Pacifists in Chains: The Persecution of Hutterites during the Great War

Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies

by Duane C. S. Stoltzfus

Documents the disturbing history of four pacifists imprisoned for their refusal to serve during World War I. To Hutterites and members of other pacifist sects, serving the military in any way goes against the biblical commandment "thou shalt not kill" and Jesus’s admonition to turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Pacifists in Chains tells the story of four young men—Joseph Hofer, Michael Hofer, David Hofer, and Jacob Wipf—who followed these beliefs and refused to perform military service in World War I. The men paid a steep price for their resistance, imprisoned in Alcatraz and Fort Leavenworth, where the two youngest died. The Hutterites buried the men as martyrs, citing mistreatment. Using archival material, letters from the four men and others imprisoned during the war, and interviews with their descendants, Duane C. S. Stoltzfus explores the tension between a country preparing to enter into a world war and a people whose history of martyrdom for their pacifist beliefs goes back to their sixteenth-century Reformation beginnings.

Genres: World War I, Religion, History

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2013

Reviews

[Samuel]

I thoroughly enjoyed this history about the experience of four Hutterite men in the U.S. prison system at the end of World War I. Two of the men died, at least partially as the result of ill treatment that would today be defined as torture (excessive solitary confinement, and being chained for long period in the same position, among other things). The author makes a strong effort to be evenhanded. These four men fell through the cracks of changing regulations within the military about how to deal with conscientious objectors, soon after they were tried, most men in similar situations were given farm furloughs. The naivete of the Hutterite men was extreme, as was the depth of their beliefs. At the same time, government policy was very uneven, and some military officials blatantly disregarded their own regulations. The rabid patriotism aroused by the government in support of a war that historians now generally regard as having little legitimacy is a frightening image of what could even happen today.

[Michael Lyman]

A story that should not be forgotten, where an overzealous majority literally tramples to death members of the minority; in this case, for nothing more than being true to their convictions. A very detailed depiction of the plight of the Hutterites and other conscientious objectors during WWI, but sometimes too detailed.

[Daniel Silliman]

There is not enough written about the conscientious objectors in America, especially in the First World War, when the US war effort was backed by sedition laws curbing almost all criticism of the war, the first major modern propaganda effort, and quasi-official vigilante mobs. Duane Stoltzfus' book is a good start. He looks specifically at one group of Anabaptists, four Hutterites who refused to fight or be part of the military in any way, and how the government responded to them.

It's a compelling and fascinating story. Unfortunately, the information about the Hutterites themselves is a bit thin. The book is padded out with lots of side discussions, for instance on the history of the prisons where the men were kept. The more focused sections are good, though, are will hopefully prompt others to investigate the history of American conscientious objectors.

[Lyndsey Thackston]

SO there was this one time the US detained and tortured ( literally) a bunch of US citizens because their 1st amendment religious conscience dictated that they not fight in a war and then history promptly forgot about it and no one talked about it. This story is tragic, horrendous and gut wrenching but a worth while read.

[Evelyn]

Interesting read. My father was a concientious objector in WWII. He fought forest fires in a Glacier National Park and was paid only a pittance on which to care for his family of four but compared to what happened to conscientious objectors in WWI I guess one would have to say he had it better than they did.

[CRK]

Required reading never felt so good

This book was required for an Organizational Theories class and was quite enjoyable. The application of the theories we learned was easily kept in the Kindle App notes. It is a stark reminder of the effects of Nationalism and the atrocities that can arise as a result.