Born in difficult times: the founding of the Volksmission and the work of Karl Fix

While in 1933 Adolf Hitler emerged from the brown quagmire of National Socialism to become Chancellor of the Reich and to establish his totalitarian state, a New-Testament apostolic church developed in the same city. Its leader, Karl Fix, bravely offered Hitler resistance. Neither the ban on public gatherings issued in 1934, nor the permanent control by the GESTAPO could quench the burning zeal of the new converts. In 1934, many more than 1,000 participants were counted in the services; many of them experienced miraculous healings. Through his literature mission, Fix was able to distribute around two million tracts in more than 12 countries. Thus the movement rapidly spread beyond the German borders. Encouraged by his prophetic view, Fix frankly warned the people of the self-proclaimed “Fuehrer”. The Swiss historian Walter Hollenweger, whose standard work Enthusiastisches Christentum - Die Pfingstbewegung in Geschichte und Gegenwart published in 1969, which, in its translation of 1997, was entitled Pentecostalism Origins and Developments Worldwide, merely mentions the Volksmission in a marginal note without dealing with its historical significance. This article, after giving a short survey of how the German Pentecostal Movement came into being, points out the contribution of the Volksmission, focusing on its establishment over the years between 1933 and 1945. The theology of the Volksmission, which is classically Pentecostal, awaits a further article

Influence of Olfactory Epithelium on Mitral/Tufted Cell Dendritic Outgrowth

Stereotypical connections between olfactory sensory neuron axons and mitral cell dendrites in the olfactory bulb establish the first synaptic relay for olfactory perception. While mechanisms of olfactory sensory axon targeting are reported, molecular regulation of mitral cell dendritic growth and refinement are unclear. During embryonic development, mitral cell dendritic distribution overlaps with olfactory sensory axon terminals in the olfactory bulb. In this study, we investigate whether olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium influence mitral cell dendritic outgrowth in vitro. We report a soluble trophic activity in the olfactory epithelium conditioned medium which promotes mitral/tufted cell neurite outgrowth. While the trophic activity is present in both embryonic and postnatal olfactory epithelia, only embryonic but not postnatal mitral/tufted cells respond to this activity. We show that BMP2, 5 and 7 promote mitral/tufted cells neurite outgrowth. However, the BMP antagonist, Noggin, fails to neutralize the olfactory epithelium derived neurite growth promoting activity. We provide evidence that olfactory epithelium derived activity is a protein factor with molecular weight between 50–100 kD. We also observed that Follistatin can effectively neutralize the olfactory epithelium derived activity, suggesting that TGF-beta family proteins are involved to promote mitral/tufted dendritic elaboration