Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
meals. But Prince Günther von Schönburg-Waldenburg enjoyed the frank and
natural company, and from the time of that visit on a large parcel arrived for the
children every Easter. Sometimes, when money was tight, he even helped with
loans and generous donations (as for the purchase of the Rhön Bruderhof). He
took a lively interest in the ups and downs of the Bruderhof. Whenever Eberhard
was scheduled to lecture in Saxony a room at Waldenburg Castle always awaited
him and Emmy. Through the prince, close and long-lasting contacts were made
with socially concerned pastors in the neighborhood; no other town in Germany
invited Eberhard as frequently during the 1920s as did Lichtenstein in Saxony.
Eberhard’s friendship with Martin Buber was on an entirely different level.
Eberhard had studied Buber’s writings during the war, and in 1918 he had described
him in Die Furche magazine as the “prophet of the new Jewish movement.” The
two had already met at that time, a contact revived once more in 1921. True,
Buber’s help on Eber-hard’s planned book on Landauer never materialized – and,
consequently, neither did the book. But Buber’s curiosity about the Neuwerk
movement was aroused. On July 28, 1921, Buber and Eberhard had a long talk
at Sannerz. From a theological point of view the two held exactly the same
reservations about Karl Barth, and they shared a nearly identical understanding
of the kingdom of God and of the mystery of Gemeinde – the sole exception in
their mutual understanding was Jesus of Nazareth: for Buber, an inspired prophet
with power from above; for Eberhard, the Lord of the Gemeinde and of the world.
After 1924 Martin Buber met Eberhard several times at Neuwerk conferences,
and the two helped to organize the August 1927 World Youth conference meetings
on religion and world views. Their relationship was always one of great mutual
eseem – a resect almost too great to permit a close friendship.
A robust, man-to-man friendship linked Eberhard to the poet and literary
critic Hermann Buddensieg. Buddensieg, a Wandervogel member, was ten years
Eberhard’s junior and had been at the 1913 Hohe Meissner conference. He fought
in the war and, as a result, returned home to Germany disabled. The two met
in 1923 at the second Hohe Meissner conference. Hermann Buddensieg had just
started a newspaper, Challenge to Change. 21 Here was a Free German in the best
possible sense of the word – sharp-tongued, good-humored, and keenly perceptive.
Though not a Christian, Buddensieg enjoyed Eberhard’s company and regularly
sought his advice. 22 As a result the Challenge to Change was published for two years
by the Eberhard Arnold Publishing House. When Hermann Buddensieg had a
son in the late 1920s, he named him Tilmann-Eberhard, and Eberhard became
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