Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind1In 1933 about twenty adults joined the brotherhood, about ten in 1934, and about fifteen more in1935.2One customer was the last Hohenzollern emperor, who lived in exile near Utrecht, Holland. He hadordered books and writings from the Eberhard Arnold Publishing House ever since the early twenties.3Transcript of a brotherhood meeting, end of July 1934, BA.4Karl Keiderling to Alfred Gneiting, July 5, 1935, BA. The sales and fundraising trips were as problematicas they were necessary. Several Swiss cantons refused to issue entry permits for the traveling brothers.And among fellow Christians in Switzerland, there was at times a failure to grasp the desperate plightof the Bruderhof. Typical of this is Leonhard Ragaz’s totally exaggerated criticism in March 1935:“His aim”– meaning Eberhard’s – “is the ruthless financial exploitation of the whole religious-socialistmovement in Switzerland…It is simply a fact that Arnold’s community would have collapsed long ago ifwe had not again and again supported it.”5Eberhard Arnold to Ellen and Gerbrand Dekker, February 21, 1933, BA. 2326“Die schwierige Lage der Christen in der Krisis Mitteleuropas” [The difficult situation of the Christiansin the crisis in central Europe], lecture in Edinburgh, April 23, 1935, BA.7Eberhard Arnold, “Werbeschrift für den Almbruderhof Silum” [Appeals for the Alm Bruderhof, Silum],May 1934, BA.8Eberhard Arnold, “Weihnachtsbrief ” [Christmas letter] from the Rhön to the Alm Bruderhof,(December 1934), BA; cf. transcript of brotherhood meeting, December 5, 1934, BA.9According to Hans Meier in Solange das Licht brennt, 50. According to Gertrud Dalgas, the young mendid not leave the country until March 18; cf. Entscheidende Schritte.10Gutenberg is a castle on a prominent cliff in the Rhine valley at the southern extremity of the principalityof Liechtenstein.11“Die schwierige Lage der Christen in der Krisis Mitteleuropas,” op. cit.12Reported by Hardy Arnold, May 1, 1935, BA.13Eberhard Arnold to Hans Zumpe, April 18, 1935, BA.14It was from the circle associated with Leyton Richards that Arnold and Gladys Mason came to theBruderhof. Richards had visited the Rhön Bruderhof at the end of February and the Alm Bruderhof atthe beginning of March 1935.15The Dutch Mennonites gave the community speedy and generous aid after the Rhön Bruderhof wasdissolved by the National Socialists in 1937.16Transcript of brotherhood meeting, October 22, 1935, BA.17Later known as the Cotswold Bruderhof in Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire.18Eberhard Arnold to Emmy Arnold, December 25, 1930, BA; cf. Brothers Unite, 186.19“Werbeschrift für den Almbruderhof Silum,” op. cit.20Shorthand notes of a report of a journey, November 1, 1934, BA.21From letters during the England journey; cf. Eberhard Arnold to Hans Zumpe, April 1935, BA.22Eberhard Arnold to Hans Zumpe, April 20, 1935, BA.23E.g., In a letter to Alfred Gneiting written on July 5, 1935, BA, Karl Keiderling reported that Eberhardhad made jokes throughout the midday meal.