KIT Volume XXI No 1 April 2009 prop

7/31/2019 KIT Volume XXI No 1 April 2009 prop

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Keep In Touch NewsletterKeep In Touch NewsletterKeep In Touch NewsletterKeep In Touch Newsletter Volume XXVolume XXVolume XXVolume XXIIII NoNoNoNo 1111 April 2009April 2009April 2009April 2009The KIT Newsletter editorial staff always welcome all suggested contributions for publication in the Newsletter from subscribers andreaders, but whether a given submission meets the criteria for publication is at the sole discretion of the editors. While priority will begiven to original contributions by people with past Bruderhof connections, any letters, articles, or reports which the editors deem to beof historical or personal interest or to offer new perspectives on issues of particular relevance to the ex-Bruderhof Newsletter reader-ship will be included as well. The editors may suggest to the authors changes to improve their presentation.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Contents

Working as a Nurse in Primavera,Alto Paraguay 1

KIT-Conference at Friendly Cross-ways starting August 7th 2009 1

Bulstrode Gathering on Saturday,June 20th 2009 2

It is Time for a New KIT AddressList 5

The Cocksedge Family 6

Migg Fischli Interviewed 7

Another Icon of Primavera Time

Has Passed Away Teodora Jaime 8

Peter Hofer a Forest River Man 9

Derek Wardle Our Headmasterin Wheathill 10

Photos Bring Back Memories of aWork Camp in Featherstone 1956 11

The Confrontation Between TheBruderhof And The German

National-Socialist Government 1933to 1937 5 12

Contact Details 14

KIT-Conference at Friendly Crossways starting August 7thBy Miriam Holmes

The 20th anniversary weekend conference of Keep In Touch (KIT) will begin Friday, Au-gust 7th around noon, or whenever you arrive, and end at the latest on Monday morning,August 10

th2009.

The per person costs for the weekend include all meals:Days (no sleep-over) only US $35.00Semi private/private rooms US $120.00Dorms US $110.00As always, sheets and pillowcases are available for rent from F.C.Traditionally, KIT volunteers will buy and cook the food. We also will do the dish

washing, cleaning etc.

Anyone who wants to spend an extra night at Friendly Crossways (like Thursday orMonday) will be charged US $25.00 a night.I am requesting that those who are able and so inclined pitch in extra money so we can

scholarship some dear people who need help with the above costs.For directions to Friendly Crossways check the web site: www.friendlycrossways.comUrgent: Friendly Crossways requires a deposit by early May. Please send me $50 per

person by check (made out to my name and address: Miriam Holmes, 310 Codman Hill Rd.Apt. DI, Boxborough, MA 01719-1703) as soon as possible. Joy MacDonald has offered tocollect the deposits from Europe in the same way (please make out the check to her person-ally; find her address on the last page in Contact Details). She will exchange the Euro-

pean money into US dollars for me.Last, but not least, for all you Paraguayans: I will be making Rosella Schlempe with

white sauce. There will also be plenty of Yerba Mate on hand.

Working as a urse in Primavera, Alto ParaguayBy Hanni Dreher-Bhler Translated by Linda Jackson-Lord

KIT. The following report by Hanni Dreher-Bhler, who consid-

ered her career as a nurse in Primavera her vocation for life was

found by Hanna Homann amongst her mother, Maria Patrickspapers. It was written in 1983. Hanni Bhler, a Swiss by birth

(born on the 19th

of ovember 1918) was a niece of Else Boller.

She came to Primavera in 1953 and married Leo Dreher in

1959. Both were sent away during the big Bruderhof-Crisis of

1960. For many years thereafter Leo worked in one of the Max-

Planck Institutes in Germany. In their later years the couple

lived in Hombrechticon, Switzerland where they are both bur-

ied. Leo died on the 20th

of October, 1995 and Hanni, on the 10th

of April 2001. They left a daughter, Rene and son, Don.

Throughout the years Hanni maintained contact with her step

children. The original report was published in German in theDecember KIT ewsletter of 2008 (see more pictures there

pages 7-10).

Even after twenty-two years back in Europe, now as winter ap-proaches and snowflakes whirl around us, we are still overcomeby a powerful longing for sunny Paraguay. We brew ourselves

mate, and the memories flood back: Do you remember theYvyrapit, our Christmas tree? In December the bright yellowcandle like flowers shown against the blue sky. Do you remem-

ber the enormous Christmas Star bush in Ibat, the brilliance ofthe colours of the parrots, the orchids growing from the bark ofthe trees, the butterflies the size of your hand, fluttering out ofthe jungle shimmering in shades of blue, purple and green?

There were always new surprises to be found in the naturalworld: The Tucans huge bill, an Armadillo out for an eveningstroll, below in the grass a procession of Leafcutter ants or thegraceful nest of the Weaver bird hanging down from the palmtree! In my free time I often drew pictures of flowers, but myfavorite drawings were of palm trees silhouetted against an eve-ning sky ablaze with colour, the red glow on the horizon abovethe dark forest.

For a long time I thought this brotherly life with nursing,Spanish and the romance of the jungle to be my ideal. Two of my

Kindergarten children on a walk in front of the main building of thehospital in Loma Hoby. (All photos from Colin Sharp, 1956)


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Keep In Touch ewsletter 2 Vol. XXI o1 April 2009

cousins [the Boller sisters Ursula Lacy and Liesbeth Loewenthal]worked in the Sanatorio Primavera in Alto Paraguay. The hospi-tal was begun quite naturally: During the Second World Warwhen the Christian community left England, 1940/41, three doc-tors arrived in Paraguay. The community thrived. When I arrivedin 1953 there were already three villages: Isla Margarita, LomaHoby und Ibat. At the time they consisted of thatched roofwooden huts. The hospital had been built in Loma, it consisted of

a main building with two consulting rooms, pharmacy, treatmentroom (we called it through room), x-ray department, labora-tory, operating theatre, and dental practice, as well as two hospi-tal wards. Opposite stretched the long Paraguayan wing within-patient rooms, maternity ward and nursing station. A bit fur-ther away was our community mother-house, where I lived formany years. At night, I took care of the mothers, or helped at a

birth as needed.In the beginning only the floors of the operating theatre and

the maternity room were concrete. Everywhere else the floorswere earth. It was a great improvement when concrete was fi-nally laid throughout. We drew our water from the well. Instru-ments were sterilized on an open fire behind the kitchen, and on

cold days we fetched the glowing coals for the coal pans in theconsulting rooms. From here we also got the boiling water tobrew mate during the day.

Mate, Dripping and Tropical SoresAfter days in the saddle a cold mate is really appreciated. It issipped from a Guampa (a cows horn that has been beautifullyhandcrafted) through a Bombilla, a thin silver tube with littleholes in the bulbous end. Could the Mate, the green leaf tea,really be a gift of the Gods in accordance with the Indian legend?It does act as a stimulant, but its greatest asset is something else:Mate neutralises excess gastric juices. None of our patients suf-fered from chronic stomach problems! At home the tea is brewed

with boiling water (Mate Cocido), and it is traditional amongstfriends, to fill a hollowed out pumpkin, a wooden container oreven a Guampa, and pass it round in a circle. Each in turn sips upthe mate through the bombilla (not very hygienic).

Bulstrode Gathering on Saturday, June 20thBy Andy Harries

To all Ex-Bruderhofers and friends. I have been able to book theroom at Bulstrode again which we had last year as well as a fewtimes before. The room is available for us from 10.30 a.m. till5.30 p.m. on Saturday, June 20

th2009.

WEC International has kindly allowed us the use of the din-ing room at the back, with access to hot water, so we can makeour own drinks. We will bring basic milk, sugar, tea and coffee,and recommend that folks bring some food along to share. Just aswe did last time we can also sit outside on the veranda, with freeaccess to the lovely Bulstrode Park and grounds.

A request form WEC: Please no smoking indoors, no alcoholand no littering anywhere.

We will collect a voluntary contribution, which we can giveto the people as a thank you for letting us use the room andgrounds.

WEC International asked me to put out a sheet of paper at thereception for everybody to sign on arrival. This is a legal re-

quirement in case of fire. If you enter through the main frontdoor, reception will be on the right. Before that, also on the rightare toilets.

Please pass this information on to others who might not hearabout it.

ative mother with her children on their way to the hospital

Our standard breakfast in Primavera was sweet mate, dark breadwith pork dripping and treacle. In hot weather especially, drip-

ping was not easily digestible. The fair skinned and the newarrivals suffered especially. For them it was almost impossiblenot to scratch where the mosquitos picked on us especially forour thicker blood. Not only did the scratches get infected, little

pustules formed as well. In severe cases our doctors orderedbutter instead of dripping or even antibiotics. It was soon clearto me why the Israelis consider the pig to be unclean. Sadly but-ter and milk were scarce.

Uras, Zebo. Hookworm and LeishmaniaMy first nursing activities were in the Isla Margarita Surgery.Amazing, the things I had to deal with; for example a knee infec-tion that just would not heal! I showed it to Dr Cyril Davis onone of his visits, he just said: Some tweezers please, and withgentle pressure and pulling he extracted a fine example of an Ura

worm from the wound. The Ura had already been killed due tothe application of the ointment. It was the length of your littlefinger and was about seven millimetres wide at the thick end. Along dark coil wound itself around the pale parasite, with whichit bored its way back in whenever one tried to squeeze it out. Itseggs were laid in the open wound, but also in new heathy tissue.A palpable swelling under the skin gave it away. I learned tolook in the wound for a small white peak the Uras breathinghole. If I found it, I stuck a really thick plaster on it to cut off the

parasites air supply. A few days later I could squeeze the Uraout with ease. If that was successful, the wound would soon heal.

TheZeboparasite burrows tracks under the skin, which areclearly visible and itch. Small children get their hands infected.

By frequently rubbing worm oil into the tracks, in particular intothe newly created ones, the parasite could be eliminated. Ourbrothers had other ways, but not for the squeamish: they simplyburned the Zebo out using a glowing cigarette.

Hookworm sickness, also calledAncylostomiasis, was a ma-jor national malady in Paraguay. Sometimes patients came to thehospital in droves to endure the cura contra angi. This con-sisted of worm oil mixed with a laxative. It was administeredaccording to weight with a liberal dose of sugar. When the laxa-tive worked, the cure was successful. Sadly these barefooted

people infected themselves again and again. The unhygienictoilets were a further source of infection. The parasite penetratesthe body via the intestines and the soles of the feet. It tends to

settle in the intestines in particular, where it can cause extremeanaemia. Affected patients could be recognised by their un-healthy yellowish appearance.

During my seven years in Paraguay I never had a Hookworminfection. With sensible hygiene precautions it can be avoided. IfI ever got caught in a cloudburst, and had to wade through mud,


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then felt a tickling on the soles of my feet, I would immediatelywash my feet and my sandals.

Leishmaniasis patients were rarer. They were also treated atthe hospital. Wounds could be infected by the pathogen (nema-todes), but the illness usually started unseen inside the nose. Atfirst we only had intravenous medication at our disposal. I gotused to treating patients accordingly, but with two young schoolchildren the infection was a real problem. Later we were fortu-

nately able to get hold of intramuscularly administered Fuadin.

Outpatients and ursing in Loma HobyI worked in the hospital in Loma Hoby for almost six years.Soon after my appointment as nurse in Isla, I moved there. Myusual position was in the so called Through Room (for theoutpatients) where I gave injections as well as doing reductionsand taking blood for the laboratory. This is also where the hook-worm patients were treated.

It was an interesting job. We nurses spoke English with thedoctors and Spanish with the patients. If the patients only spokethe Indian language Guaran, our Paraguayan nursing assistantstranslated. Hass! (hurts!) and Mba eischa pa? (How are

you?) as well as a few others I managed to remember. Thanks tomy romance language background Spanish was not a problemfor me.

Our patients were mostly Mestizo and I wondered about themfor many reasons. In cold weather they would arrive wearing a

poncho but with nothing on their feet. A supposedly singlewoman could mobilise ten grown up children when a transfusionor blood test was needed. Some of the patients' names were abso-lute gems: Concepcin, Adoracin, Dulcenombre, Jes Mariaand even Cesar Hannibal. I noticed this time and again wheneverI went to relieve a colleague in the Paraguayan wing of the hos-

pital.

Peste and the Seven Day SicknessPeste is what our patients called a severe stomach and intesti-nal infection. The adults had their own remedy it was the chil-dren they brought to us. We had another name for this infection:Grippe or in a less severe form, Bush-Sickness. There wererepeated epidemics always with the possibility of a fatal out-come. We could almost always help with antibiotics.

El mal de siete das(seven day sickness) is what the Para-guayans called the tetanus infection of the new born. The countrymidwives often used a sharp blade of grass to cut the umbilicalcord. This could easily infect the baby with tetanus. Usually aftera week lockjaw would set in and the inability to suckle the

mothers milk. Many an infant would die from this illness. Toavoid this the women preferred to come to us to give birth.

For our own member population we kept a precise record ofanti-tetanus injections. We could immediately check what pre-cautions were necessary in the event of an open wound.

ight Watch, Snakes and Superstition

I often had to do the rounds as Night Sister especially if therehad been a lot of operations. I cared for the patients by the lightof a paraffin lamp, checking blood pressures, intravenous dripsand changing dressings. Since I had to access each room fromthe outside I had to keep going out in the fresh air, maybe inhal-ing the scent of the white flowering Moon Trumpets, usually

under a bright starry sky. The moon and stars shone far morebrightly there than in Europe. Instead of the Man in the Moonit was a Rabbit! On one such night the bell rang at the gate. Aworried man stood there with his wife. Kyrio! was all he said.A viper had bitten his wife while she was harvesting mandioca. Icalled our Doctor, Cyril. Agostina was already showing signs of

Chemist Arthur Woolston was in charge of the dispensary it alsodepended on donations from charitable institutions and people

paralysis in her eyelids. We gave her the necessary anti-serumand she recovered. Another woman was not so lucky. She onlycame to us on the second day after a snake bite. Before comingshe had let a practitioner in her village give her an injection,

and she had bound her rosary firmly around her leg below thebite. Sadly she died of kidney failure.

A common picture for me after night duty was to see severalmen in ponchos, either patients or relatives making their way tothe fire area to heat water for their tea. Crouching round theysavoured their Mate Cocido. I have threw quite a number ofsnakes after they were caught and killed into this same fire place,including a beautiful but very poisonous coral snake found in thewaste pipe of the maternity room.

We came up against superstitions again and again. One In-dian mother insisted that the bishop's mitre would make her childwell again. The fear of the spirit of the forest Bombero was

common among the Mestizo. There were no priests in the vil-lages, they just came now and then to marry couples and baptisetheir children at the same time. Unusual moral practices wereapparent here; probably resulting from the numerous gruesomewars with neighbouring states which caused the death of many ofthe men-folk. It was not unusual for a working man to carrymedical insurance not only for his family, but also for two orthree concubines.

Margaret Stern(here working ather desk) and RuthLand were together

with Cyril Davis,the three Englishdoctors whoemigrated toParaguay togetherwith the commu-nity 1940/41.

Please make sure tolook at the picturespublished in the

December KITewsletter 2009,illustrating theoriginal Germanreport of HanniDreher-Bhler (onpages 7-10).


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Girls grown up on the Bruderhof were trained as nurse or otherprofessions partly in the hospital and abroad in Asuncin or Mon-tevideo. The picture shows several who worked together withHanni, from left: Elisabeth Sorgius, Verena Meier (assigned tolaboratory work), Evi Dreher, Hannabeth Meier and Hanna Mar-tin. (Proof: the photo in the December issue page 9).

A recurring problem was unwanted and neglected children. Oneday a poor little scrap, about a year old, and almost starved todeath, was brought to us. He was still at his birth weight. Whereother babies had flesh on their buttocks, one could see and feelonly skin and bone. At just about the last minute neighbours hadtaken the baby away from the mother. The young doctor from theUSA [Milton Zimmerman] prescribed the necessary nourishmentfor the baby. But our experienced midwife Phyllis Woolston saidNo, I will bring him mothers milk! So we fed and nurtured thelittle German with pipettes of mothers milk, and to our greatdelight he thrived and became a normal little boy. One of ourfamilies took him in. At about the same time another familyadopted a little girl. When both families later emigrated to theUSA, the girl was allowed to go, but not the future soldier.

Tragic CasesWe could send cases with difficult complications by plane toAsuncin for treatment. Nevertheless in our hospital patientssometimes died. Unforgettable for me was the fate of little Ra-chel, whose long apron had caught fire. In contrast, a Paraguayanwho had drunkenly stumbled into the fire, recovered. Then therewas the tragic death of a cripple, who had been delighted in an-ticipation of being able to walk again after a hip operation! Theoperation went on for a long time. Then Cyril came out and wentover to the relatives. Loud cries and laments could soon beheard: The patient had died under the anaesthetic. Another tragicmemory I have is of a night duty on the Paraguayan side. Anapparently healthy first baby had been born to a young couple.

For several years Mary Cawsey was in charge of the hospitalkitchen (only to be seen from the back wearing a darkish dress)

But soon it started struggling more and more to breathe. Unainjeccin, pleaded the desperate parents. Cyril explained tothem that the baby had a defective heart. It was given an injec-tion, but by evening it was dead. A long way away, and inacces-sible to us, was the Mayo clinic in the USA, which could operateon these Blue Babies. This consolation stuck in my throat. Afew rooms away Teofilo lay on his death bed after six weeks ofsuffering. The brave seventeen year old tried to intervene to stop

a knife fight, and had himself been badly injured. Early onemorning I went to attend to him, but the room was alreadyempty. The drip stand still stood in a corner and on the bedsidetable the candle still burned but he was no more. After thedeath of the Blue Baby and Teofilo I asked myself whethermedical intervention was pointless?

Sapucay and the Mennonites Leprosy MissionAbout 120 kilometres south of Primavera was the Leper Colony,Sapucay, actually about half way between Asuncin and Vil-larica in the San Bernadino region. In the past Lepers were in-terned there for life. Maria Weiss, the wife of our Adolf Weisstold us about this. She lived there for many long and bitter years,separated from her husband and son Erwin. She came to us fromthere. Thanks to successful antibiotic treatment she had been

pronounced curedand allowed toleave. She neverregained the feelingin her hands, andoften burned her-self. Mariaremained a devout

person. One couldnot help but admireher open outreach-ing friendliness.When the deeplygrieving parents ofthe Blue Babywalked past hergarden she askedthem sympa-thetically about theirgrief. They

Maureen Burn - thehospitals laboratoryassistant

told her of their loss, where upon Maria said: Oh, the little oneis now an angel, and within a year you will have another one!Claro, answered the man, and that is how it was.

In spite of the ever improving chances of a cure, the Leprosypatients kept themselves hidden. The fear of being interned inSapucay was just too great. The Mennonites founded a LeprosyMission for them. They took pains not only to bring the patients

back to physical health, but also to give them inner strength. Ifthe Mennonites heard of a Leper in hiding, a doctor and a helperwould ride out into the forest to visit them. This was not withoutrisk. They brought the patient the necessary medication andinvited them to come to the new Leprosy Mission to be nursed

back to health.

Three Little AngelsIn our work we also experienced many happy moments. Once aheavily pregnant woman came to us for delivery. She seemed to

be expecting twins. Angelina was born, then nothing more hap-pened, in spite of the contractions. A Caesarean had to be per-formed. There lay two little babies side by side, each blocking


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the others way out. All three were healthy: Angelina, the boy,Angel, and the curly headed Angelica. Basilissa, their motherhad already had two sets of twins. Despite poverty she was sohappy with all her eleven children. Armed with milk and cloth-ing for the babies, she was discharged. One year later, the wholefamily including the three little angels returned to the hospitalto sing songs as a thank you to us. The Paraguayans are a musicloving Nation. The Jesuits had already taught the Guaran Indi-

ans to play musical instruments. One could often hear guitarsplaying, or even a harp. The gentle sounds of the song Amam-bay (orange wood) still rings in my ears.

An Unforgettable Sunday OutingOne Sunday a group of us set off in a wagon to visit sickneighbours. Feli Melo, a diabetic, was our first stop. We broughthim some toys for his children and he fetched us a sack full oforanges from his trees. We went to various other ranches, thenstopped near a wood. Wulfila, the twelve year old son of Hilde-gard Neumann asked, Mummy, please let me have a quick lookin the woods for some honey! OK, off you go, she said, butdont be long. We chatted for a while. With arms raised high,

Wulfila stepped out of the woods bringing us a meter long rattlesnake. His mother nearly had a heart attack. Wulfila woefullyreported, I accidentally stood on it so I killed it with a branch.We lay the beast behind us in the wagon, but the reptile kepttwitching its tail, we were so afraid we hit its head again. It wasalready twilight when we met a couple of hunters and asked aftertheir catch. Un len, was the proud reply. But it was actuallyonly a puma.

On a Visit toAsuncinI had the opportunity of a week long visit to the capital, Asun-cin where several of our young people were doing their train-ing. For a long time after my visit, one picture remained in my

memory: an elegant lady dressed in black with a golden cross ather breast. When I saw her I had stared in amazement becauseright in the middle of her face a cigarette was stuck in her mouth.What a contrast!

Although Asuncin was on the river Paraguay, to get fromPrimavera to the nearest port of Rosario, we had to travel formany hours on a wagon, often getting stuck in the muddy road.From Rosario it took another ten hours overnight by boat to getto the capital. There were no traffic regulations in Asuncin , justhorns! A donkey might occasionally amble slowly across theroad. When there was a cloud burst, everything came to a halt.Maana (tomorrow) was the call of the day.

I admired the magnificent fan palm trees in front of fine resi-

dences and a wonderful avenue full of red flowers I simply hadto draw. Unintentionally I wandered out of the Parco Caballeroalong a sort of pathway down into the slum area of Chacarito.Wretched wooden shacks and mistrustful stares surrounded me.

It's Time for a ew KIT Address List

We plan to publish an updated KIT Address List soon, so onceagain we are asking for updates on any mailing addresses, phonenumbers or email addresses. Therefore if you correspond withthe KIT volunteers about any addresses at all (see contact detailslast page), please make it abundantly clear whether the detailsshould or should not be published in the upcoming, publicly

circulated KIT Address List. If your address is already part ofthe published Address List, and you want to add your emailaddress or phone number, please let us know.

Obviously we must keep the private mailing list for theNewsletter updated, but the list we are planning to update now is

a completely separate and different list; it's a public address list.

On a mattress lay a small child with a yellowish face. My imme-diate diagnosis: hookworm.

On a visit to the Red Cross Nursing School I was not im-pressed by their standards of cleanliness but of course therewas always penicillin. I met a former patient from our hospitalwho was now much better, and also visited Maria Pabla, a younggirl who had lived with us for a while. She was not at all well;she was in the tuberculosis ward. She was very pleased to see me

and kept begging to be allowed to return to Primavera. I prom-ised to pass on her request, but I suppose there were reasonsagainst it. Sadly the next thing we heard about Maria was of herdeath.

One of my destinations was the home of Mak Indians wholived on the Chaco side of the river. A well built person in a reddress with hair bound in a knot, rowed us across. Whilst doing soshe exposed first one then the other muscular leg. It was not awoman! In Asuncin one could often see Indians. They sold theirself-woven coloured Fajas (cummerbunds). In their colony bothmen and women were bare from the waist up. They shared theirhuts with all sorts of animals and birds. Flowers, feathers and

primitive looms completed the artistic picture. But these people

did not seem to be happy. Would we be, if nosey strangers werestaring at us like specimens in the zoo?

Surgery in Ibat and EngagementDuring my last year in Primvera I was responsible for the sur-gery in Ibat. I gave out medicines and dealt with small injuries.If I had a problem I asked for advice from the hospital in LomaHoby. Twice that year we had an epidemic, first mumps, which

begins with a high fever, then the Peste, a severe stomach andintestinal infection. Both these epidemics, as well as an outbreakof orchitis (testicular inflammation), passed without lastingaffects, although the Peste did give me cause for concern. I hadto ask for antibiotics for one adult and two three year olds. They

could not keep anything down at all, and after one day the twolittle ones were lying there totally exhausted, eyes half closed.The antibiotics saved their lives.

Colds and coughs were around in spite of the warm, no, thehot climate.if the wind suddenly blew from the south and it gotnoticeably colder. Sometimes my hospital medications were justnot effective. Then I obtained the cough leaves used by the lo-cals, and they helped.

In Ibat I got to know my future husband, Leo Dreher better.We were engaged, and two months later celebrated our weddingin the community.

Honeymoon at the Tapiracuay River

Our holiday destination after the wedding was a hut on the Tapi-racuay river (river of the Tapir). It was romantic! Either we wentfishing together and I discovered plants and flowers I had neverseen before, or we tramped through the jungle accompanied bythe twittering of the monkeys we disturbed deep in the foliage.I remember the beauty of the wild pineapple cluster, with itssword like green and glowing red leaves and the little purpleflower in the rose coloured shaft. At night in bright moon-lightthe jungle was fantastically beautiful. Incidentally women werenever allowed to wander off into the jungle on their own.

One evening my husband pointed out two glowing points inthe river to me. It was the close-set eyes of an alligator. But itgot even better. Again at night a loud bellowing noise came fromthe river. Tiger, said Leo, but it will not come here. Theshutters in our windows were only loosely placed! Later anothersound, right outside the hut: our water bucket was dragged away,then a growl. Its only a puma, Leo said calmly, and they areharmless. Although they are bigger than the Paraguayan tigerwhich can be dangerous, the puma never attacks humans, in fact


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it is supposed to have protected humans from the tiger. Thefootprint I found near the hut next morning was quite a respect-able size.

Soon after that we were to return to Europe. Looking back Ifeel those seven years were a really fulfilling time. Embedded inthe community, we lived in a naturally beautiful environmentgiving a service to the friendly and so often needy indigenousParaguayans who lived on the land.

otes on Hanni Drehers ReportBy Hans Zimmermann Translated by Linda Jackson-Lord

The snake Wulfila killed was more likely to have been the poi-sonous Kyriu, a type of Viper which was at home at the edge ofthe forest and on the campos. Their main diet is Aperes (rab-

bits).The Ura worm (Screw worm) attacks cattle, deer, cats, dogs

and humans, but not horses. It is transmitted via the Ura fly, thatlays just one egg onto healthy fur, or skin in the case of humans.Hanni describes this parasite well. Nowadays cattle are sprayed

with a sulphur preparation which has had good results.In Primavera the Gusano maggot also gave us plenty to worry

about. The bluebottle lays her eggs by the dozen in open wounds,or in the navel of new born calves and foals. The maggots soonhatch and eat their way into the tissue. On the estancia we alwayshad to drive the young calves and their mothers into the coral andtreat them with criolin. This is a black liquid substance with avery potent smell [possibly a tar or ichtheol derivative, that wasused for skin diseases?] Later we just used Gamesan in powderform.

The Cebo or Zebo is a very small worm which spreads un-der the skin on the feet and itches dreadfully.

Another pest was the sand flea (tunga penetrans). It bores its

way into the feet, and causes septic sores in which the sand flealays more eggs. The result is painful.

Hookworm was called Angi by the indigenous population.Hanni describes this plague very well.

Hanni mentions Feli Melo in her Sunday Outing. He wasPrimaveras first Capataz, in charge of our native estancieros(cowboys). We inherited him from Rutenberg.

Sounds by the Tapiracuay: The name of the river has nothingto do with the tapir. In Guaran the Proboscidean is calledMborevi. The song of the Hok bird, a species of Bittern was

often confused with the howl of the Jaguar. The author, HansTolten also made this observation. He has written some of thebest books about Paraguay, for instance Herden Gottes Mituns wandert die Heimat. [Herds of God Our Homeland Wan-ders With Us] The books must have been written in the twenties

before the Chaco war with Bolivia of 1933. I have all his booksand concur with all his observations.

In Paraguay there were no Alligators; just Caiman or Yacarin Guaran. Both belong to the Crocodile family. In mating sea-son the Caiman puff themselves up and produce a strange roar toattract the females. It sounds a bit like the bellow of a cow call-ing for her calf.

The Jaguar was only seen in Primavera in the early years. It

prayed cattle or horses, but gradually the shy predator was scaredaway. The Puma on the other hand was there as long as we hadplenty of forest land. Sadly the local hunters, for instance JoseMelo hunted these creatures into extinction. Jose Melo was awell known hunter who felled trees for our building require-ments. In 1955 he shot a puma. One of her two young was raised

by the Mathis family [photo published in December KIT, page11] until the little predator got too big and became a potentialdanger. He was supposed to be sold to the zoo in Asuncin.Unfortunately nothing came of that; the puma temporarily es-caped notice, and went off to explore the well in the Bruderhofhouse in Asuncin, and sadly fell in and drowned.

Jgerlatein [tall story] probably applies to Hannis mention

of the Puma protecting humans from the Jaguar. Although I alsoheard the story at the time, there is no evidence to support this.

The Cocksedge FamilyBy Renatus Klver

I read the short paragraph on Jimmy Cocksedge in the DecemberKIT Newsletter of 2008 and find that I need to correct informa-tion given in it.

The Cocksedge family, along with so many other familiesand individuals, were given no reason for being sent away fromPrimavera. Together with other Primavera families they wereshipped back to England where they had totally to rely on rela-tives for help in starting a new life outside the Commune. At firstEdmund got a job as a stockman on a dairy farm where he helpedmilking and generally looking after the cows. The family lived ina tithe cottage, and I think the boys also helped on the farm.Edmund had been looking around in Gloucester for other work.He was an optician. Eventually he managed to get a job in aspecs factory.

They settled in Gloucester town. The family lived under verycramped conditions in a small cottage for which Edmund hadmanaged to get a mortgage. At first they all lived together, but itgot to be too much for Amy, who suffered from a congenital

heart complaint. Rhoda, the eldest daughter, did all the house-work, shopping cooking washing cleaning, when she was barelyfifteen years old, with Amy mostly having to stay in bed. Thiswas a very trying time for the family, but they managed. All theyounger children were still in school. The three oldest had work,or had started an apprenticeship. Later on the eldest boys movedfrom home, and Rhoda married Francis Dorrell.

The Cocksedge family 1959 in Loma. Standing from left: Raymond,Jimmy, Tim, Rhoda, Ian and Jeff (Phlegon). Sitting: Amy, Edmund,Jenny, Priscilla. Hugh is missing. - Photos submitted by Rhoda.

At that time, the early sixties, the Australian government offered

immigration and a free passage to Australia for qualified peopleand young married couples. Francis and Rhoda decided to takeadvantage of this offer ,They applied, and soon after their wed-ding immigrated to Australia. The condition for the free passagewas that they stay in the country five years. Ian and myself hadalso more or less decided to immigrate, but Ian got side-trackedand married, so I never went.


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1963, the family could move into their own home with back garden,o 20 in the Old Cheltenham Road, Longlevens, Gloucester, UK.

After the tragic car accident in which Amy died, Edmund de-cided to immigrate to Australia as well. He got a job as house-

father, looking after difficult teenage boys. When he retired hewrote an auto biography titled: "Vagabond for Peace". Unfortu-nately this small booklet is out of print but I was given a copy bythe family. It is very readable and gives good insight into thereasons Edmund joined the Bruderhof, even while Amy had not

been that enthusiastic.After Hugh Cocksedge got married, he and his wife also im-

migrated to Australia, and much later Jenny, the youngest onedid so as well.

I flew to Australia in September of 2000, the year of theOlympics, mainly to visit with Francis and Rhoda, but also hop-ing to also visit with Edmund. Sadly Edmund died in January ofthat year, so I missed him. He had lived in sheltered accommoda-

tion for his last years in a beautiful location a stones throw fromthe sea. Doris Chatterton also lived in the same settlement oflong stretched out bungalows. It had a little of the character ofBruderhof, in as much as all the residents had their meals in acommunal dining room and also had access to other communalrooms where they were able to make afternoon tea for them-selves and little snacks for visitors.

A few years ago Hugh Cocksedge died of myeloma, a bone-marrow cancer which attacks the T cells: the same debilitatingcancer to which his classmate Peter Holland succumbed. He lefta wife and three grown children. They all live in Australia. Jennyis also married with four children. One of her girls got married

Your Annual Contributions for the KITewsletter in 2009

We are very grateful for the subscriptions and donations receivedfor the year 2008, but once again remind our readers that for thisventure to continue sustained funding is required. Yearly sub-scriptions and donations must be forthcoming.

The most convenient and least expensive way to post theNewsletter is by email. You have then the advantage of beingable to enlarge the type size and pictures by zooming. The email

Newsletter also can be printed out in an enlarged version (A3) incopy shops.

The suggested annual contribution is US $20, UK 10, orEuro 15 for three issues. Send the money either to Tim Johnson,Joy MacDonald or Linda Jackson (contact details see last page).The next two issues in 2009 are planned for September and De-cember.

last year. Francis and Rhoda still live in Queensland in a village,or small town as the Aussies would have it. They have twochildren, both married. They were in Europe last year to visitwith friends and family. I enjoyed having them in my house for acouple of nights and taking them to a connecting flight to Ger-many, where they visited with Karola (my youngest sister) andher husband Stephan Friedemann. Oh, yes. The Cocksedge fam-ily, as a family, never lived in Australia.

Some years ago Jimmy had a motorbike accident. He barelysurvived. He suffered severe head and brain injuries and neverfully recovered. His wife divorced him a year later. She did notwant to nurse him. Increasingly over the years he had difficultiescoping with life. At first he lived by himself but then moved intosheltered accommodation. In his last year he became unpredict-able with his mood swings. The management felt they no longercould take responsibility for him. He was transferred to a hospiceand got the specialist care he needed. His dying at a relativelyyoung age was the direct result of the motorbike accident. Heleaves behind a son and a daughter. Unfortunately the daughterdid not inform any of her uncles and aunts of Jimmys death, sonone of them were able to attend the funeral.

Migg Fischli InterviewedBy Bette Bohlken-Zumpe

Again our dear friend and brother Migg Fischli was interviewedby a Swiss Newspaper. This time it was the Zrichsee-Zeitunglinkes Ufer of Wednesday 14

thJanuary 2009.

Migg Fischli in Oberrieden, April 2004. To the right is the apart-ment house he is living in. (photo Erdmuthe Arnold)

Migg, who will be ninety-three coming June was happy to tellhis interesting life story. It is a good article with photos of Miggas well as a photo of Hilde, his wife.

In the interview Migg speaks about his sheltered childhood,his search for a brotherly Christian life and of his joining theBruderhof community in Germany. Ejected from Germany in1937 Miggs life would take him to England where he marriedHilde Hundhammer. Migg and Hilde had three children in Eng-land, and another five in Paraguay. With his growing familyMigg, together with the whole community had to leave Englandto find refuge in Paraguay. Eventually he left the Bruderhof

during the 1960s and returned back to his roots at the ZurichLake after thirty interesting and eventful years so far away fromhis home. 1966 his family moved into a nice apartment in Ober-rieden near Zurich.

Migg was a hard worker and looked forward to being pen-sioned. He and his wife wanted to spend their last years in the


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land he loved, South America. They took a few weeks holiday inBrazil in 1981, where two of his daughters lived. Sadly his wifeHilde died unexpectedly abroad of a bacterial infection. Her

body was too weak to cope with the illness because of an earlierbout with cancer and the following chemotherapy.

Migg returned to Switzerland alone. During a school reunionhe met his old friend Else. They had twenty wonderful yearstogether. For many KIT folk Migg is a true friend. He still has

many visitors from all over the world who seek him out for ad-vice and help. Thank you dear Migg.

Another Icon of Primavera Time HasPassed Away Teodora JaimeBy Erdmuthe Arnold

Teodora Martinel Jaime died in Ohio on December 27th

2008 atthe age of ninety-five years. She was born November 9

th, 1913 in

Paraguay. Her husband Venceslao Jaime predeceased her by fouryears; he also died at the old age of ninety-five years on January24th, 2004. The couple were familiar with the Primavera propertyin the departamento of San Pedro long before it was purchased

by the Bruderhof in 1940/41. Whoever read the account of HansZimmermanns visit to Vence and Teodora Jaime in Sun-

bury/Ohio in 1998 [republished in the December KIT NewsletterVol XVI No 2 2004 not 2005, as the mast head suggests] willhave been astonished to learn how much better Vence especiallywas acquainted with our homeland Primavera. He knew all aboutthe campos y montes (grass and wood lands), where to hunt, tofish, and where to find work to earn money for a living. It was alife full of hardships and war. The couple had lived north-east ofPrimavera in Mbocayaty. The Bruderhof (then, Sociedad Frater-

nal de Hermanos) offered Vence and Teodora the opportunity toraise their growing family on community ground. They weremade responsible for cooking and partly also for lodging thegrowing number of native workers in Isla Margarita. Vence wasalso put in charge of the alzaprimas (see photo below) owned bythe Bruderhof, as well as the oxen needed for the logging ofwood. The Jaime's new home was not far from the brickyard,saw mill, workshop and turnery in Isla.

We young people loved to visit the family in their so calledestancia, climbing a fence, walking across the campo and pass-ing by a little tacam (pond) with hundreds of squeaking tad

poles. The azado they cooked outside over an open fire andserved together with mandioca was a memory for life never

This well could be the estancia near Isla, the large wheeled al-zaprimas in front. (Both pictures are part of a collection ConstantinMercoucheff saved from abandoned Primavera 1961)

again have I ever eaten such delicious meat. And we loved tolisten to the singing, the guitar and harp playing of the Para-guayan workers in the evening. They really were musical ex-

perts, learning songs and instruments and playing by heart. Theytaught us several famous Paraguayan songs; we just loved thefolklore.

As Vence told Hans Zimmermann, the four or five alzapri-mas were parked in a paddock near a corral built for the oxen

and the two milk cows the Jaimes kept. The Jaime childrenvisited the Isla school and learned German and English. Around1955 Vence and Teodora asked to join the community. Theymoved to Isla Margarita. I remember the family from when ourfamily lived next to them in 1957/58: They, at the far end of oneof the large halls, and we, in the adjoining one. The childrenwere lively, energetic and sometimes mischievous. The familywere really enjoyable neighbors. Teodora, the mother of fourteenchildren now largely relieved of the responsibility for their edu-cation, was assigned work in the kitchen and laundry.

Teodora andVenceslao togetherwith grandma Jaime

For reasons un-known, the Jaimeswere left behind inParaguay whenPrimavera wasclosed down 1961.They were told theycould not move tothe USA. A placewas found for themoutside Asuncin,as Vence told Hans.They missed theirfriends, their

brothers and sisters from Primavera. In 1963, Dick Domer, How-ard Johnson and Stan Ehrlich visited Paraguay, Argentine, Mon-tevideo and Brazil. They made new contacts with community

people they had left behind to fend for themselves. In two letters,my father Hans-Hermann Arnold mentioned a desire on the partof the Bruderhof to get back together again. So twelve Jaimesarrived in Oaklake in November/December of 1963. This was atthe time when the United States was mourning over the suddendeath of their idol, President John F. Kennedy. Nikolaus Willim

and Adolfo Weiss also came up. From England came the Keider-lings and the Whittys. Jrg and Renate Barth also moved to Oak-lake. A new house was built to make room. Hector and SusieBlack returned about the same time, as my father wrote. 1963must have been a special year of outreach and rejoining inBruderhof history. Nadine and August Pleil remember their oldParaguay friends Jaime from their years in Oaklake/New MedowRun. Nadine used to translate at mealtimes and meetings forTeodora and Vence. The English language was just to hard for

both of them; after all they grew up speaking Guaran and Span-ish, and were past the age of 45 and 50 when they joined thePrimavera community. But they had made it possible for theirchildren to fend and enjoy their life in a new country, and to

become part of it.Quite obviously the Jaime family could not warm up to thechanged community life in USA, working indoors in the shop,laundry, or kitchen. The children especially werent able to ad-

just. The family was asked to leave again. After several yearsworking outside for a horse breeder, one of Vences leg wasinjured once again in an accident, and he had to give up work


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and they lost their rented home. To the dismay of the children,the Bruderhof took the family in again, though not for long.After two years the community found a new job for Vence out-side. In the last years Teodora and Vence lived in the house ofthe four youngest daughters in the country near Sunbury, Ohio.They grew their own vegetable garden, and were cared for mostlovingly by their daughters.

Let me close with a fond remark of Phil Hazelton's when

Nadine Pleil told us about Teodoras passing on the Hummer lastyear. I cant say it better: Thank you for telling us, Nadine.Twas one of mom's favourite women friends in Isla. Theycommunicated perfectly without either speaking or understand-ing the other's language. They could share jokes and would laughuproariously while hanging the laundry or folding the sheets.Yes, another Primavera icon has passed on. May we all havesuch sweet personalities and live as long as that remarkable pureParaguayan peasant couple. Warm and grateful thoughts for herand her family.

Peter Hofer a Forest River Man

KIT. At the end of 2008 we got the news that Peter Hofer (born

on October 17th, 1922) had died on one of the Bruderhof places.

He married Sarah Maendel (born on February 18th, 1926)

around 1946. When the Bruderhof took over Forest River 1955

Peter and Sarah Hofer were members of this Hutterite colony,

and joined the Bruderhof after the split of 1957. Peter must have

been a personality one would remember with respect and affec-

tion. After the news of his death was sent to the Hummer, he, his

family and the children: Marcus, Ida, Thomas, Rachel and

Daniel were remembered fondly by several people. Two of the

contributions tell about years together at Forest River, as well asthe move East in June/July of 1957 after the split with the Hutter-

ites.

George Maendel to Hummer, December 11th, 2008: I remem-ber Pete Hofer when he was in charge of the four story chickenbarn at Forest River. Separate from the laying hens, he usuallykept a pen of roosters, mean, fighting rooters. Small boys weretheir primary enemy and they loved nothing better than to in-timidate us. And did they ever, chasing us right out of their cor-ner behind the barn. If we were not quick enough we could ex-

pect a sharp painful jab in the ankle to help us on our way. Wedidnt dare attack them with sticks or stones, because we reallyliked Pete and knew that he cared about his roosters.

Pete also had a small black and white dog, a dog that wentmad, probably from rabies, one cloudy and moonless night, up-stairs in the pig barn, of all places. No questions were asked as towho may have had contact with the dog, no one had been bitten,so that was good enough to dismiss the idea of getting rabiesshots. No one stopped curious children from entering the pig

barn and seeing the dog at the top of the stairs, growling andfoaming at the mouth, I dont remember feeling afraid, but mysister Lydia and I did not wait around for the man with the gun,who was said to be coming to shoot the dog.

Pete was always fun and kept to his own business of runningthe chicken barns and sometimes responding with his famouslyaccurate deer rifle when there was a call for a governmentlamb or two to grace the table. I dont know who made thedecision to shoot deer, always at night, but it was a regularactivity in the early years of Forest River. They mounted a small,

powerful spotlight on Petes 30-30 bolt-action rifle. Where thespot landed, there the bullet went as well as soon as the triggerwas pulled. If more than one deer was dumb enough to stand inthe light, the men were not afraid of taking more. One night, in

the hilly field north of the hof, they shot five times at a peculiarlydocile group of deer. When they drove up to load them, theydiscovered five of the neighbors sheep. They were soon on thetable and not a word was ever said to the owner, Bill S., a knownconniver and neighborhood thief. I guess they figured what goesaround comes around. Pete was the trigger man that night. Solong Pete! George.

Tim Johnson on December 14th

, 2008: Hearing of Pete Hoferspassing and then seeing the reminiscences of George and Ruth,took me back down Memory Lane to Forest River, and our fam-ilys twenty months there from late 1955 to June 1957. Georgeslovely little account mentions Petes roosters, and that besidesthose roosters, Pete was the chicken man. In 1956 I injured myleft foot in a tractor accident on one of the John Deere R trac-tors. While my foot healed, I was limited for two to three weeksin what I could do, so instead of plowing, et cetera, I worked inPetes chicken barn, the four-story eight-room construction men-tioned by George, which also had a central elevator for takinggrain, skimmed milk et cetera, to the different floors, as well as asmall room where the collected eggs were washed, sorted, can-

dled, and packed into cartons and boxes, for sale in Grand Forks.Those tasks became my temporary occupation, with Pete as agood-natured, friendly mentor, with whom I got on well.

A semester later, in January 1957, when in its wisdom thebrotherhood (really, certain individuals!) took me out of the littleInkster high-school, just a term short of graduation, I was as-signed day-to-day responsibility for running the chicken barn,under Petes fairly hands-off overall responsibility. I was seven-teen at the time. Many days Pete barely put in an appearance, ashe was assigned to other tasks, but he was always available forany problems, or where there were major non-routine tasks, suchas periodic killing and preparing for market a large consignmentof chickens. Happily, that little work room also had a radio. Idont know where Pete got it from, but it was tuned mainly tocountry music, agricultural reports, and news, from the GrandForks and Winnipeg stations. Still a Hutterite at heart, Pete ad-vised me to turn the music down or off, on those rare occasionsother brothers (I dont remember any sisters) visited that littleworkroom!

As has been described, he was a very decent, rather quietman. I had the feeling that he really didnt care too much for theHutterite-Bruderhof in-fighting, and got involved in those as-

pects only to the unavoidable minimum. I think he was basicallyrather confrontation averse, and quite easy-going. He certainlynever lectured me on my failings with regard to the inner life,

as some did! I liked and respected him and the way he expressedhimself through his work ethic, and was glad when he chose togo East when the big rift occurred at Forest River, and theBruderhof faction decided to move back East.

For that journey eastward from Forest River, starting I thinkon June 21, 1957, I was asked to join Arden Morris and PeteHofer as the third driver of the black (later two-tone blue) Cadil-lac hearse, in the back of which was my mother with my bedrid-den sister Elizabeth, in a body-cast (from post-polio surgery),and a couple of younger children. I no longer recall whetherArdens wife, Vivian, was with us, but I think not. My mainduty, aside from sharing the driving, was to carry my sister toand from the hearse, whenever we had major stops. This adven-ture included a number of incidents I still remember well. First,we had to stop briefly in Fargo, where a destructive tornado hadtouched down the previous evening, leveling blocks of houses,and killing several people. We then stayed overnight in Minnea-

polis, I believe at the home of Ruby Moodys sister. Next day,near Tomah, in the Wisconsin Dells area, a tire rim blew out;


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Pete, Arden and I scoured local auto junk yards for a replacementfor the rim and tire. Given the non-standard size of our wheels,this turned out to be quite difficult, but was eventually accom-

plished. All of us were exhausted by the time that was done, andwe drove on into the night, toward Chicago. After we repairedanother flat, Pete handed over the driving to me, and I rememberhow hard I had to fight to stay awake, as Arden and Pete bothdozed off in the dark. Somewhere around 4:00 a.m. we pulled

into a parking lot somewhere South East of Aurora, since none ofus felt we could stay awake, and because the cars engine wasdeveloping problems. It was losing power while making oddengine knocking sounds.

Shortly after we started next morning, we knew that majorrepairs were going to be needed before we could continue the

journey. Somehow, we got the car to limp to Ardens parentshome town, in Plymouth, Indiana (Brethren country, as I

quickly learned). In the next two or three days I learned morethan I ever wanted to about replacing Cadillac piston rings, andother automotive esoterica! Fortunately, both Pete and Arden hadsome of the mechanical skills I lacked, and Ardens folks weremore than hospitable, as were some of their friends. Then, al-ready some days late, we took off across the rest of Indiana andOhio, and into Pennsylvania, where we bedded down at a ruralhome well off the main road, near Bedford, and where we finally

got around to phoning the temporary Bruderhof of our where-abouts. I think none of us had appreciated how concerned as-sorted spouses, including Petes wife Sarah, and others wereabout our failure to arrive when scheduled! All of us were re-lieved when late next day we finally arrived at the Park TerraceHotel, near Lake Huntingdon, NY, and our reunion with ourfamilies.

Pete, you were a good man. RIP! Tim

Derek Wardle Our Headmaster in WheathillBy Tim Johnson

Derek D. Wardle (born 3rd

of July, 1922) died peacefully onDecember 1

st, 2008 at the Walden Bruderhof house near Wood-

crest while we had that recent spectacular triple conjunction ofthose three bright heavenly bodies. I received a printed notice ofhis death, along with a brief hand written greeting from Madge(Marjorie Hollingdrake), to whom he was married for sixty-threeyears, and from several of their children and grandchildren. Thenotice was just the sort I think he would have appreciated, with astylized image of a crescent moon, accompanied by Venus andJupiter.

The main things I would say of Derek are captured well by afew lines in this obituary notice, from which I will quote: In hislong life he was a friend to many the school children he taught,

the neighbors he met as well as brothers and sisters. We remem-ber him with thanks: his keen interest in others, his passion fornature, his enthusiasm for life, his concern for the world.

My memories of Derek start in early 1948. He was still inteachers training, commuting back to Madge and his youngfamily at Wheathill when he could. His training completed, hethen became our Headmaster, still at a quite young age. I was inthat first cohort of many generations of students who benefitedfrom that enthusiasm for nature and life, and concern for theworld, alluded to above. He was eager to learn along with theyoung charges he led. I recall our experiments with differenttypes and concentrations of fertilizer in little seed beds, and dig-ging to establish the water table level. Another time, he involved

us in figuring out the flow of water in a local dingle (little streamand its valley), to see whether it could support the construction ofa dam, and swimming hole. Long hikes, with ordnance surveymaps in hand, learning local history and home lore, were aspecialty.

Whether helping us to learn about the dhu-stone (type ofgranite) quarries on Titterstone, and something of local geologymore generally, or introducing us to scientific thinkers of the

past, Derek was always with us, in encouraging us to explore theworld around us. Some of those explorations later took us in

paths different from those that he chose, but I think helped directsome of us into careers that we felt addressed issues of the worldhe raised. I have previously cited him among the influences on

my eventual professional career, though not necessarily in theways he might have expected, or hoped!

In 1951, he led quite a troop of us to London, to take in theFestival of Britain. This was my first experience of London. Thehighlight was the set of exhibitions, with its emphasis on tech-nology, both contemporary (my first television viewing!), and

futuristic, particularly for the UK. Besides this exciting Festival,Derek introduced us to the Houses of Parliament and Westmin-ster Abbey, the Tower of London, 10 Downing Street (and aglimpse of the Prime Minister, Clement Atlee), and BuckinghamPalace, along with Marble Arch and Hyde Parks SpeakersCorner, where he seemed to revel in the diverse viewpoints onverbal display, as did we. I think it took him back to his ownyounger days.

Back at Wheathill, he also took advantage, on our behalf, ofthe many international visitors who passed through the commu-nity, and brought them to speak to students on such topics as therelatively new United Nations organization, and the evils of theSouth African apartheid regime, through the first-hand accounts

of such visitors.I think many of us in those early Wheathill years felt we had

a special relationship with him, perhaps because he establishedand encouraged The Academy, as we dubbed it, in which ourlittle band of older schoolchildren at the Cleeton Court schooltried to further our previously sometimes neglected academiceducation. I remember also that when he was hospitalized with

polio at the Oswestry hospital, I was able sometimes to visit himthere, as my sister Elizabeth was hospitalized there at the sametime. He was always eager to hear, from this childs perspective,how things were going at Cleeton Court, and how he could, long-distance, still support the students and teachers in problems thatsometimes arose.

Five of us were the first group to try to take O Levels atWheathill, and Derek was among our instructors. I recall himtrying to loosen us up with a reading from the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Sellars and Yeatman version of the History of England,1066 and All That, just before we took those state GeneralCertificate of Education (GCE) exams. Since the results wererather mixed, Im not sure it really helped, but it did make us feel

better!My last contact with Derek was just a couple of years ago,

when Id sent him an account of a mountain hiking trip Id takenin Switzerland with two other former students of his fromWheathill, Bram Burger and Kilian Zumpe. He sent me a quitelong and chatty reply, among other things recounting a trip hed

taken in the same general region with his brother, in the 1930s.He had obviously not lost his zest for life, a bit of which he be-queathed to so many young people over the years, to carry for-ward in their own lives.

Thanks, Derek, for all you did, and may the best of your in-fluences continue!


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Photos Bring Back Memories of aWork Camp in Featherstone 1956By Andy Harries

In the summer of 1956 Joachim Bolck and I were sent to takepart in an International Work Camp at Featherstone, a villagenear Wolverhampton, north east of the Wheathill Bruderhof in

England where we lived. I was seventeen and Joachim wassixteen. I dont know why we were selected or for what reason.That was how things usually happened on the Bruderhof. Wewould be asked or told to do something and we generally justaccepted and did it without question. The work camp was forthree weeks, but we were told to go for only two weeks.

[1] Work demonstration. To the left: Joachim Bolck and AndyHarries. To the right standing: Lee Bristol, 3rd to the right is Susan

I cannot remember how we went there, but we did hitchhikeback, so presumably we also hitchhiked there, which was aboutthirty-five miles by road. That was the way we often travelledwhen we went further away; obviously it would save expenses.Being an international work camp, young people attended frommany different countries as well as from the United Kingdom. Ican remember two people from the Netherlands, and especiallytwo from North America.

Our job was to renovate and restore the local village hall andthe grounds outside. Of course the whole experience for us wasquite unusual, as we came from such a different background. We

had come from a community which was basically a sect, areligious community whose beliefs were based on the earlyChristians, living a life where everything was shared, so we hadno private property and werent allowed a free will. Our life was

[2] Clearing outside.

completely controlled, from morning till night. I had been borninto this life, but Joachim had joined more recently with hisfamily, so he would have been a bit more worldly wise.

I have this vague memory of us sleeping on the floor insleeping bags. I dont remember which work we did first,whether it was outside or inside, but I imagine we worked insidethe building when the weather was not so good, and outside onthe grounds when it was better. One of the photos [1] shows us

being given a demonstration of how to put up fencing. I waswearing Lederhosen (leather trousers) which we used to getdirectly from Germany. Many of us youngsters who worked onthe farm used to wear the Lederhosen right through the springand summer. We never washed them, so we used to joke abouthow dirty they got and then also very stiff. When they becamereally dirty and stiff we used to boast how they would stay stoodupright when we took them off; which made it easier to put them

back on.None of us in the group were professionals in what we were

doing, we were just a bunch of young people who wereenthusiastic about doing something useful and meeting oneanother; meeting people from abroad only made it that much

more exciting.The inside of the village hall had not been used for a long

time and was in a bad state, dirt and dust everywhere, with thefloors, walls and ceiling in a right mess. We first had to do a lotof cleaning, before we could even start working on the floors.The walls as well as the ceiling had paint peeling off, so thatmeant stripping off the old layers of paint and then redecorating.We had lots of fun doing these various jobs with a mixed bunchof people who didnt know each other at all, didnt know muchabout the work we were doing, and also often couldnt under-stand each other. We all went to work with great enthusiasm.

The outside work was different again, inasmuch as it was alsonew to most people. Coming from a farming background, I hadsome experience in labouring, which helped with the more

physically hard work. Picture [2] shows us clearing the ground. Iam on the left waiting with a wheelbarrow for my turn to fill itup and cart the rubbish away. I like this photo especially becauseone can see some of the local children having fun watching usover the hedge.

We worked hard during the day. Evenings we had some sparetime when we were more free to do what we wanted. We wouldmeet in little groups or individually to socialise or discuss things.On more than one occasion we sang songs with some people

playing musical instruments. At one end of the building therewas a separate room which had a snooker or billiard table. It was

a large, full size table, but none of us knew how to play thegame, so we just mucked about with the cues and the balls. Thatwas rather a shame really. Later I was sent to an AgriculturalCollege where I learned to play snooker properly and soon

[3] Enjoying a discussion in the evening. Hank Zoob, Andy Harriesand Lee Bristol at the right side.


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[4] Harries-familyphoto made duringthe Wheathill stay ofsome work campers.From left sitting:Johnny, Llewelyn,Bessie, Gwendolin,and Susan (Andysnew friend). Stan-

ding: Andy, Jennie,Marieli Friedeman(who often stayed with the family), Ruthie, Anthony.

became quite good at it. Good enough, in fact, to get into thefinal of the college knockout competition, and then also torepresent the college when we played against other colleges.

My favourite photo [3] shows some of us sitting inside at atable, with one man looking through the window. To my left isHank Zoob, and to my right Lee Bristol both from NorthAmerica. I got on really well with those two and we had a lot offun, which one can also see on the photo. I actually got onespecially well with Lee. We began to be attracted to each otherin a more than platonic way. At the weekend we had Sunday off

free, so I asked her if we could go for a walk together. She saidyes, so I was quite excited about that. Later she informed me thatone of the other lads had also asked her to go for a walk withhim, would I mind if he came as well? Well I was sodisappointed about that, really looking forward to going with her.It has to be remembered that on the community where we hadgrown up, going out with a girl was just unthinkable; we werentallowed to do any courting of any kind at all. I did sense that Leealso wanted to go with me alone, but that she felt rather sorry forthe other lad and just didnt want to disappoint him. Hard thoughit was for me to accept, I did understand this, because I was alsofriendly with him and realised that he was rather vulnerable andwould be very upset if he felt rejected. So we three went on a

walk together, rather disappointing, but better than nothing.Some of the volunteers became aware that Joachim and I

came from some strange religious community and they wouldoften ask questions about it. I can remember them pestering meto meet with those who were interested and tell them more aboutit. I was reluctant because at that time I was very shy and self-conscious when in a group situation and really didnt want to doit, but was persuaded in the end. I think that photo where we aresitting round the table was the time we met for that discussion. Icant remember where Joachim was, whether he took part or not.

We had been told that we had to come back home after twoweeks, whereas the work camp was officially for three weeks.We hadnt bothered about that much initially, but later as we

began to get to know the people and got more involved, wewanted to stay the full three weeks. So we decided that I should

phone the Bruderhof and ask them. Well unfortunately theywerent sympathetic to our wishes at all and we were told we hadto go back.

At the end of the two weeks we piled our belongings into ourrucksacks and set off home hitchhiking. Some of the others therewanted to come to the Bruderhof to visit, but they wanted to stayon to the end first. Just one of them decided to come back withus: that was the lad who had come on the walk with me and LeeBristol, so the three of us hitch-hiked together back to Wheathill.

About five of the others from the work camp came to visit usat Wheathill after it finished a week later. We all met the firstevening in the living room of the Masons house up on the hill.We sat all round the room chatting and singing songs. I canremember it especially because one of the girls who came wasSusan. After Lee, I had become quite fond of her as well. She

played the violin and we played together at the work camp a

couple of times. So naturally I was not impressed how DavidMason was sat next to her with his arm around her chair already.On another occasion we were having a dancing evening in theschool hall on the plateau. I was really looking forward to thisand wanted to do a lot of dancing with Susan. I dont know whatcame over me with these other girls, because I never felt thesame about the girls on the Bruderhof. For some reason I felt thisstrong attraction. We had only had one dance together, whensomebody came to tell me that one of the cows was calving andwas having some trouble. I had to go to see to it what a

disappointment!

A bit later after one of the regular community meetings atLower Bromdon in Wheathill, Hanz Zumpe, who was the

Servant or leader there came up to me and asked why I was soquiet at meetings, yet I must have spoken a lot with the others atthe work camp for there to be so much interest. I didnt reallyhave an answer to that, but in community meetings the last thingI wanted to do was to get up and speak.

I dont think there was any permanent interest in ourcommunity way of life from those who came to visit, but I didkeep up a correspondence with Susan for some time. She livedsomewhere in Cumbria in the Lake District, which was quite faraway up north.

The Confrontation Between The Bruderhof And The Germanational-Socialist Government 1933 to 1937 Part 5By Hans Zumpe

EW MEMBERS FROM THE ZIEGELWALDSETTLEMET I EISEACHTo our great joy there were other journeys that brought us incontact with some very interesting people. On the 26th of March,1934, Georg [Barth] and I were sent to the Ziegelwald settlementin Eisenach. We returned a few days later after some interestingdiscussions with four new members. Two of them are still withus today: Werner [Friedemann] and Waltraut [von Schengel,who later took the married name of Wiegand]. Wilhelm [Fischer]also joined us a week later after this visit. This journey gave usmore strength to reach out to other people. We said, If they arenot allowed to visit us, we must call on them.' We knew it wasessential for us to sell our books and turnery, as the various re-strictions imposed were adversely affecting our economic situa-tion. So on the 21st of June we decided to send two brothers on a

sales trip each week. We maintained this for quite a while. Theresults of these little missions in Nazi Germany were quitesatisfactory, if one considers the many obstacles which had been

put in our way. Once, Arno [Martin] and Kurt [Zimmermann]returned with 280 Reichsmarks. Additionally these sales tripscould lead to important meetings with people dissatisfied by the

politics of the time; although frank and open comments wererare.

We had high hopes for the Bekenntnisbewegung [Protestantfreedom of worship movement] which published a journal, DieJunge Kirche [The Young Church]. But the States domina-tion became even more ferocious. The seriousness of the situa-tion was made clear on the 30

thof June when a mass murder took

place. Not only Rhm [Ernst Rhm, a NSDAP leader and minis-ter in Hitlers government] and old Nazis were shot, but also


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OTES BY THE EDITOR: Hans Zumpe presented a con-densed version of this report during meetings in Primavera on26

thand 28

thJuly 1945 for the 25

thanniversary of the Bruderhof.

While quotes from Eberhard Arnold and newspaper clippingsetc. are reproduced verbatim, the Hans Zumpe report has beenedited using modern terminology, but eliminating none of the

content. More about the history of this account and its translationinto English can be found in the Introduction to Hans ZumpesReport from 1945 in the Keep In Touch Newsletter No 3 Dec.2007, page 8. There also begins the first part of this report.

Comments in angled brackets [ ] are explanations by the editors.

SA: Nazi Sturmabteilung/BraunhemdenSS: Nazi Schutz-Staffel/Schwarzhemden

many others who did not agree with the new regime. This lead toa serious [inner] call in both Bruderhofs.

EGLISH MEMBERS LEAD TO A ETIRELY EWBRUDERHOF ERAIn July 1934 Eberhard again went to the Almbruderhof. The firstEnglish people to join us were there. With their arrival came awhole new era in our history. At the time of Hardy [Arnold] andEdith [Boeker] wedding, Eberhard made an important testimonyto the community Christus das Haupt [Christ the Head].

Our Rhnbruderhof was endangered afresh. On the 2nd ofAugust Reichsprsident Hindenburg died. On the 19

ththere was

to be a referendum to decide whether Hilter should be nominatedas Reichsprsident. It was clear to us right from the start that wecouldn't participate in this referendum, not even as we had done

in November 1933. So we sent a petition to the office of theReichsprsident referencing our previous petition, and express-ing our stand on the question thus:

In accordance with ancestral old style German hand writ-ings we hold our attitude of faith allows the Bruderhof to bewholeheartedly subservient to the German authorities and theirleader Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. But these writings forbid us

by the will of Christ any active participation in the functions ofgovernment such as an election, a public opinion poll or a na-tional referendum of the people.Whilst subordinate and submis-sive to the government, the Brotherhood cannot actively partici-

pate in the sovereign vote of the people wanting to overrule thegovernment. In Christian reverence we recognize Adolf Hitler as

leader and chancellor of our government and Reichswehr [impe-rial army]. Regarding leadership of the army or the use of deadlyweapons the brothers, known as the Hutterites, cannot partake oreven seek to influence decision making. As followers of JesusChrist we cannot give or obey orders for the use of deadly weap-ons, but instead can only engage ourselves in positive Christian-ity for the love and unity of the gospel. So we beseech onceagain the understanding of the leader and chancellor of Germanyand all sections of his government to acknowledge that we aresubmissive to the authority of Adolf Hitler, but are not allowedto partake in any decision making about the functioning of gov-ernment.

The Presidential Officein Berlin W.8 (Wilhelmstrae 73)confirmed receipt of this letter on the 21

stof August in a typed

letter (HU 34/34 III) two days after the referendum. As thissigned confirmation from the envoy V. Hne is the only docu-ment we ever received from Hilters Reichskanzlei [ChancellorsOffice], we will quote it here verbatim:

To the Hutterite Brotherhood, FAO spokesman Dr. EberhardArnold, Bruderhof near Neuhof, Kreis Fulda: The arrival of theletter dated 19

thof the month is herewith humbly acknowledged.

As instructed, it has been forwarded to the Reichsminister desInneren [minister of the interior].

The day of the referendum was approaching. We had sent ourpetition to Berlin; we did not know how Veitsteinbach wouldreact on referendum day. But we had a good idea how they might

react via a printed note that was delivered to our Rhnbruderhof:Right to vote equals duty to vote! As citizens you claim

rights. Please fulfil your duty to your people and their leaderAdolf Hitler. He is faithful to the German people, and therebyalso to you!

And you ? I personally ask you on the 19th

of August aftersix in the afternoon, whether you have fulfilled your primaryobligation as a citizen. Should you be unable to attend the desig-nated poling station independently due to ill health, I ask you toinform the nearest department of the N.S.D.A. [The letter Pwas missing.]

Because of these circumstances we made arrangements onthe day of the election to ensure that none of the German mem-

bers were present on the Hof after twelve oclock midday. OurSwiss members took over all duties. Those eligible to vote tookdifferent routes into the forest where we all met up. We stayedthere together until dusk. We took with us the history book of theHutterians, and read how at times of persecution and the chaos ofwar, whole households had to spend long periods of time in thewoods.

I experienced the next six months from the Almbruderhof.The two 'hofs remained in close contact through a brisk ex-change of letters, especially the weekly reports and the so calledletters to the point, and by telephone. By the use of a pre-arranged code we were well able to communicate the incessantdifficulties with which the NS government presented us. No

outsider would be able to understand any of these communica-tions.

Before I went to Silum I handed over the cash box to Georg[Barth]. Only recently [in Primavera] Ria [Kiefer] reminded meof an incident that shows how miserable that time was at theRhn. She wanted to buy some coffee. She asked Georg forsome money. Georg got out the key to open the door of his of-fice, then hunted for a second key for the desk and for a third keyto open the cash box. Then he said solemnly: Just look Ria, 20Pfennigs!

In the meantime we found some new friends at the Alm whohelped us with the new start in Liechtenstein. We must mentionthe community in Essertines in particular, who frequently do-nated groceries. We found a grocer in Schaan by the name ofBiedermann, who like the Rhnbruderhfer grocer Baader, inSchlchtern, understood our situation. He helped us even whenwe were unable to pay immediately.

BODIG AT THE ALMBRUDERHOFThe pressures from outside and the fight for existence repeatedlystrengthened unity in the community. On the 23

rdof September,

1934 we met for the so called Bundschlieung [affirmation ofthe community bond] on the Almbruderhof. During the cere-mony each member promised to take responsibility for ourcommunal affairs as if he had sole responsibility for everything.

We also celebrated the Lords Supper. The following day Eber-hard went back to the Rhn where he stayed for the next sixmonths.

During this time the Almbruderhof continued to make pro-gress. In September there was a commercial and agriculturalexhibition in Vaduz. We went to the exhibition with our turnery


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and received a silver medal. Our school also received govern-ment recognition and approval.

Schools Inspector Frommelt, who was also a priest and Vice-Leader of the local government, came on the 1

stof October 1934

for an official visit. We therefore had a period of peace and quietin Liechtenstein. But soon we noticed there was a National So-cialist movement in this little country. It was called Heimat-dienst! [Home Service]. Their leader, Karl von Vogelsang made

an effort to contact us. Having come from the Catholic YouthMovement, he found common grounds with us. Even so wecould not help our unfavourable impression.of him. This newideology gained ground in Switzerland under the name of Fron-tenbewegung [a fascistic movement]. In their magazine Na-tionale Hilfe [National Help] National Socialism was hailed as anew religion.

We still had concerns about our future but it was our inten-tion to settle and continue to grow in Liechtenstein. We wantedto find a more suitable place. We had our eye on a property inthe lowlands in Balzers which belonged to a Catholic conventand was available to lease. We considered every aspect in detail,

but unfortunately contract was not forthcoming. The Catholic

Church probably objected.At this point our Bruderhof House in Zurich which wasfounded on the 17

thof October, 1934 should be mentioned. Har-

dy and Edith [Arnold] lived there together with several youngpeople who were undergoing further training in Zurich. Thehouse was financed by sales achieved through little missions.

THE LIFE OF THE BRUDERHOF PEOPLEChristmas was approaching. Eberhard and Emmy celebratedtheir silver wedding anniversary. Eberhard wrote a pamphlet,The Life Of The Bruderhof People as a Christmas greeting forour friends. It's surprising how much we shared with the publicat the time. The paper quoted our election statement of Novem-

ber 1933; reported on the subsequent house search by 160 SS-officials; the prevention of our having guests, and the closure ofour childrens home and school, and that the NS governmentdenied us our charitable status, all of which had lead to movingthe childrens community out of the country, and the founding ofthe Almbruderhof. The paper also discussed how all these thingsimpacted our economic situation. The paper was printed in Ger-many and distributed both in Germany and Switzerland. It con-tained even more: Will we stay in our homeland? Do we have a

place in Europe? What will happen to the missionary workaround the world? What lies ahead for us regarding our childrenand the people of our mother tongue? Before the political up-heaval many guests as well as casual workers passed through to

whom we could naturally reach out. Perhaps now we must go outto many more people, because they are unable to come to us.

Regarding the Almbruderhof it was said: God turned thevery measures taken against us by people with evil intent intosomething good. The very things some had tried to use to causeour demise, God used to enlarge our small beginning. OneBruderhof became two; our impact on extensive circles in nu-merous countries was strengthened in a way we could not haveimagined.

At that time there were fifty-six people on the Almbruderhofand eighty-five on the Rhnbruderhof. Counting brotherhoodmembers, novices and children, we numbered one hundred-forty-one In the booklet we also rather ingeniously canvassed for a six

month membership on the Rhnbruderhof, while guests, whowere not allowed in Germany, we invited to the Almbruderhof. Itwas said:

We are ready for any correspondence with friends, butabove all we hope many of you will join us as members on theRhnbruderhof for a period of six months, or spend a month

visiting our beautiful Almbruderhof. ... There is no time to waitfor developments! So we beg you for a prompt reply, to let usknow when we will have the pleasure of welcoming you into ourmidst!

Furthermore we told our friends that we were having to fightthe authorities for the retention of part of our land: We are hop-ing for a fair decision from the Farmers Inheritance Court whichshould take into account the increase in yields to the benefit of

the German national economy achieved through our brotherlywork!

ERST MLLER LOST AT THE FARMERSIHERITACE COURTThe hoped for, and fair decision arrived. In January 1935 wereceived a five page document from the Prussian Farmers Inheri-tance Court in Celle about the court hearing which had taken

place in October. Five judges had decided that the Bruderhofbelonged to us, and not to EmilMller. This was a monumentalvictory. The judges were fully aware of the cause of the prob-lems as is demonstrated in the following excerpt:

The Farmers' Leader opposes the ratification [of the sale of

land to us] as not being in the interest of the farmers, and furtherpoints to the fundamental objection to military service by mem-bers of the Bruderhof, who also take no part in political elec-tions. The complainant refers to the notification presented by theSenior Civil Servant in Kassel of June 1

st1934, according to

which it is not intended that this should influence the rights ofthe complainant.

However the decision had been reached taking into consid-eration only the legal point of view. Our attorney, Dr. Blanke,sent us confirmation of the decision on the 4 th of January 1935.He wrote, amongst other things:

It gave me great pleasure that the Provincial Farmers Inheri-tance Courts decision has given you the opportunity to continue

your peaceful and much blessed work at the Rhn. I would alsolike to say that while working on this interesting case it was aspecial joy for me personally to get to know Dr. Arnold.

So in spite of all the restrictions it looked as though we stillhad a future at the Rhnbruderhof.

The children house on the Rhnbruderhof was deserted at thebeginning of 1935, but the same it looked as though we still had afuture at the Rhnbruderhof. Roger and orah Allain visitingthe old place 1981, together with Annemarie Rbens and Erdmuthe

Arnold [taking the photograph]

Georg [Barth] was appointed Servant of the Word January 11th,

1935. At the same time Hannes [Boller] was reinstated. Afterthat Georg and I relieved each other. He went to the Almbruder-hof, and I went back to the Rhnbruderhof. Because of the dis-


15/16


tance between the two places, we thought it best that those withgreatest responsibilities should be changed from time to time, sothe unity of the Brotherhood would be preserved. We had

planned all this years ahead, but soon events would interferewith these preparations.

WHO HAS THE GREATEST STAYIG POWER,HITLER OR US?

The Saarland region was integrated back into Germany on the13th

of January. [Editorial note: Under the Treaty of Versaillesthe Saarland region, rich in coal, had been passed to France f

Documents

KIT Volume XXI No 1 April 2009 prop