Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
conferences were cast into quite a different light: they seemed suddenly cynical
and unrealistic.
A 1916 song sheet provides some insight. This martial “Hymn of hate against
England,” scored for men and illustrated with bayonet-wielding German soldiers,
bristles with hate – exactly as the title indicates. 25 Underlined in the margin is a
one-word note in Eberhard’s handwriting, in bold, large strokes: “Love?”
He now made more time to study the Bible and Christian authors, esecially
the mystics. 26 He read Jakob Böhme, Meister Eckhart, and others. Was this the
result of or was it a reason for the change that took place in him?
After the spate of pompous pronouncements on the meaning and course of the
war, after all the self-confident commentaries, it is all the more noticeable that
by the end of 1916 this sententious tone began to fade from Eberhard’s style and
finally ceased altogether. Of course he diligently continued to write articles, but
he cut his words to the minimum and was cautious in his assessment of the war.
All at once the sense of patriotic mission seems to have vanished. In Die Furche
Eberhard featured biographical and literary articles and a series on significant
people in the history of thought, including Rudolf Steiner and Martin Buber. 27 No
more glorification of the “German spirit.” No more sideswipes against the English,
French, and Russians – at least not from Eberhard’s pen.
At the beginning of March 1917 Eberhard held a series of revival meetings in the
Rannischer Platz Fellowship. His theme for the final evening is noteworthy: “Love and
UnitywithinaDividedMankind.”Forthefirsttimeinyears,hereferredtothesuffering
of all humanity –no more talk of the mission of the German people. Unfortunately,
extensive notes of this meeting no longer exist.
In the weeks that followed Eberhard and Emmy paused for rest and reflection at
Braunlage in the Harz Mountains. It was one of those increasingly rare occasions
when the two could send time completely alone. Here they could find persective
at a sufficient distance from the publishing house, the SCM, and all the old
imperial saber-rattling, as well as from Berlin’s emaciated people and discontented
mutterings. Eberhard and Emmy used the time to take stock of the past few years
and to gain clarity about the road ahead. While skiing in the mountains Eberhard
injured his left eye, detaching the retina. Back in Berlin, care and quiet healed
Eberhard’s eye and extended the opportunity to pause and reflect.
Meanwhile the political situation had changed dramatically. There was no
prosect of a military breakthrough for either side. People were war-weary. Hunger
protests arose in Berlin and in other major German cities. In April the munitions
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