Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
But Eberhard did not attend. He celebrated Easter in the Sannerz community.
A few days after Easter he resigned from Ahlborn’s Free German Fellowship. And
at Pentecost he and all the adult members of the Sannerz community joined the
new Free German Union. In July, Eberhard was asked to lead the “circle of elders.”
This put him at Erich Mohr’s side, building up the Union.
What drew Eberhard to this group? What kept him in it for over seven years? Did
this group offer anything besides an ever-deepening friendship with Erich Mohr?
For one thing, Eberhard could always count on finely tuned ears in that circle – and
lively, frank, and controversial discussions as well. He found a common urge to
“become true men.” It seems that adherents of the Free German Union refused
to sidesep any question, religious or political, however difficult the consequences
might be. These were the same type of people who had left their mark on the
Neuwerk movement’s stormy beginning. Among these idealists Eberhard saw an
opening for the same task he had described back in 1920 with resect to the Youth
Movement: “It is tremendously important that we find the right way of pointing
these people who seek God to the one and only way, which is Christ.” 15
The Free German Union agreed to the Easter 1924 statement of purpose: “We
want to model ourselves on the great figures and heralds of eternal powers.” They
reckoned Lao-tze, Tolstoy, Goethe, Gandhi, and others to be these role models,
and they repeatedly included Jesus Christ in this list. 16 Eberhard seized this
willingness to listen to the voice of Jesus in addition to the many other voices, doing
all he could to help these young people learn of Christ’s nature and way of life. 17
Eberhard organized conferences and projects at Sannerz. In the spring of 1925
the Free German Union considered buying a house in the village of Sannerz and
setting it up as a fellowship house, but the idea was scrapped for lack of funds. In
January of 1926 the Free German Union ceased publication of its newsletter and
accepted Eberhard’s offer to publish its future announcements in the Wegwarte.
Groups and individuals in the Free German Union sponsored foster children
in the Sannerz community household. This growing interacion with the Free
German Union coincided with Eberhard’s attempts – most of them futile – to
achieve an understanding of the Sannerz community among churches, SCM, and
other religious groups. Even in the Neuwerk movement the Sannerz community
was being pushed further and further aside during this time.
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