The dangerous game, continued.

Alas, I can no more claim my warrior uncles’ shared mantle of virtue than I can atone for Hamm’s crimes against humanity. It’s a historic fluke (or inscrutable act of God) that brought my gene pool to this side of the Atlantic, while the rest of my tribe stayed put in momentary comfort, only to endure successive scourges of 20th century European warfare and Russian revolution. Had the tables been turned the other way, how much Nazi generosity would I have had the sand to resist?

A Mennonite woman at her home in the Chortitza colony in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, 1943, sewing with photograph of Hitler on the wall: source.

Still, I’m struck by Hamm’s splenetic antisemitism. A reader of the typed report might argue Hamm was playing to his Nazi audience, but Hamm’s letters to Russian Mennonite clergy bear signs of conviction in this matter. And there is no indication he ever received correction from the clergy. We are at a great remove from the Sermon on the Mount here.

It is a remove kicked into gear decades earlier. When Russia dissolved into chaos at the close of the Great War, Mennonite clergy declared a dispensation on their strict adherence to pacifism — a historic first.

At that time Mennonite communities were suffering anarchist raids led by Nestor Makhno, the details of which are brutal. Their reflexive formation of militia units — Selbstschutz — was an epic, if understandable, blunder for the Mennonites. In hindsight, aligning with Tsarist Germans in the heart of Ukraine as the twin fevers of Russian nationalism and revolution were in full flare was a tactic fated to end poorly, to put it mildly.

As is the way with these things, following traumatic defeat at the hands of Makhno’s Red Army-backed goons, a sense of grievance and abandonment set in. Germans had been the only people to consistently show sympathy for the beleaguered Mennonites — thereafter I imagine it became a common conviction that only Germans could be trusted in this increasingly hostile environment. As the German Tsarists morphed into Nazis, some ideological bleed-over was almost inevitable. When your only pals with guns are spouting an endless stream of antisemitic hooey, it probably doesn’t take much of a nudge to jump tracks and lay the sins of Bolshevism at the feet of the Jews.

Selbstschutz, round 2: this time led by Nazis: source.

Full disclosure: were we to procede further with the Mennonite Game into the realm of Mennonite Eugenics, my blood is 100% pure Kleine Gemeinde — the holiest of the holy, baby!¹ If there is one skill we have honed over the generations it is a keen proficiency for locating the mote in your eye. When the trembling remnant of our Russian tribe finally relocated to our neck of the woods in Canada, we let it be known (in ways both subtle and not) that, had they but followed God’s Word like we did when we did, all their troubles would have been avoided. For some reason they never felt like unburdening themselves of their sins in this environment.

We heard a great deal about Nestor Makhno, though. If you ever want to see an 85-year-old Mennonite’s face turn dark with hatred, just say that name out loud.

Or present them with this adorable figurine collectible.

It’s curious to read Makhno’s Wiki. The rough outline of his life and actions is set down with a cool dispassion. And for reasons I can’t begin to fathom, the issue of his possible antisemitism is raised and kinda-sorta settled in his favour. So long as you were up for war against “the rich bourgeoisie of all nationalities” — including your own — you were welcome aboard Team Makhno.

None of this in any way excuses or exonerates my tribe, never mind Ham and Epp, for words said and grievous actions taken. I raise these matters in the conviction that it behooves Mennonites² and Mennonite Historians in particular to not just uncover the “What” but to meditate hard on the “Why” of the matter — particularly at this hour of our history. Without at least cursory attention to the “beams” warping the critical acumen of our own current milieu, I should think the chances of some variant of recidivism are greatly increased.

End-note: John Longhurst covers a night of history-baring at the Jewish Heritage Centre in Winnipeg. More of this, please.

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1 Fun fact: I am one-quarter Goossen. O bah, Ben, once — if you’re up for a round of the Mennonite Game, drop me a note!^↩ 2 I almost wrote “Mennonite Theologians,” but that’s redundant. We are all theologians — especially the Mennonite atheists.^↩