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    Published: 2023-08-161
    Vol. 64 No. 1 (2022)

    Divided Loyalties: The Political Radicalization of Wymyśle Niemieckie Mennonites in Interwar Poland (1918-1939)

    Wojciech Marchlewski

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1483-5909

    Colin P. Neufeldt

    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2719-3477
    https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2022.06

    Abstract

    By examining the increasing politicization of Mennonites from Wymyśle Niemieckie, Poland during the 1920s and 1930s, this article challenges the common misperception that Mennonites are apolitical. As a German-speaking ethnic minority in Poland, Wymyśle Niemieckie Mennonites felt increasingly isolated and discriminated against as a result of the challenging economic conditions following the Great Depression and the increasingly authoritarian and nationalist policies of the Polish government in the 1930s. As a result, some of these Mennonites looked to German-nationalist and pro-Nazi political parties (including the NSDAP) for support; some Mennonites also joined these parties as members. The Polish government came to view some of these Wymyśle Niemieckie Mennonites as a threat, conducted police surveillance operations against them, and put them on anti-state watch lists. Some of these Mennonites were also incarcerated at the government detention camp at Bereza Kartuska. Collectively, these developments prompted Wymyśle Niemieckie Mennonites to support the Germany occupation forces after the outbreak of World War II.

    Keywords:

    Mennonites, Wymyśle Niemieckie, Deutsch Wymyschle, pro-German etnic minority, nationalist, non-resistance

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    Marchlewski, W., & Neufeldt, C. (2023). Divided Loyalties: The Political Radicalization of Wymyśle Niemieckie Mennonites in Interwar Poland (1918-1939). Theological Yearbook, 64(1). https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2022.06

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