluter-Schlutius— German-born, former U-boat captain, enrolled in November of 1932 and was a member of the Montreal Bahá'í youth group. He moved to Toronto in March 1935 and to Guatemala in 1939 as the second overseas pioneer. [OBCC97, 104-105]

   He also pioneered to Honduras and later to Colombia. In the middle of 1940's Gerrard Sluter was removed from the rolls by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Shoghi Effendi later declared him a Covenant-breaker for his persistent political involvement. Later Sluter appealed to the judicial courts of Colombia to demand the cancellation of the legal status of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bogota. He failed in all his lawsuits against the Assembly. [BNVol2p315]. Note: This reference is not correct and is currently under investigation.

   The office of the U.S. Archives provided the following information:

   ..., During 1946 and 1947 he wrote copiously to the U.S. National Assembly and to the Inter-America Teaching Committee, making diffuse accusations against those bodies and against several Bahá’ís in Colombia.... The last message we found from the US National Assembly to Sluter is dated January 10, 1947; it counseled him to moderate his actions and referred to an earlier decision by the Bogota Assembly... The correspondence with Sluter in both the NSA and Inter-America Teaching Committee files ends in 1947. [from an email from Edward Sevcik, Archivist, 2025 May]

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