A Call To Faithfulness:
Dutch Mennonites Facing The Storm In 1940

by Gerlof D. Homan

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On May 10, 1940, Nazi legions invaded the Netherlands, a nation that remained unscathed during the First World War and hoped it could also escape the ravages of the new conflict that descended upon Europe in September 1939 when Hitler attacked Poland. The Dutch resisted the German invasion, but the struggle against overwhelming odds was short-lived, and on May 15 the Dutch military capitulated. At that time few Dutch citizens realized what horrors lay in store for them in the next five years of Nazi terror.

Dutch Mennonites would share in the general agony and pain as they and other citizens were subjected to many humiliating and cruel measures. Many of them would lose their lives, suffer mentally and economically, and in a few instances see the destruction of their houses of worship. How well were they prepared to face the storm?

In 1940 Dutch Mennonites numbered about 30,000 members and 130 congregations, some of which were very small and others quite large. They were not like their famous 16th- and 17th-century ancestors; they embraced rather liberal theological beliefs even discarding the idea of conscientious objection to war.1 In the years before the outbreak of war in 1940 some successful efforts had been made to breathe new life into Dutch Mennonitism. But many congregations were not very much affected by it. Congregations were autonomous and received little leadership from their national organization, the Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit (ADS).

The Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit, or General Mennonite Conference, was established in 1811 in an effort to unify various factions and groups. But it had never emerged, or was not allowed to emerge, as a strong national organization. That would change during the war when special times called for different leadership. An example of this new kind of leadership was the ADS call in September 1940 to all Doopsgezinde congregations to face the current storm. It was drafted by F. Dijkema, one of the pastors of the large Mennonite congregation in Amsterdam and member of the executive committee of ADS, and slightly edited by its chairman, F.H. Pasma.2 Below is a translation of this call:

Central Mennonite Conference 3

Amsterdam, September 1940

To all church boards of Mennonite Congregations

Brothers and Sisters!
The Executive Committee of ADS feels itself called to direct itself to you in connection with the difficult time in which we are currently living.

We hope that you feel with us that we must, with God's help, do everything that is in our power to bring the ship of the Brotherhood through the turbulent waters to a safe haven. Our fathers did that too in times that were equal in difficulties and dangers, yes, which in that regard, in many ways, even surpassed them. Thinking back to those stirring times of our Brotherhood, here and elsewhere, we can look up to that cloud of witnesses who "kept what they had," and we must do that with thankfulness towards those faithful, and with the humble prayer that the Almighty God will strengthen us as He did them. Prof. Knappert 4 has in his evaluation of our oldest martyrs' book, Het Offer des Heeren,5 reminded us of the word Noblesse Oblige. Let us take this to heart what was said by this non-Mennonite brother. For four centuries our Brotherhood has resisted the undermining and destructive powers of the world. Ours task is to extend the burning torch, given to us by the ancestors.

Are we all well aware of the responsibility that rests upon us especially in this time? Certainly not. The material and spiritual condition of many of our congregations show clearly that they are not borne by the love and affection by those who belong to them. And yet, we must deeply and earnestly realize that what our Brotherhood possesses as a call requires and is worthy of everyone's support, because it 6 is a Christian Brotherhood. The treasures given by God in Christ to the world are also entrusted to it. As its share, it has fulfilled, with human imperfection, but also with and for us often embarrassing power and sacrifice, the task given to the Christian church, to wit, the glorification and worship of God, the heralding of God's redeeming love as revealed in Christ, the preaching of the Good News commanded by Christ, and in so doing given to individuals and the world an eternal blessing. It has done this according to the light given to it by the revelation of God, and thereby stressed the unbreakable connection between faith and life, so that faith has to reveal itself in life, personal faith, and the biblical foundation on which one can only build with hope. And thus it has gained and kept so far its own place amidst Christian churches and communities, to which it must feel itself otherwise bound through the same origin and the same goal.

He who knows history will feel compelled to thank God for His preservation of our Brotherhood through all times, but also will think back with respect to those who looked forward to the completion of the Kingdom of God, prayed in His power, fought and worked to prepare the way of the Lord.

Our time calls all of us with a loud warning voice to place ourselves in their ranks. No one knows how the world will emerge from the present chaos. But it will certainly be a world that needs for its preservation the Gospel, as a strength from God, and men and women who stand in that power and present a living witness of what God gives them in Christ. It will also be a world which cannot do without the foci whence streams which glow with the light which is the life with God, the true eternal life. Such foci are also our congregations. How small they often are at the place where they are established; they are God's ambassadors to the world.

If the world does not want to impoverish itself hopelessly they must be preserved, and if we -- and the offspring that come after us and asks us what we have done with what was entrusted to us -- want to keep our faith strong and alive. Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, love the Brotherhood and love our congregations to which you have once tied yourselves with your promises upon which you received baptism. Seek her and support her so that the Brotherhood will remain strong and strengthen you in your Christian faith.
The Master is here and He calls you! God is faithful, be faithful to God!

With God's Speed and brotherly greetings
Executive Committee of ADS

P.S. Inform the members of the congregations of the contents of this piece.7

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The language of this statement is not very stirring and many sentences are a bit long if not convoluted, posing an interesting challenge to the translator. But it tells us much about the history and state of Dutch Mennonitism in 1940. Especially important is the lament over the congregations' spiritual malaise and the reminder of the shining and inspiring faith of famous Mennonite ancestors. One is also struck by the call's theology; it did not reflect the kind of liberalism or modernism one would expect. On the contrary; it contained very little with which American Mennonites, who had often decried their Dutch brothers' and sisters' embrace of modernism, could disagree.

In general, ADS's call is very cautious and did not openly denounce National Socialism, the new ideology whose principal tenets were totally incompatible with Christian values. Nor did it refuse cooperation with the new authorities. Especially in the post-war era this caution or neutral attitude would provoke much criticism. It was felt that ADS should have displayed more courage to speak boldly against various occupation policies.8 Yet, about one month later, in October 1940, ADS did join other churches in denouncing the beginning of Nazi persecution of the Jews. It would do so again on several other occasions during the war when it protested against various occupation policies.9

Perhaps ADS hoped that Mennonites might remain faithful by reminding them of the splendid testimony of their famous ancestors, and by admonishing congregations to remain "ambassadors of God." Let us hope ADS assumed Mennonites clearly understood they could only do so by rejecting the Nazi call to paganism. Most Dutch Mennonites would reject Nazi ideology. Unfortunately, some, including a few ministers, embraced it.

--Gerlof D. Homan, born in the Netherlands, teaches history at Illinois State University.

End Notes

1. On a Dutch view of Dutch Mennonitism prior to World War II see the author's "Early Twentieth-Century Dutch-American Mennonite Contacts," Mennonite Historical Bulletin 53 (April 1992): 6-10.

2. F. H. Pasma, "ADS - voorzitter in oorlogstijd," Stemmen uit de Doopsgezinde Boederschap 12 (1963): 13. Interesting also is an editorial by W. Koekebakker, editor of De Zondagsbode, the official ADS organ, on September 29, 1940. In it he lamented the "iron times" Mennonites and others were now experiencing. But he also felt this was a blessed time for those who wanted to "think and act." The glow that bent the iron of our times and melted it in the mold provided by God, he wrote, purified our souls in a crucible. Strong people were needed to bend the iron on the paths God walks, he believed, but stronger men were needed to walk on God's paths and to be "messengers of His love, not in word but in the fire and glow of the Holy Spirit." (p. 1).

3. A copy of this document is in the ADS Archives which have been deposited in the Gemeente Archief [County Archive] of Amsterdam. Its archival number is 843.79. It was also published in De Zondagsbode, September 22, 1940, p. 1

4. Laurentius Knappert (1863-1943) was professor of church history at the University of Leiden who appreciated Mennonites and wrote a few articles about their history. He was especially impressed with early Dutch Mennonites who, he felt, had been persecuted more than any other religious groups. In his book, Van der vaderen lijdensmoed [About the fathers' courage to suffer] (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussey, 1927] Knappert wrote: "And although the writer of these lines does not belong to the Mennonites, he can nevertheless imagine that those who do, read with pride about their fathers' courage to suffer and will repeat for themselves the old saying, Noblesse oblige" (16). It is interesting to note that Knappert, unlike Dijkma in his call, did not use the French noblesse oblige but the Dutch, adeldom verplicht.

5. Het Offer des Heeren [The Sacrifice to the Lord] was the first of Dutch Mennonite martyr books. The first edition appeared in 1562 to be followed by ten more in the next forty years. It contains several accounts of the suffering of Dutch Mennonite martyrs and provides us with much information on the persecution of 16th century Anabaptists in the Netherlands. Het Offer des Heeren became the foundation of Tieleman Jansz van Braght's famous Het Bloedig Toneel der Doops-gesinde en Weereloose Christenen . . . [The bloody theater of Mennonites and defenseless Christians. . .] more commonly known in Dutch as the Martelaersspiegel or Martyr's Mirror the first edition of which appeared in 1660. For a critical study of Het offer des Heeren see S. Kramer, Het Offer des Heeren: De oudste verzameling Doopsgezinde martelaarsbrieven en offerliederen (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1904).

6. At this time Dutch spelling and grammar had been modernized and simplified and only in very obvious cases still used gender designations. However, ADS continued to refer to the Mennonite Brotherhood as a female entity. In this translation I have not used the pronoun "she." Yet, to me a female brotherhood in this time of gender consciousness may seems to be an interesting albeit, accidental linguistic solution and compromise.

7. For further reading on the Dutch Mennonite experience in World War II see the author's articles "We Must . . . and Can Stand Firmly: Dutch Mennonites in World War II." The Mennonite Quarterly Review, 69 (1) (Jan. 1995): 7-36 and "Nederlandse Doopsgezinden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog." Doopsgezinde Bijdragen. New Series, 21 (1996): 165-196.

8. See Elisabeth I.T. Brussee-van der Zee, "De Doopsgezinde Broederschap en het Nationaal Socialisme in de jaren 1933-1945" (Doctoraalscriptie, University of Amsterdam, 1985).

9. L. de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (The Hague: Staatsuitgeverij, 1972), 2: 719; H.C. Touw, Het verzet der Hervormde Kerk (The Hague: Boekencentrum, 1946), 1 and 2: passim.

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Mennonite Historical Bulletin, October, 1996