Benjamin Unruh, Nazism, and MCC
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Issue Date
2022-04
Authors
Neufeldt-Fast, Arnold
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Type
Article
Keywords
Unruh, Benjamin Heinrich, 1881-1959
National socialism
Nazism
Mennonite Central Committee
Bender, Harold Stauffer, 1897-1962
Mennonites—Germany—20th century
Mennonites--Paraguay--History--20th century
National socialism
Nazism
Mennonite Central Committee
Bender, Harold Stauffer, 1897-1962
Mennonites—Germany—20th century
Mennonites--Paraguay--History--20th century
Citation
Neufeldt-Fast, Arnold. “Benjamin Unruh, Nazism, and MCC.” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 96, no. 2 (April 2022): 157-205.
Abstract
This essay explores Mennonite Central Committee’s encounters with National Socialism in the person and work of Benjamin H. Unruh (1881-1959), the official representative of Russian Mennonites in Germany throughout the period of National Socialism. Benjamin Unruh’s extensive correspondence deposited in five Mennonite archives and his published articles are used to document and assess how MCC’s humanitarian efforts with Soviet Mennonites were entangled with National Socialism and its legacy. The essay explores the roots of Unruh’s pro-German Mennonite orientation, documents his growing pro-Nazism in the 1930s, and his explicit promotion of its racial goals. A fresh reading of these materials offers a more complete accounting of the tumultuous events of the twentieth century in which Unruh played a role, and identifies related themes in the larger Russian Mennonite community which embraced his leadership.
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Mennonite Central Committee
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Copyright, Mennonite Central Committee. All rights reserved.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/