He wrote about the swastika, claiming it for all peoples, including the Jews:
The swastika (symbolizing both a wheel of fire and the turning wheel of the sun) points to this kindling of flame, which from remotest times was held to be holy. The swastika is an ancient symbol of fire sticks laid at right angles. The hooks at the ends of the sticks suggest quick motion like a whirling wheel, showing the quick rotation that causes ignition. The spark is the result of the motion. Thus in the Far East the swastika, as the fire-cross denoting kindling in primitive times, became the symbol for cause and effect. Rotary friction was recognized as the cause and fire as the effect.
The fact that we find this fire-cross of two hooked sticks as early as the new stone age proves that it had universal significance. As a symbol of life and community, the kindling of fire by the twirling of sticks is the common property of all peoples. As a symbol of fire-kindling and of the sun-wheel, the swastika belongs to primeval people. All descendents, without distinction of race and blood, have a right to it. So it is not surprising that all the Aryan tribes as well as the Phoenicians of Canaan preserved this sign of the life-giving power of sunlight and fire-kindling. Fire, the kindling of fire, and the community of fire belong also to the Jewish inhabitants of Canaan.21
He addressed the question of blood and race—an idea that would lead to the murder of millions of Jews:
Without the fire of the Holy Spirit, community dies. It peters out in slavery to alien peoples where other flames burn—unholy fires of our own works and the emotional enthusiasm of blood, which is demonic.22
Innerland, and the chapter “Light and Fire” in particular, was a deliberate public statement Eberhard Arnold made at this decisive moment of Germany’s history.
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Everyone living at the Rhön Bruderhof recognized the need to be firmly grounded. On April 15, Eberhard baptized a group of twenty-one, including his two youngest children, Hans-Hermann and Monika. The next day, Easter Sunday, he spoke very seriously:
There is so much suffering in the world. We hear rumors of a new European war. When a political and military alliance is formed between Italy and Germany, the war will be upon us. Right now Herr von Papen and Goering are in Italy negotiating with Mussolini. At the same time there is the war between China and Japan, and inside Russia the Soviet army is ready for war. A student told me that faculty circles in Marburg are definitely of the opinion that Germany will be at war in a very short time. And Marburg is a center for National Socialist university people.
Christ was killed by the most disciplined army and the most thorough legal system: Rome. He was murdered by the most pious and religious people. He was crucified by the majority cry of the democratic masses. His execution was based on political and religious reasons, and we in our day can expect such executions once again—for political and religious motives . . . In other words, in this year—1900 years after Jesus died on the cross—we find ourselves standing under the sign of the gallows, the cross. So with trembling hearts we hear that in the year 1933 Hitler has erected a gallows in Germany. The important thing now is to ask ourselves whether we are prepared in this year to be hanged on this gallows—in Fulda or Kassel or Berlin—to be hanged even this year.23
The brotherhood circle met every night after dinner. As they encouraged one another to trust in God, Eberhard repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of the hour.
We gather for prayer in order to confess our nothingness and inadequacy, to declare before God that we cannot say the kingdom of God is here, but to plead that it come. We approach God with empty hands. We raise them and open them to him, and we kneel before him to express our smallness and emptiness. In this way we come to God in the absolute certainty that Jesus’ words are true: The kingdom of God has drawn near! And when you ask God for the Holy Spirit, nothing will be impossible for you. Miracles will take place, mountains will be torn from their position, and the whole situation as it is on earth will be changed.
This is true not only for you and the limited extent of your daily life, but if your prayer is genuine, if you really want nothing but the kingdom of God, then you will think of all the countries of the world. You will call upon God to intervene in the history of the nations, in the history of classes, in the history that has brought injustice to its climax; you will call upon him to come with his judgment and to let his righteousness and his peace break in like the dawn. That is the prayer of the church of God.
It is dangerous to call upon God in this way, for it means we are ready, not only to rise from our place, but to be hurled down from our place. Let us concentrate all our powers on Jesus’ nearness, on the silent coming of the Holy Spirit, ready for everything to be changed by his intervention.24
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When the summer semester opened on April 1, Hardy transferred his studies from the University of Tübingen to Zurich. From the safety of Switzerland, he wrote a letter at his father’s request to Elias Walter, a Hutterian elder in Alberta, Canada, informing Walter of the perilous situation confronting the Bruderhof.
April 27, 1933
Unfortunately, my dear father can no longer write in specifics about our Bruderhof because we are under constant police surveillance. Letters may be opened at any time without our knowledge. It is now forbidden in Germany, on pain of imprisonment, to write to anyone abroad about what the present authorities have done, will do, or allow to be done. Therefore we ask you not to write a single word about the German government in any letter you write to Germany. If you do, our servants of the Word will be put into prison.
Twice, armed police were on our property, the second time only a few days ago on the Wednesday before Easter. They surrounded our place with armed men as though we threatened them with war. Nineteen hundred years ago Jesus said, “You came out with swords and staves to take me, as though against a murderer” (Matt 26:55).
We will not leave Jesus Christ and his way. My father has notified the authorities . . . that we must live for peace, for justice, and for the joy of God’s kingdom in full community, that we cannot lift a finger for the armed services of the German military but that we do respect and recognize the government wherever that does not conflict with our conscience as Christians and does not contradict the words of Jesus Christ.
They occupied our houses for five hours with armed power and searched everything. They examined our writings and books for anything against the government. It was clear that they would find nothing, because nothing evil or violent can ever be among us . . . A high government official warned us ahead of time that because unknown enemies had denounced us, armed police were coming. So my dear father . . . had asked for a cake to be baked, and when they came, he invited them to coffee and cake. The miracle happened: they came in a spirit of enmity, but all twelve men accepted our hospitality. They sat with my dear father at our communal table listening to the truth of the Gospel . . .
We expect the government to make it difficult for our school to continue. My father asks me to tell you that we will emigrate only if we simply have to shake the dust from our feet. We shall do it immediately if we are no longer allowed to proclaim the full gospel; if we may no longer go out on mission; if we are no longer permitted to instruct children and young people in the right way; and if no more people come to us seeking God and his kingdom, Christ and his church, who long for the life and movement of the Holy Spirit.
We do not know when things will come to that point in Germany. At present our church continues to gather and increase in inward strength and in mission. This was shown at our Easter celebration when more were baptized, and more were present at the Lord’s Supper than we have ever had. Our dining room will soon be too small for all the brothers and sisters.
So our community asks you: please be on the lookout for a place for a hundred and twenty or more of us to come to you in America before long, should the time come for God to give us the great joy of being joined with you as neighbors.
All the brothers and sisters