Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
During March and April Eberhard gave several series of lectures, including
a series at the Frankfurt Institute for Adult Education. In July he spoke in
Göttingen, in October in Mannheim. Without exception each of these lectures
was an impassioned appeal to receive Jesus Christ, to break with the old life, and
to become a disciple in total earnest. Seldom before had Eberhard delivered so
clear and powerful a message or been so filled with glowing zeal by and for Jesus. 13
What amazing phenomenon produced this effect? As never before, real life acion
now backed up Eberhard’s words. The Sannerz community enfleshed the living
energy he was talking about. Some were so struck by his words that, soon after
their first encounter with Eberhard, they made their way to Sannerz to hear and
see more. One of these was the young teacher Gertrud Dalgas, who had heard
Eberhard seak in Frankfurt in April 1921. Weeks later she took part in the
Pentecost conference in Schlüchtern – “I am the short, blonde woman from north
Germany who held your arm on the way home.” Gertrud visited at Sannerz for a
few weeks and then returned to the community in October – to stay for the rest
of her life.
It must be stressed, however, that when he lectured Eberhard sought to bring
people to discipleship of Jesus, not to Sannerz or to life in community. His characer
and attitude alone were sufficient to win people for the way of life on which he had
embarked. A never-ending stream of visitors flowed through Sannerz from the
spring of 1921 onward. Most of the guests had to be content to sleep on camp cots
and straw-filled mattresses. Entire groups of Wandervogel sent word they were
coming, stayed a weekend or longer, and then hiked off again. In the course of
the year 1921 there were over twenty-five hundred visitors: inquisitive members
of bible study groups, old friends, eccentrics and misfits like the anarchist Fritz
Schwalbe and the always cheerful Hans Fiehler (“Where are you from?”–“Prison.
And you?”– “The madhouse”).
During this time Eberhard often wrote such phrases as “we are all stretched to
our limits” or “my time is completely taken up.” He complained in his letters that it
was hardly possible to concern himself with individuals as much as he would have
liked. But only he could have viewed it in this light; in actual fact, he had hundreds
of pastoral talks. Correspondence over weeks and months showed that Eberhard
followed the fates of individual guests with deep concern. Between lecture tours
and his responsibilities in the community household he counseled countless young
people, put the brakes on fanatical enthusiasts, encouraged the irresolute, and
pled with doubters to show trust. In lengthy letters he explained the nature of
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