Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the WindEberhard held a noteworthy talk in Edinburgh on April 23, 1935. Speaking ofthe situation in Germany he said, “Human blood is put in place of the divine Spirit,the materialistic belief in race in place of the breath of God, morbid hate in placeof love; the mammonistic rule and the bloody violence of the state, the triumphof private property, in place of true social justice; the merely feigned peace of thesword and preparation for war in place of a genuine will for peace…and aboveall, embittered hostility to the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount – the Antichristagainst Christ!”And on the situation of Christians in Nazi Germany: “There are undoubtedlyChristians everywhere who abhor this apostasy with its heathen admixture, whowould rather die than consent to take part in this impure confusion. In centralEurope too it is certain that such Christians can be found – but only with difficulty.The power of public enslavement, the brutal suppression of every expression offree spirit, has driven them from all public places.”Eberhard pleaded for the “necessary outer and inner help” not only for theBruderhof but for all Christians in Germany. 11 And in Great Britain, Eberhardand Hardy had their ears filled with all kinds of well-meant but contradictoryadvice:John Fletcher, a World War I conscientious objector regarded by many as aliving legend, said that without a doubt the Bruderhof ’s young men should haveremained in Germany. Rather die than yield – that would have been a witness forthe cause! 12 The attitude “of giving one’s utmost and remaining alert and activeto the end” appealed to Eberhard. At one point he seriously considered sendinga few brothers from the Alm Bruderhof back to Germany “to stand firm on thequestion of military service as a test of character, to show their faithfulness totheir promised word.” 13 Fortunately he soon abandoned these ideas.Leyton Richards, a charismatic personality and a Birmingham minister,justifiably doubted whether the Alm Bruderhof could survive economically. 14 Hesuggesed that the community immigrate to Canada, and he was ready to makefunds available for the move.Joan Mary Fry advised them to come to England instead, but at the time landwas virtually impossible to obtain. So at the time of Eberhard’s return to the RhönBruderhof in May of 1935, the Netherlands still seemed a more likely choice.All these ideas had a point, and many of the contacts made or renewed duringthis journey provided reliable support a short while later. A letter Eberhardsent to the “emigration office of the Dutch Anabaptists” a few weeks after his197