In 1941 the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender (Christian Congregational Calendar), an annual publication of the South German Mennonite Conference, published a poem by the well-known German Christian writer and poet, Jochen Klepper. 1 However, because of his marriage to a Jew, Klepper had been declared persona non grata by the Nazis. In the 1930s and during World War II, German Mennonites did not distinguish themselves by their opposition to the Nazi regime and Germany’s war against her neighbors and other nations. However, publication of this poem could be considered an affirmation of a German who in the eyes of the Nazi regime had disgraced himself and his “race” because of his marriage. This article will try to discuss the poem’s author, the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender, and its 1941 editor, Abraham Braun.

Jochen Klepper

Jochen Klepper was born in 1902 to a Lutheran minister and his wife in Beuthen located in the former German province of Silesia, an area that since 1945 has become part of Poland. Upon finishing gymnasium, Jochen attended the University of Breslau (now called Wroclaw) where he studied theology. However, he did not finish his studies and decided to embark upon a radio and literary career. In Wroclaw he worked for a local radio station and in 1931 moved to Berlin. Here he was offered a position by the radio station, Berliner Funk, and was also employed by the Ullstein publishing house. However, in June, 1933 he was dismissed from his radio position and in September, 1935 by Ullstein. The reason for his dismissals was his marriage in 1931 to a Jew, Johanna Stein. Johanna, or Hanni as she was more commonly referred to, was a widow with two daughters, Brigitte and Renate or Reni. 2 Marriage to a Jew made Klepper persona non grata in the eyes of the Nazis who had come to power in January 1933.

Anti-Semitism was an integral part of National Socialism’s “ideology.” While anti-Semitism could be found in many parts of Europe and the New World, in National Socialist Germany it became official policy enacted into law. In the 1930s a host of anti-Jewish measures were issued to make life unbearable and miserable for German and later Austrian and Czech Jews.

National Socialist anti-Semitism affected Jochen Klepper in different ways. Not only was he dismissed from his positions, but he also experienced obstacles in his efforts to publish his writings when in March, 1937 he was dismissed from the state literary office.3 This office granted permits to publish manuscripts. All of this came at a time when Klepper reached a period of considerable literary productivity. One of his most important works at this time was the historical novel Der Vater (The Father),4 a fictionalized biography of the Prussian King Frederick William I (1713-1740). In it Klepper depicted the king as a prototype of a Gottesknecht (servant of God), but also as an autocrat and father who forced his subjects to wear the uniform of duty and faith. To him Frederick William was the ideal Protestant Prussian ruler who founded his reign on the God-sanctioned authority of the father and embodied three ideals: family, the state and the church. No doubt, some of these values had Nazi appeal. The book, published in early 1937, sold very well and helped Klepper establish his literary reputation.5 However, it did not prevent him from being excluded in March of the same year from the state literary office. Klepper’s publications were considered “unfit” to influence the “spiritual and cultural development” of Germany. He was now prevented from publishing his Christian poems. Klepper appealed his case, and in December, 1937 even wrote to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, signing his letter with a “Heil Hitler.” Nazi officials finally relented and, although sometimes delaying their decisions, permitted publication of all his poems in the next few years. Klepper felt that especially the popularity of Der Vater had influenced this decision. He concluded that he stood under the “protection of his book.”6

In spite of the harassment and persecution of the Jews, the Kleppers did not believe that it was urgent to leave the country. It is not clear why they did not do so. Was it fear of losing Hanni’s considerable property? Did Jochen feel, in spite of everything, some loyalty to Germany? Was he reluctant to give up his social and cultural status? After all, in spite of everything, his home in 1939-1940 was still one of the most “stimulating” centers of poetry in all of Germany.7 Did he think that God would lead him safely through his ordeal? Or did the Kleppers feel safe after the Christian baptism of Hanni and Reni?8 However, Christian Jews were not immune from Nazi persecution. Whatever their reason for staying in Germany might have been, the Kleppers did consider it imperative for their daughter Brigitte to leave. She left on May 9, 1939, for England. Her departure was “a farewell, and end so without fulfillment,” Klepper lamented in his diary.9 Both girls could have left with a youth transport to England, but Jochen was unable to see both of them go; that was too much for the parents, he stated.10 Yet, in 1940 the Kleppers did try to have Reni emigrate to Switzerland, but Swiss authorities were unwilling to grant her a permit.

In September 1939, a few months after Brigitte’s departure, war broke out in Europe. The war would make the German Jews’ position more precarious and later also those of many other European Jews. They were now trapped.

Klepper felt the war against Poland to recover Upper Silesia and the so-called Polish Corridor was justified and showed no sympathy for the suffering Poles and later Danes, Norwegians and others who had become victims of the Nazi juggernaut. However, he did express serious reservations about Germany’s victories.11 In December 1940 Klepper was drafted into the German army. He was elated over his draft call. He envied “every man who is a soldier.” War was something a man had to experience not as a civilian but as a soldier, he felt.12 He also believed that his position in the German army would provide extra protection for Hanni and Reni. Actually his draft notice had been an error. Germans married to Jews were not to be drafted.13

Initially Klepper served with a horse transportation unit and was later part of an infantry supply division in Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. He did not see actual combat, but did observe the miseries of war in Russia. Apparently, he was not moved by the war’s destructive force. In fact, he enjoyed military life and its camaraderie. It was Hanni who had to remind him of the inhumanity and horror of the Russian campaign. She wanted him home as soon as possible.14 Her wish was fulfilled. In August 1942 Klepper was discharged and sent home because his marriage had disqualified him for military service.15

In August 1941 Renate, who was now nineteen years of age and soon had to wear the yellow star, had been forced to work in the defense industry in Berlin. Would she soon be deported? In October 1941, a very concerned Klepper decided to see Wilhelm Frick, the minister of the interior and admirer of his book, Der Vater. Frick assured Klepper that Renate most likely would not be deported and would be allowed to go to Sweden, but he could not exempt her from wearing the yellow star.16 In spite of this reprieve, Klepper remained very pessimistic; “step by step” the “catastrophe” descended upon them, he concluded. Even if Germany were to lose the war, the Jews were doomed.17

For some time, Klepper had been trying to obtain a Swedish visa for Reni. Finally, on December 5, 1942, the Swedish government granted her one. On the same day the Kleppers received news about the birth of their first grandchild in England. Again Klepper called upon Frick to help. Frick informed him that he could not help him. On December 9-10 Klepper saw Adolph Eichmann of the Reich Security Main Office, the agency responsible for the administration of the “final solution.” Eichmann’s office supervised the deportation of the Jews, but he refused to grant the visa. On the evening of December 10, 1942, Klepper, Hanni and Reni committed suicide by opening the gas valve in the kitchen of their home. The destruction of German Jews, Klepper concluded, had entered its final phase and there was no hope for Hanni and Renate. “Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives.” With these words Klepper ended his diary.18

Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender and Abraham Braun

The Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender began publication in 1892 and had a circulation of around 2000.19 It provided information on congregations in south Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Poland as well as articles on a variety of different subjects. Prior to 1933 it was not neutral in matters of the nation’s political and military leaders and reflected the German Mennonites’ total integration into the mainstream and surrender of opposition to military service. For instance, it had much praise for Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), the founder of the modern German state, as one of the “greatest statesmen of all times.”20 During World War I it published pictures and names of Mennonites fallen at the front who, it felt, had died a “hero’s death.” In addition, it showed pictures of leading military men such as Paul von Hindenburg and August von Mackensen.21

In the 1930s the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender remained neutral, too neutral according to one Nazi official.22 In World War II it again published pictures and names of those fallen in battle, expressed sorrow over the Polish murder of German Mennonites in Schönsee, a Mennonite congregation near Gdansk, and joy over the return of countrymen to that part of Upper Silesia, which had been given to Poland in 1921 but was retaken in 1939. The Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender ceased publication in 1941, most likely a victim of the German war economy.23

In 1941 its editor was Abraham Braun. Braun was born in 1882 in Alexanderwohl, located in the Mennonite Molotschna colony in Russia. He was baptized in 1897 and in 1901 went with his parents to Siberia. After having completed his compulsory forestry service and study at a Bible school, Braun went to Berlin where he enrolled in the Allianz-Biblelschule in 1910. After completion of his studies, Braun remained in Germany. In 1920 he became secretary of a missionary society and in 1922 became head of German Mennonite Aid to assist Mennonites leaving Russia. In 1928 he became pastor of the Mennonite congregation of Ibersheim-Eppstein-Ludwigshafen. Here he stayed until his retirement in 1957. In the course of time Braun served on numerous committees and boards and in 1933 became editor of the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender. In the post-World War II era he became very active in the Mennonite World Conference and became a bridge builder among European Mennonites. He died in 1970. During his long life and ministry Braun embodied genuine Mennonitism, and was an inspiration for many. Among the latter was his Canadian grandnephew, Mennonite historian, Abraham Friesen, to whom Braun became the grandfather he never had.24

A more thorough and comprehensive study of German Mennonites in the Nazi era is needed. However, it is safe to conclude German Mennonites did not oppose the Nazi regime. Some joined the Nazi Party and many served in the German war machine. No Mennonites were listed among Germans who refused military service in World War II. We do not know how many became war casualties. Although some Mennonites were briefly incarcerated for aiding Jews or for other reasons, none suffered in concentration camps.25 Braun did not sympathize with the Nazi movement. He kept political discussions out of the pages of the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender and dared to defy the local Gauleiter. He also tried to persuade, unsuccessfully, his sons from enlisting in the German armed forces. His son, Jakob, was killed on the eastern front in March 1944.26

Publication of Klepper’s poem, Neujahrslied (New Year’s Song) was not necessarily an act of courage or defiance. The poem had been published as early as January 1, 1938. Klepper completed the poem in late 1937 and submitted it to the state literary office for permission to publish. The poem was based on Psalms 90 and 102 and Deuteronomy 28:1-6. Initially, the reaction of the state literary office was very negative. The “censor” concluded the poem conveyed an “absolutely Jewish” disposition. Today’s Germany needed a Neujahrslied that did not fall back on the “slavish attitude of the Psalms,” he alleged. However, Klepper’s special appeal to Goebbels resulted in final approval to publish the poem.27

We do not now if Braun knew about Klepper’s ordeal. We may assume he did since Klepper was well known in German Christian circles at this time. Publication of Neujahrslied at a time the Nazi regime was heavily bearing down on European Jews was not an illegal act. However, its publication in the Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender can be construed as a subtle kind of affirmation of a German poet who was facing the storm. It was “exactly something Braun was capable of doing, according to Friesen.28

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1. Christlicher Gemeinde-Kalender, 1941. Hereafter cited as CGK. I would very much like to thank my brother, Rev. B.K. Homan, Enhuizen, the Netherlands, for calling my attention to the publication of this poem in CGK.

2. There are many biographies of Klepper. Among them are: Rita Thalmann, Jochen Klepper: Ein Leben swischen Idyllen und Katastrophen (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1978) and Ilse Jonas, Jochen Klepper: Dichter und Zeuge by Ilse Jonas (Berlin: Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag, 1967). The most recent one, based upon heretofore unpublished materials, is by Martin Wecht, Jochen Klepper: Ein christlicher Schriftsteller im jüdischen Schicksal (Düsseldorf: Archiv der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland, 1998). The best source for Klepper’s life and work during the 1930s and 1940s is his very extensive diary: Unter dem Schatten deiner Flügel. Aus den Tagebücher der Jahren 1932-1942 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1983). His dismissal is recorded on p. 282.

3. Klepper’s problems with the Reichsschriftskammer (state literary office) are discussed in Ernst Reimschneider, Der Fall Klepper: Eine Dokumentation (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1975), passim.


4. Jochen Klepper, Der Vater: Roman eines Königs (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1937). There have been more editions since 1937.

5. Thalmann, Klepper, 92; Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 234.

6.Reimschneider, Klepper, 57ff.; Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 545.

7. Thalmann, Klepper, 253; Wecht to author, April 27, 1999.

8. Hanni was baptized in December, 1938 and Renate in June, 1940. Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 688, 699, 894.

9. Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 761, 765.

10. Wecht, Klepper, 224.

11. Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 789, 871-872, 877, 898.

12. Ibid., 925.

13. Ibid., 809, 932; Thalmann, Klepper, 287, 319, 321; Riemschneider, Klepper, 119. By Hitler’s decree of April 8, 1940 many offspring of mixed marriages involving Jews and all Germans married to Jews were dismissed from the armed forces.

14. Klepper kept a very extensive diary during his short military career. It was published after the war under the title: Überwindung: Tagebücher und Aufzeichnungen aus dem Kriege (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1958). Wecht sheds further light on Klepper’s military career on the basis of Klepper-Hanni correspondence, Wecht, Klepper, 285.

15. Klepper, Überwindung, 225ff.

16. Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 972, 975.

17. Ibid., 1002.

18. Ibid., 981ff., 1032; Thalmann, Klepper, 372-380. Klepper had often considered suicide as an option. The earliest reference is June 23, 1933. He did not consider suicide a sin because such a deed did not offend the Holy Spirit. Klepper, Unter dem Schatten, 76-77.

19. Mennonite Encyclopedia, 1:585.

20. CGK, 1892-1941, passim.

21. Ibid., 23 (1914): 145-146; vols. 23-27, passim.

22. Dietrich G. Lichdi, Mennoniten im Dritten Reich. Dokumentation und Deutung (Weierhof/Pfaltz: Mennonitischer Geschichtstverein, 1977), 62; Dietrich G. Lichdi, “The Story of Nazism and Its Reception by German Mennonites,” Mennonite Life, 36 (March 1981): 24-31.

23. CGK, 49 (1941): passim; vol. 50 (1941): passim. Very interesting is CGK advertising, which offered i.a. “rum, cognac, arrack, tobacco and cigars.”

24. Irmgard Hörner-Braun, “Abraham Braun,” Mennonitisches Jahrbuch, 1998, pp. 83-88; Abraham Friesen, Historical Research in the Anabaptist/Mennonite Tradition (North Newton, KS: Bethel College, 1994), 5ff.

25. Lichdi, passim. No German Mennonite is listed among conscientious objectors in: Norbert Haase and Gerhard Paul, Die anderen Soldaten: Wehrkraftersetzung, Gerhorsams-Verweigerung und Fahnenflucht im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Frankfurt a.m.: Fisher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1995); Heidi and Albrecht Hartmann, Kriegsverweigerung im Dritten Reich (Frankfurt a.m.: Haag and Herchen, 1986); Karsten Bredemeier, Kriegsverweigerung im Dritten Reich (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschft, 1991).

26. Abraham Friesen to author, June 6, 1999.

27. Wecht, Kleppper, 163-164; Riemschneider, Klepper, 52-55.

28. Abraham Friesen to author, June 6, 1999.

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Mennonite Historical Bulletin, July 2000