European Mennonites and the Holocaust

by Mark Jantzen (Editor), John D. Thiesen (Editor)

During the Second World War, Mennonites in the Netherlands, Germany, occupied Poland, and Ukraine lived in communities with Jews and close to various Nazi camps and killing sites. As a result of this proximity, Mennonites were neighbours to and witnessed the destruction of European Jews. In some cases they were beneficiaries or even enablers of the Holocaust. Much of this history was forgotten after the war, as Mennonites sought to rebuild or find new homes as refugees. The result was a myth of Mennonite innocence and ignorance that connected their own suffering during the 1930s and 1940s with earlier centuries of persecution and marginalization.

European Mennonites and the Holocaust identifies a significant number of Mennonite perpetrators, along with a smaller number of Mennonites who helped Jews survive, examining the context in which they acted. In some cases, theology led them to accept or reject Nazi ideals. In others, Mennonites chose a closer embrace of German identity as a strategy to improve their standing with Germans or for material benefit.

A powerful and unflinching examination of a difficult history, European Mennonites and the Holocaust uncovers a more complete picture of Mennonite life in these years, underscoring actions that were not always innocent.

Genres: History

352 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2021

Reviews

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of academic papers, many of which were first presented at the “Mennonites and the Holocaust” conference held in March 2018 at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. These papers examine attitudes toward and involvement in the Holocaust by various Mennonites living in Europe during World War II. There are papers included about Mennonites living in three different different areas; (1) Netherlands, (2) Danzig region in the Vistula Delta (part of Germany prior to war), and (3) Ukraine. The Mennonites living in all three of these locations had pretty much lost their historic pacifistic beliefs. Many years of social pressure had caused those who wanted to keep their pacifism to emigrate out of Europe in the years prior to the war, most to North America.

It is my conclusion from this book that Mennonites in Europe behaved pretty much the same as their neighbors. In other words the Mennonites living in Germany were as loyal to their country as their Catholic or Protestant neighbors, Dutch Mennonites were split in their loyalties in similar ways to the rest of their country, and the Mennonites in Ukraine welcomed the invading Germans in ways similar to other German speaking Ukrainians. (The Ukrainian situation is discussed further below.) It is apparent to me that secular political and social circumstances are more determinative on behavior than religious belief.

The Mennonites living in Ukraine were descendants of immigrants from Germany many years earlier. The Soviets had imposed strict restrictions on them along with other German speaking groups. During the twenty years prior to the war all leaders within their communities, pastors in particular, were exiled to Siberia (about 15% of the population). Then when the German invasion began the Soviets forcibly removed about 50% of the remaining German speaking population before the Germans arrived. The remaining German speaking population including the Mennonites considered the German army to be liberators. Consequently, many in the Mennonite community became aware of Nazi genocidal actions regarding the Jewish population and didn't protest or offer resistance.

The German occupying forces were willing to trust Mennonites with responsible administrative positions because they spoke German and were known to hate the Soviets. Mennonites in those positions were supportive to many Nazi activities indirectly and occasionally directly. It is questionable how religious these people were during the war. All church activities had been shut down by the Soviets for decades prior to the war so they were no longer self identifying as Mennonite at that time. However, after the war when they ended up as displaced people most of them were willing to accept the designation of "Mennonite refugee" which qualified them to move to Canada or Paraguay. It appears that having a Mennonite last name and being able to speak low German was all that was required to receive help after the war from the Mennonite Central Committee.

The only examples provided by this book of Mennonites who resisted the Nazis and risked their lives protecting Jews were from the Netherlands. Those few stories were amazing, but their coreligionists in Germany weren't as brave. This is a painful history that has taken many years to compile partly due to lack of access to Soviet records and partly due to a preference to not talk about it.

Link to article, Hitler's Mennonite Voters, by Ben Goossen:
https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2021...
The following is an excerpt from the above article:

Only one Mennonite from the Danzig region is known to have been imprisoned for resisting Nazism. The eldest son of a well-established Mennonite family, Hermann Epp had been arrested two months before Ewert baptized forty-seven young people in Konradstein. Epp’s attitudes toward Nazism were unusual in his family and among Danzig Mennonites generally. He had a history of communist sympathies and close friendships with Jews. In 1943, when his first child developed disabilities, Nazi officials forcibly took and euthanized the infant, possibly perpetrating this murder at Konradstein. Epp’s public bitterness landed him in the Stutthof concentration camp. Eventually released, he survived the Third Reich’s collapse.

Below is a footnote regarding Hermann Epp:

MCC staff thus worked with many former Nazis, although they praised the anti-Nazi Hermann Epp and hired him for editorial work: “He is the one Mennonite from West Prussia, or even in all Germany, so far as I know, who suffered for his anti-Nazi convictions, and spent some time in prison…. He, alone of all the West Prussian refugees [i.e. from Danzig-West Prussia] in Denmark, has been classified as an Allied D.P. [Displaced Person], and consequently has received freedom and different treatment.” Harold Bender to C.F. Klassen and Robert Kreider, October 25, 1947, IX-06-03, box 55, folder 29/147, MCCA.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important volume that utilizes newly available sources about European Mennonite activity before and during World War II in relation to National Socialism, especially the "final solution" policy of killing Jews. The articles are sobering because they undercut the typical narrative of European Mennonites as singular victims in the war while ignoring Mennonites' passive and active complicity with National Socialism.

More research needs to be done. It is admirable that Mennonite Central Committee is open to historical analysis of its role in the immediate post-War era when it helped many Mennonite immigrants avoid closer scrutiny of their activity during the war.