Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
planS, planS, and morE planS
By the end of 1919 the gap between Eberhard’s ideals and actual reality had
widened unbearably. “I can’t seak or lecture anymore until I have patterned my
life after Jesus’ example,” he told his friends. 12 The Sermon on the Mount, the
Acts of the Apostles, and a particular New Tesament verse – “Let Christ Jesus be
your example as to what your attitude should be” (Phil. 2:5) – all urged him at long
last to give the issue hands and feet. How best to do this was discussed at the “open
evenings” and among close friends. Plans were fleshed out and then rejected.
For a brief moment Eberhard and Emmy entertained the very romantic idea
of buying a gypsy caravan and taking to the road. They would travel through
the countryside, stop at villages, seak, hold meetings for children, and help out
wherever necessary. It is easy to guess what would have happened to Eberhard’s
publishing work under such circumstances. But how it would have worked out
pracically, with five children, defies imagination.
A hotly debated topic was Urban vs. Rural. For those from the youth movement
and from working-class groups there was but one answer: get away from the big
cities! Follow the slogan of the Wandervogel: “We leave the old gray city and head
to the woods and fields!” To them the city was unhealthy, the breeding ground for
immorality and unbearable social conditions. The Arnolds could see examples of
this right before their eyes in North and East Berlin. On the other hand they knew
that cities were the very places with the most problems. The inner city was most
in need of constructive work, as could be seen from Siegmund-Schultze’s Team for
Social Work.
The Arnolds’ first real opportunity for a pracical undertaking came in early
February of 1920 through their circle of friends back in Halle. In the intervening
years since the Arnolds had moved to Berlin the Halle fellowship had started
a “Hebron Charitable Society” and had bought a house, intending to esablish a
“biblically inspired social service in love to the poor and needy” of the city. It was
proposed that the Arnolds would occupy the house and begin the work. Eberhard
enthusiastically agreed to the concept. On February 10 he wrote to the mayor of
Halle, Dr. Rivé, a friend of Siegmund-Schultze, and explained the plan in detail.
In the end, though, the project failed because the housing office would not grant
permission, and the occupant of the house in question refused to move out. That
decided the matter.
In the meantime Otto Herpel, Georg Flemmig, and Eberhard Arnold forged
ahead rapidly with the formation of their Neuwerk publishing association. By
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