Mission Butterfly. Pioneers behind the Iron Curtain

Reviewed by Milos Klas
December 2011

Milos Klaus with his wife, Barbara Klas, in front of the Cheong Chong Gong. True Parents invited and personally received members from former Czechoslovakia who spent time in prison during the Communist era, 2007.

Milos Klas was born in 1948 in Bratislava, Slovakia. He was blessed with Barbara from Austria in 1982 (6,000 Couples). The couple live with their son, Laurenc, in Bratislava. Milos works for several organizations of the Unification movement.

22 years have gone by since the Berlin Wall came down and it's sometimes easy to forget the bloody and inhumane system that once existed on the other side. Millions of victims of that harsh regime are no longer around to tell the tale yet, sadly, there are some who, when confronted with the many problems of today's uncertain world, have even started looking back nostalgically to the 'good old days' of Communism.

The book "Mission Butterfly, Pioneers behind the Iron Curtain" features the history of the underground mission in the East European countries during Communism. The exciting stories based on the testimonies of the former Unification Church missionaries who went to Communist countries in Eastern Europe to work there as 'underground' missionaries during the time period from 1980 to 1992 have moved many readers to tears!

The story behind the book is intertwined with my personal life: In June 1995, my wife Barbara who was born in Austria was inspired to collect the stories of the Unification Church missionaries who had been working behind the Iron Curtain. By that time, most of them had returned to their homelands. She started to interview them one by one. Their stories were most intriguing and provided such wonderful testimonies to the power of God.

To help put things into context, the book begins by taking a look at the general atmosphere that prevailed in Western Europe during that so-called 'Cold War' era of the nineteen eighties.

In the section about the work of Unification members in Czechoslovakia, there are included three testimonies among them "Lessons learnt in Prison" where I wrote about my experiences in the jail.

I came in contact with the Unification faith very early. When in the late 1960s some members of the Unification Church visited Communist-ruled countries for the first time, they did so at great risk. One such brave pioneer was Emilia Steberl, who went to Czechoslovakia in November 1968, just shortly after Warsaw Pact troops invaded that country to crush the 'Prague Spring'. Being one of the first members to join the Unification Church in Czechoslovakia in 1970, I'd had several opportunities to meet Emilia Steberl, the missionary who had first brought the Divine Principle to my country. Such meetings helped me to accept the teaching. Emilia had such a humane way of expressing herself and a great ability to empathize with us whilst at the same time pinpointing our inadequacies. I accepted the Divine Principle content primarily because of the friendship which existed among members. I'd never met a group like them before.

Although the country was still under Communism, the Unification Movement in Czechoslovakia started to flourish and numerous people began to join. It didn't take me long to reach the stage where I was ready to make any kind of sacrifice and there was nothing that could change my determination -- not even the fact that my family opposed me. In March of 1972, I was assigned as a pioneer missionary to the Czech town of Liberec, which lies close to the border with East Germany. I had been a student in my fourth academic year at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava but I quit my study there. On my arrival in Liberec, I began to look around for some sort of a job that would allow me to apply my skills as well as offer me the chance to do distance learning, something that required the approval of the employer. After several unsuccessful attempts I found a company that was able to offer both such things. However, when I showed up for my first day's work, I was told that the department didn't need me after all. Although unemployed, I applied to study at the Czech Technical University in Prague and got accepted. In the meantime, I found a company that employed me. It was at that time that the persecution and arrest of our members started.

I used to witness mainly to those students and young people who attended some church. I didn't witness to my colleagues even though some of them knew about my 'forbidden' activities. My own particular lifestyle and the way in which I treated people left a positive impact on them. So, in difficult circumstances my colleagues would always help me, even if it meant a risk for them. One day in October of 1973, the secret police visited my workplace. They wanted to arrest me but because I wasn't present, they told my boss that he should order me to be there on the following day at a certain time when they would come again. My boss managed to warn me that the secret police where going to come for me and suggested that I should take all precautions necessary. It gave me just enough time to hide our literature in a heap of coal in my landlady's cellar and to deeply bury the rest in the forest, with the help of a young member. My boss was excellent. He even cared for me some years later when I was released from prison. He re-employed me even though the management protested strongly. Then I was sent to jail, altogether I spent twelve months in prison. The authorities released me four months early because, without my knowledge, my mother had written a petition for clemency to President Husak, who had granted it.

If anyone questions who was responsible for bringing an end to atheist Communism, the book will be helpful to discover the true liberator. Reverend Moon and his followers trod a very lonely path trying to liberate the people living under the system in the East whilst pointing out the flaws of Marxist theory to people living in the West. At that time, those who openly opposed Communism became very unpopular.

As individuals who were there when that 'Iron Curtain' finally disappeared, we have a certain responsibility to teach our children and future generations that Rev. Moon was the only one to publicly proclaim the collapse of Communism before it actually happened. He did so at the 'Professors World Peace Academy' Conference held in Geneva back in 1985. For many years before that, however, he had already sent missionaries there and set up associations and newspapers to inform the world about the dangers of Communist ideology.