Editing Bruderhof Communities (section)

== History ==

=== Beginnings in Germany (1920–1937) ===
{{See also|Nazi Dissolution of the Bruderhof}}
[[File:Youth Movement Conference in Germany 1920.jpg|thumb|A gathering of the Youth Movement in 1920]]
The Bruderhof was founded in Germany in 1920 by [[Eberhard Arnold]], a philosophy student and intellectual inspired by the [[German Youth Movement]] and his wife Emmy, ''née'' von Hollander.<ref name="Tyldesley2003">{{cite book|first=Mike|last=Tyldesley|title=No Heavenly Delusion?: A Comparative Study of Three Communal Movements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvRwG1ahKc0C|year=2003|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0853236085 }}</ref> In 1920, the young family with five children rented a house in [[Sinntal|Sannerz]], Hesse, and founded a Christian community.

When the group outgrew the house at Sannerz, they moved to the nearby [[Rhön Mountains]]. While there, Arnold discovered that the Hutterites (an Anabaptist movement he had studied with great interest) were still in existence in North America. In 1930, he traveled to meet the Hutterites and was ordained as a Hutterian minister.

With the rise of [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Nazism]], the Rhön community moved its draft-age men and children to Liechtenstein around 1934 because of their [[conscientious objection|conscientious refusal]] to serve in the armed forces and to accept Nazi teachings. This community became known as the ''Alm Bruderhof''. Continuing pressure from the Nazi government caused others to move to England and found the Cotswold Bruderhof in 1936.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Christian Peace Experiment: The Bruderhof Community in Britain, 1933–1942|last1=Randall|first1=Ian M.|last2=Wright|first2=Nigel G.|date= 2018|publisher=Cascade Books|isbn=978-1532639982}}</ref> On 14 April 1937 secret police surrounded the Rhön Bruderhof, confiscated the property, and gave the remaining community members forty-eight hours to flee the country. By 1938, all the Bruderhof members had reassembled in England.

=== England (1937–1960) ===
[[File:Cotswold Bruderhof.jpg|thumb|Tea break at the Cotswold Bruderhof]]
[[File:Avila Star.jpg|thumb|Avila Star – one of the boats that transported the Bruderhof to Paraguay.]]
In 1936 the Bruderhof had purchased a {{convert|200|acre|adj=on}} farm in England called Ashton Fields, near the village of [[Ashton Keynes]] in the [[Cotswolds]] area.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Christian Peace Experiment|last=Randall|first=Ian|publisher=Cascade Books|year=2018|isbn=978-1532639982|location=Eugene, Oregon|pages=xi}}</ref> Originally intended to be a mission post, it provided sanctuary when they were forced to escape [[Nazi Germany]]. While based in England, the Bruderhof membership grew to over 350 members, largely through the addition of young English members who were conscientious objectors seeking an alternative to the now seemingly inevitable war with Germany. However, even before the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939, the presence of the community's German members and its [[pacifism|pacifist]] stance attracted deep suspicion locally, resulting in economic [[boycotts]] against the farm. 

In 1940, confronted with the option of either having all of its German members interned for the duration and its English members conscripted, or leaving England as a group, the Bruderhof chose the latter and some began to look for refuge abroad.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/does-anyone-know-how-we-can-entice-our-house-martins-back/|title=Does anyone know how we can entice our house martins back? {{!}} The Spectator|date=July 7, 2018|work=The Spectator|access-date=July 6, 2018}}</ref>

Not all members wished to leave England. By Christmas 1941 the remaining group of 19 found a remote {{convert|182|acre|adj=on}} farm for sale, Lower Bromdon Farm in the Clee Hills, near Ludlow in Shropshire, and in March 1942 the group moved in to their new home.<ref>{{Cite web|last=chris-coates|date=April 27, 2013|title=Communal Family Trees (Part 2)|url=http://blog.utopia-britannica.org.uk/117|access-date=July 6, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> By the end of the year the group named itself the Wheathill Bruderhof. In April 1944 they took over the neighboring Upper Bromdon farm of {{convert|165|acre}}, and in 1945 the community extended to Cleeton Court Farm at the foot of Titterstone Clee Hill, bringing the three Wheathill farms to a total size of {{convert|532|acre}}. In 1959 [[Pathé Newsreel]] produced a short film on the community,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|last=Pathé|first=British|title=Communal Village|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/communal-village|access-date=July 13, 2021|website=www.britishpathe.com|language=en-GB}}</ref> just as Bruderhof as a whole was in turmoil, and the Wheathill community closed within the next two years.

=== Paraguay (1941–1961; 2010–present) ===
[[File:Bruderhof in Paraguay.jpg|thumb|Cattle Round-up in Paraguay]]
In 1941, the Bruderhof emigrated from England to Paraguay — at the time the only country that would accept a pacifist community of mixed nationalities. This move was assisted and facilitated by the [[Mennonite Central Committee]].<ref name="Encyclopedia of Community">{{cite book|last1=Levinson|first1=David|last2=Christensen|first2=Karen|title=Encyclopedia of community: from the village to the virtual world, Volume 3|year=2003|publisher=Sage Publications|location=Thousand Oaks, California|pages=105}}</ref>

Starting in the hostile [[Gran Chaco|Chaco]] region, the Bruderhof then relocated to eastern Paraguay where three settlements were founded on a large tract of land called Primavera.<ref>{{Cite book|title=No Lasting Home: A Year in the Paraguayan Wilderness|last=Barth|first=Emmy|publisher=Plough|year=2009|isbn=978-0874869453}}</ref> Bruderhof members founded a hospital for community members and local Paraguayans. The only clinic in the area, it served tens of thousands for the next two decades. By the early 1960s, the community in Paraguay had grown significantly and was attracting visitors from North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/354360788/Community-in-Paraguay-A-Visit-to-the-Bruderhof|title=Community in Paraguay – A Visit to the Bruderhof {{!}} Skirt {{!}} Altar|via=Scribd|access-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref>

In 1942, several leaders of the community came in conflict with a group of members over the community's trajectory. This group, which included the founder's wife Emmy Arnold, argued that the founder's vision was rooted in a [[Pietism|pietistic]] faith in [[Jesus Christ]], not primarily in communitarian ideals. Eventually the church leadership, headed by the founder's son-in-law Hans Zumpe, banished the dissidents from the Bruderhof. Those who supported them were silenced, often with harsh discipline.

Eventually allowed back to join their families, the dissidents re-joined the community. One of them, Johann Heinrich Arnold, a son of Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, was sent with his family to the United States to raise funds and eventually started a new community called Woodcrest, in [[Rifton, New York]], in 1954. Over the following years, conflicts between Zumpe and Arnold continued, culminating in a crisis resulting in Zumpe being relieved of his leadership role by the community. Zumpe left the community in 1960 after revelations of personal issues.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Homage to a Broken Man|last=Mommsen|first=Peter|year=2015 |publisher=Plough|isbn=978-0874866131}}</ref>

Many members who supported Zumpe, and some who were confused by the turmoil, left or were asked to leave the community. Eventually, the communities in Paraguay were dissolved and the members who remained relocated to the United States. Many of those who left the community during the 1960s later returned, but some remained outside of the community and formed a group of critics of the Bruderhof. Their stories formed the basis for the 2000 book written by Julius Rubin, ''The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy among the Bruderhof.''<ref>Julius H. Rubin: ''The Other Side of Joy: Religious Melancholy among the Bruderhof'', New York and Oxford, 2000, pages 132-155.</ref> Rubin himself never visited the Bruderhof.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Randall|first=Ian M.|date=October 1, 2014|title=Church Community is a Gift of the Holy Spirit – The Spirituality of the Bruderhof Community|ssrn=2536364|location=Rochester, NY|publisher=Social Science Research Network}}</ref>

In 2010, the Bruderhof opened the Villa Primavera Community in [[Asunción]], Paraguay.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bruderhof.com/en/where-we-are#paraguay|title=Where We Are|website=Bruderhof|access-date=September 20, 2017}}</ref>

=== United States (1954–present) ===
In 1954, the Bruderhof started a settlement known as the Woodcrest Bruderhof in the United States near [[Rifton, New York]], in response to a dramatic increase in the number of American guests. Woodcrest absorbed the Macedonia Cooperative Community in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and many members of the Kingwood Community in [[New Jersey]]. Through the Macedonia Cooperative Community, Woodcrest inherited the business Community Playthings.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.communityplaythings.com/about-us/history|title=communityplaythings.com – Our History|website=communityplaythings.com|access-date=November 23, 2016}}</ref> Additional new communities were founded in [[Pennsylvania]] (1957) and [[Connecticut]] (1958).

In 1990, the Spring Valley Bruderhof was founded adjacent to the New Meadow Run Bruderhof in [[Farmington, Pennsylvania]]. As of April 2021, there are a total of 18 Bruderhof communities in the United States.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title=Where We Are|url=http://www.bruderhof.com/en/where-we-are#united-states|access-date=September 8, 2020|website=Bruderhof}}</ref>

===Europe (1971–present)===
As of April 2024, there are three Bruderhof Communities in the United Kingdom, two in Germany and two in Austria.<ref name=":3" />

====England====
In 1971, the Bruderhof purchased a property in [[Robertsbridge]], East Sussex, United Kingdom called Darvell.<ref name="darvell">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/inside-the-bruderhof |title=Inside the Bruderhof |date=July 9, 2019 |access-date=October 10, 2019 |website=[[BBC]] Media Centre}}</ref> The property had previously been a [[tuberculosis]] hospital. In 1995, a former sports college in [[Kent]] was purchased. In 2005, the Bruderhof started a small community in [[East London]]. This urban Bruderhof has now been moved to [[Peckham]] in south east London.

====Germany====
In 2002, the Bruderhof purchased a house in Sannerz, Germany. It happened to be the same house where the community was founded by Eberhard Arnold 100 years before. In late 2020 the Bruderhof community gave up the "Sannerzhaus" once again and settled in neighbouring Austria instead.

==== Austria ====
The Bruderhof operate two communities in Austria, those being the Gutshof and the Am Stein locations.

=== Australia (1999–present) ===
The Bruderhof opened a community in [[Elsmore, New South Wales|Elsmore]], a village in the northeast of the Australian state of New South Wales, in 1999. In 2005, the Bruderhof opened a community in the adjacent town of [[Inverell]], where they operate a sign-writing business.<ref name=":1" /> Also in 2005, the Bruderhof opened a community in [[Armidale]], the nearest city to Inverell and Elsmore.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bruderhof.com/en/where-we-are#australia|title=Where We Are|website=Bruderhof|access-date=September 20, 2017}}</ref>

=== South Korea (2022–present) ===
The Bruderhof opened a community in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province in South Korea in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yeongwol Community |url=https://www.bruderhof.com/yeongwol |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Bruderhof |language=en-US}}</ref>