KIT Newsletter

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

The KIT Newsletter, an Activity of the KIT Information Service, A Project of the Peregrine Foundation
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KIT Staff: Charles Lamar, Miriam Arnold Holmes, Ben Cavanna, Nadine Moonje Pleil, David E. Ostrom
The KIT Newsletter is an open forum for fact and opinion. It encourages the expression of all views, both from within and from outside
the Bruderhof. The opinions expressed in the letters that we publish are those of the correspondents and do not necessarily reflect
those of KIT editors or staff. Yearly suggested donation rates (4 issues): $15 USA; $20Canada;
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keep In Touch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Whole KIT and Caboodle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Table of Contents~~~~~
Joyce Atkinson
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe
Charlie Lamar
Nadine Pleil
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe
ErdmutheArnold
Joy Johnson MacDonald
Andy Harries
RaphaelVowles
Tim Johnson
Ben Cavanna
Andy Harries
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe
Wihelm Fischer
ErdmutheArnold
Sam Arnold

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UK KIT 14-17 July 2006

KIT: We have secured Hesterworth in
Shropshire for our summer EuroKIT get
together on the weekend of 14 - 17 July,
2006 Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
Hesterworth, as those who attended in
2002 will remember, is made up of eleven
self-catering units ranging in size of accommodation from two-person units up to one
eight-person unit. There is also a large communal dining/sitting room which we will hire
as well.
The hire amounts and descriptions of
the various units are on the web at: http://
www.hesterworth.co.uk If you dont have
internet, call Hesterworth. The phone
number is 01588 660487. The owners are
Roger and Shiela Davies. For the three night
period the hire charge will be half of the
weekly amounts shown on the price list.
Bookings need to be made direct with
Roger and Shiela who will advise you of
the deposit and payment requirements. You
can only book whole units, so figure out
who you wish to share with and get booking! Bookings are first come first served.
Ben is hoping to be able to organise
catering of some sort for the three evening
meals so that we can eat together, and will
let people know when we sort something
out. Ben will collect an additional charge
for that, obviously, and also for the use of
the communal rooms for the weekend.
When booking please identify yourself
as part of the KIT group.

Joyce Atkinson, 2/1/06: My father passed

away this morning at 10:10, here in our home.
He was surrounded by family and friends.
He was in no pain. He suffered with some
coughing, much of which was controllable
through morphine provided by Hospice
who were incredible! When he died, the look
in his face was one of complete peace, as
though he were in a deep sleep.
It has been the most difficult thing I have
ever gone through in my life, and yet soon
after he died I realized that the burden had
been lifted from me and I was at peace. The
viewing will be Friday, 2:00 - 4:00 and 7:00 9:00 PM, with the service on Saturday at 10:00
AM at the Alden Mennonite Church. How
am I doing? Im okay. Im at peace. I have my
moments, and will continue to, but I am okay.
Thank you to all for your love, caring,
and support,
Charlie Lamar, 12/21/05: Not having heard
from Lee Kleiss in at least a month, I called
her home and found she had passed away a
week ago on Thursday, December 16th. I
didnt inquire any further than that. There
didnt seem to be any point.
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe, 12/21/05: Although Lee was very sick, her mind was so
clear that her death comes as a shock.
She was a loving and very intelligent person, always ready to try and understand or
help financially if she heard of any need.
Having been through the persecution under the Nazis in Germany as a child, she
could well understand the traumas the ex-

Hofers are going through.

Her interest was for all the people on
earth. She had traveled far to find a goal to
live for before she ended up in Primavera,
from where she was sent away penniless and
lonesome with no given reason!
She picked up her life, traveled through
Europe, visited many, many ex-Hofers,
adopted children, went back to the University to teach and started the very first circular keep-in-touch type letter in the 1960s to
help friends find their friends from Bruderhof
days!
Her coming to the KIT conference in the
Rhn, was quite an undertaking for her with
all her difficulties due to her sickness. I feel
sad that no one knew she had passed away!
I guess it is best for her to be free from her
bedridden existence with all the pain and
handicaps she had to suffer.
I am sure many of us will miss her. I hope
someone can write a real good report of the
LEE as we knew her! She was loving and
straight-forward and I shall always be thankful for that! Greetings,
Nadine Pleil, 12/21/05: Lee put up a valiant
fight in order to live. She was bound to her
wheelchair and bed for quite some years.
Lee was very generous and helped many
people who were sent away from the community. Among these many people are
Hermann and Ruth Pleil and August and
Nadine Pleil.
Sometimes Lee would call us and sometimes we called her. We always enjoyed the
phone calls with Lee. I did not know Lee

Lee Kleiss (front left) in the dining room at Ibate

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KIT Newsletter
when she lived in the community, I only got
to know her after we had to leave the community. She will be missed.
August and I thank Lee for all she did to
help us and so many others. I too hope she
is at rest. She has been released from her
suffering . Thank you Lee.

(Adapted for KIT from notes Joy took during the Johnson family Paraguay Trip September / October, 2005)

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

Chaco. Tina and Renatus had hired a very
comfortable air-conditioned mini-bus and the
owner-driver, Roberto, drove very carefully
and seemed to happily tolerate the talkative,
sometimes argumentative, often singing
group for the next week. We got on very well
and he cheerfully fitted in with all our plans.
We were all packed and away by just after
8:00 am. Our route was along the Chaco Highway over the Paraguay River and soon into
scrub pampas and swampy areas as far as

For many years, my older brother Timothy and I had hoped to be able to return to
visit Paraguay. Timothy was born in the Cotswold Bruderhof just a year before the
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe, 11/1/05: I just had Bruderhofers embarked on their hazardous
a long telephone call from Migg Fischli.
sea journey from England, and he and our
Since the death of his wife, Hilde, he had mother Eleanor were in the first group who
a good and warm relationship with a wid- left Liverpool at the end of November
owed childhood and youth friend, Elsie. Well, 1940. Our father Guy had been sent to
Elsie died last night in her sleep. For Migg the US together with Hans Meier to try
this is really a great loss.
and secure permission for the Bruderhof
We met Elsie some twenty-five years ago to emigrate to the States, but for variand then met them again every year, as our ous reasons this was not possible so
holiday destination has been Switzerland for they both joined this first group in Buemany years. They also visited us here in nos Aires for the final part of the jourHolland and spent three weeks at our house ney, sailing up the Paraguay River to
in Ameland. Last year, when Migg was so Puerto Casado near the Brazilian borsick he had three major operations within der, then narrow gauge railway and fia few weeks last October it was Elsie, who nally horses and carts to Filadelfia in
helped him, get better and fight for life. Elsie the Chaco, where I was born. This was
would have been eighty-nine next February the only group to travel up into the
First day in the hotel: Joy, Rosie, Rebecca,
and Migg will be ninety next June.
Chaco as the Bruderhof decided to setSusan, Elizabeth, Timothy, Barnabas
Migg is such a warm and loving friend to tle further south, just east of the river
all of us. I am sure it would help him a lot if he near Friesland and three months after
got greetings from any of us. His address is: arriving in the Chaco, we joined the first set- the eye could see with small townships along
Emil Fischli, Hubstrasse 8
tlers in Isla Margareta, the first of the three the roadside. We saw gauchos herding zebu
8942 Oberrieden ZH, Switzerland Primavera communities. Barnabas was born cattle and small groups of sheep, pigs, hens,
in Isla and Susan and Elizabeth in Loma Hoby. horses etc. Areas of swamp have been dug
KIT: Word came that Norma LeBlanc, age We then moved to Ibate but in late 1947 our out to construct lakes for irrigation and
eighty-four, passed away on January 10 of family returned to England to live in household water, some fenced to keep out
this year. We extend our condolences to all Wheathill where our last three sisters, animals so it stays fresh for drinking.
We saw storks, egrets, herons ducks and
Elfriede, Christrose and Rebecca were born.
her surviving family, especially son Mike.
As plans for this return trip developed, other water fowl at some ponds. Also a large
Erdmuthe Arnold, 1/19/06: Mike, my heart all of us except Elfie were able to go and we variety of birds of prey and also the ubiquifelt thoughts are going your way as you were accompanied by Renatus Kluver and tous vultures. There were masses of palms
mourn about the loss of your Mum, Norma. Tina Jaime, who were instrumental, not just trees to the furthest horizon and many beauAs many others remember, she and your fa- in helping us organise our transport and ac- tifully blossoming yellow, pink and white
ther Lowell were very friendly people with commodation, but more importantly, their lapacha trees. We also saw lots of nests, inextensive knowledge and memory of the cluding parakeet nests on utility poles, hangwhom one liked to have contact.
I met your parents for the first time at the Chaco, Primavera, Asuncion and surround- ing nests and small clay oven birds nests.
Evergreen Bruderhof, just before the place ing area, as well as their enjoyable compan- We stopped for lunch at a roadside petrol
was closed around October 1960. I then had ionship, added immeasurably to this fantas- station and had a delicious local dish, an
empanada, which is rather like a Cornish
no idea about the closure; non tic experience.
The plan was to meet at the Porta del Sol pasty but deep fried and delicious. Then on
Bruderschafters were kept away from any
information. Together with three families Hotel in Asuncion on the 22nd of September to Filadelfia where I had been born, booked
we headed for Oaklake. I think we traveled in where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the into the Florida Hotel and had a swim before
three cars. It was a very long ride on high- beautiful gardens with two swimming pools a wonderful dinner watching a video about
and waterfalls, while we talked and planned the history of the Mennonites migration
ways. We had to stay overnight in a motel.
Let me share a photo from your family, our first few days. All except Elizabeth and I from the Ukraine to the Chaco, in the 1930s
which was taken in Oaklake around that time had travelled several days earlier. We would and how they built up three colonies around
1960/61. Donna Ford (on the left) was begin our travels the next day so decided to the little town of Filadelfia. German is still
helping your parents, taking care of you kids. visit the Botanical Gardens and Zoo which the principal language of the Mennonites
Joy Johnson MacDonald, 12/28/05: we had been taken to in 1947. The poor ani- though Spanish and Guarani are the official
mals were cooped up in enclosures languages of Paraguay. It was a special 70th
or cages as in the old-fashioned Anniversary programme which highlighted
LeBlanc family February 1961. Back row from left:
zoos. The trees and shrubs seemed their life and brought their history right up
Dona Ford with Mark (1 1/2), Rive (14), Lowell,
Norma with Mona (2 1/2), front: Debby (9), Faith (4 very poor specimens though the to the present, including 1941 when the
birds were plentiful. The museum Bruderhof arrived and I was born here.
1/2), Phil (12) with Ren (4 months).
Saturday 24th September: Cooler, sultry
had some interesting though deteriorating specimens of pickled and threatening a storm. The locals are praysnakes, insects, stuffed birds and ing for rain as they havent had a drop for
animals in a building which used to months, but once again they were to be disbelong to President Franca. Then appointed. After an early breakfast we vison to the Cathedral and the Plaza ited the town Museum which is the very
de Armas near the Asuncion Basin same building our parents and the other fami(harbour) which leads off the Para- lies occupied when they arrived in January
guay River. Then back to the hotel, 1941. The small building nearby where I was
then swimming, a delicious BBQ born had been demolished but the curator
showed me a postcard of the type of shack it
dinner and generally chilled out.
Friday 23rd September: Very would have been and let me keep it.
The garden area, including a large
hot and sultry. The temperature
eventually rose above 104 degrees lapacha tree and also some bottle trees which
with a hazy sun so not blazing hot, would have been there when I was born, is
just HOT! Up early to go to the now used as part of the schools playground
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KIT Newsletter
and I met some children and told them and
their teacher (in German) that I had been born
here which they found amazing. The museum
had some interesting Indian as well as
Mennonite artefacts and wonderful plants,
and stuffed birds and animals. Then on to
the Library to look up archive books relating
to the Museum Building and the librarian
photocopied an old photograph of the building taken in the 1930s. We also visited a little
craft shop where I bought some postcards,
souvenirs such as a wooden caddy made
from Paullo Santo trees which is vary fragrant and some gourd maracas and a wooden
decorated recorder for my grandchildren.
We met Dieter and Elfriede Enzt, friends

In front of the Filadelfia museum

of Tinas from when she used to be a travel
agent, and travelled to their estancia, called
Cure-I (little peccary) where we saw their
cows and calves (one just born and still wet
and wobbly on his feet, trying to find his

Bottle treee at Filadelfia:

Susan, Renatus Kluever, Elizabeth, Tina
Jaime, Joy, Rosie, Banabas, Timothy
first meal!). We walked up to the reservoir
which is built above ground level by banking up the spoils taken to create the void
into which water is pumped from a large lake
by an ingenious Australian developed wind
mill. We looked round his Indian familys
home meeting the delightful gaucho, his wife

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

and four year old Julius Caesar, who
captivated us all day long. We then
met in a clearing in the jungle forest
near the lake where the BBQ, called
an asado, was cooking while we sang
songs and wandered around watching birds through binoculars.
On our way back to Filadelfia we
stopped at the Enztis home (in a small
Mennonite dorf where each house is
surrounded by its own garden/smallholding) for a cup of tea and saw five,
four day old kittens which mother cat
proceeded to carry one by one under
the dresser. Then back to the Florida
Hotel where most of us had a swim
and then went to a concert in a large
sports hall, where lots of local, mostly amateur Mennonite and different Indian groups
and lots of children, performed a variety of
songs and other skits and dances, sometimes balancing flowers on their heads. There
were many musical pieces, with traditional
and folk instruments. It went on for a very
long time and when we walked back to the
hotel we found the gates locked but eventually managed to attract the attention of the
night porter.
Sunday 25th September: Still overcast
and very warm. Early start and very long all
day drive via Concepcion to Friesland. We
stopped at some lakes wed seen on our way
up a couple of days earlier and admired many,
many crocodiles, both swimming and lazing
around the edge of the water. Also several
different species of birds. It was a very long
journey via Concepcion and because it was
Sunday this old Spanish, somewhat isolated,
almost 100% Catholic town was virtually
deserted so this proved to have been a poor
choice of route with little opportunity to do
much sight-seeing. We pressed on to
Friesland, the Mennonite village adjacent to
our old Primavera which they had bought
from the Bruderhof and incorporated into
their farmland.
The roads became progressively worse,
just dirt tracks at times and as there had been
recent rain, large puddles had to be negotiated, sometimes at extremely slow speeds
and we arrived at the Hotel Tannenhof well
after watching the setting of the blood red
sun as we drove gingerly along. Our hosts,
Herbert and Else Janzen, hastily prepared a
salad and Barbequed meats meal and after
sorting out our bedrooms we had a wonderful walk in the dark, gazing at the millions of
stars and the milky way of the Southern hemisphere. There was no light pollution and it
was an amazing sight, reminding those of us
whod experienced the Paraguayan night sky,
just how right we were in praising this spectacle. Then to bed!
Monday 26th: September: Very pleasantly warm with not a cloud in the sky. This
was our day for visiting Isla Margareta, Loma
Hoby and Ibate. Our family had lived in all
three hofs during our seven years in
Primavera. There was only one original building but we were able to figure out where we
had lived, and where the Hospital and Dining room with its huge Timbo tree, and several other remembered buildings had been.
We laid a bunch of roses at the foot of a tree
next to a cacti close by where the
Motherhouse had been and where babies,
including Barnabas, Susan and Elizabeth
were born and spent the first few weeks of
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At the Primavera Burial Ground

their life.
We thought about our father and mother
and took a picture of the natives and then
visited the Bruderhof Burial garden where
there is a plaque with the names of all the
people who died during the twenty years
the Bruderhof settled in Paraguay and laid
another bunch of flowers in memory of our
friends from years past. We also walked down
to the little wood where a spring had been
dammed to make a small swimming pool.
Next, we drove on to the Tapiraquay River
where we had our packed lunch, then a long
walk where Tina and Renatus were able to
identify many trees, birds and flowers, then
a few braved the cold water for a short swim.
Joy, Joshua Dreher, Susan, Renatus at
Joshuas Chacra

Renatus, Tina, Tim and I remembered swimming there all those years ago. Then back to
the Tannenhof, some of us walking the last
few miles into a stunning sunset, watching
the sky change from fiery orange to deep
purple. We enjoyed another BBQ and Salad
meal and another starry night walk with binoculars. I saw a shooting star which left a
trace across the sky for what felt like several
seconds but obviously wasnt!
Tuesday 27th: We woke early to have a
walk around the hotel grounds which included pasture land, greenhouses, vegetable and fruit gardens plus two lakes with
many ducks, geese, hens and some turkeys.
After breakfast we went to see a complete
reconstruction of the Ibate dining room, now
used as an entertainment hall next to the
Church in Friesland. It is exactly as it would
have been when originally built except that
it now has clay roof tiles which would originally have been thatch, later replaced by
wooden shingles.
Our guide was most interested that
Renatus remembered helping to build this
very building which was not the original
small dining room Timothy and I remembered
from our few months at the very beginning
of Ibate. The amazing wooden beams, joists
and rafters demonstrated the high class workmanship, and the attention to details such

KIT Newsletter
as beautifully crafted wooden window
catches, made us realise just how skilled the
Bruderhof people were and we never saw
any wooden turned bowls or vases or candlesticks anywhere near the quality we were
used to from the Bruderhof workshops. Then
the Pastor invited us into his church, a typical non-conformist simple, wooden interior
with no altar but a beautiful grainy wooden
pulpit. Barnabas had started playing
Shoenster Herr Jesu on the piano and the
Pastor and his wife joined in so we sang several songs. They then took us into their archive office and showed us their village Register of Births and Deaths going back to 1935.
We wandered back to the Tannenhof
Hotel doing a little souvenir shopping at the
local Menno Co-op. We left Friesland, driving through Primavera and stopped at Josia
Drehers daughters village store and he took
us to his smallholding where we met his

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

said our guide) and some wood marquetry three decorated with an intricate gold-leaf
panels too. The pulpit had been constructed pattern inlay. Then on to San Bernadino
of an entire tree trunk, the base carved to along the shore of Lake Ypacarai, the largest
depict Samuel as if holding up the pillars as lake in Paraguay which unfortunately is so
in the Old Testament, with the stairs wind- polluted that the wild life in it is virtually
ing up to the intricately carved and deco- extinct. There we climbed up many, many
rated pulpit where the sermon was given. steps to reach a huge and rather ugly white
The Altar screen was beautifully carved in statue of Mary. It is called Escallinata, meangreat detail. It is the most amazing cathedral ing many stairs and gave deceptively beautiful views of the poor lake. Then towards
I have ever seen.
We continued on to Paraguari where we Itaugua stopping at a lace shop to purchase
walked up a steep wooded hill to a shallow a variety of lace and we saw how it is made
bowl depression with a huge tall red rock with the cotton strands of the original cloth
central peak with fantastic views of the sur- pulled out to leave just the lace object. We
rounding hills and valleys quite unlike the were told that the Jesuits taught the Indians
flat desolate landscape of the Chaco or the this craft and that it is no longer made anygently undulating forests and pampas of the where else in the world. Then back to Tinas
Primavera / Friesland area. The central pillar home in Fernando de la Mora where every
of rock was left to create this lookout when wall is covered with her art work, much of it
they dug the rock all around to be used for a Paraguay landscape oil paintings but also
road construction. A large cross had been pictures made out of plants and seeds and
built in the centre of the top plat- feathers. We chose some and I also picked
Barnabas, Susan and the Captain boarding the boat on form which could be seen from out three for Elizabeth, Rosie and Rebecca
the Chaco y side of the river. Asuncion in the distance. miles away. Then on to Chololo, to choose from as they had stayed in
a National Park area which re- Asuncion. Then back to the Palmas Hotel,
minded us of Ohiopyle, even to met up with the others and took two taxis to
the construction of the restau- a large restaurant called the Folklorios which
rant which jutted out cantilever has live bands etc. We arrived quite early
fashion over the babbling and there was just gentle Paraguayan guitar
brooks which was reminiscent recorded music but then a guitarist, pianist
of Frank Lloyd Wrights Fall- and Paraguayan harpist played some beauing Waters famous building at tiful haunting melodies.
Thursday 29th September: We had a fullOhiopyle close to Oaklake where
our family had lived in the late blown lightning and thunder storm in the
50s. The countryside could night which was good as it reinforced my
easily have been Pennsylvania memories of dramatic electrical storms in
except for the Palm trees! I found Paraguay and also, because it occurred dursome large three-foot diameter ing the night, it had no negative impact on
heart-shaped flat black seeds us. I just had to pop out onto the balcony to
that rattled and apparently have a look although Im terrified of thundaughter in law and her two little daughters where used as soap as they froth up when derstorms which I maintain is because I was
born during one, though I guess its more
and a neighbours school girl. I enjoyed look- wetted. They come from the Timbo tree.
The two streams lead into a man-made likely I absorbed my mothers discomfort.
ing down their well which brought back
strong memories of Primavera wells, with swimming pool and then out again, the wa- There was a fresher feel to the weather next
both their fascination but also slight terror ter cascading over huge rocks which can be morning though still very pleasantly warm.
at the possibility of falling down into it. We crossed by simple wooden swaying suspen- Another day of sightseeing and some of us
continued on our route to Asuncion, pass- sion bridges. We had lunch here and ex- began by hiring a small boat, the Norma Elizaing the old Bruderhof House, and booked plored, then travelled on to Caacupe along a beth with her Captain Sebastian, for a few
into the Palmas del Sol hotel for the next three road with an interesting totem pole at the hours to take us across the Paraguay River
roadside which had been carved with South to Chaco-I (little Chaco) opposite to, and with
nights.
Wednesday 28th September: Elizabeth, American birds and animals and mythologi- a good view of Asuncion. It was most enjoyable and we saw an old paddle
Rosie and Rebecca decided to stay
steamer just like the one that took our
shopping and visiting touristy places
family from Rosario to Asuncion in
in Asuncion today but the rest of us
1947. Then we watched the Trans Chaco
had a lovely tour designed by Tina. Our
Car Rally start from the Square of the
first stop was at San Lorenzo Church
Heroes and I took some pictures for
which is externally painted just like blue
Bob and Fiona, then bumped into Rosie
and white Wedgwood pottery. Beautiwho was also watching and taking phoful and impressive on the outside but
tos. She took us to a good lunch place
simple inside where cleaners were enshed found the day before and we dejoying waltzes over the loud-speaker!
cided to book it for dinner. Then we
Then on to Yaguaron, birthplace of Jose
visited a very fine craft shop where I
Rodriguez Franca, dictator during the
bought a Palo Santo wood vase and
early part of the 19th Century, where an
leather pencil holder for out kitchen taexternally simple church, with its
ble. Pictures similar to Tinas, though
Franciscan wooden bell tower slightly
not nearly as good, were on sale at four
separated, took our breath away on enBarnabas and Tina with Termite mound - Loma Hoby times what she was charging! We then
tering. Called Temple de Sanbuena
walked home and had another swim,
Ventura, it was started in 1640 by Jesucal spirit creatures. In Caacupe we visited gradually meeting up and hearing about each
its and completed in 1755.
We had noticed a group of theology stu- another amazing cathedral called Della Vestra others day. Then back for our evening meal,
dents having a seminar under a tree at the Senora. It was St. Pauls shaped with a large some of us walking home afterwards, while
entrance and one joined us inside to be our central dome and had literally hundreds of Barnabas, Elizabeth and Rebecca lingered
guide. The inside surfaces including the very impressive stained glass windows, in- and took a taxi back to the hotel.
Friday 30th September: It was fairly overvaulted ceilings, were made entirely of dif- cluding one of Pope John Paul II who had
ferent types of wood, much of it intricately visited in 2002. The Altar area had a huge, cast but warm and dry, our last day in Parapanelled squares painted with flowers, ani- entirely self-supporting, wooden arch and guay. We made and early start stopping in
mals, saints etc., each apparently unique (so two smaller similar arches at each side, all Capiata as Elizabeth wanted to visit the
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KIT Newsletter
Franciscan church. Externally it was very
similar to the one at Yaguaron but it was
locked and we couldnt go inside. Then
straight on to Foz do Iguazu stopping briefly
for lunch before the bizarre and tedious Border and Passport crossing at the Friendship
Bridge which took us into Brazil. Then on to
the Hotel Tropical Cataratas inside the
Iguazu Falls National Park and literally overlooking and just a hundred metres or so from
the falls. We said our farewells to Tina who
had decided to return with the mini bus as
her disabled son Walter had found it quite
difficult when she had been away for several days though she had put in place good
arrangements for his
care. We gave her a beautiful Caithness paperweight in vibrant swirly
colours which reminded
us of Paraguay and we
hope reminds Tina of us.
She had originally hoped
to stay with us for a few
more days but has been
to the Falls several times
with Bruderhof friends
so felt OK. about returning though it obviously
meant a long days drive
for her and the driver.
This is the poshest of the
hotels we have stayed in
but perfect for its position as the next few days
are completely unstructured so people can
choose to take long
hikes in the jungle or
walk the many pathways
right along or across and
over the Falls which are spectacular, with
multiple cascades pouring millions of gallons of water from the Iguazu river where it
joins the Parana river. Many of us went
straight down to the Falls for our first expedition. We had dinner together, then went to
bed.
Saturday October 1st: It rained during
the night and is still a bit overcast but pleasantly warm and now dry. After a very early
breakfast Susan and I took a much longer
walk right to the first of the cataracts called
the Devils Throat and there were many platforms and walkways right out to individual
falls so we were often standing right above
a torrent while just to our right and high
above us cascaded another fall. With the sun
behind and still quite low we saw the rainbow prism effect of the spray. Some rainbows were huge, others little mini personal
ones which preceded us as we walked along.
Quite magical! We walked right to the end
where the tour buses stop at the Visitors
Center and the upstream boat tours start.
There is a lift up but we used the many stairs
and hairpin walkways to get to the top. The
Gift shop had some good books and posters
but we didnt buy anything as we were well
and truly soaked and planned to return along
the falls paths rather than above the cliffs
where the vehicle road takes a short-cut back
to the hotel. There were also several eating
areas, one right along the river at its widest
before it plunges into the many Falls.
It is clear from the noise and spumes of
spray that something spectacular is just
downstream.We imagined what it might have

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

creepers intertwined. Also heard many, many
birds but saw very few, but then bumped
into Timothy and Elizabeth also trying to find
the marked path and having joined up with
them to return to the hotel found that Rosie
too was searching. Had dinner with everyone in one of the restaurants and heard of
peoples exploring adventures.
Some were feeling tired after their early
rise and busy exploring day but Rosie, Timothy and I armed with flashlights, explored
the jungle area immediately behind the hotel
to see if it would make for a good walk tomorrow, then on our return heard singing
with piano accompaniment in one of the bars
so stopped off for a drink
and Rosie also bought the
lovely female singers CD.
Sunday October 2nd:
Very hot! Yesterday the
sprays from the falls and a
cloudy day meant that the
distant views were not
great but today is hot and
the sun has burned off the
mist so we all have ideas
of doing more sightseeing,
hopefully visiting the Bird
Sanctuary at the outer
margin of the Park. But
first, Barnabas had found
an interesting, suspended
plank pathway through the
jungle, leading to an adventure/assault course
and treetop lookout further down river of the main
falls which some of us
were keen to explore. Later,
Iguazu Falls
I walked Elizabeth the easy
footpath along the bus
many wooden benches where people rest road to the Visitors Centre and along the
and admire the view. There are notices ad- way we saw a small capybara, another revising not to feed them but I suspect they minder of Primavera wild animals. It is apparget sufficient nourishment to make their pres- ently the largest rodent.
We did some souvenir shopping and
ence in large numbers worthwhile. We also
saw our first family of wild monkeys busily then met up with Timothy who was taking
Elizabeth down the lift and onto the Falls
eating fruit and leaping from tree to tree.
After a long drink and swim in the hotel footpath near the Devils Throat and back
pool we took another walk, this time trying along the wet and wild undercliff pathway
to find a track through the jungle to another while I returned with our purchases back
upstream area of the Iguazu where boats from along the dry upper road where I saw a much
the Visitors Centre make their second stop. larger capybara had joined the little one
The top end of the land is encompassed by (mother and baby perhaps). We all met at
the loop of the river, containing the hotel the Visitor Centre restaurant mentioned yesand right at its apex the Visitors Centre, terday for a light lunch, then some of us
which meant that this crossing of the jungle caught one of the free tour buses to the Bird
Park. It was excellent! Fairly new, it incorporates the most modern ecological standards
Coati Mundi at Iguazu
so that the humans, not the birds, are restricted by carefully entering huge eight
meter high forest aviaries plus other areas
where birds live in their natural habitat without the restriction of netting and cages.
There are over eight-hundred different species, also butterflies and they have recently
introduced crocodiles and snakes which
thankfully are separated from mere humans.
There was an area of birds from other
continents but mostly they were indigenous.
And all set within about fifteen acres in virgin sub-tropical forest and jungle. The humshould have been a perfectly manageable ming birds were brilliant and so easy to watch
few miles but we never found the marked and the screamers entertained us with their
path and the jungle is totally impenetrable. comical mating shrieks. When we returned
However we did see many interesting or- to the hotel, Timothy and I climbed to the
chids and bromeliads as well as being able top of the Bell Tower which wed previously
to admire the variety of tall dense trees with noticed. This gave an amazing view of the
felt like for the first people as they paddled
down the wide river and suddenly came
across the sight of massive sprays of water
ahead and the roar of the waterfalls. We
hoped they tied up at the river bank and
checked out the falls on foot! This was also
the area where we came across many
coatimundi, which we had occasionally seen
in Primavera as children. They are racoonlike with reddish-brown coats, whitish rings
on their long tails and a long mobile snout
which it can poke into crevices for catching
insects. But here in the park they are extremely tame, coming up to people to check
out their rucksacks, even jumping up on the

KIT Newsletter
Falls from up high and in total panorama.
We told everyone else this was a not to be
missed visit. Then we had another swim. We
had booked to have the BBQ dinner by the
pool which was our last meal together so we
celebrated Rebeccas birthday which is tomorrow and gave Renatus a mouse mat with
Our thoughts are free printed on it and
thanked him for his help in organising the
various Chaco and Primavera aspects and
help Tina sort out the practical details of
mini-bus and driver and hotels. It was yet
another asado type meal with lots of different BBQd meats and salads with fresh fruits
and gateaus for dessert. We have certainly
had many delicious meals and tasted a rich
variety of the local foods, especially an abundance of unusual fruits.
Monday 3rd October: A gloriously hot
and cloudless sky. Another very early walk
and as Monday morning is closed to Park
visitors, except for hotel guests, there were
very few sightseers so walking the forest
and cataract trails was much better. Renatus
and Barnabas were leaving at 9:00 am and
we all gathered to say good-bye as they are
travelling by bus back to Asuncion, stopping off briefly with Lucrezia Fisher in Minga
Guazu near Cuidad del Este which is right on
the border back into Paraguay. When they
had gone we had a swim and I started to
pack and sort out Tinas paintings which I
was bringing back to the UK in a cardboard
roll. We all met up for lunch before saying
good-bye to Timothy and Rebecca. That left
just Susan, Elizabeth, Rosie and me and we
lazed around the hotel grounds and pool,
some swimming, till it was time to leave the
hotel by taxi for the airport at 4:00 PM. We
flew close to and had a good final view of
the Iguazu Falls on our short flight to Sao
Paulo (via Curitibo) where we caught the Sao
Paulo to London plane for a very long ten
hour overnight flight to London, arriving 2:30
PM. Tuesday 4th October where Bob met
me.
We were extremely fortunate with the
weather. No day-time rain at all and most
days were very pleasantly warm with a couple days of extremely hot temperatures, but
then it was Paraguay and very hot weather
is one of our abiding memories, and not
something we ever experience in England.
We thought we saw and photographed a
locust and Timothy saw and managed to
photograph a type of garter snake basking
on a rock. Im still trying to identify some of
the many birds, plants, trees and flowers we
saw. As mentioned, we heard and saw the
Meowing frogs which Barnabas had remembered, and also lots of his beloved wild monkeys.
Well, I think that brings me to the end of
this memory of our family holiday which was
enhanced and made immeasurably more enjoyable with our companions and exbruderhof friends Renatus and Tina and we
are most grateful to them for all their help
and friendship.
Andy Harries, 10/30/05: I am just reading a
book which our Jim gave us, to help understand the problems faced in trying to help
Africans. I found one part interesting from
my Bruderhof experience. I was put in the
small? Auschluss for about six months
when I was a brotherhood member. Not because I had done anything wrong, but I had

gone for help, and that was the Help? I

was given.
It seems to me that the whole idea of this
Auschluss (exclusion) was completely misused. Maybe if somebody really did something bad, then it may be justified, but the
way it was used there, to punish people for
having a different point of view or for some
other such insignificant reason, I think was
cruel . Also it was also used to punish children, who were often completely innocent
and didnt even know or understand what
they were being punished for. Being isolated
from normal human contact could do a lot of
harm to a person in a psychological way and
as he says below, it was probably worse than
being in prison.
Not all Africans follow the normal and
accepted financial principles of the sharing that society dictates, but people that
do not do so pay a very heavy social
price: they are shunned and
marginalized by friends and relatives.
The African Philosopher Assane Sylla
describes this social sanction:
When a troublemaker persists in his
bad behaviour... if he stubbornly continues, he is punished by being put in psycho-social quarantine. The whole village
or the social group he belongs to will
stop all conversation and all other normal relations with him, including a refusal to carry on any business. The person so condemned is left to exist in total
social isolation, living with a strong
sense of disapproval, of enmity and of
disdain. In Wolof society, to lose the esteem of ones friends, of ones age-grade,
is to lose the place in life that cannot be
found elsewhere. It is worse than being
in prison.
Every person is sensitive to the possibility of losing the esteem of and interaction with others, as it is the sympathy of
friends and the multitude of family relationships that are essential to personal
well-being and growth. In such a strongly
integrated society, the social pressures
on the individual to conform are extremely powerful and omnipresent. The
outsider can guess the effects on behaviour and on the kind of arguments that
are used to justify personal acts and decisions. It is not rare, for example, to see
someone spending a fortune for a family
celebration, becoming financially ruined
in the process, to hear him declare,
What can I do? I cant betray the expectations of everyone who has their eyes
on me, looking to see what I will do....
And then adding, Money wont keep
death away, but it will keep shame away
(that is it will enable a person to meet
his obligations).
Raphael Vowles, 11/1/05: Regarding
Auschluss, my first impressions on reflection are that every society requires a sanction against social misbehaviour. In the outside world there is the system of laws and
courts and imprisonment.
The difficulty is defining what defines
this misbehaviour. Theft, rape, murder? Needing spiritual guidance (Whatever that
means). Pride? Sexual deviation?
I am slow to condemn the principle. The
rule of law as we have it in the west does not
seem to deliver people who behave socially
6

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

responsibly. Note the huge imprisonment
statistics for the USA. When one has just
the tribe (Bruderhof) to deal with discipline
what other sanction is there but exclusion.
Who decides who says how long for
what is the definition of rehabilitation?
Lots of questions. Are there some answers?
Tim Johnson, 11/1/05: Regarding those other
cultural parallels to Bruderhof auschluss
- My view is that while Im not sure one
can find a universally acceptable answer, the
individual should not necessarily accept the
societal definition of troublemaker, but
should be willing to try to justify his/her actions, just as society needs to justify, and
sometimes modify, its definitions of what is
culturally acceptable. The Bruderhof catch22 was that the mere act of questioning,
unless handled with the greatest show of
obsequious humility, was by definition trouble making, and thus worthy of ostracism.
Weve just had back in focus the excellent example of Rosa Parks, who was clearly
a troublemaker to the values of southern
white society, and even to some blacks, who
didnt want her to make trouble, and rock
the boat. She wasnt the first, but she had
enough backing from other fed-up blacks
(and others) that her action became a catalyst for change.
She deserves to be remembered and
honored. (Ive wondered more than once
what the life story subsequently was of the
person to whom she refused to give up her
seat on that bus. One could make quite a
play out of that...with different speculative
scenarios!).
Perhaps the lesson is not only to follow
ones own evolving values, but also to pick
ones fights carefully, if one has the choice.
Ben Cavanna, 11/2/05: I can see that any
society would need to have some forms of
sanction including ostracism that it used to
keep its members to an accepted code of
behaviour.
In the society that I have chosen to live
in, if someone persistently breaks the code
against stealing, they will be ostracised by
the society formally, through the judicial
system, and sent to prison. Informally they
may also be ostracised by their more lawabiding neighbours.
The difference between this society and
the Bruderhof is that this society has a formal legal code, and a system of due process,
where you can argue your innocence or guilt
with regard to the Law, and have specific
rights to legal representation. Laws are written down and new laws cannot generally be
applied retroactively.
There are social customs that are not specifically coded in this way, for instance the
use of profanity. In some social circles the
use of the F word is common, and acceptable at all times. In other circles the use of
the F word has rather more complex rules
to its acceptability. If you eff and blind at
certain posh dinner parties you are likely not
to be invited again. In that same social circle
it may be very acceptable to swear when in
exclusively male company out shooting for
instance. Then the choice is yours - fit in or
be ostracised.
In the Bruderhof there do not appear to
be any written laws apart from The first Law

KIT Newsletter
at Sannerz, yet you can face very severe
sanctions equivalent in our society of legal
sanctions with no recourse to an advocate
or to any thing resembling legal rights. The
sanction is not applied because you have
broken any Law. It is applied simply because
the Dictator and the system finds it useful to
do so. This is entirely at the whim of a dictator, and a cascade of responsible Brothers.
Within Bruderhof society you do not
have even the most basic rights - as rights.
No right of Habeas Corpus. No right to property. No right of freedom of association. No
right of freedom of speech. No right to
choose your marriage partner. No right to
freedom of thought. No rights to nothing.
To enjoy any of these basic rights you
would have to exit that society and join another society. Exit with nothing. No property. No right to associate with your
bruderhof friends and family.
The freedoms I enjoy, allow me to set up
a crazy religion such as the Bruderhof, and
choose to live with no rights within that
group. I am not allowed to set up a commune
where pedophilia is a common practice. The
society would step in and stop that.
So why do I allow an organisation such
as the Bruderhof to exist within my society
where children are denied many of the basic
rights guaranteed to them by our society? I
do not care about the adults. They can do
what they like to each other as long as they
are able to give meaningful consent.
But children? Hmm...
Andy Harries, 11/3/05: It seems that there is
a big difference between using Auschluss
to discipline children and adults. If an adult
misbehaves or breaks the agreed upon rules,
then I suppose one could say that they need
to be punished, but even then is Auschluss
the right way? Maybe it should be kept as a
last resort if nothing else works, but I think
the way it is used is wrong.
On the Bruderhof its all done so secretly.
The DAW and presumably the Stewards
have a private discussion and decide so and
so should be in this or that exclusion and
then tell the Brotherhood members. The
members are basically obliged to agree, otherwise they themselves will be in trouble and
might end up in exclusion themselves.
As I said, I was put into exclusion when I
went for help. It is a funny kind of help when
you get more punishment. It is a horrible experience! Suddenly all the people you are
living with and all your relationships are
turned upside down. People ignore you, they
stop talking to you, they shun you, you are
devalued. What you say or do doesnt count
any more. You are working with the same
people doing the same jobs but suddenly
you feel like about as much worth as a speck
of dust. Everybody can now trample all over
you and your feelings. That is how it felt to
me. This went on for about six months. This
is supposed to be help! This is cruelty and
just destroys people.
I think when it comes to children it is even
more damaging, especially young children
who are innocent anyway. What is the point
of such punishment when they do not understand what they are supposed to have
done and dont understand the punishment
either? I think immense harm has been done
to many of the Bruderhof children and still is
being done and will continue so long as they

insist on trying to force all their children to

fit into this straitjacket of their idea of how
everybody should live.
They seem to have a real fixation about
the subject of sex. They go to all sorts of
extremes to try to find what they call misbehaviour by children. Some of the stories I
have heard about the way children are punished are just horrendous. When children
are accused of something and they do not
even understand what they are being accused of and are not believed & then they
are punished in various ways, usually involving some kind of Auschluss. This is just
terrible and causes so much damage to the
children and can damage relationships for
the rest of their lives.
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe, 11/3/05: Andy,
your description of how you feel when in
Ausschlu, is very good. You are in the middle of the people you have known all your
life, but no one will talk to you, see you,
smile at you nothing. You are an outcast
in every way.
I think most of us experienced this in one
way or another as children and as adults.
One person can shake the experience off and
just go on and the other person is scarred
for life! My worst exclusion was at
Woodcrest!
The idea of Ausschlu came from the
Hutterites and E.A brought this back in 1931.
Many members did not like the idea at all.
The first one to be excluded was a German
brother not much younger than E.A. He was
placed in the middle of the Alm-Bruderhof
Hof in a little hut on the slope of the mountains. He was separated from his wife and
children and had to copy old Hutterite writings from the Sterlin (German writing) into
our usual letters. The brotherhood with E.A
decided, that the greatest act of love is to
carry a persons need in your heart, but at
the same time make it crystal clear, that this

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

SIN can not be tolerated in a group of brothers and sisters. Love should make it possible for the person to find repentance!
This exclusion lasted for three or four
weeks as the Hutterites would do also. E.A
also quoted the Bible where it is said many
times that the good has to be separated from
the evil.
After E.A s. death, sadly the exclusion
was often used to get back at someone, to
humiliate a person who had a different view.
It was not as you said, Andy, that a conference would be held about an individual,
at least not in my time. Usually in the case of
children a teacher or parent would come to
the Servant with a concern about a child.
This concern would then be translated into
a danger for the childrens-community. The
Servant would say to the members of the
Morning meeting: We are shocked about
the spirit in the Kinder-Gemeinde. So and
So was making sexual jokes looked at
sexual pictures was too friendly with the
boys or the girls brought back pornographic photos from High School... whatever.
Everyone would be very shocked and the
individual concerned, would be seen as the
terrible offender against the Holy Spirit on
the Bruderhof.
The brotherhood, would never get any
details at all. It would just be said: We are
thankful that the evil in the Childrens Community was revealed and in order to save
the parents and the childs future during his
life! The Bruderhof and the brotherhood
should trust that the right measures were
taken to keep the Bruderhof schools pure
by having this evil individual removed for
as long as needed!
Sometimes even the Morning Meeting
did not get details and a child was removed
from family and school until the Servant
thought, that his repentance was real!
Greetings,

The Story of my Life in a Christian Community

by Wilhelm Fischer
Editorial note: Here follows the
last portion, written in 1986, as it
has been transcribed and edited
by Erdmuthe Arnold and translated into English by Linda LordJackson. All photo captions by
Erdmuthe Arnold. For this final
installment we are printing the
English translation only.
SOME MOREABOUT WORK
AT THEALMBRUDERHOF
The workforce in the turnery
was considerably increased now,
so a night shift was introduced
before the hay harvest was due
to commence. Each of the rented houses and huts
had their share of meadows. The magnificence of the
flowers in these Alpine meadows is indescribable,
such an abundance of different varieties can not be
found anywhere else in the world. These meadows
were scattered all over the slopes. In some places
there were just three square metres to be mown, and
woe betide you if you occasionally reached out too
far with the scythe, and included some of the neighbours hay. It was hard work, and some of the steeper
slopes could only be mown by wearing metal spikes
on our shoes. The hay then had to be tied into large
7

The Gable House (Giebelhaus) on

the Rhnbruderhof was newly
built up in the 30s. The laundry
and sewing room occupied the
ground floor of the 2 story house.
It was paid with money, Hans
Boller brought along with him.
Adolf and Martha Braun, Hans
and Else Boller, Leo and Trautel
Dreher with their children lived
in the upper rooms. To the right
one can see a part of the bakery
house.

KIT Newsletter

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

Wilhelm Fischer and Lini Rudolf got engaged on

November 7th 1937. After the announcement in a special Bruderhof meeting during the morning, they were
given a day off. In the evening they celebrated with
the whole community.

On the back of this photo Ostern 1936 (Easter 1936) is written. So this must be
the grey cottage, which stood empty at the time when the Cotswold Bruderhof
was founded on March 15, 1936. Winifred Brigdewater, Arnold and Gladies Mason, Hans Zumpe and Alfred Gneiting attended this little celebration. No contract
had been signed yet. The little group still had no idea where the money would
come from. Hans Zumpe describes this time in his unpublished report Die
Auseinandersetzung des Bruderhofs mit dem nationalsozialistischen Staat
Deutschland 1933 bis 1937. A 340 pounds down payment was due to be made
five days later for half a years rent, and all they had was 6 pounds. So the next day
Winifred and Alfred drove to Bristol, Gladys with baby Johnny went to Birmingham, and Arnold with Hans to London. Before leaving, they pinned a notice on
the door of the new founded Bruderhof telling the young men on the run were
they could find the key (in case they should arrive during their absence). The
begging tour was successful, they got the money that was needed in time.

Eight months later a double wedding took place:

Wilhelm and Lini Fischer as well as Gerhard and
Waltraut Wiegand celebrated their marriage June
17th /18th 1938.

Ria Kiefer at work again in the Cotswold kitchen, after being forced to leave Germany. An interesting detail can be told here, which Hans Zumpe wrote in his
unpublished, previously mentioned report: The Rhnbruderhof had to cope with
very hard times during the year 1936. Unexpectedly an irrevocable mortgage loan
of over 15,000 Reichsmark was terminated at the end of November. The order by
the Nazis was to pay back this money within 14 days. Once again somebody went
on tour to find generous donators. A sponsor was found in England. Just then the
question was brought up, why invest more money into the German community,
which sooner or later would be confiscated? The idea was born that the Cotswold
Bruderhof could buy urgently needed machinery from the Rhnbruderhof. So
when Arnold Mason came to Germany with the money he bought the whole contents of the printing office, the kitchen stove, a washing machine and other heavy
objects. Through this transaction the Rhnbruderhof got the needed foreign exchange and could pay the depts. The stove in the Cotswold kitchen was part of
this deal that was sanctioned by the foreign exchange office in Frankfurt am Main.
On the white label the manufacturer is noted as: Gebrder Roeder AG, Darmstadt.
8

Around the same time Werner Friedemann and Erna

Stehnke got engaged.

KIT Newsletter

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

The Main House on the Cotswold Bruderhof.

The kitchen was situated in the original farm house built in the 15th century (as Hardy Arnold remembered
when revisiting the place 1984, see
Memories of Cotswold Days, Told
By Stanley Fletcher and Others,
copyright Plough Publishing House,
page 10).

This view of several building gives

the impression of crowdedness due
to the many houses and rooms
needed in Cotswold.

Right: Children are helping Erna

Friedemann to peel peas, around 1939
on the Cotswold Bruderhof. Elisabeth
Bohlken-Zumpe remembers: We children were told that only we with our little hands and fingers could do that kind of work.
The oldest member of the Bruderhof was Marie Johanna
Eckardt, born May 15th 1874 in Kletzko/Poland. She died at the
age of 88 on January 22nd 1963 on the Evergreen Bruderhof in
Connecticut. Hans-HermannArnold, at that time Servant there,
told about her life before her burial the next day. She was a
trained Kindergarten teacher and had 60 children in her care
from 1893 until 1901. She was strict and handled them with
typical Prussian military control, expecting absolute obedience. This was, what she herself told members of the Bruderhof,
at a family supper, shortly before her death. After this period
working with children, she trained as a nurse and joined the
deaconess order with the aim to help the sick and disabled.
Her main inspiration though was, to bring a personal Christ
to them. She was loyal to this pious and subjective Christianity
until she died.

The washing up was done in this

house on the Cotswold Bruderhof

Marie came to the Bruderhof 1932 and brought a

mentally unbalanced girl with her. This girl is never mentioned
again, except that the Bruderhof was unable to help her because she wouldnt comply. All her life Marie studied the Old
and New Testament, especially the Letters of the Apostles,
and she would speak mainly in Biblical language.
Elisabeth Bohlken recalls from what her parents and grandmother told her, that Marie stayed on
the Rhnbruderhof until the place was closed 1937. She left Germany with the last group on April
17th, travelling via Holland. They could enter England two months later on June 15th, 1937 (these
dates are from Hans Zumpes report, already mentioned). Many Swiss people were in that group,
for instance Trautel and Leo Dreher as well as Margrit Meier and Else Boller. Other names that come
to mind, are Irmgard Keiderling and Sekunda Kleiner, these four women travelling alone with their
children (Margrit, Else and Irmgard leaving their husbands behind in prison).
The photo was taken on the Cotswold Bruderhof 1937. Marie had the personal permission from
Eberhard Arnold to keep on wearing her deaconess dress. She continued doing this throughout
her 20 years in Primavera. She was a member but always lived apart from the community life in her
own little world. Some of the KIT readers will not have the happiest memories of being in the care
of Marie. Difficult girls would be taken away from their family and had to live with Marie in Loma
Hoby, always one at the time. Some of them had to endure this kind of Ausschluss for several
years, and had to listen to the Bible readings from their tutor Marie. Elisabeth remembers that those
girls were not allowed to go to school, and they would always come to the common meals in
the dining room together with and in the shadow of Marie. The other children never dared to ask
what the reason was for this kind of punishment. As to the girls this traumatic experience never left
them, although some of them say that the Bible knowledge is something that gave their lives
direction.
9

1937: Not only on the Rhn- and

Almbruderhof, also in England dancing was one of the happy occupations for Bruderhof folks. In front
Erna Friedemann dancing with Karl
Keiderling; in the back at the right,
Werner Friedemann with Annemarie
Arnold.

KIT Newsletter

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

Harvesting a field on the Cotswold Bruderhof.

Edith Arnold and Erna Friedemann with some of the children during the summer 1938 on the Cotswold Bruderhof. They were all
bound to leave England two and a half years later. But there were
many more little ones who had to be taken safely into an unknown
country and destination during World War 2. From left to right in
the back row: Maidi and Tobias Dreher, Erna with Mathias Kleiner,
Sanna Kleiner, Ullu Keiderling, Rosemarie and Elisabeth Kaiser.
Front row: Loni
Kaiser, Johnny
Mason,
Jrg
Mathis, Edith with
three months old
Gabriel, Jennifer
and Anthony Harries,
Burgel
Zumpe.

Lef t: Older
children help
to tidy up the
place.

Together with two other men Werner Friedemann (left) is making mortar
for building using the famous Cotswold stone, which was needed in
large quantities for house building.
Right: On the
tower of the
Bruderhof
house
in
Asuncin.
From left unidentified boy,
Fida Mathis,
L u d w i g
Fischer with
his baby brother Matthias, Peti Mathis and
Franzhard Arnold.

Wilhelm and Lini Fischer were the house parents in that year. Lini, second from left, could
take three month old Matthias with her. There
are lots of people in that picture known to many
of us, for instance to the right Victor Crawly,
Hermann Arnold, Hilda Crawly, Fida Mathis.
Wilhelms face is half hidden behind Biene
Braun, Evi Dreher and another girl. Next to him
on the left Harry Maggie and Kristel Klver.
FranzhardArnold in the back line (from left) next
to Seppel Fischli, Klaus Meier, next ?, and
Hartmut Klver (?). In the front squatted:
Ludwig Fischer, next ?, one of the Hssy twins
and Michael Vigar (?) with a kitten.

Paraguay - passport photo

for Ludwig and Wilhelm
(junior) Fischer 1962
10

The last Buderhof the Fischers experienced was Wheathill.

A family picture at Easter time 1961. Shortly after that
Wilhelm and Lini left the community with their youngest
four children. Only Johanna stayed on the Bruderhof:
She married David Mason 1963, and died after giving
birth to another child September 20th, 1977. On the photo
from left to right: Johanna with Matthias, Lini, Giovanni,
Wilhelm, Markus and Friedrich. (At that time still in South
America: Lucrezia, Ludwig and Guillermo.)

KIT Newsletter
bundles and loaded onto our backs to be
carried down to the haylofts.
In the Autumn, after the hay had been
harvested, neat cow dung was sprinkled onto
the meadows from a wheel barrow. Doing
this was an acquired skill. One English man
had the misfortune to place his barrow incorrectly on a steep slope. He had also positioned himself on the wrong side to get the
semi-liquid dung out. Then the barrow tipped
over on top of him, and barrow and man tumbled down the slope together. The man was
well dunged from head to toe.
BAPTIZED,AND IN NOTIME OFF
ON ALITTLE MISSION
In July 1935, the founder and leader of
the community, Eberhard Arnold, came to
the Almbruderhof. Six of us who had been
novices for some time now, were baptised
and taken into the Brotherhood. The baptism/Christening in childhood was not recognised. For me this was a very decisive end
of my past life, and the beginning of a new
era.
Soon after that Willi Klver and I were
sent off for a week on a Little Mission. In
Chur we tried to get a permit for Canton
Graubnden. This was turned down. So Willi
suggested we go on to Luzern, to Linis
mother, to see if we could get a permit there.
We had a lovely time with her. We also met
Jeannette (Keiderling) who was nine years
old at the time. I had no idea then, that three
years later, Linis mother would become my
mother-in-law. In retrospect I was very glad
to have had the opportunity to get to know
her.
In Luzern we were given permission to
sell our turnery, books etc. and to ask for
cash donations towards our communal living. It was a humbling experience going from
door to door we called it: Trklinken zu
putzen (polishing door knobs). We sang
the song: Von Luzern auf Weggis zu (from
Lucern to Weggis) as we walked along by
the Vierwaldstdter lake as far as the
Tellsplatte (William Tell Ledge) by the adjoining Urner lake. From a financial point of
view we had a very good week. We stopped
at one villa, where a distinguished lady came
out and spoke to us in English. Willi could
just about understand what she was saying.
It turned out that we had before us a Mrs.
Cadbury, a Quaker from Birmingham. The
Quakers were founded by George Fox, and
had many followers in Switzerland. We met
them again and again as we went about in
the various Swiss Cantons.
Another time I went to St Gallen with
Christian Lber. Our main purpose was canvassing for donations and begging for
money to get another milk cow. We had lost
one of ours with flatulence. We needed to
collect 400 Franks. Unfortunately it was my
fault that the cow perished. I tried to get as
much milk as possible from the cows, so all
the left overs from the kitchen were saved,
and fed to the cows as extra nourishment. In
the height of summer some of the left overs
must have started to go off and ferment. We
only became aware of this in the afternoon
when the cows were up in the meadows. Fritz
and I tried everything we could to pull them
through, but for one it was too late. We had
to slaughter it, and drain off all the blood
and the gasses. It was a good job we did
that. When the vet came out to examine the

cow, he told us that the gasses had not got

into the flesh, so in spite of our loss, we
were at least grateful to be able to eat the
meat.
At one house in St Gallen, we were received by the lady of the house. We told her
about the situation, and who we were. She
then said: So, you are the people! I prayed
to God this morning, and asked him to send
me a sign to let me know who I could help
today. She invited us in, gave us something
to eat and drink, and handed over a cheque
for 200 Francs. The lady belonged to the
Oxford-Movement. One can honestly say,
that God guided us on that journey.
On the same journey, we met some people who welcomed us with enthusiasm. We
spoke about following Christ. They replied
that Christ was already here in the form of
Father Divine. They invited us to a meeting
that evening. We accepted, and met up with
about twelve people all together. We listened
quietly to what they had to say. Later, in our
cheap lodgings, we got out the New Testament and looked up several references to
see what it had to say about this false God.
It soon became clear to us that we wanted
nothing to do with these false prophets and
their heresy. After that we were given a few
more Francs towards our new cow, for which
we were very grateful.
On one occasion on the same journey,
we went into a vegetarian restaurant. A good
variety of food was put on the table for us,
including a little pot of water. We had no
idea what this was for, but as it was so hot
outside, and as we were very thirsty, we
drank it. The people around us looked at us
askance; it then dawned on us that it was a
finger bowl, for rinsing our fingers. We were
real country bumpkins!
In the Autumn of 1935 some men came
from the International Voluntary Service.
They helped us to prepare the wood reserves
for heating in the winter. They went up high
onto the Alpine meadows, where felled trees
were cut down into one metre logs. These
were then loaded onto a two wheeled box
cart, and taken down the steep and narrow
track. The carts did have brakes, but on one
occasion, Erich Hasenberg stumbled over a
stone, and was unable to stop the cart, he
was nearly dragged down with it himself. The
drop was about 100 metres. The cart got stuck
on some trees a bit further down, but the
logs crashed on to Gafflei and the silver fox
farm at the bottom. Fortunately no damage
was done, as there were often lots of people
going for walks along the paths in the woods.
That was a blessing.
During this year we frequently got grocery contributions from the Christian Community of Esserdiner, who lived in the West
of Switzerland. We were always very grateful for these.
TWOANECDOTES FROM THETIME
AT THEALMBRUDERHOF
Here is another anecdote. By the middle
of November 1935 we had already had a lot
of snow right down as far down as
Triesenberg. It was frozen solid to a depth
of four or five inches. Fritz asked me: prepare the big sledge, you are the most experienced with it. Sophie Lber needs to be taken
to the hospital in Vaduz straight away. She
was expecting her first child, and had gone
into Labour. The sledge had long, high stan11

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

chions at the front, on which to secure a
plank for the driver and controller to sit on.
One had to use ones feet to steer the sledge
and when necessary also for braking. I asked
Fritz for someone to come along to help with
the braking. Werner Friedermann was chosen. It was already going dark by the time
Sophie was wrapped up with pillows and
blankets in the back of the sledge. Marianne
Zimmermann sat next to her, with Werner at
the back and me in front as driver.
As we were about to leave, Sophies husband Christian arrived back from his travels.
He was so tired and exhausted that he stayed
behind. About 300 metres before the cross
roads I felt stones underfoot. Before we could
start braking, my right foot was caught by a
stone and dragged backwards, the left one
followed. I was now on my knees trying to
control the sledge. I shouted to Werner:
hang down and brake, as there was a steep
drop on the right hand side. I was fully occupied trying to prevent us plunging into
the abyss. We just managed to a stop right
at the very edge. At last I could get my legs
out from under the sledge. After this scare
we arrived safely in Triesenberg at the
Edelwei, where a taxi was waiting for us.
The drive down usually took us ten to fifteen minutes. But going back up again in the
snow, with the sledge on our backs, took a
good hour.
On another occasion I was sent to
Triesenberg after work to get some bread.
Going down was quick, as it was winter, and
we had learned from the locals how to get
down the mountain at speed. On the steep
parts, you had to squat down on one foot,
holding the other leg straight up in front of
you, and slide down. But that only worked
when the snow was frozen solid. With over
50 loaves loaded onto a wooden carrying
device on my shoulders I set off on my way
home. It was a wonderfully clear and frosty
night, and the view down into the Rhine Valley and across to the mountains on the other
side was just magnificent. With twothirds of
the way behind me, I sat down in the snow
for a rest. I said to myself: just for a moment, as I knew it was not recommended
and could be dangerous. The silence and
the glorious view at this height totally enveloped me. An inner shaking soon made
me aware of the fact that I had fallen asleep
and was getting cold. I jumped up quickly,
and was overcome by the conviction that I
had been saved from a terrible fate. I was
filled with a feeling of deep gratitude, and
knew that the Almighty had been watching
over me.
HARDTIMESARE DAWNING
On the 22nd of November a heavy blow
struck to the community. Eberhard Arnold
was called from this life on earth. These were
difficult months, we had to work our way
through to finding ourselves again and finding the way back to community living. The
question arose, as to who would be our
leader. But Eberhard had taken care of that
by leaving written instructions, that Hans
Zumpe should have this position.
We did not have much time to grieve the
loss of Eberhard Arnold, our founder and
leader of the community. Two months later,
in February 1936, the German consul in Switzerland ordered all German men under 25
years old to report for military service in Ger-

KIT Newsletter
many. We were supposed to return to our
home town in Germany. Seven of us were
affected by this command.
Within two or three weeks it became clear
to us, that the only country in which we could
continue to live together in community was
England. We already had several English
members amongst us in Germany and in
Liechtenstein. Kathleen Hamilton
(Hasenberg) started to teach us English. She
soon gave up trying to teach me the grammar, and said: you will learn the language
faster if you just repeat what I say. You can
learn a tune quickly and accurately when you
have only heard it once before, so that is
what we did.
Hans Meier, a Swiss neutral, came to
Liechtenstein, and soon we had a plan, how
to get Gerd Wegner, Werner Friedemann and
myself to England with Hans. Werner had
been banned from crossing into Switzerland
ever again, as he had once been caught selling our merchandise there, without the relevant Canton permit.
Hans Zumpe, Arnold and Gladys Mason
as well as Winifred Bridgewater were already
in England looking for a new place. Then we
got a phone call saying that Werner should
fly to London. Hans Meier took him to Kloten
airport. At passport control they missed his
Swiss ban on entry. Of course he only had
one ticket for the flight to London and took
the first plane out of Zrich. Arnold was
going to pick him up. In the afternoon we
got a phone call from London, saying that
they had sent Werner back to Zrich. Arnold
had not been able to pick him up. That was
very worrying for us in Zrich. Would they
allow him back through passport control?
Late that night Hans and Werner arrived at
our secret hideout. Werner had no money to
pay for the flight back. If the Swiss control
had caught him at Kloten they would have
sent him to Germany into the clutches of the
Nazis. We thank God for his protection.
THE FOUR OF US ON THE RUN
How were we going to get to England
now? The plan was for the four of us to travel
as tourist via Italy to Spain and then get on
a freighter at Bilbao for England. Hans Meier
spoke Italien, French and English, which
would prove to be very useful to us.
The Tirolean costume the community
wore (black jacket, waistcoat, knee breeches
and long black stockings) was not really
suitable for this occasion. We acquired clothing that hikers or members of the youth
movement would wear. Thus attired, we left
Switzerland one night in the middle of March
on the last train from Zrich via the St
Gotthard Tunnel to Italy. We got out just
before the Italien border, then in the early
hours of the following morning we crossed
the Swiss Italien border on foot. We then
continued our journey by train to just outside
Milan, where we found a hostel late that
night. It had paid off that we had bought
Swiss International Youth Hostel membership cards before we left. They looked like
real passports.
After a quick look around Milan we continued by train to Genoa. Mussolini and his
fascism had already been in power for a few
years, and the Italian Gendarmes were everywhere. In Genoa we went straight down to
the harbour. We wanted to see what ships

were there, and where they had come from.

We spent the first night in our tent in an
olive grove on the outskirts of the city. It
was a bit cramped in there for four men. The
next day we went straight back to the harbour, bought a wicker bottle of olive oil and
some white bread. Hans said: that is the
cheapest food. We lived on it for three days.
We hoped to get a lift on an Estonian freighter
sailing to Liverpool. Hans had found out from
one of the crew, that the ship was due to
leave in two days time. It was a few crew
members short, as they had lost two men
overboard during a storm on the way to Italy,
while crossing the Bay of Biscay. That didnt
sound too tempting. None the less we decided to return to the ship that night to talk
to the captain personally. The first time he
was not there. While we waited on the landing stage, Hans went on board. Suddenly
four Italian Gendarmes appeared, we had not
noticed them before. They got Hans back
off the ship and ordered us to leave. So that
option fell through.
At the same time we heard and also read
in the paper that civil war had broken out in
Spain. It was flaring up all over the country.
So it was not really advisable to try our luck
in Spain.
After three days in Genoa we approached
the French consulate to try and get a transit
visa, without giving away the fact that we
wanted to go on to England. As soon as
they saw the three German passports that
was the end of that. We sensed the understandable hatred the French had for the Germans. A few months before Hitler had
marched into the Saarland and taken it back
from the French. We were exposed to this
hatred in other French consulates we visited in other places along the Riviera. We
walked for four days from Genoa to the Monaco border. Now and then a lorry driver
would give us a lift. The Landscape was really beautiful. We spent the nights in our
tent.
Just before the Monaco border we saw a
valley going up into the mountains so tried
this route. We pitched our tent for the night
in a lemon grove that was in full flower. Hans
went to Monaco to get a good map, and also
to get us some food. We had a good night
surrounded by the wonderful aroma of the
lemon flowers.
Next day we studied the map, and decided to set off from one of the villages in
the valley, make our way up into the hills,
and from there to cross the French border.
We reached the village by sundown and
found the road that led to the border. No one
was to be seen in the streets or on the road
into the mountains. But suddenly three Italian Gendarmes blocked our way. Where are
you going, what do you want up there, they
asked. Hans told them. We want to see the
sunrise. There is no sunrise up here, this
is all military property and no one is allowed
up here, came the reply.
The three took us back to the village to a
superior officer. There it became clear to us
that this plan had no future. By now it was
quite late in the evening. The officers were
quite friendly and even gave us a meal, which
we gratefully accepted. One of the officers
said: We will escort you onto the next train,
and take you as far as the terminus, from
there it is not far to the French border. Hans
Meier had his violin, and Werner his re12

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

corder, so we sang and played some songs
for them. The meaning of the songs was clear
even if they could not understand the words:
Meerstern ich Dich gre, O Maria hilf,
and then another song in which Holy Mary
was named repeatedly. It was unbelievable
how the sentimentality of it softened these
hard military men, so that they were almost
in tears.
Then it was time to go, one officer after a
warm farewell said: you do not need to pay
the train fare. We thanked them again. Escorted by two military personnel, we went to
the station and took the train to the terminus, where we arrived at about 11 oclock at
night. We stood there on the road, far below
to the right a river rushed by, on both sides
the mountains rose steeply up to the clear
star filled sky. We walked a little way and
then stood and looked up into the starry sky
and put our fate in the hands of God and
Christ, we just wanted to follow and serve
Him, and knew that only He could help us.
Soon we saw the barrier in the distance and
the lights of a house. Slowly we crept closer
and could see a path to one side of the barrier. We could see the guard asleep in his
chair with his head on the table. Very quietly
we crossed the border, and were 20 metres
away on the other side when we were called
back. The guard took us to a house 200 metres further on and rang the bell. It was already after midnight. A man came down the
steps from the third floor. Hans spoke to him
and showed him our international Youth
Hostel membership cards. The man was half
asleep, and just waved his hand telling us to
move on.
So we didnt have a stamp or any proof
of where we had crossed the border into
France. We walked through the village looking for the railway station, and also found a
place by a hedge that was just right for our
tent. Hans went back to check when the first
train to Nizza and Paris was due to leave. He
soon returned and said: We leave at 5.30
for Nizza, then get a connection on the express train to Paris. We decided to wear our
Tirolean costume from then on. We refrained
from putting up the tent and slept under the
stars as best we could. We did shifts so that
one of us was awake at all times. We had a
watch with us, and were very aware of the
fact that we did not want to miss the deadline.
All went well, and in Nizza we bought
something to eat. Soon we were on our way
on the express train travelling at a speed of
100 km. Sometimes it felt as though the train
was about to leave the rails. By midnight we
arrived in Paris and were starving. We found
somewhere to buy some food, then made
our way to the Eiffel Tower, where we slept
on some benches. We took turns keeping
watch in case a police patrol came along.
There was still a very real danger that the
three of us with German passports and without a transit visa would be deported and
handed over to the Nazis.
We knew when the first train in the morning left for Le Havre. We had hardly slept
for two nights. Next day on arrival in Le Havre, we found some food and water, then
quickly left town. Along the Seine estuary
by the sea we found a rocky overhang. We
pitched our tent beneath it. Hans went
straight back into town to try and contact
Arnold Mason in England by phone. He also

KIT Newsletter
asked him to send us some money for the
trip across the channel, as we were completely
broke. It was evening before Hans got back:
They have already found a place, and are
now living on a 200 acre farm in Ashton
Keynes near Cirencester, he told us. He had
arranged with them for us to travel next day
on the night ferry to Southampton. They had
sent the money the same day by telegram.
We were greatly relieved by this news,
and slept very well that night, after all we
were very tired after the past three days. Very
early the next morning we were rudely awakened from a deep sleep. The earth shook
beneath us. We heard a terrific bang, like an
explosion. It happened several times. We
opened the tent a crack, and saw clouds of
smoke coming from a hole high up above us
in the rock face. We found out later that they
practiced shooting from here out over the
sea.
We were now feeling better and well
rested. In the afternoon we made our way to
the harbour. We bought our tickets for the
night ferry in plenty of time, then had a look
around the harbour. The big steam ship Normandy was ready on the berth. We were
wearing our tourist clothes again, with our
costumes in the rucksack. We left it to the
last minute to go on board, so that there
would not be much time to ask any questions. Passport control arrived and the customs officer asked where we had crossed
the border, as we didnt have a transit visa.
Hans told the officer the exact time and described precisely the place at which we
crossed the border. The officer stamped our
passports. Promise me, that you will never
cross the border here again, otherwise I will
be in serious trouble, he said. It was a miracle to us and a divine act of God, that we had
crossed France, from south to north without
a transit visa, in spite of the serious political
situation at the time, and the tension between
France and Germany.
We breathed a sigh of relief once the ferry
was out at sea. It was a very stormy night.
There were only chairs and benches to sit
on, and the ferry provided some breakfast in
the morning. Then we went through customs
and saw Arnold Mason over at the other
side. When the customs officer was looking
at Werners passport, we realised something
was amiss. We were lead away to a higher
official. Arnold Mason and the friend who
had driven him over night from Birmingham
to Southampton came along too. The friend
was a minister from the Carrs Lane Church in
Birmingham. The official went to a cupboard
and got out a document file: Werner
Friedemann you have been deported from
this country and sent to Switzerland.Arnold
explained the situation to the official, and
the minister confirmed that what he said was
true. Arnold also said that we were going to
work on his 200 acre farm in Ashton Keynes.
So everything was cleared up and we were
allowed to go.
[Comment from ErdmutheArnold: The
minister was Leyton Richards, head of the
Carrs Lane Church in Birmingham; see
KIT, Jan. 2004, page 7.]
For us Germans, and also for Hans Meier
a Swiss national this experience with high
officials was quite unbelievable. There was
still a country in Europe, England, that would
give us asylum. We cannot forget that and
never will. Throughout the years we have

always expressed our gratitude to the English people.

We enjoyed a good English breakfast,
before we left for Ashton Keynes. Arnold
and Werner went by train, as there was not
enough room for all of us in the little Morris.
Hans, Gerd and I went with the minister, who
had already been driving all night. Hans was
fully occupied trying to keep him awake by
talking to him about anything he could think
of. We arrived safely at the farm, the Cotswold Bruderhof.
In retrospect it is obvious, that this place
was obtained specifically for the sake of
only seven of the members. These were: Heini
and Hans-Hermann Arnold, Gerd Wegner,
Werner Friedemann, Albert Wohlfahrt,
Joseph Stngl and myself. The other four
came by various routes from Liechtenstein
to England. When we arrived, Joseph and
Albert were already there, together with Hans
Zumpe, Gladys Mason and Winifred
Bridgewater (later Dyroff). It was the divine
guidance of God that lead us to this new
start, as was to become apparent soon.
This was in March 1936. We made unbelievable progress in all areas in the four years
and eight months we had to build up the
new Bruderhof, before the first group left for
Paraguay. The owner of the farm. Mr Deyer,
was the son of General Deyer who had driven
back the uprising against British Rule in India. It was he who gave the order to shoot
over 100 Indians. Our predecessor Deyer still
lived with his wife in a bungalow opposite
the farm.
A NEW START ONTHE
COTSWOLD BRUDERHOF
We came with nothing to make a new start
in England. The farm was in a very bad state.
It consisted of a big house, two small cottages, large barns and cow shed. They were
all built in Cotswold stone. The soil was very
poor, to a depth of only twenty to thirty cm,
below that it was shingle. The water table
was seventy to eighty cm below the surface.
First of all we needed to get to work clearing
up the place. In the middle of the farm yard,
around which the farm house, the barns and
the cow stalls were built, was a large heap of
manure. There was no where for the dung to
drain off. An old horse and an old cart were
part of the inventory. With the help of these
we slowly cleared it all away. Gerd and I were
given the job of converting the calf-shed into
a workshop for the turnery. In the adjoining
room we assembled a diesel motor with a
drive shaft going through the wall. We were
now ready to start using two lathes and a
circular saw.
Within two months, Hans Meier and I
drove to Birmingham to buy second hand
lathes and the circular saw. We spent the
night with mother and father Watkins, who
later joined us with their daughter Nancy
(later Trapnell). Gerd and I then worked in
the turnery. This was one of our first sources
of income. Our wares were sold in Harrods
in London.
Heini together with some of the other
brothers took on the farming. During the first
hay harvest Mr. Deyer was still there, and
wanted to oversee the job. I was asked to
assist him. Deyer mowed the hay with an old
horse mower, pulled along by an old Morris.
He taught me how to drive the car. We even
used the car to turn the hay. The hay turner,
13

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

which was even older than the car was held
together with bits of wire, and frequently
broke down. That didnt matter, with a pair
of pliers and some wire, repairs were soon
done.
As soon as we had the official documents
for the farm, we started negotiations with
the Home Office in London to get more of
our brothers and sisters into the country.
The officials were very helpful and gave us
the permits. Arnold and Hardy were the
brothers who sorted this out with the officials. So during 1936, more families and single brothers and sisters came to us from the
Rhn- and Almbruderhof to help out in the
various work departments.
At the weekends we often had friends
come to visit us, especially from Birmingham. They pitched in and helped us to put
into practice our many projects. They brought
us all sorts of things like food stuff and furniture of all description. We were very grateful for this, especially bearing in mind that
only a few years before, England itself had
been through a time of hardship and massive unemployment.
For two weeks during the summer of 1936
a group of the poorest children from East
London came to us with two carers. They
lived in tents. The children had never seen
and didnt know where the milk they drank
came from. On Sunday it was often my duty
to do the milking. I can still see those childrens eyes as they watched me milk the
cows. For them this time in the country with
all the different animals was a tremendous
experience. One of the helpers, Mary Osborn,
lives quite near to us now. She remembers
the visit well, and is forever grateful that we
were able to give the children and themselves
this opportunity.
During this first year many guests came,
they were searching for a more purposeful
life. We were very short of living quarters.
Soon we had to build more dwellings and
living areas. Georg Barth and Fritz Kleiner
and their families also came over to England
during the year. So it was decided to convert
the big barn and the cow-stall where the turnery was into living quarters, dining room and
kitchen. It took great effort and the help of
hired labourers to start putting these plans
into practice at the end of the summer of
1936. Fritz Kleiner was in charge of the construction work. Everything had to be built in
Cotswold stone, a very expensive undertaking. For this purpose a fundraising campaign
was set in motion.
IMPLEMENTATION OFMANY
COSTLY BUILDING PLANS
A few comments on all the building work
we did in those four and a half years. The
above mentioned conversion was completed
in the summer of 1938. With an excavator we
were able to open up our own gravel pit in
1937. So we could make our own cement
stones and blocks. The stones we dried with
hand presses and under a big shed.
Next to be built were three larger dwelling houses called the Lindenhof. After that
a large laundry with big washing machines
and a drying room was added. The work departments we created were very modern and
up to date for that time. In two long stretched
out buildings rooms were installed for the
bakery, the turnery, the carpenters shop and
the sewing room. Opposite to this complex

KIT Newsletter
our own corn mill was erected. Further down
was a shelter for tractors, carts and carriages,
beyond that a smithy and at the end a powerful engine, that could produce electricity
in an emergency. Under the roof was an extensive loft to store the grain that we needed
for our own use. In another long three story
building was the print shop and living accommodation. There was also a mother
house where births could take place.
The farm buildings included a large, three
section barn for the harvest, very nice stables for six horses and two yoke of oxen, a
cow stall and a milking shed with milking
machines for sixty cows. The bungalow was
enlarged and renovated to accommodate the
babies, the toddlers and the kindergarten.
There was also a donkey and cart for the
children to ride in.
Two big long railway carriages were converted into living quarters, and a separate
house was built for the office and administrative departments. Then there was the fresh
water supply and sewage plant needed to
take care of the hygiene needs of so many
people. This alone was a pretty expensive
objective. In the middle of 1937 we bought a
big old wooden prefab, to serve as the dining room until the new one was finished.
GOODAGRICULTURAL RESULTS
In agriculture we also achieved a great
deal during these years. The soil had been
exhausted by constant cultivation of wheat,
because the state paid well and subsidized
it. In Spring the pastures were full of wild
garlic. We often could not sell the milk because of the lingering taste of the garlic. So
we ploughed up the pastures, or used them
for mobile hen houses, with laying boxes and
a long wired chicken run which we moved to
a different part of the pasture land each day.
This excellent system also took care of the
necessary fertilisation at the same time.
We operated a similar system with the
milking cows that were outside on the pastures day and night by using a mobile cow
stall with a milking machine attached. The
motor was in an enclosed trailer. The fencing was easy to move to a different part of
the meadow each day. In this way a large
area was fertilized in a very short time, and
could be ploughed in, to reap the benefits
the following year when the grain or the hay
was harvested.
We ask the advice of the Royal School of
Agriculture in Cirencester. But when we told
them that we hoped to improve the soil by
planting rye, they told us rye doesnt grow
here. We were not to be deterred, and shortly
before the harvest, we invited the experts to
bring their cameras and come and have a
look at our field of rye. They were surprised
when they saw the five foot high heavy ears
of corn. We milled this crop ourselves, and
made the first batches of our own brown
bread using wheat and rye flour. The local
population liked this bread very much, and
it sold well. We offered it for sale with our
vegetables and eggs in the nearby towns.
A ten-acre field was used for growing the
vegetables. We also had a large greenhouse
that had been given to us. For irrigation we
used the water from our big gravel pit.
At the end of 1937 we bought another farm,
the Telling Farm. It consisted of pasture land
only, on which our mobile milking stall was
soon in operation. In 1938 we rented and

later bought a further hundred acres from a

neighbouring farmer. There we started breeding pigs, and also kept sheep.
At first I worked in the turnery, then when
others had been trained I worked on the farm.
We had two tractors, driven by Migg (Fischli)
and myself. I helped with the milking a lot as
well. We set ourselves a difficult target. We
wanted to breed our herd up to a certifiable
pedigree. We finally achieved this at the beginning of 1939. Now we could get a better
price for our milk. In 1939 we bought Oaksey,
another hundred-acre farm a few miles away
from the Cotswold-Bruderhof. We concentrated our dairy farming here.
We now had six-hundred acres in production. From the end of 1939 until the autumn of 1940 we sowed flax on a piece of
land that had not been cultivated up for over
one-hundred years. At the first attempt it felt
as if I was ploughing through wire mesh fencing. But it was worth it, in autumn 1940 we
had a magnificent crop, and got a very good
price for it. We got requests from other farmers who paid us to plough up their old meadows. The government had ordered this to be
done. Migg and I ploughed up many acres
of land.
We did another experiment on a ten acre
plot of land, that was overrun with couch
grass. We worked on this by sowing mustard seed three times between spring and
autumn, each time the small plants grew, they
were ploughed back in as green fertilizer. I
was given this task.After that we sowed winter wheat in this plot. We got a very good
harvest the following autumn, and the area
was free of couch grass. After this success
we wanted to treat other areas in the same
way to improve the quality of the land. Unfortunately we never got to do this.
COMMUNITY LIFE IN ENGLAND
So much for the practical side of things.
Now we turn to our life in community. When
we celebrated our first Christmas in England
in 1936, our English brothers and sisters said
it would be nice if we could follow the English tradition of going carol singing to our
neighbours. We practiced some of the lovely
old English carols for several voices, and
also sang some of the German songs. We
had quite a good choir of 12 male and female
singers. We sang the songs in the Royal Agricultural Institute in Cirencester. It was a
very successful evening which also put us
in touch with the people who taught the students. We also had contact with the farmers
in the area. The relationship was generally
good. During our years in England the institute reported back to the higher authorities
in London on our agricultural successes and
how we had achieved them.
During 1936 to 1937 we had guests visiting us almost every weekend. Some came
and stayed deciding to share communal life
with us. In December 1936 we heard that two
preachers from the Hutterite communities in
Canada were coming to see us. David Hofer
and Michael Waldner did indeed arrive in
February 1937. Eberhard Arnold had visited
these old communities in 1930. At that time,
he and the Rhnbruderhof were accepted
by their community. He did not want to build
up a new Christian community in isolation.
The Hutterite communities have existed for
over four-hundred years. A week after their
arrival the two Elders conducted the first
14

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

baptism of four Germans and one English
woman. It was a deeply moving inner experience. The two Hutterites spent a good two
months with us, and visited several of the
old cities in England and Scotland with Hardy
Arnold.
Often Michael Vetter, as we called him,
came to us in the turnery and asked: Well
Wilhelm what have you got for me to do today? I declined, You really dont need to
work at your age. He was over seventy years
old, but insisted. With us, the preachers
must also work. he said. So I gave him a
piece of wood to saw into pieces with the
band saw. When he had finished, and I had
nothing else ready for him to do, he went up
the high ladder and asked Fritz to give him
something to do. We held the Elders in great
esteem. They had many significant and meaningful things to pass on to us.
Werner and I spent many evenings together
with these brothers. They wanted to know
all about us. How and why did you leave
the big wide world to live in the community
of believers? We told them about our personal experiences, and what had swayed us
to turn our backs on the worldly life and turn
to Jesus and follow his message to live in
community with people of many nationalities.
TWO HUTTERITES EXPERIENCE
THE EXODUS OUT OF GERMANY
As their two months came to an end, we
heard how badly things were going for the
community at the Rhnbruderhof, where the
Nazis kept setting buildings on fire in various locations on the property. These two
dear old brothers took spontaneous action
and set off on their own on the 8th April
1937, to go to Germany and the Rhn. As
foreigners they intended to support and
stand by our brothers and sisters. During
their stay, the Hof was surrounded by the
SA (storm troopers) and the police, who ordered everyone to leave the Hof within 24
hours. As undesirables they were not allowed to remain in Germany any longer. They
could only take the bare essentials with them.
A few of them went to Liechtenstein to the
Almbruderhof. The majority travelled to Holland and were taken in by the Mennonites
for a while. Three brothers went to prison:
two Swiss, Hans Meier and Hannes Boller,
as well as Karl Keiderling who was German.
In England it took us a few weeks to complete the preparations for taking in the large
group from Holland. First we had to obtain
the entry permits from the authorities. When
England granted them entry, we were quite
overwhelmed by the amount of help that was
given to us. I think the group from Holland
arrived in July 1937. The popular London
papers took photos and printed front page
reports about how our brothers and sisters,
with young children and just a small bundle
of belongings, had fled Nazi Germany and
come to England. Many English people responded very generously to this report and
sent us help. They came at the weekend with
vans full of everything imaginable that could
be of use to us. This carried on for months.
The Quakers, the Salvation Army as well as
many other groups supported us.
We also had contact with a few groups
who were attempting to live in community,
such as in Whitway, the Cotswolds and in
Leeds. They wanted to live according to the

KIT Newsletter
writings of Tolstoi. In Birmingham there was
also a group who wanted to build a common
Christian life together. Most of them joined
up with us. [The Birmingham group, see KIT
Jan. 2004, pages 7 & 8; in the life story of
Francis Beels.]
DEPARTURE OF THETWO
HUTTERITES
The two old brothers from Canada went
to the Almbruderhof, and from there travelled onwards to many countries in Europe,
where for over four-hundred years their old
fellow believers had lived and endured martyrdom and death. At the end of August the
two preachers came back to us in England.
On 15th September 1937 they set off by ship
for their journey back home. For them as well
as for all of us, the parting was hard. We had
experienced so much with them in these past
months. We said again and again: that it
was Gods will that you came. Their presence also surely protected our brothers and
sisters in the Rhn from going to the concentration camps.
I wanted to give them a present and souvenir to take with them. So I made them two
big salad bowls from the four-hundred year
old oak beams that we had to take out of the
big old cow stall. That was hard work. The
bowls were as hard as iron to turn. Two special Swedish steels were needed for the job.
They were in fact the first bowls of this size
that had been turned by the Bruderhof. Later
we produced these for sale with great
success. The preachers were very pleased
to have these special bowls, made from mature timber, to take with them. Unfortunately
they were the only two bowls I was able to
produce from the old beams. The rest of the
wood was damaged and rotten.
YOUNGPEOPLE BEINGPREPARED
FOR THE KIBBUTZ IN ISRAEL
We received an enquiry from the Zionists in England asking if we would train a
group of 20 young men and women in all
aspects of agriculture and farming. They
wanted to thus prepare themselves for emigration to the Kibbutz in Israel. The Zionists
argument was: You have the same communal living as a Kibbutz in Israel, so what better preparation could they have? The group
came with a married couple who were to take
on their leadership. They were with us for a
few months and were a great help. The girls
were allocated to the baby house, toddler
house, kindergarten, laundry and kitchen, as
well as the garden and working in the fields.
The group looked after themselves on the
whole. As far as I can remember, they were
with us from the summer to the autumn of
1938. This time was enriching for both sides.
By the end these young people were very
thankful to have experienced this time with
us.
OURWEDDINGAND THE CLOSING
OFTHEALMBRUDERHOF
In the months from April 1937 single
brothers and sisters continued to come from
the Almbruderhof to England, as we needed
a large work-force for our development.
Many of the single people lived on the Telling farm, which was about a mile away from
the Cotswold Bruderhof and could be
reached without leaving our property. Several smaller families also lived there. So it

came to pass that I got to know the Swiss

girl Lini Rudolf better. She lived there too,
and we often walked across together. To
make it short, we got engaged on the 7th
November 1937. In the morning the bell was
rung for a brotherhood meeting. First information about the Almbruderhof was reported, as a sort of pretext for the hastily
called meeting. Then it was announced that
someone wanted to put a request to the
brotherhood. I stood up and said what was
on my heart: It has become clear to Lini and
myself, that we wish to continue life together
as a married couple. No one had a question
or an objection. Everyone was in happy
agreement with our decision.
Lini and I were given the day off and some
money, and we set out towards Cirencester.
We now had so much to say to each other.
In the evening there was an impromptu celebration with the whole community. The
smaller lathe was dismantled and brought
into the dining room.A sketch was performed
with a circular saw and card board, demonstrating how at work, all I could do was sawing out hearts. To the accompaniment of violins and guitars many of the old love songs
were sung, including some Swiss songs.
Anni and Peter Mathis sang some Romanic
songs from the Engadin. It was a lovely and
enjoyable evening, without a lot of preparation or rehearsals. One felt the whole community was happy for us both.
Due to Hitler Germany the political situation in Europe was rapidly drawing ever
nearer to a head. In the first week of March
1938 the Nazis occupied Austria. When we
heard this we immediately made preparations
to accommodate our brothers and sisters
from Liechtenstein in the CotswoldBruderhof.All Germans as well as some brothers and sisters of other nationalities arrived
in England on 12th March, just a few stayed
behind to wind up affairs in Liechtenstein.
Already months before it was decided
that a double wedding would take place on
17th/18th March 1938. The two couples were
Waltraut and Gerhard Wiegand with Lini and
myself. In spite of all the unforeseen events,
the weddings took place. The brothers and
sisters who had to leave Liechtenstein in
such a hurry, were delighted about this happy
event. Gladys and Arnold Mason, Peter
Mathis and Emmy Arnold were our witnesses. (At this point something that happened earlier comes to mind: When another
German couple were getting married, the official asked the bride to repeat: to accept ...
as my lawful husband. She changed it into
... my awful husband. It was through mistakes like this that we learned English best).
At the Polterabend (equivalent to a joint
stag and hen party) of course a lot went on,
there was no getting away from all the ribbing and teasing. This was followed on Sunday by the important and more serious part
of the wedding for us. It was the true Christian joining in marriage. After the wedding
feast, the celebration continued for a long
time. It was at this point that we withdrew
and set off on honeymoon for a week. We
took the train to Bridgwater in Somerset. We
were given the address of a place where we
could stay for bed and breakfast. There I
made a real gaffe. Instead of saying we were
married, I said we were engaged. I realised
straight away that I had used the wrong word
and quickly corrected myself.
15

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

After a good traditional English breakfast we got out our rucksacks and set off to
wander through the lovely Somerset countryside. We went to Taunton and along the
coast to Ilfracombe. On the third afternoon
nearing Porlock we put out our thumbs to
drivers to indicate that we wanted a lift. A
man in a car stopped. We wanted to go to
Malborough, and as he was going through
there, he took us with him.As we drove down
Porlock hill, the man said: Anyone who gets
down here safely can call himself a good
driver. That was about fifty years ago,
brakes were not as good as they are today.
The man put the car into first gear, and took
the tight bends with his foot and hand
brakes, sometimes with only one hand on
the steering wheel. We were relieved when
we got to the bottom. We arrived in the town
at about 9 PM, thanked the driver for the lift,
and were lucky to find somewhere to stay at
this time of night.
The next day we continued on our way
towards Cirencester. We soon got a lift with
a wagon driver who was going towards
Stroud. Lini sat on the left hand seat, and I
sat over the motor in the centre of the drivers cab. The things one puts up with to get
a free ride to ones destination! We spent
about three days in the old Cotswold town
of Stroud, and explored this very interesting
area and countryside. That is where we enjoyed the last days of our honeymoon. On
Sunday we arrived back at the CotswoldBruderhof. We did not yet know where we
were going to live. A room in the attic above
the work shop had been beautifully prepared
for us. The next day it was back to work. Lini
went to the big new laundry, where she
shared the overall responsibility, and I to
work on the farm.
VISITORS: JEWISH REFUGEES
FROMAUSTRIA
It was about May 1938 when we made a
commitment to the Home Office in London
to take in eighty-six Jewish refugees from
Austria in the very near future. Somehow
we made room, so that they at least had a
place to stay. Many elderly couples, young
people, unmarried and on their own came to
us. Many of them soon moved on to friends
and acquaintances already known to them
in England. Others soon obtained visas allowing them to emigrate to the USA or
Canada. It was a pleasure to us to be able to
give these people a helping hand, to save
them from the grasp of the Nazi-regime. Some
of the single young people spent a longer
time with us. One 18 year old only got his
visa to the USA over a year later. Later we
heard from him on several occasions. He had
trained to be a doctor, and thanked us for
taking him in. At weekends we nearly always had visitors, so we had to arrange a
guest duty to take car of them.
On 11th February 1939, Lini and I had a
very happy experience. Our first child,
Lucrezia, was born. It was a healthy, strong
little girl. It was a normal birth, everything
went well.
During this year we were still in the process of building up all our departments, and
the political situation in Europe caused us
great concern. When world War II broke out
in September 1939, it must have been obvious to all the countries in Europe, that hard
times of poverty and misery lay ahead of us.

KIT Newsletter
I remembered a very rare natural occurrence
that we all witnessed in the south of England about a year before the outbreak of the
war. One evening the Northern Lights were
visible a long way to the south. The skies
and the heavens burned like a great fire
storm. We were so amazed and astonished
that we were lost for words. But the British
people asked themselves what the meaning
of this could be? The papers were full of
speculation and interpretations of this event.
HOSTILITY FROM THE NEIGHBOURS
In the period from the end of 1939 to the
end of 1940 we experienced what this war
would mean to our community. Our neighbours from the neighbouring villages suspected that we had a group of people
amongst us from the Fifth Column. They
became our enemies because there were
many Germans amongst us. We were threatened that our barns and stalls would be set
on fire. As the Nazi bombing over England
became heavier and heavier, especially when
Coventry was practically destroyed, the
Militia came to us to tell us that they had to
dig deep trenches on our land for use in
defense against the Nazi bombers. That happened around the middle of 1940. This was
only done to us, not on any of the neighbouring farms. They were convinced that we
were spies or members of the Fifth Column.
After the destruction of Coventry in the summer of 1940, the troubles with the population around us became even worse. We
asked the Home Office for help and advice.
But they could not help, even though they
held us in high esteem, especially because
of our achievements in agriculture over the
past four years. They advised us to give up
all German Nationals to an internment camp
until the end of the war. But we could not do
that. So we made the decision to emigrate.
But where to? Hans Meier (Swiss) and
Guy Johnson (British) were asked to go to
USA and Canada to investigate whether it
would be possible to rebuild our community
there. It was a difficult and serious decision.
The journey itself was very dangerous, as
the German U-boats were in full force and
sank many of the British ships. In July 1940
we said good-bye to the two brothers. They
arrived safely in the USA, and spoke to many
contacts and acquaintances in an effort to
find a new home for us. They spoke personally to Eleanor Roosevelt, but there was no
door open for us. Thereupon the Mennonites
in South America offered us some land. Their
fellow believers had settled in Paraguay
many years ago. Things moved very quickly
then, including the acquisition of the immigration papers from Paraguay. The country
had granted us total religious freedom, and
the exemption from military service for our
young men. It was a hard decision, but we
made it with complete trust in God.
ONLYPARAGUAYWOULD HAVE US
None of us knew anything about Paraguay. Then one of the brothers found a little
German book about Paraguay in one of the
English Libraries. We read it aloud in the dining room. At one point there were details of
an 8000 hectare piece of land that belonged
to the German citizen Rutenberg. He was inviting people to go hunting. Part of this property was described as being like an English
park. Large areas of lawn with the occasional

copse or spinney. Even now, so many years

later, I still find it strange that we bought this
property from Rutenberg, to build our new
homeland. We lived there for 20 years.
First discussions took place and decisions were made as to who was to be in the
firsts group to emigrate from England to Paraguay. Lini and I with our two children,
Lucrezia and Johanna were among them. It
was an international group: German, Dutch,
Swiss, English and Spanish nationals. Altogether there were 86 of us including the children who set off on the journey from Liverpool on the 25th November 1940. In the meantime during the remaining three months there
was much to be done. First all Germans passports were withdrawn by the Home Office.
And so we became stateless, and were provided only with an identity card and exit permit. This card contained all important personal information including a passport photograph.
In 1940 we had a very good harvest from
our land. We were kept busy with bringing
in the harvest as well as with the packing. A
great deal of thought went in to deciding
exactly what to take with us. During this time
the bombing attacks on England were particularly bad. Almost every night Hitlers
bombers flew over us deep into the country.
Two airfields were nearby, so we also saw
the planes taking off from there. One morning at daybreak, Fritz Kleiner and I were going up Chapman Hill, where we had collected
a large stack of corn ready to put through
the big old threshing machine. We got everything ready so that after breakfast, with
more men we could get on with the job. Then
we saw two spitfires climb up high ready to
chase the German bombers. They didnt appear to find anything up there, and soon came
back perhaps it was just a practice run.
From very high up they came spiraling down
again. The second one didnt make it, and
plummeted straight down to the ground and
exploded. That was a dreadful sight. Two
days later some senior officers came to ask
us if we had seen anything. We told them
about the horrible experience. They probably still suspected that members of the Fifth
Column were hiding amongst us.
In October we were working hard at the
threshing, trying to get the harvest safely
stored in the big barn, when we heard a big
explosion late in the afternoon at about 5:00
oclock. The ground shook. I was at the end
of the threshing machine ready to take off
the full sacks. The sky was over cast with
thick cloud. We looked around and asked
each other what on earth could have happened. All we could see was a German
bomber that had just dropped its load on
Kemble airfield before making a bee line back
up into the clouds and disappearing. Immediately spitfires shot up at either side as if
someone had stirred up a hornets nest.
On another occasion during this time we
were awakened in the early morning at about
6:00 oclock. The floor shook and the window panes rattled. Once again a bomber had
dropped a bomb, this time over Ashton
Keynes, making a huge crater near a cottage
there.
During these months many guests came
to us who were seriously searching for a new
way and a purpose in life. France had already fallen under Hitlers domination. Now
England was supposed to be the next coun16

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

try to be taken over. All one can say today
is, thank God that it did not come to that.
THE FIRST GROUP EMBARKS ON THE
JOURNEYTO PARAGUAY
In November 1940 for us, the first group
to travel, it was the start of a new chapter in
our lives. On the 10th of November we said
good-bye to the Cotswold-Bruderhof and
travelled in two Omnibuses to the station at
Minety. It was a very sad farewell from the
life we had to leave behind. In the face of
these difficult times, we did not know if we
would ever see each other again. Lini and I
were very aware of the fact that our Johanna
was the youngest child. She was seven
months old, and made the long journey lying in a laundry basket. As the train travelled through Birmingham we could see the
smoking ruins resulting from the bombing
of the station that had taken place the day
before. It was dark when we arrived in Liverpool. We spent the night together in a big
hall, sleeping on the floor. We expected a
quiet night, as the bombers had targeted the
harbour and the city the day before. All this
happened forty-seven years ago!
Our journey continued in the evening of
the 11th of November on the Andalucia Star,
a 22,000 ton freight ship with 144 passenger
places in exclusively 1st class accommodation. Because of the risk of air raid attack
everything was in near darkness with minimal lighting on the gangway upwards to
board the ship. There the captain was awaiting us. When he saw the young children he
said with a heavy heart: My ship must not
sink. I can still hear the sound of his voice
as he said it. That is how seriously the captain took his responsibilities. We were told
we would be travelling with a convoy, but
three days later out at sea, there was nothing to be seen far and wide not a ship in
sight.
Our family had a cabin to ourselves. Everything you could possibly want was there.
The first meals were a new experience for us.
We had never in all our lives been offered
menus such as these. When the starters arrived we thought it was the main course. On
the third day we got into very rough seas.
We were all seasick. Now and then someone
went to the dining room to at least have a
little something to eat. But the plates were
sliding about all over the place, and you also
had to hang onto the table yourself, to prevent falling off the chair. It took your appetite away completely. If you did manage to
get something down, it was only to rush
straight to the toilet to bring it all up again.
Lini stayed in the cabin for days with the
children. We didnt see any of the other passengers in the dining room either. One day,
Adolf Braun, Gerd Wegner and I wrapped
up well and went out on deck in front of the
bridge. We had to hang onto the railings as
we looked forwards out to sea. Waves as
high as houses crashed over the ship, so
that the front of the ship disappeared altogether at times. We stood there for as long
as we possibly could. The result was, that
the seasickness completely disappeared. At
the next meal we could tuck-in in style, and
catch up on all that we had missed. So going
out on deck was the best medicine to overcome seasickness.
We tried to persuade others to give it a
go, but to no avail. I could not even con-

KIT Newsletter
vince Lini. She was already two months pregnant with our third child. The storm lasted
for a good seven days, then the weather improved. Only then could many regain their
strength and enjoy the good food on offer.
At last we met the other passengers that were
travelling with us. We also did a more thorough exploration of the ship that was our
home for five weeks. There was much on
offer to pass the time, as well as games for
the children. Gym equipment was available
for exercising. In a separate room we, the
community, could gather for spiritual meetings. That was worth a lot to us during this
dangerous journey.
As we neared the equator the weather
continued to improve and we could go up
on deck. For the first time we noticed that
the ship was not travelling in a straight line,
but zigzagging to and fro every hundred
meters of so. An officer explained to us that
this was because of the submarines. At night
everything was blacked out, not a single ray
of light could escape. But somewhere near
the equator, on a calm and warm night, we
passed through a sea of light. Thousands
and thousands of lights twinkled in the sea
below us. For hours we gazed at this splendour, conjured up by tiny creatures as if by
magic. And in the sky for the first time we
saw the constellation of the Southern Cross
.
MAYBE NOT TO PARAGUAYAFTER
ALL?
Some of us got permission to have a look
round in the engine room, even though this
was not really allowed during times of war. It
was about two or three storeys down to the
drive shafts on the right and the left. They
propelled our ship across the ocean.
About three or four days before we
reached Rio de Janeiro, I went up on deck
with Lucrezia. Another little girl about her
age, two years old, joined us, and they played
happily together. The parents were very
pleased about that. The man, Senor
Concalves, asked me in English where we
were going. He noticed that I only spoke
German to my daughter, and told me he also
spoke German and was the Brazilian Consul
in Frankfurt am Main. When I told him that
we were emigrating to Paraguay to develop
agriculture there, he immediately said, We
need you here in Brazil, dont go to Paraguay. Please can you tell me how to contact
whoever is in charge straight away? I went
in search of HardyArnold and told him about
the conversation. The two then talked together for a long time.
In this lovely weather with a calm sea, we
were allowed to open the portholes for the
first time. We were getting near to Brazil, and
the ship was sailing in a straight line now.
When on deck during these days, we often
saw a group of dolphins that swam ahead of
us. They would accompany us for a long
time at a safe distance from the ship. To see
these fantastic, intelligent creatures in their
natural environment was wonderful for Lini
and me. Johanna slept in her basket on the
floor of our cabin. She had plenty of fresh
air, because the porthole was open. I went to
check on her, and was going to bring her on
deck in case she woke up. When I opened
the cabin door, I got a powerful electric
shock, that threw me backwards into the
gangway. I saw that the floor was under water and the mirror had been ripped from the

wall and broken into tiny pieces. Splinters of

glass covered Johannas basket. Everything
was live. I quickly got help, but the men
could not get in until the power had been
disconnected. Johanna lay in her basket and
smiled at me with her big dark eyes. A wave
had burst through the porthole causing the
disaster, even though there was not much of
a swell. It is a wonder that nothing worse
happened to Johanna.
Two or three days before our ship
dropped anchor for the first time in Rio de
Janeiro, Lini and I enjoyed the sunset on the
after deck. We had already put the children
to bed. In a clear and cloudless sky a tropical sunset is wonderful to behold. As we
strolled along the deck I saw flashes of lightning to the west. But there was not a cloud
to be seen. We stood still, the flashes came
again and then again. Apart from us there
was only one of the senior ships officers on
deck. As he passed us I spoke to him. He
said nothing, but ran as fast as he could to
the bridge. We saw that they were very agitated, and rushed out with telescopes. Immediately the ship resumed its zigzag course.
Next day we heard that a German and an
English war ship had been in a skirmish.
We arrived safely in Rio, and stayed there
for one or two days, giving us the chance to
go ashore and have a look round Rio. Hardy
went with the consul straight to the authorities, who had already been contacted from
the ship. In spite of all the talks with the
various departments, it emerged that it would
not be possible for us to settle in Brazil after
all.
Our ship then sailed to Santos, where
again a lot of unloading and loading took
place. We had been warned not to go ashore
there, because outbreaks of yellow fever, a
worse illness than malaria, frequently flared
up in the port. The next stop was Montevideo. As we approached the harbour, we could
still see part of the large ship, the Graf Spee,
rising up out of the sea. The British Navy
had sailed it into the straits just outside
Montevideo.
[This is the end of the recordings by
Wilhelm in the above manuscript page 32,
second line. In his introduction on pages 13 the author gives an outline sketch of his
life story. There he skims over the time in
Paraguay, the exodus to England of part of
his family in 1960 and the separation from
the Bruderhof. Wilhelm Fischer died on 20th
December 1995 as the result of a stroke. Comments by Erdmuthe Arnold]
ARRIVALIN PARAGUAY
Our next ports of call were Buenos Aires,
Asuncion, then on to Puerto Casado. We
lived in the Chaco with the Mennonites for
two months, then found a better property of
7800 hectares in Eastern Paraguay, where we
eventually settled. That was in February 1941.
During the next months of this year, all the
others came from England to Paraguay. They
crossed the ocean in many different ships
and arrived safely in the new homeland.
In the year 1951 I was sent on my own,
without my wife and children, with a few others to Uruguay to build up a new community
near to Montevideo. I was there for over a
year, then returned again to Paraguay and to
my family. 1956 Lini and I were sent to
Asuncion as house parents. The Bruderhof
had two houses there, where fifteen young
17

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

people attended the higher educational establishments in the city to get better and
higher qualifications. This was a very happy
and lively time that lasted for just over a year.
With us we had our youngest son, three
month old Matthias.
In June or July 1960 Lini and I were sent
to England with four of our children, to help
out in the community there. Our three eldest
stayed behind in Paraguay and Brazil. In 1941
we had left just three members behind in
England to tie up our affairs and then join
us. But during the war so many came who
were searching for a new and different way
of life, so in the end a new community was
started in England.
After twenty years of hard and valuable
pioneering work in Paraguay, it was all dissolved in 1961. It was followed by the relocation to USA, England and Germany. During this time Lini and I were asked to take
some time away to think things over after
thirty years of living in community. But we
never returned. We lived for ten and a half
years with five of our children on a 2000 acre
farm. Now we have been here in Winchcombe
for fourteen years in the house belonging to
Joan and Kuller. They themselves have now
been in Paraguay for almost eight years,
where they have settled with their four children.
Fred Kemp Behind a Black Current Bush
by Erdmuthe Arnold
Only after the publication of Memories
of Fred Kemp in the last KIT letter (August
2005) I received a photo showing Fred behind one of his beloved Black Current

bushes. My uncle Albert Lffler received it

from the Brethren community in Bright. Passing it on to me he wrote that we got the birth
year wrong: Fred was born on February 6,
1914, only two weeks later than my mother
Gertrud Arnold (January 21, 1914), as Fred
repeatedly told my uncle. So he nearly
reached the blessed age of ninety-one.
A few weeks ago I got hold of a Bruderhof
brochure Memories of Cotswold Days
Told by Stanley Fletcher and Others, 1984.
According to what Stanley is telling, Fred
must have been one of the first ones who

KIT Newsletter

Vol XVIII No 1 January 2006

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came to the Wheathill Bruderhof, maybe he

also got to know the Cotswold Bruderhof,
after all members with their families had left
for Paraguay in 1941.
The British War Agriculture Committee
had doubts if the people who bought the
Lower Bromdon Farm knew very much about
good farming. The only ones they thought
were promising and able to run a good farm
were, as Stanley remembered: Sydney
(Hindley), who had been a poultry farmer,
and Fred Kemp, who was a real country boy.
In their tour round the farm they had found
Fred laying a hedge. ... One of the men said:
This is not the first time you laid a hedge, is
it?
Fred consequently joined during, and not
after, World War II.
Sam Arnold, 1/29/06: Dear recovering Exs,
spouses, singers, non-singers, dependents
and independents:
In 2005 three live recordings were made
of songs that many ex-Bruderhofers and
sabra were accustomed to singing while living there. The first was at the KIT-Bulstrode
gathering held last spring, the second at
Friendly Xroads in August, and the third at
Clearwaters in December featuring Christmas
songs. A few of us have been working to put

together a CD that individuals can purchase

and have as a keepsake of this unusual cooperative venture. We thank all who contributed their voices to this project! Rest
assured that no names of participants will
be made public.
The CD is almost ready for distribution,
and when it is, we will be burning only as
many as are ordered. (Cassette tapes can also
be made for those who dont have CD players.) We have no way of knowing what the
interest in the CD will be, so we hope to find
out by informing as many as we can about it,
and then see what interest there is. One thing
you can be sure of, there is no other CD like
this one, and therefore its unique and rare!
Another big plus is that the CD is a cooperative venture on both sides of the Atlantic
that shows that we exs can still work together when we feel like it!
There are a total of forty songs with over
seventy recorded minutes on the CD. To be
expected, the three recording sessions were
well below professional (and perhaps more
boring) recording standards, and therefore
have a home-made kitchen recording feel to
them, including some technical recording
glitches, that somehow seem to fit the quintessential, yet dilettante, inspired singing
quite nicely. Some of the singers have hardly

sung in years, while others sing almost daily.

Nevertheless, we believe that the recording
will have appeal and hold interest for a
number of exs and friends.
One could say that the quality of the singing is not at all bad when compared to the
obligatory singing heard on the Bruderhof
itself; the tuning in the unaccompanied
songs manages to stay remarkably well on
key, a testament to a cappella mastery learned
many years ago thats still there. Still, listeners can expect to hear some singing and instrumental playing errors, background laughter, talking and other distractions, even the
occasional critique from a baby nearby. Listening to this CD is likely to bring pleasure
to some, a smile to others, and maybe an
occasional cringe to discerning fussers like
me.
Linda made a great looking CD cover. It
features four photographs taken of former
hofs, now closed: Primavera, Wheathill,
Bulstrode, and Evergreen/Deerspring. She
also made the song list. None of the names
or pictures of the singers will appear with
the recording. The only way that individuals can be identified is by their voice, and
that shouldnt be a concern to anyone.
We have decided that we only want to
recover the expenses for the CDs sold, but

want to also use the CD in a benevolent way

to help raise much needed funds to assist
some of those who have recently departed
the Bruderhof and are not planning on returning there. Depending on where you live
the cost breakdown goes like this:
For the US. and Canada please place you
order with Sam Arnold,
<samuel@nbnet.nb.ca> or call 506-328-9420.
110 College Street
Wodstock, N.B. E7M 1K6 Canada
The cost of the CD is $5 to help others,
plus $1.00 for production costs for a total of
$6.00 (US funds). Packaging and postage are

extra and must be added; packaging and

postage is $2.00 for one CD, and $1.00 for
each additional CD.
For Great Britain and Europe please place
your orders with Linda (Lord) Jackson,
<lindalj@btinternet.com> or call +44 (0) 7703
133369 or 1772-784473
7 Severn Street
Longridge, Ribble Valley
Lancs. PR3 3ND England
The cost in England is 3 to help others,
and 1 for production costs = 4.
Those paying in Euro funds will pay 6.00
for their CD. (4.50 and 1.50.)

Packaging and mailing must be added to

that. (at 0.60 and 1.45 for UK; 2.20 for
Europe)
Anyone planning on attending the UKKIT gathering at Hesterworth in Shropshire
on the weekend of July 14-17, 2006, and who
would like to order one of these rare CDs, is
encouraged to order their copy from Linda
ahead of time and avoid annoying postal
expenses and possible shipping damage.
(Not sold in any department store!)

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