The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017 - 13

Peacemakers In hIsTory
Forces for defeating germany. This was first penned by British author H. g. Wells in August 1914. This slogan was later
picked up by US President Woodrow Wilson as he changed
from a policy of neutrality and entered into the war.
In 2017 and 2018, there will no doubt be expressions of
righteous nationalism, as the US remembers its participation
in the "war to end all war" a hundred years ago. Yet the unjust
peace of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles resulted in World War
II-the deadliest conflict in human history, not to mention the
additional Holocaust of 6 million Jews.
The carving up of the Middle East by European colonial
powers after WWI continues to foster disastrous conflicts in
Iraq, Israel/Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries. The
madness and terror of WWI still haunts us today.
So, who said no to the madness? Conscientious objectors.
According to historians Scott H. Bennett and Charles Howlett,
they were "the shock troops of anti-war dissent in World War
I." There are many moving stories of WWI conscientious
objectors in the US, Canada and Europe. Perhaps the most
moving for me is the story of four Anabaptist Hutterites, communal farmers from South Dakota.
This group of Christians had left Czarist Russia and had
migrated to the US in 1874 to escape the Czar's conscription
policies. Hutterites, beginning in 1528 in the Austrian Tyrol,
had been consistently faithful to Jesus' words about loving their
enemies.
These WWI Hutterites were part of a 400-year tradition
of resistance to war. Jakob Hutter, a key leader and shaper of
the enduring Hutterite Anabaptist movement, was himself
martyred in 1536. He wrote the following in a letter:
We do not want to harm any human being, not even our worst
enemy. Our walk of life is to live in truth and righteousness of
God, in peace and unity. ...If all the world were like us there
would be no war and no injustice.3
In 1918, three brothers, David, Joseph and Michael Hofer,
with Joseph's brother-in-law, Jacob Wipf, were absolutist objectors. They were in their twenties, married with children, and
farmers with an eighth-grade education. However, they clearly
understood that Jesus said no to war. They were court-martialed and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
In Alcatraz, they were subjected to torture. In November
1918, they were transferred to Fort Leavenworth, KS, where
Joseph and Michael died. The authorities said they died from
Spanish flu. Their families and fellow Hutterites considered
them martyrs who had died from ill treatment. Duane Stoltzfus
has written a very good book about their story, using recently
discovered family letters.4
Today we see the rise of right-wing nationalism in the
US and Europe. Minorities like Muslims and undocumented
immigrants are being attacked. We live in a time of endless
war. How do we act according to conscience and as followers
of Jesus in these difficult times? WWI stories of resistance
provide help and encouragement for our onward journey of
discipleship.
In January 2014, a coalition of peace churches and
others met at the National World War I Museum in Kansas

City, MO, to begin planning a symposium that would tell the
stories of those who resisted and dissented during WWI out
of conscience, and that would help us make connections for
today. I am very pleased that the Baptist Peace Fellowship is a
co-sponsor of this conference.

"We live in a time of endless war. How
do we act according to conscience and
as followers of Jesus in these difficult
times? World War I stories of resistance
provide help and encouragement for our
onward journey of discipleship."
Too often these voices of conscience were silenced at the
time. This symposium, called Remembering Muted Voices: Conscience, Dissent, Resistance and Civil Liberties in World War I through
Today, will be held October 19-22, 2017 at the National World
War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. For more information about the program, keynotes and registration, go
to theworldwar.org/mutedvoices.
A memorial service for the Hofer brothers and all conscientious objectors is being planned at the Museum for the end
of the symposium, Sunday morning, October 22. This will
be followed by a tour of Fort Leavenworth, including the old
hospital where Hutterites Joseph and Michael Hofer died.
In addition, a travelling exhibition called Voices of Conscience-Peace Witness in the Great War, now being developed
by the Kaufman Museum at Mennonite Bethel College in
North Newton, KS, will premier at the symposium. (For more
information, go to http://voicesofconscienceexhibit.org.) To
book the exhibition in your area, contact Annette LeZotte at
alezotte@bethelks.edu.
Come and hear stories of a faithfulness to conscience and
join in the discussion of the relevance of these inspiring stories
for us now. We must make sure our voices are not silenced or
muted today.
-Andrew Bolton, a retired teacher and minister, is a passionate volunteer
in the pursuit of peace and the worth of every person. If you have questions
or comments, he would welcome an email message at abolton@cofchrist.org.
Endnotes
1. Thomas Helwys, Mistery of Iniquity, London, 1612, page iii)
2. Menno Simons, "Foundation of Christian Doctrine," 15391540 (Revised 1558).
3. Jakob Hutter, Letter to governor Kuna von Kunstadt.
4. Pacifists in Chains: The Persecution of Hutterites during the Great
War, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Baptist Peacemaker

jul-sep 2017 13

http://www.theworldwar.org/mutedvoices http://www.voicesofconscienceexhibit.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017