Benjamin Unruh

[joshuabgood]

What jumped out to me was the way he was persuaded by, and argued for, ethnic/national separatism and boundaries. And feeling like, similar to arguments I hear today, that said reasoning is scriptural because "nationalities in heaven" and then arguing for a hard right view of immigration ethno purism. Also the "rational" way he would explain that Heil Hitler is a way of saying God save the King and is therefore wishing salvation on the King God set up - or some such rationale. And the fact that he was a member of the SS and literally wore the SS pin, and had individual meetings with Himmler almost defy belief...and testified in favor of German officials in the the war crimes trials. The focus on law and order...etc.

It is probably just me but it seems like a lot of that sentiment is currently in the air. And a weakening of suffering love. There are quite a few CA adjacent churches, filled with formerly CA (Amish, Beachy Amish, Mennonite (OO and NO) where people "conceal and carry" right into the church house.

[JohnH]

What jumped out to me was the way he was persuaded by, and argued for, ethnic/national separatism and boundaries. And feeling like, similar to arguments I hear today, that said reasoning is scriptural because "nationalities in heaven" and then arguing for a hard right view of immigration ethno purism. Also the "rational" way he would explain that Heil Hitler is a way of saying God save the King and is therefore wishing salvation on the King God set up - or some such rationale. And the fact that he was a member of the SS and literally wore the SS pin, and had individual meetings with Himmler almost defy belief...and testified in favor of German officials in the the war crimes trials. The focus on law and order...etc.

It is probably just me but it seems like a lot of that sentiment is currently in the air. And a weakening of suffering love. There are quite a few CA adjacent churches, filled with formerly CA (Amish, Beachy Amish, Mennonite (OO and NO) where people "conceal and carry" right into the church house.

The Nazi Party also conducted anti-smoking campaigns. That doesn't mean the Beachy position against tobacco smoking is somehow wrong.

[Judas Maccabeus]

There is a fascinating article that deals with Unruh here:

https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2020/0 ... e-midwife/

This highlights the strong ties to the SS, of which he was in fact, a member.. Which brings to mind a few questions:

1. How did he escape the denazification efforts in post-war Germany? Was he simply not important enough?

2. The US intelligence apparatus had to know about this guy. Why did they not warn MCC, even through back channels, not to associate with this person?

I mean, he's not a person who can help various American efforts, like the people brought here under Project Paperclip. So how did they miss him?

[Judas Maccabeus]

There is a fascinating article that deals with Unruh here:

https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2020/0 ... e-midwife/

This highlights the strong ties to the SS, of which he was in fact, a member.. Which brings to mind a few questions:

1. How did he escape the denazification efforts in post-war Germany? Was he simply not important enough?

2. The US intelligence apparatus had to know about this guy. Why did they not warn MCC, even through back channels, not to associate with this person? Or did they, which is how Orae Miller found out about him?

I mean, he's not a person who can help various American efforts, like the people brought here under Project Paperclip. So how did they miss him?

[JohnH]

2. The US intelligence apparatus had to know about this guy. Why did they not warn MCC, even through back channels, not to associate with this person?

I don't think the U.S. intelligence services cared. Didn't affect the war effort.

History is written by the victors, and the general belief system that anyone associated with the Third Reich is next door to Satan himself is a more of a post-war phenomenon (such as, for example, the level of obsession in this thread).

[PeterG]

The US intelligence apparatus had to know about this guy. Why did they not warn MCC, even through back channels, not to associate with this person?

US intelligence efforts were much less extensive before WW2 than afterward, so it wouldn't surprise me if Unruh was entirely unknown to the US government before the war.

[R7ehr]

If the US wasn’t at war with Germany, and Unruh wasn’t a Nazi, do you think that Mennonites would have settled more in the US instead of going to South America and Canada?
What if the France or Poland was the aggressor instead of Germany, and Germany was an Allied country? Would have the Mennonites in Ukraine come to the US?

What if…

[barnhart]

If the US wasn’t at war with Germany, and Unruh wasn’t a Nazi, do you think that Mennonites would have settled more in the US instead of going to South America and Canada?
What if the France or Poland was the aggressor instead of Germany, and Germany was an Allied country? Would have the Mennonites in Ukraine come to the US?

What if…

The article mentions the Ukrainian mennonite leadership were suspicious of Candace because the land plot grid on the prairie was against their German culture.

[JohnH]

If the US wasn’t at war with Germany, and Unruh wasn’t a Nazi, do you think that Mennonites would have settled more in the US instead of going to South America and Canada?
What if the France or Poland was the aggressor instead of Germany, and Germany was an Allied country? Would have the Mennonites in Ukraine come to the US?

What if…

The article mentions the Ukrainian mennonite leadership were suspicious of Candace because the land plot grid on the prairie was against their German culture.

I am myself suspicious of Candace Owens, but not because of how she has arranged her garden.

[Neto]

If the US wasn’t at war with Germany, and Unruh wasn’t a Nazi, do you think that Mennonites would have settled more in the US instead of going to South America and Canada?
What if the France or Poland was the aggressor instead of Germany, and Germany was an Allied country? Would have the Mennonites in Ukraine come to the US?

What if…

The US stopped *all* (that is, on the books) immigration from that part of Europe in 1880. (Perhaps unless the person was sponsored by close relatives - My great grandfather, his full brother, mother, step father, and half siblings came in 1890.)

All of my other ancestors came to the US (directly from the Russian Empire through Germany) in 1874. They all settled in Kansas and Nebraska. (They also all came from 'South Russia', which is now Ukraine.)