Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
he would not recognize class distinctions. At first the only pracical consequence
of his decision was his attitude toward the family’s maids. He now treated them
more considerately and occasionally lent them a helping hand.
divErSionS
At school, Eberhard still did not apply himself. He thought everything would
fall into his lap, the same way as it did with material things. Sports were his only
interest: soccer, gymnastics, rowing, and swimming in the Oder River. In his
free time he liked to stroll down the Schweidnitzer Strasse, through the heart
of the fashionable shopping district of this provincial capital of Lower Silesia. In
addition, he held a season ticket to the horse races. Although the races themselves
would be left behind, throughout his life he maintained this enthusiasm for swift,
thoroughbred horses.
dECiSivE wEEkS
Meanwhile Eberhard’s brother, Hermann, had begun his university studies. Clara
was now seventeen, and Eberhard’s sixteenth birthday was approaching. Summer
vacations for the whole family were no longer feasible, since Eberhard and his sister
would return to school on August 7, around the same time that university lectures
ended for their older brother. Consequently, their mother arranged for the two of
them to send their vacation with her cousin Lisbeth and her husband, Ernst (they
were simply “aunt” and “uncle” to the Arnold children).
Ernst Ferdinand Klein was a pastor in Lichtenrade, near Berlin. He had formerly
been a pastor in a Silesian weavers’ village. There he had stood up for the interests
of these cottage-industry workers far more strongly than was customary, and he
had publicly denounced their exploitation by the textile mill owners. As a result,
the Silesian Lutheran Church Counsel had transferred him to another district. 15
The sixteen-year-old Eberhard naturally admired the militant pastor.
In the summer of 1899, Ernst Ferdinand Klein’s uncompromising love of truth
had once again made him enemies. As pastor, he had insisted that the choirmaster
be dismissed for indecent behavior with several school girls. Though the man was
removed, a large number of villagers now boycotted the church services. So when
Eberhard and Clara arrived, they found the parsonage resembling a barricaded
fortress. From time to time window panes were shattered and threatening
messages thrown through the holes.
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