Bruderhöfer

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Sign in the entrance area of ​​today's Bruderhof in Sannerz

The Bruderhöfer are a new-baptist movement that practices a community of property based on the example of the early Jerusalem community . Its origins go back, among others, to the couple Eberhard and Emmy Arnold , who founded the first Bruderhof community in Hesse in 1920. After being expelled by the National Socialists in 1937, they first found refuge in the Principality of Liechtenstein and later in England. Today there are Bruderhöfer branches in Australia , Great Britain , Paraguay and the United States . After two abandoned attempts at settlement in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively, there are two Bruderhof communities in Germany: Sannerz (2002) and Bad Klosterlausnitz-Holzland (2004).

The Bruderhöfer were temporarily affiliated with the Hutterite community and were given the nickname Arnoldleut by them . They have been separated from them again since 1995.

history

Founding couple Emmy and Eberhard Arnold with their children Emmy-Margret, Heini and Hardy around 1915

The prehistory of the Bruderhof movement included the so-called open evenings , to which the married couple Eberhard and Emmy invited Arnold to their Berlin apartment from 1919 to reflect with friends about a new spiritual way of life. The First World War had shaken the Arnolds and their friends deeply and made them look for other possibilities of practical Christianity. They saw the spiritual roots of their new ideals in Anabaptism and the radical Reformation of the 16th century . At that time, thousands had left the major churches to live together as brothers and sisters in an early Christian community . The life testimony of the Württemberg pastors Johann Christoph Blumhardt and Christoph Blumhardt also had a decisive influence on the members of the community. Further impulses came from the theology of religious socialism and the youth movement.The elementary school teacher Georg Flemmig , who had heard from Eberhard Arnold about his numerous publications in Furche-Verlag , among others , informed the Berlin circle of his plans to establish an early Christian community in Schlüchtern should be linked to a settlement project. The first steps in this direction have already been taken and a farm, the Habertshof , has been acquired. The Arnolds discovered a kinship and invited Flemmig to a big meeting in Schlüchtern for Whitsun 1920 . Over 200 participants showed up. Many of them became co-founders of the Neuwerk movement , which existed until 1935 and from which several Christian settlement projects developed (partly also through separation), including the aforementioned Habertshof and the Sannerz community. The latter is considered to be the nucleus of the Bruderhof movement.

Sannerz

The Paulsche Villa - residential building of the Sannerz community
Title page of the Sonnenlieder - hymn book of the Bruderhöfer

The day after the Schlüchtern meeting, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold visited the nearby village of Sannerz. Conference participants had drawn their attention to the Paulsche Villa (see picture); it would be available for lease or sale and, with its numerous rooms, would be suitable as a domicile for a Christian community. The Arnold couple negotiated with the owner Konrad Paul and only a few days later they were able to lease the main and ancillary buildings as well as nine acres of land, initially for ten years. The Hamburg shipowner Kurt Woermann, a friend of Georg Flemmig, provided RM 30,000 for the first annual lease, repairs and purchases. The first residents of the “Sannerz House” included the Arnold couple and their five children, Else von Hollander, Eva Öhlke, Suse Hungar, Gertrud Cordes and the writer Otto Salomon . In the following months, other residents were added, including the pedagogue Gertraud Dalgas , known as "Trudi".

From the beginning, the residential and settlement project in Sannerz, which was called the Sonnherzgemeinschaft in reference to the place name , was a magnet for numerous visitors from different social and ideological origins. The approximately 2000 guests in 1920/21 included Hermann Kutter (1863–1931), founder of the Swiss Movement of Religious Socialism, the writer Theo Spira (1885–1961), and the reform and peace educator Kees Boeke (1884–1966 ), the type artist Rudolf Koch (1876–1934), who later designed the title page of the aforementioned Bruderhof hymn book Sonnenlieder , and the Jewish religious philosopher Martin Buber (1878–1965). The numerous visitors also included members of the proletarian, Free German and Christian youth movement. Some stayed for a short time, some for a few weeks, some forever. Life artists and original do-gooders also appeared. Among them was Hans Fiehler , one of Karl Fiehler's brothers , who later became the Nazi mayor of Munich. After traumatic experiences from the First World War , he returned as a pacifist , spent many years homeless in Germany and proclaimed his message of peace primarily through music. His trademarks were pointed cap, shorts and a red shirt that bore the words "Hans im Glück".

In the winter of 1921/1922 there were serious disputes within the Sannerz community, which then led to a painful separation the following summer. Otto Salomon left the Sonnherzgemeinschaft in February 1922 . One of his reasons was that "so many worthless" had found acceptance into the community and therefore "the valuable more and more stayed away". After leaving, Salomon joined a men's association initiated by Flemming for a short time, but then left the Neuwerk movement in 1922 to take over the management of Christian Kaiser Verlag . Other members of the Sonnherzgemeinschaft accused Eberhard Arnold of "irresponsibility and an unfair mixture of true beliefs and mere business matters" with regard to the economic situation of the project. While the Arnold family was vacationing in the Kees Boekes brotherhood in Bilthovenen in the summer of 1922 , there was an open uprising in Sannerz and, after the Arnolds' return, over 40 adult members and their children left. Eberhard and Emmy Arnold stayed behind with their five children, Else and Monika von Hollander, Paul Hummel, Suse Hungar and Gertrud Dalgas.

Rhönbruderhof

In 1926 the community moved to the Rhön and took over the run-down Sparhof with several outbuildings and 75 hectares of land for farming. The purchase price was 26,000 marks. A deposit of 10,000 marks was agreed, which Prince Günther von Schönburg-Waldenburg took over.

The Sparhof was renamed Bruderhof (later Rhönbruderhof ). The community grew steadily and soon comprised 80 to 100 adults and children again. They came from four very different backgrounds: youth movements , left-wing proletarians , academically educated and representatives of an awakened Christianity that was strongly oriented towards the Bible. They knew that they were connected by the ideas of religious socialism and pacifism (here they were particularly close to the German branch of the International Union of Reconciliation ). Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster , Gustav Landauer and Leonhard Ragaz were among the personalities who were not members of the Bruderhof, but who gave decisive impetus to the convictions of the Bruderhof community . The aforementioned views and influences brought the Bruderhof into opposition to the ideas of the National Socialist movement early on .

In search of a larger spiritual association, the "Bruderhof Neuhof, Kr [eis]" turned in November 1927. Fulda ”to the Mennonite preacher and church historian Christian Neff (1863–1946). A "close connection of mutual service" was intended. An organizational connection with Quakers or Baptists is not conceivable. Another letter, this time from the pen of Eberhard Arnold, followed in 1928. In it Arnold asked the South German Mennonites to enter into a “very lively exchange” with the Bruderhöfer. In May 1929 Eberhard Arnold attended the Hessian-Palatinate Mennonite Conference. His presentation made a strong impression. The Mennonite travel preacher Christian Guth (1879–1952) made a return visit that same year. However, there was no organizational connection with the Mennonites. In 1937 Neff wrote in an essay: "The nature and tendency of the Bruderhof is and will remain strange to us."

From 1930 to 1931, Eberhard Arnold visited the Hutterites in North America, whereupon they joined the Hutterites in the 1930s and adopted a whole range of their traditions, including their uniform clothing. Overall, it was the case that the community on the Bruderhof only got to the point through the experience of the old Hutterites that a successful community of property became possible.

The old Hutterites referred to the Bruderhöfer as "Arnoldleut" after Eberhard Arnold.

Persecution during the Nazi era and refuge in the Principality of Liechtenstein

The relationship between the Bruderhofgemeinschaft and the responsible state authorities was positive until the beginning of the Nazi era. So the Kassel District President Ferdinand Friedensburg insisted on being present at the ceremonial opening of the private Bruderhof school. Later, after a severe cold snap, he called the Bruderhof personally and asked how the students were doing. A short time later, a coal load he had commissioned arrived to heat the school building. After the National Socialist seizure of power , the situation changed quickly. As early as March 1933, the responsible village policeman appeared and informed the community that charges had been brought against them in Fulda . They are suspected, among other things, of communist activities and illegal possession of weapons. The district president, who was so friendly to them, was already on leave in February 1933 and was later released. However, District Administrator Heinrich von Gagern , a practicing Catholic and member of the Center Party , was still in office. There was a close connection between him and the Bruderhofers. He secretly informed her of an imminent house search , which took place on April 12, 1933. Further police measures followed. Fearing that the printing plates from Eberhard Arnold's main plant could be found and confiscated, they buried them on their property at night. They were observed during this action. The rumor that they had buried weapons was circulated and led to ongoing surveillance of the Bruderhof.

On November 16, 1933, a large-scale raid took place in the houses and on the premises of the Bruderhof , in which the Gestapo , the SS and the local police were involved. The presumable reason was the behavior of the Bruderhöfer in connection with the referendum on the head of state of the German Reich , which had been passed by the Reichstag in July 1933 and was to be carried out on November 12, 1933. It had led to a series of letters that the community had addressed to Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler , among others . The content was about the position of the Bruderhof towards the state and its theological justification. Bruderhof member Kurt Zimmermann reported in his overview of our life together that he had written off the account of the Hutterite elder Peter Riedemann (1506–1556).

Alpenkurhaus Silum - the home of the Bruderhöfer during the Liechtenstein years

Numerous interrogations took place at the end of the raid. The books of the Bruderhof publishing house were confiscated and the reception of guests was prohibited. The closure of the Bruderhof school was also ordered. It was to be replaced by a state school and staffed with a National Socialist teacher. Even before the plans could be implemented, the twenty school children of the Bruderhof community were brought to friends in Switzerland. A short time later, the young people followed. When the teacher appointed by the NS administration finally appeared, he found no more children to be taught. After these experiences, Eberhard and Anny Arnold went in search of a new home for the Bruderhof community and found what they were looking for in the Principality of Liechtenstein . The Kurhaus located there (see picture) was offered to them on Alm Silum . They signed a lease and in 1934 the children and young people living in Switzerland as well as some Rhönbruderhof families were able to move in there. The name Almbruderhof was chosen as the new name of the domicile .

The final dissolution of the Rhönbruderhof took place on the basis of a "state police order" of April 9, 1937. Among other things, it said that "the Neuwerk - Bruderhof, Veitsteinbach, Fulda district [...] with immediate effect" was dissolved and the whole Association assets are confiscated. This order was implemented on April 14, 1937. With the help of the police, Gestapo and about 50 SS men, the residents of the Bruderhof were rounded up, interrogated and identified. The buildings were searched and a large amount of documents were confiscated. The events in connection with the dissolution were observed by the two US Hutterites Michael Waldner ( Bon Homme , South Dakota ) and David Hofer ( James Valley , Manitoba ), who were visiting the Rhönbruderhof in connection with a visit. Hofer drew up a protocol that has since been published several times.

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England, Paraguay, United States

The Bruderhöfer first moved from Liechtenstein to the United Kingdom . There the German members were threatened with internment after the outbreak of war. So they migrated on to Paraguay . Paraguay was the only country that in 1941 granted the approximately 350 Bruderhofers an entry permit and enabled the establishment of the Primavera settlement (Paraguay) . After a crisis in the late 1950s to early 1960s, the Bruderhöflers moved to the United States , where they went through an eventful history of division, reunification and, in turn, separation from the Hutterite blacksmiths . During this time they lost about half of their members through expulsion and resignation.

The history of this crisis is seen differently by the Bruderhöfer than by those who went or had to go. A fundamental processing of the separation has not yet taken place.

Resettlement in Germany

Resettlement in Germany was initially difficult. The branch founded in 1955 on the Sinntalhof near Bad Brückenau had to be given up again in 1961 due to legal disputes. In 1988, Bruderhöfer settled on the Michaelshof in Birnbach with financial support from the Hutterer teachers . Hostility from the local population and the lack of opportunities to erect new buildings meant that this Bruderhof also had to be abandoned in 1996. The community left Germany. Only in August 2002 did she return to her German place of origin in Sannerz . In the Thuringian spa town of Bad Klosterlausnitz a branch has now been opened.

Teaching and life

Open-air meeting of the Darvell-Bruderhof

From the beginning, the apostolic creed was the basis of faith . Just as fundamental are the teachings of Jesus Christ , especially the Sermon on the Mount . This obliges the Bruderhöfer to be non-violent , to love one's neighbor and enemy, and to be faithful in marriage . They are modeled on the communal life of the early Christians , as described in the Acts of the Apostles , as well as the Didache . They have no private property, but rather pool their goods and share all goods with one another. Everyone is provided for as he needs it through a community fund.

Since Bruderhöfler are very active missionaries, there are not only the main branches in the United States but also smaller communities in Germany, England and Australia . Today they are only partly of German origin. Since they emigrated to the United States, High German is no longer the common language of the Bruderhofs.

The Bruderhöfer do not have community autonomy like the Althutterer, but are managed centrally. There is also no conscious element of chance in the selection of the church leadership. Instead, the leadership is established by the members through a resolution that is as unanimous as possible.

Commercial activity

In the UK, the Bruderhöfer company, Community Playthings , produces children's furniture, kindergarten furnishings and toys made of wood; the German Bruderhöfe deliver parts of it. In the United States, Rifton Equipment manufactures individual aids for the physically handicapped, in Australia Danthonia Design produces individually manufactured outdoor advertising. Internationally, the Bruderhöfer operate the Plow Publishing House .

literature

  • Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. The becoming of the Bruderhöfe , Brendow Verlag Moers 1983, ISBN 3-929412-09-8 ; Revised new edition as e-book, Plow Publishing 2012, PDF (approx. 889 kB)
  • Johann Heinrich Arnold: Life in the Succession , Brendow Verlag Moers 1996, ISBN 3-87067-650-7 ; New edition as e-book, Plow Publishing 2013, PDF (approx. 318 kB)
  • Emmy Barth: Embassy siege. The story of a Christian community under National Socialism. Plow Publishing House, Robertsbridge GB 2015, ISBN 978-0-87486-709-1 - English edition: An Embassy Besieged: The Story of a Christian Community in Nazi Germany. Cascade Books, Eugene 2010
  • Markus Baum: stumbling block. Eberhard Arnold 1883–1935 . Brendow Verlag Moers 1996. ISBN 3-87067-657-4 ; edited new edition u. d. T. Eberhard Arnold. A life in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount . Neufeld Verlag Schwarzenfeld 2013. ISBN 978-3-86256-035-6 .
  • Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe: Torches Extinguished: Memories of a Communal Bruderhof Childhood in Paraguay, Europe and the USA , Carrier Pigeon Press 1993, ISBN 1-882260-01-5 .
  • Ulrich Eggers : Community for life. German Hutterers in the USA , R. Brockhaus Verlag Wuppertal 1992, ISBN 3-417-20395-3 .
  • Jutta and Detlef Manke: Is there a true unity of life? The Bruderhof . In: Anna-Maria from the Wiesche, Frank Lilie (Hrsg.): Kloster auf Evangelisch. Reports from life together . Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 2016, ISBN 978-3-89680-904-9 , pp. 33-36.
  • Peter Mommsen: Radically compassionate. The Life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - A Story of Faith and Forgiveness, Devotion and Community (with a foreword by Eugene H. Peterson ). Neufeld Verlag : Cuxhaven 2017. ISBN 978-3-86256-078-3
  • Thomas Nauerth: Testimony, Love and Resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Ferdinand Schönigh: Paderborn 2008. ISBN 978-3-506-78777-4
  • Julius H. Rubin: "The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy Among The Bruderhof", Oxford: Oxford University Press, New York 2000.
  • Bob and Shirley Wagoner: Community in Paraguay: A Visit to the Bruderhof , The Plow Publishing House, The Hutterian Brethren Service Committee, Inc. Rifton (NY) 1991, ISBN 0-87486-033-4 .
  • Benjamin Zablocki: The joyful community. An account of the Bruderhof - a communal movement in its third generation. , University of Chicago Press 1980, ISBN 0-226-97749-8 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Ulrich Linse: “Back, oh man, to mother earth!” Rural communes in Germany 1890–1933 . Munich 1983. p. 221
  2. ↑ The following data and facts are based on Fuldaer Zeitung (May 1970) / Emmy Arnold: 50 years of the Bruderhofgemeinschaft Sannerz , unless otherwise noted . The early years of the Bruderhof communities in Germany (PDF online) ; accessed on June 24, 2019
  3. ↑ For the history of the Neuwerk movement see, for example, Antje Vollmer : Die Neuwerkbewegung 1919–1935. A contribution to the history of the youth movement, religious socialism and workers' education . Blasaditsch Verlag, Augsburg 1973 (inaugural dissertation, Berlin 1973).
  4. ↑ For details see Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Rifton, Robertsbridge, Elsmore 2013². P. 41ff
  5. ↑ Else von Hollander was Emmy Arnold's sister. She was born in 1895 and died in 1932 on the Rhönbruderhif, where she is also buried ( Hymnary.org: Else von Holander ; accessed June 26, 2019).
  6. ↑ Eva Oehlke (1893-1970) later became the (presumably) first ordained evangelische Sacred Germany; see LR online: First registered pastor in Germany (June 14, 2003) . She added another stanza to the well-known folk song No beautiful country at that time , which was particularly popular in Christian circles; the first line of this stanza reads: “Brothers know what unites us”; see Antje Vollmer: Die Neuwerkbewegungunng. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder: Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2016. p. 120
  7. ↑ Suse Hungar was the captain of the Salvation Army and a teacher; see Markus Baum: Eberhard Arnold. A life in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount . Neufeld-Verlag: Schwarzenfeld 2013. ISBN 9783862560356 . P. 117
  8. ↑ Otto Salomon (1889–1971) worked as a writer under the pseudonym Otto Bruder . He came from a Jewish family and converted to Christianity in 1911. After he had left the Sannerz community, he was promoted to senior staff at Christian Kaiser Verlag in 1922 . In Nazi Germany he was banned from practicing his profession, went to Switzerland and became a member of the World Council of Churches . In 1959 he becomes Dr. honoris causa from the University of Zurich . For his biography see Ludwig and Margrit Hönig (eds.): Otto Bruder. From his life and work . Evangelical publishing house: Stuttgart 1975. ISBN 3771501695
  9. ^ Gertrud Dalgas (1897–1984) married in 1931 the Bruderhof member Walter Hüssy. She was the co-editor of the song book Sonnenlieder , the hymn book of the Bruderhöfer; see the short biography in the free church hymn book Fieren & Loben , p. 746, column II. There she can be found under her later married name Hüssy.
  10. ↑ This number is mentioned in the online edition of Emmy Arnold's memoirs against the current , p. 62 .
  11. ↑ Antje Vollmer: The new work movement. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder: Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2016. p. 95
  12. ↑ For Hans Fiehler see Emmy Arnold: Against the current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Rifton, Robertsbridge, Elsmore 2013². Pp. 47-49. In the sun songs, under number 83, you can find the song "Menschheitseiszeit had become" by Hans Fiehler.
  13. ↑ After Antje Vollmer, Salomon resigned from the Sannerz community in January 1922: The Neuwerk Movement. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder: Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2016. p. 95
  14. ↑ Quoted from Emmy Arnold: Against the current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Rifton, Robertsbridge, Elsmore 2013². P. 64
  15. ↑ Quoted from Antje Vollmer: Die Neuwerkbewegungunng. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder: Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2016. p. 132
  16. ↑ For details of the conflict, see Markus Baum: Eberhard Arnold. A life in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount . Neufeld Verlag Schwarzenfeld 2013. pp. 137–143
  17. ^ Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: Rifton (New York), Robertsbridge (England), Elsmore (Australia) [o. J.]. ISBN 978-087486-887-6 . P. 94f
  18. ↑ Eberhard Arnold (junior; ed.): In the beginning was love. Documents, letters & texts of the early Christians . Coprint: Wiesbaden 1986. ISBN 3-922819-39-7 . P. 10
  19. ↑ Details on this section from Thomas Nauerth: witness, love and resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh: Paderborn 2018. pp. 22–29
  20. ^ Jochen Schowalter: Neff, Christian. In: Mennonite Lexicon (MennLex) Part 1 (people). Retrieved June 20, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Quoted from Thomas Nauerth: witness, love and resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh: Paderborn 2018. P. 19
  22. ^ Christian Neff: The Rhönbruderhof . In: Mennonite Leaves No. 84 (December 1937). P. 86f
  23. ↑ Regarding Friedensburg's activity as regional president, see regional council Kassel: Dr. Ferdinand Fiedensburg ; accessed on December 28, 2019
  24. ^ Emmy Barth: Embassy siege. The story of a Christian community under National Socialism . Plow Publishing House: Rifton (New York) and Robertsbridge (England) 2016³. ISBN 978-0-87486-709-1 . P. 64
  25. ↑ On von Gagern see Thomas Nauert: witness, love and resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh: Paderborn (u. A.). P. 65; Note 9
  26. ↑ Thomas Nauert: Testimony, Love and Resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Publisher Ferdinand Schöningh: Paderborn u. a. 2018. ISBN 978-3-506-78777-4 . P. 65f
  27. ↑ Emmy Arnold: From the life of Erhard Arnold . In: Der Bruderhof 1926–1937 (Der Sparhof - District of Fulda) . Published as number 2 in the Bruderhofhefte series . Robertsbridge 1986. p. 10
  28. ↑ The full title of the Riedemann script reads: Rechenschäft our Religion, Leer vnd Glaubens, issued by the Brothers, as the Hutterites are called, and dates from 1540/1541.
  29. ↑ Thomas Nauert: Testimony, Love and Resistance. The Rhönbruderhof 1933–1937 . Publisher Ferdinand Schöningh: Paderborn u. a. 2018. p. 68
  30. ↑ Emmy Arnold: From the life of Erhard Arnold . In: Der Bruderhof 1926–1937 (Der Sparhof - District of Fulda) . Published as number 2 in the Bruderhofhefte series . Robertsbridge 1986. pp. 10f
  31. ^ Emmy Barth: Embassy siege. The story of a Christian community under National Socialism . Plow Publishing House: Rifton (New York) and Robertsbridge (England) 2016³. P. 218
  32. ↑ See also Emmy Barth: Embassy siege. The story of a Christian community under National Socialism . Plow Publishing House: Rifton (New York) and Robertsbridge (England) 2016³. Pp. 354-359
  33. ↑ For example in Der Bruderhof 1926–1937. The Sparhof - District of Fulda . In: Bruderhofhefte (No. 2). Publishing House Darwell Bruderhof: Robertsbridge / England 1986. pp. 13–21 ( The dissolution of the Bruderhof ) - The protocol is taken from the diary of the Hutterite elder David Hofer. It first appeared in September 1938 in the Pflug-Verlag of the Cotswold-Bruderhof, "written in the German peculiar to the Hutterite brothers".