- Summary
- "Mennonites in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Ukraine lived in communities with Jews and close to various Nazi camps and Holocaust killing sites. As a result of this proximity, Mennonites were neighbours to and witnessed the destruction of European Jews. In some cases they were beneficiaries or even enablers of the Holocaust. Much of this history was forgotten after the war, as Mennonites sought to rebuild or find new homes as refugees. The result was a myth of Mennonite innocence and ignorance that connected their own suffering during the 1930s and 1940s with earlier centuries of persecution and marginalization. European Mennonites and the Holocaust identifies a significant number of Mennonite perpetrators, along with a smaller number of Mennonites who helped Jews survive, examining the context in which they acted. In some cases, theology led them to accept or reject Nazi ideals. In others, Mennonites chose a closer embrace of German identity as a strategy to improve their standing with Germans or for material benefit." -- Provided by publisher.
- Series
- Transnational Mennonite studies
- Format
- Book
- Published
- Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press : published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, [2020]
©2020
- Locale
- Europe
- Contents
-
Introduction: Neighbours, killers, enablers, witnesses: The many roles of Mennonites in the Holocaust / Doris L. Bergen, Mark Jantzen, and John D. Thiesen
Introduction to Chapter 1: Mennonites and Nazi crimes: Gerhard Rempel's call for historical reckoning / Doris L. Bergen
Mennonites, war crimes, and the Holocaust / Gerhard Rempel, edited by Doris L. Bergen with John D. Thiesen
Enjoying the entitlements of German freedom: German Mennonites and Nazi church-state policy / James Irvin Lichti
Antisemitism and the concept of Volk: the Mennonite youth circular community at the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship / Imanuel Baumann
German Mennonite theology in the era of National Socialism / Arnold Neufeldt-Fast
Dutch Mennonite theologians and Nazism / Pieter Post
Mennonite collaboration with Nazism: a case study of the responses of Mennonites in Deutsch Wymyschle, Poland, to the plight of local Jews during the early Nazi occupation period (1939-1942) / Colin P. Neufeldt
Mennonites in Ukraine before, during and immediately after the Second World War / Dmytro Myeshkov
A portrait of Khortytsya/Zaporizhzhia under occupation / Aileen Friesen
Dutch Mennonites and Yad Vashem recognition / Alle G. Hoekema
Identity and complicity: the post-Second World War emigration of Chortitza Mennonites / Erika Weidemann
A usable past: Soviet Mennonite memories of the Holocaust / Hans Werner
Selective memory: Danziger Mennonite reflections on the Nazi era, 1945-1950 / Steven Schroeder.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Jantzen, Mark, 1963- editor.
Thiesen, John D., editor.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: Neighbours, killers, enablers, witnesses: The many roles of Mennonites in the Holocaust / Doris L. Bergen, Mark Jantzen, and John D. Thiesen -- Introduction to Chapter 1: Mennonites and Nazi crimes: Gerhard Rempel's call for historical reckoning / Doris L. Bergen -- Mennonites, war crimes, and the Holocaust / Gerhard Rempel, edited by Doris L. Bergen with John D. Thiesen -- Enjoying the entitlements of German freedom: German Mennonites and Nazi church-state policy / James Irvin Lichti -- Antisemitism and the concept of Volk: the Mennonite youth circular community at the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship / Imanuel Baumann -- German Mennonite theology in the era of National Socialism / Arnold Neufeldt-Fast -- Dutch Mennonite theologians and Nazism / Pieter Post -- Mennonite collaboration with Nazism: a case study of the responses of Mennonites in Deutsch Wymyschle, Poland, to the plight of local Jews during the early Nazi occupation period (1939-1942) / Colin P. Neufeldt -- Mennonites in Ukraine before, during and immediately after the Second World War / Dmytro Myeshkov -- A portrait of Khortytsya/Zaporizhzhia under occupation / Aileen Friesen -- Dutch Mennonites and Yad Vashem recognition / Alle G. Hoekema -- Identity and complicity: the post-Second World War emigration of Chortitza Mennonites / Erika Weidemann -- A usable past: Soviet Mennonite memories of the Holocaust / Hans Werner -- Selective memory: Danziger Mennonite reflections on the Nazi era, 1945-1950 / Steven Schroeder.
