Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
14 Transcript of brotherhood meeting, November 1, 1934, BA.
15 The Confessional Church began in 1934, emerging from the Pastors’ Emergency League, in opposition
to the “German Christians” and the Nazi-instated “Church of the Reich.” In response to what it called
the “state of emergency” within the church at large, the Confessional Church formed its own emergency
church structure, which completely rejected the validity of the Church of the Reich. Many members of
the Confessional Church were persecuted for their beliefs. Some, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, became
involved in the political resistance against the Nazis.
16 Cf. Hans Meier, Solange das Licht Brennt, 43ff. Their route lay through Switzerland and Austria to
Prague, where Hans Meier made inquiries whether it might eventually be possible to take over an old
Hutterian “Haushaben” [communal settlement] in Moravia.
17 Cf. Brothers Unite, 318f.
18 Although several foster children had to remain in Germany, the majority of the foster children in the
Bruderhof ’s care traveled to Switzerland, after receiving permission from their mothers or guardians; cf. 231
Gegen den Strom, 152f.
19 As seen in various references in letters to Hardy Arnold. On January 19, Eberhard wrote that he was
still hoping to find a place for another Bruderhof “in Appenzell or…in Waadt Canton.” On January 22,
Emmy wrote of the possibility of another Bruderhof, “preferably in Switzerland.”
20 According to recollections by Gertrud Dalgas. There is an interesting historical parallel. In the sixteenth
century the princes of Liechtenstein were also manor lords of Nikolsburg in Moravia. They provided
refuge for fugitives, forced to hide because of their faith, from the whole of Europe, among others for the
Tyrolean Anabaptist Jakob Hutter.
21 Julia Lerchy came to the Bruderhof a few months later; she was taken into the novitiate in October of
1934 and into the brotherhood at the beginning of 1935. She remained with the Bruderhof communities
until her death in 1991.
22 Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 1906–1945. Eberhard knew the Bonhoeffer family from Breslau, where Dietrich’s
father had been a professor of psychology and neurology.
23 Guests were no longer allowed to stay overnight. Only people who intended to stay six months or longer
with the community could be accommodated, and these only for a limited period; cf. Gegen den Strom,
153.
24 The German word “Einstimmigkeit” (used in reference to the community), for example, does not
translate as “unity” but as “unanimity.” As remembered by Winifred Bridgwater.
25 Cf. Eberhard Arnold to Karl Born, November 2, 1935, BA:
Vegetarianism and the theosophical theory of evolution shift animals into far closer a relationship with
human beings than was ever recognized by the prophets and apostles…We cannot hold to an evolutionary
theory that regards animals as higher than plants. Instead we believe that people should be regarded as
of greater worth than both animals and plants. What should horrify and distress Christians today is the
contempt for and murder of people.
26 Kathleen Hamilton, “Erinnerungen an Eberhard Arnold.”
27 Edna Percival, “Erinnerungen an Eberhard Arnold.” Edna Percival joined the Bruderhof in the summer
of 1935.
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