Bruderhof (Hutterite)

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The Hutterite Bruderhof in Moravia
Bruderhof in Bergen around 1935

Bruderhof or Haushabe refers to the communitarian farms and settlements of the Hutterites in Eastern Europe . Today in North America existing Hutterite settlements are usually as colonies ( Colonies designated).

The Hutterites are a Protestant - Anabaptist religious community that emerged during the Reformation , whose communities are characterized to this day by the principle of community of property based on the model of the community of property of the early Jerusalem community .

history

The first community-based Anabaptist parish was established in 1528 in Austerlitz, Moravia . From here, three years later, a group of Tyrolean Anabaptists moved to nearby Auspitz , whose community was ultimately to become the nucleus of the Hutterite movement named after Jakob Hutter . In addition to the Hutterites, in the 16th century there were other Anabaptist groups with the Austerlitz Brothers, the Philippians and the Gabrielers . The early Swiss Anabaptists also embraced the Christian ideal of community as formulated in Acts of the Apostles , but did not form community settlements, as was the case in the Moravian Anabaptist movement.

In Moravia there were at times around 80 Hutterite brother farms. Already in 1540 there were about twice as many Hutterite parishes in Moravia as non-communitarian Anabaptist parishes. With the onset of violent recatholization in the early 17th century, the Hutterites began a period of wandering that led them through Slovakia , Transylvania , Wallachia and the Ukraine to North America. Many Hutterite farms were looted or completely destroyed in the course of the modern wars.

description

The Bruderhöfe usually consisted of a central, whitewashed residential building and a large number of farm buildings such as stables, barns, mills and workshops. A Bruderhof in Slovakia, for example, consisted of no fewer than 47 buildings. The house often had several floors. On the first floor there was a larger dining room, the kitchen and rooms for washing, weaving and spinning. There was a maternity room for expectant mothers. The ground floor often also offered space for a kindergarten, school and Sunday services. There was usually no separate chapel. On the upper floors were the bedrooms ( called Örtel ), in which whole families often lived together. However, teenagers had their own bedrooms. The roof was built high and steep to offer more space. The cover was made of refractory clay. The individual houses were usually arranged around a central square.

The farms tried to be able to exist as self-sufficient communities. Accordingly, in addition to agriculture, there were also doctors and several workshops ( called manufactories ) for, for example, saddlers and shoemakers , carpenters , potters , blacksmiths and furriers . The faience (Habanerfayencen) produced on the Hutterite farms in particular enjoyed a great reputation in the early modern period. Fine woolen cloths and linen fabrics were also valued. There were also some well-known Hutterite breweries and wineries . Some residents also worked on surrounding estates outside of the Bruderhöfe . The brother farms were administered by a servant of necessities . He was also responsible for buying and selling products. The entire community had to be involved in major decisions such as building new houses or buying land. The preachers of a Bruderhof were accordingly called servants of the word . The administrator and preacher together formed the management of a court.

The individual courtyards were inhabited by between 200 and 400 people. In individual cases up to 600 people are said to have lived on a Bruderhof. Today's settlements, however, rarely consist of more than 150 people. The information on the number of Brüderhöfe vary. Around 1600 there were 74 farms in Moravia (1528–1622). In Slovakia (1546–1762) there will have been no more than 20 Hutterite farms. In Transylvania (1621–1767) there were three brother farms. Most of the courtyards did not form independent settlements as they do today in North America, but were mostly still within existing localities. It was only in Ukraine that Hutterite settlements emerged, based on the model of neighboring Mennonite settlements.

Prayer house of the former Hutterite Bruderhof ( Habanerhof ) in Großschützen, Slovakia

In Veľké Leváre (German: Großschützen ), a large part of a Bruderhof founded in 1592 still exists. The Habanerhof was declared an architectural monument in 1972. Today there is a museum in one of the houses.

In Europe today there are Bruderhöfe in England and Germany.

literature

in order of appearance

  • Hermann Schempp: Community settlements on a religious and ideological basis. Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1969.
  • Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. The becoming of the Bruderhöfe . Brendow, Moers 1983, ISBN 3-87067-206-4 .
  • Victor Peters: The Hutterite Brothers, 1528–1992. The historical and social development of a successful community of property . Elwert, Marburg 1992, ISBN 3-7708-0978-5 , pp. 148-159.
  • ʿÔvēd, Yaʿaqov: The witness of the brothers. A history of the Bruderhof . Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 1996, ISBN 1-56000-203-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Schempp: Community settlements on a religious and ideological basis . Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1969, p. 78 .
  2. ↑ Historical monument: Habaner Hof. Regional Association March Thaya Auen, archived from the original on September 28, 2010 ; Retrieved September 1, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Where we are: Our locations , accessed on April 6, 2019.