Eventually, by the turn of the twentieth century, all three of these streams were united into one family of congregations under the leadership and care of the Dutch Mennonite Mission with missionaries from Netherlands, Russia, and later Germany and Switzerland. Soon after the outbreak of World War II the German forces invaded and occupied Netherlands. The response of the government of the Netherlands East Indies was to arrest German nationals there, including the two German Mennonite missionaries with the Dutch Mennonite Mission in Java. The remaining Dutch and Swiss missionaries determined that it was time to organize the churches that had developed by that time into an independent synod with the Javanese language name Patoenggilanipoen Para Pasamoean Kristen Tata Injil ing Wengkon Pati, Koedoes lan Jepara (literally, Union of Gospel Pattern Christian Congregations in the regions of Pati, Kudus and Jepara), which was done on May 30, 1940. The thirteen or so congregations that were members of this new synod at that time consisted of more than 4000 baptized members. The mission also had two hospitals, a leprosarium and many schools. The Japanese occupation (1942-45) brought with it terrible suffering for the people of this Javanese Mennonite Synod. The late forties, the period of the Indonesian struggle for freedom from Dutch colonial rule, brought more suffering and hardship.