The Canet-Plage Convalescent Home 1

The previous post (see here), which reproduced Henry’s account of his activities in France as an MCC relief worker, was interesting from beginning to end, but one short section stood out for its historical and humanitarian significance. The passage in question recounted Henry’s first months in France.

When I arrived on the field of work late February, 1941, Dr. Henry Wiens was then the director of the Mennonite activities in France. Both Brother Wiens and I were at Lyon for the most part until July of that year when Brother Wiens returned to America. For three weeks in April, however, I had stayed at the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage, helping Brother Jesse Hoover, who came to France one month after me, and Sister Charlotte Gerber, from Switzerland, arrange and organize the opening of that Home. 

The sentence that catches my eye and piques my interest is the last one: “For three weeks in April … I had stayed at the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage, helping Brother Jesse Hoover … and Sister Charlotte Gerber … arrange and organize the opening of that Home.”

The Canet-Plage Convalescent Home was the children’s home that we encountered earlier in the post about Henry and Bea’s colleague, Lois Gunden (here). That home served as a refuge for children whose families were housed, and often held, in refugee camps in the neighboring vicinity. That home was also the portal to freedom for a number of Jewish children who otherwise would have been sent to die in Nazi concentration camps. That Henry was involved, even in a small way, with the establishment of the Canet-Plage Convalescent Home gives us good reason to discover all that we can about this remarkable place. 

There is much yet unknown about the historical context in which the home was founded, not to mention the details of its operation and identities of the people who worked and ministered within it. For the most part, however, I expect that our journey will take the following course.

We will begin by setting the context in which the refugee camps arose and expanded, specifically the mass migration of people as a result of the Spanish Civil War and then World War II. To put faces on these displaced people, we will also reproduce the account of a witness who toured one of these refugee camps. 

With all that as background, we will then turn our attention to the Canet-Plage home itself (photo courtesy of the Mennonite Church USA Archives). When was it established? What was its purpose? How did that purpose evolve over the course of its existence? Who were the key players who served within the home? Who served alongside the home’s primary staff? When and why did the home discontinue its work?

As we seek answers to these and other questions that arise, we will meet individuals such as Lois Gunden, Mary Elmes, Jesse Hoover, Helen Penner, Charlotte Gerber, and many more. We will also see and learn the names and stories of some of the children who called this place home, if only for a short while.

Finally, we will wrap up this series of posts by learning about the legacy of the Canet-Plage home, how it was largely forgotten for years, then remembered and honored when its story was recovered and retold in recent decades.

The series will take some time to complete. Indeed, a purchased copy of the only known history of the home, La villa Saint-Christophe maison de convalescence pour enfants des camps d’internement, will not arrive for at least a month. (It seems to be taking the slow boat from Europe.) I hope everyone reading this is looking forward as much as I am to learning about this great work and about our family’s small part in it. I believe that both the journey and the final destination will be well worth the wait.

Bullers in The Mennonite 5

The previous post in this series focused on Bea and her introduction to the U.S. Mennonite community, an introduction that took place over a series of church talks but most concretely in an autobiographical article, or testimony, published in the 25 April 1944 issue of The Mennonite. 

Of course, Henry was not so much a stranger to the Mennonite churches, but he also had a remarkable story to tell, which is exactly what he did roughly a month later in the 23 May 1944 (pages 9–11 here) issue of The Mennonite. His full article is presented below.

Three Years in Europe 

(Brother Buller returned recently from Europe abroad [sic] the Gripsholm. He with his wife and Lois Gunden were interned for over a year at Baden-Baden, Germany.)

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40.

“When you return to America and see your people, we want you to tell them how much we have appreciated what you are doing for us and for our dear little ones!” Many a time have we, who were in the work in France, been thus asked to express the appreciation and gratitude of the people with whom and for whom we worked in the various projects of the Secour Mennonite Aux Enfants. Not infrequently the feelings of the people had been deeply stirred and it was with tears in their eyes that they expressed their happiness to find that there were still those who felt for their sufferings and that there were those who cared enough to do something about it.

Among those whom we contacted in our work, and whose thanks we wish to convey to you who have supported the Mennonite relief program with money contributions and prayer, I would like to mention many of the authorities with whom we had to arrange for the distributions of powdered milk and dried vegetables. This includes many of the school directors of the Lyon and St. Etienne areas and the local city and state officials. Further, I should like to mention the workers in our children’s home and the children themselves. Also the refugees who called at our office and who were most appreciative of the least little thing that we were able to do for them. Often it was nothing more than to listen to their problems and try to help them find a solution. I know that writing about these warm and sincere expressions of thanks does not and cannot bring the warmth that we felt at the moment but it is our desire, at least, that all of you know how your efforts have been received.

When I landed at Pier F, at Jersey City on March 15, 1944, from the Swedish motorship Gripsholm it was three years and a month since leaving for the field. Three years of varied experiences, including a little over a year in German internment at Baden-Baden, Germany. Three years during which time there were many occasions when I could say with the Apostle Paul, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33) There were times when one did not know what the morrow would hold in store. Times when we could not communicate with the office or our families at home. But His ways led us all back to America, and we are thankful that the Lord has brought us safely home. We ask nothing more than that we may continue to work and testify for Him.

Activities in France

When I arrived on the field of work late February, 1941, Dr. Henry Wiens was then the director of the Mennonite activities in France. Both Brother Wiens and I were at Lyon for the most part until July of that year when Brother Wiens returned to America. For three weeks in April, however, I had stayed at the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage, helping Brother Jesse Hoover, who came to France one month after me, and Sister Charlotte Gerber, from Switzerland, arrange and organize the opening of that Home. During the months of August, September, and October, 1941, the projects were under the direction of Brother Hoover. He remained in Marseilles at the American Friends Service Committee headquarters and during these three months I was alone at the Lyon office. Beginning with November, 1941, until November 6, 1942, all our activities were under the direction of Brother Joseph Byler, who stayed at Lyon, too.

I am sure that many of you have followed the progress and development of our work as it has been reported by the delegates returning before me, so I will not go into any details of what preceded November 8, 1942—the day of the Allied landing on North Africa. Brother Byler left France, at Cerbere, on November 6, 1942. His joy in going home was a great comfort to us in the days that followed. We were happy that he escaped the trying days following the breaking of diplomatic relations between the United States and France and the subsequent internment at Baden-Baden.

Preparing to Leave the Work

With the break in diplomatic relations on November 11, 1942, came changes that affected our work and made it necessary to change all the plans we had had up to that moment. In the first place, it meant that funds were completely stopped and all contact with the Mennonite Central Committee office were cut off. Also, it meant that there was a great possibility that we as Americans might not be allowed to continue our activities, regardless of the nature of our work. There was also the possibility that the German authorities, after the complete occupation of France beginning November 11, 1942, might ask that we be interned by the French or might intern us themselves.

At the time of the break of diplomatic relations we were carrying on the following projects: the canteen for Spanish children at Cerbere; a bi-monthly distribution of food to Spanish families at Banyuls and nearby Port Vendres, the Convalescent Home at Canet-Plage for sick children from concentration camps, a Home for underfed boys near Lyon, and the central office at Lyon. In the office, besides having our administration centered there we were able to give some aid to refugees. With our funds cut off from America we immediately had to think in terms of liquidating our activities in such a manner so as not to bring difficulties to the people that we had been helping, in some cases, for almost three years.

Cerbere and Banyuls

The canteen at Cerbere was closed at the end of January, 1943, when it became evident that the need for which it had been set up no longer existed. For the bi-monthly food distributions at Banyuls we set aside sufficient funds in the “liquidating budget” for them to continue for a period of nine months ending about October, 1943. In our budget we provided for a minimum of one year’s support for the Convalescent Home of Canet-Plage and possibly for a year and a half, depending upon the amount needed meanwhile for unforeseen expenditures. The Home, i.e., the children and equipment, had to be moved into the interior of France when the Germans began to fortify the beach upon which it had been before.

Work at Lyon

The Lyon Boys’ Home we decided to terminate at the end of April, 1943, since that was the longest time the city of Lyon could assure us the use of their property. The Lyon office we tentatively decided to keep open until October, 1943. Plans to open a second Home, near Canet-Plage, for children on November 15, as well as another Home in the French Alps a few weeks later, we thought best to abandon. In place of these two Homes we supported for a period of nine months a project which had been organized by a French lady for needy French girls. This project was pointed out to us as worthy of our support by Mr. Samuel Ybargoyen, former Consul of Uruguay at Lyon, known to every Mennonite delegate who came to France. We have no definite news that all has continued as planned in January, 1943, but for the most part we believe it has.

Disposition of Funds

A problem in connection with our funds was that of where to deposit them. The American Friends Service Committee had acted as our bankers previously. However, when they turned their activities over to a French committee the French organization did not care to take over the responsibility for keeping the Mennonite funds. We were able to find trustworthy persons who helped us without danger of having funds “frozen” through a general governmental regulation. A large part of the funds we deposited with the Swiss authorities who took over the American interests and the funds were later released for use in the projects which continued.

The possibility that we might not be allowed to continue to work came shortly after the complete occupation by the Germans. That is, we were not allowed to travel as we had before but were restricted to the Rhone Department. Since so many of the problems in connection with the Convalescent Home and the other projects had to be investigated and arranged for on the spot we had to find some one who could go and do this for us. Also, knowing that we probably would be interned, we had to have some one to take over the responsibility for all the work. Here again, Mr. Ybargoyen proved a great help to us by introducing us to a French person, Mr. Roger Georges. Mr. Georges was greatly interested in our work and had a deep concern for the needy children. It was to him that we left the responsibility of carrying on as long as possible and we have had word that he has carried on very well.

Interned in Baden-Baden

On the 13th of January we received word from the Swiss Consulate that we were admitted to the North American diplomatic group then at Lourdes, in southern France. Before we could join them the Germans had taken the entire group to Baden-Baden, Germany. We were asked on January 25, 1943, by the French authorities to go to Mont Dore, a skiing resort near Clermont-Ferrand, where the diplomatic groups of a number of the South American republics were kept awaiting their turn to be taken to Germany. We arrived at Baden-Baden on February, 16, 1943, and remained there until February 19, 1944, waiting for our repatriation.

At Baden-Baden we were kept in a comfortable hotel and were given sufficient and good food. Espeally with Red Cross parcels every fourteen days, we got along very nicely. For our own benefit and as pastime we organized classes, under the auspices our own “Badheim University,” sharing any special training with our fellow internees.

In the way of sports we had the opportunity of using a nearby sportsfield for softball and football 

games, there were also some tennis courts available for those who had tennis equipment, and swimming was possible early in the morning during the summer. We could also take walks in the surrounding region in the Black Forest. These walks as well as any activity which took us out of the small hotel garden, were under the supervision of one or two agents of the Gestapo (Geheime Staats Polizei—Secret State Police). They also accompanied us to dentists, doctors, and stores whenever we were fortunate enough to get permission to buy something that was on the rationed lists. The Gestapo’s business was to see that we would return to our hotel but more important than that, to see that we did not make contacts with any of the German people.

The time spent at Baden-Baden was one filled with numerous activities but for the most part they were things that we did merely to be doing something. It was a very trying period inasmuch as contacts with our families were irregular and took long. Also the uncertainty of our stay—many of us did not expect to get out until after the war would be over—made for all sorts of ups and downs in the general morale of the group. But the most difficult for many of us, and especially the younger members of the group, was the impossibility of doing anything constructive of a more permanent nature. No doubt it is some times good to learn to be patient and above all to trust in God that His way for one’s future is the best. In the end we can say that we are very happy to be home again and above all thankful that God has kept us every step of the way.

There is a lot to unpack in that long account, and we will have occasion to return to it periodically in the posts to come. For the present, we conclude by noting one minor mention of Henry in The Mennonite that is quite intriguing. In the 17 July 1945 issue, on page 15 (here, left column, halfway down) we read:

The sale of the following pamphlets is being promoted by the Bethel Church, Mountain Lake, Minnesota: He Was, He Is, He Will Be by P. A. Penner; The Nazis Interned Me by Henry Buller; Internment Echoes by Wilhelmina Kuyf; Champa Hospital in the Making by Dr. Ella G. Bauman; A New Macedonian Call by Gerald Stucky; Puerto Rico—Island of Sunshine and Need by William H. Stauffer. This church is also promoting the sending of “Christmas Parcels” to the church people of war-torn Europe.

This is the first I have heard of a pamphlet recounting Henry’s Nazi encounter. Perhaps it offers no more information than we already have, but I certainly would like to see it with my own eyes to find out. If any reader has further information about the pamphlet, please let me know. In the meantime, we will continue to mine issues of The Mennonite for more information about our family.

Family Photos: Grinding Rye

As we saw in earlier posts (here and here), Aunts Sara and Maria enjoyed growing rye on at least one occasion. Of course, growing a grain such as rye is never the end of the matter. One must also cut it (and generally bind it into sheaves), then thresh it and grind the grain into flour. Then, and only then, can one do something useful with the crop.

Sara and Maria knew this as well as anyone, and apparently they also knew how to improvise, as seen in the photograph below.

Looking close up, we see that Sara is holding what appears to be a coffee grinder between her knees. A note included with the photo indicates that she is grinding (or milling) rye. On a TV tray to her right is a pan that presumably holds the rye kernels and two jars: the jar in front looks to be full of flour; the one behind is empty.

Thanks to this picture (and thanks to Carolyn Stucky, who sent it), we now know that Sara and Maria did indeed put their rye crop to good use. It also evokes a fond memory of Grandma’s dark—it had to be rye, right?—bread. Grandpa and Grandma were living in Lushton, as was our family, so it must have been when I was three or four. (We moved to the McCool farm when I turned five.) 

We arrived at their house about breakfast time, and I distinctly remember Grandma making Grandpa’s orange juice using one of those round glass juicers. There was homemade dark bread and a dish of butter on the table just begging to be enjoyed. I do not recall much more, just that moment of wholesome food at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. If anyone has pictures of that house (here) when they lived there, I would love to see them.

But for the moment we turn back to the photograph of Sara grinding the rye—this time the full version.

Note first that the photo is dates September 1969. That was a year after the first set of photographs that we viewed, which may imply that the sisters’ rye cultivation was not a one-time affair. It may well be that they grew rye on several occasions.

The other thing worth noticing is where Sara is sitting: in a lawn in front of or at the side of a house. At this time, Sara and Maria lived in Upland, California, specifically at 1147 East 9th Street. According to Spokeo (here), that house, which had been built in 1949, had two bedrooms and one bath, with a total area of 1,101 square feet. Note also the garage with driveway to Sara’s right.

With the help of GoogleMaps, we can see that same house today and begin to make better sense of the photos that we have seen thus far. If you wish to explore the property further on your own, click here. You can look down on the house and property or go to Street View and view the house from various angles.

Comparing the 1960s photos with the present day does help us make better sense of the former. For example, earlier we noticed a block wall behind Maria and their patch of rye (left side of the photo). When we look at the house today, we see that the wall is still there and is the west border of the property.

Looking at the house from its southwest corner (below), we see a garage in the background; this is presumably the same garage that is behind Sara in the photograph of her grinding rye.

Looking down onto the property helps us understand the photographs even better. The house itself sits on the north side of 9th street. Although it is not evident in the photograph of Sara, the garage is detached from the house. The grassy area where Sara was sitting seems to have been paved over (or left as bare dirt). 

The lot itself is large, extending as it does to the back wall. According to Google Maps, the lot is roughly 140 feet long and 55 feet wide. Only about half of the property appears to be taken up with the house and garage, which left a substantial area for the sisters’s gardening activities.

Two houses immediately to the east of 1147 East 9th were built prior to it, so it is not surprising that one of them (1177 East 9th) can be seen in an earlier photo of Maria (see here).

The biggest change to the area, it seems, was the construction of the Upland Market and its parking lot immediately to the west of the Buller house (note the edge of the building on the left side of the photo). There is no sign of the market in any of the photographs from the 1960s; in fact, there appears to have been a number of trees where the market and parking lot is now located. The quiet privacy that one imagines the sisters enjoyed is probably no more. Although all else seemingly remains pretty much the same, the big change to the west no doubt altered the livability of the place substantially.

I admit that we have wandered far from where we began: with a simple photo of Sara grinding rye. My only explanation is that sometimes the journey itself—from Upland in 1969 to Lushton in the early 1960s and back to Upland first in 1968 and then today—is more enjoyable and enlightening than actually arriving at one’s destination. This is especially true when we are walking along with family members, retracing the journeys of their lives.

Bullers in The Mennonite 4

We ended the previous post in this series with a 4 April 1944 report that Henry, Bea, and Lois Gunden had landed in Jersey City, finally free and safe from their Nazi captors. After over a year of bored inactivity, they were about to begin a whirlwind existence. We catch a first glimpse of what was in store in a news item from The Mennonite the following month.

23 May 1944 (page 15 here, left column)

JOTTINGS

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Buller, who carried on relief work in France and then were interned in Germany, are now visiting various Mennonite communities in the United States. They were recently at Bethel College, where they shared much that was of great interest. It is their hope to be able to continue in relief work. In case Mrs. Buller is not permitted to enter other countries for relief work (she is considered as an enemy alien in this country because of her birth in Germany. There again she was dis-owned as a citizen because her family was Jewish) she may continue language study in a Mennonite College with the view of teaching language. She already has a good command over five or so of them, but she needs academic rating for teaching. Her German, which she speaks very well, sounds pleasant to those who like to hear that tongue. The Bullers have gone to Upland, California. The First Mennonite Church there is Brother Buller’s home church. We quote the following from a recent bulletin of this church:

“We appreciate the return of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Buller. We welcome them in our midst. Next Sunday, May 21st they will have charge of the morning and evening service. Mrs. Buller will receive the sacrament of baptism. Mr. and Mrs. Buller were legally married a year and half ago but at that time lacked the privilege of a religious ceremony. Hence next Sunday morning there will be a consecration of their marriage vows.

On Wednesday evening, May 24, there will be a Fellowship dinner in the Church dining room and a rather informal program when we will again hear from Mr. and Mrs. Buller. At this time you will be permitted to ask questions and participate in an open forum.”

Several things are worth nothing here. First, on a personal note, we know that Bea was baptized on 21 May 1944. The original plan had been for Bea to be baptized in France by the same minister who was scheduled to perform Bea and Henry’s wedding ceremony. However, when German troops occupied France, those plans had to be set aside, and the couple was wed in a civil ceremony at the Lyon City Hall. Now that the couple was in the States, Bea was finally baptized, and their wedding vows were consecrated in Henry’s home church.

Second, over the course of the next few months Henry and Bea spent a good deal of time traveling from church to church telling of all that God had done with and through them. According to reports in The Mennonite, they spoke at:

• the Swamp Mennonite Church near Quakertown, Pennsylvania (here)
• the Grace Mennonite Church in Lansdale, Pennsylvania (here and here)
• the Immanuel Mennonite Church in Los Angeles, California (here)
• the Menno Mennonite Church in Lind, Washington (here)
• the Western District C. E. Conference held at Bethel College (here)

In addition, after Henry left the States to take up MCC work in the U.K., Bea continued to speak about the needs for continued relief work in Europe. For example, she spoke at:

• the Eastern District Y. P. Union Annual Fall Rally (here)
• the First Mennonite Church in Wadsworth, Ohio (here)
• the Second Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (here)

Through these public appearances, the broader Mennonite community learned quite a bit about Bea and her story of escape from the Nazi regime. But even before then, readers of The Mennonite were introduced to Bea in a full-length article that she wrote for the 25 April 1944 issue (pages 5–6 here). That self-introduction is worth reproducing in full:

“An Answer … to That Hope”

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of that hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” I Peter 3:15.— Beatrice R. Buller

(In this article, Mrs. Buller is introducing herself to the Mennonites of America. Her testimony, together with the story of her life, has sincerity of conviction. It is a story of how the Lord leads. — Ed.) 

The above verse from the first epistle of Peter seems to me most appropriate as an introduction to my message to you. Since our arrival in America on March 15, I have had the opportunity to answer several people who asked me about my beliefs, my backgrounds, and my hope in this life, and it is a pleasure for me to repeat for you my answer, so that you might share it and help me to remain true to it.

I was born in Duisburg, Germany, on September 25, 1920. My father was a lawyer and public notary in that town for twenty-five years. My two brothers and I went to a Protestant grade school and to high school until 1933. When the Hitler government came to power, my father left Germany, because being Jewish, he foresaw a very difficult future for himself and his family. He went to Belgium, where Mother and the rest of our family followed him in 1934. In Belgium I attended high school and a secretarial college and became a member of the Y.W.C.A. In December, 1941, all my family arrived in France with the purpose of joining my eldest brother in United States. But international developments prevented us from getting out of France and “across the deep blue sea.”

It is in Lyons, France, that I had my first contact with Mennonites, and it is about this experience that I would like to tell you more today. My brother had cabled from United States, advising us to go and see the Quakers for assistance and advice. Since the Quakers had no office in Lyons, my parents and I went to the “SECOURS MENNONITE AUX ENFANTS” (Mennonite Relief to Children) one dark, cold Friday afternoon. Opening the doors, we saw two Mennonite Relief delegates: Mr. J. N. Byler and Henry P. Buller, who looked frozen in spite of the fact that they were working in their little office with their winter overcoats on. We asked them about possibilities of getting transportation to America, but they were not able to give us much hope, as America had just entered the war and they did not know, themselves, whether they would he allowed to stay in France, whether they could obtain passage for themselves if they had to leave or what the next day would bring. At the end of a most friendly conversation, I told Messrs. Byler and Buller that I had worked as a secretary and that if they had some extra work to do in their office, I would be very happy to come and help out whenever they needed me. The next day, I was employed by the “SECOURS MENNONITE AUX ENFANTS.” A year afterwards, I was married to Henry P. Buller, and now, almost two and one-half years after my first contact with Mennonite Relief delegates, I have the privilege of seeing their country, their homes, their churches, and their schools.

From the very moment that one opened the door to that cold, little office in Lyons, an atmosphere of warmth and love radiated into the darkness and the dreariness of the outside; and I am happy to confess, now, that I am one of the “victims” of this sincere fellowship and spirit of service. Very soon, I felt a need to know more about the Christian workers with whom I was in contact and whose work I wanted to share. The relief work that they had come to do in France, in a country in distress, struck me deeply as a true testimony of their Christian religion, and I wanted to learn more about this religion. So both Mr. Byler and Henry Buller had to answer many, many questions and we often talked for hours about Mennonites, their background, their history, and their way of life. And very soon I felt the desire to become a member of a Mennonite church and be baptized and “put on the new man” as Paul puts it. In the summer of 1942, I wrote to the Mennonite Central Committee in Akron, Pa., expressing this desire to them and they gave their consent to have a Mennonite pastor from Switzerland, Rev. Gerber, come to France, to perform the baptism and marriage ceremony and at the same time visit the relief work there.

We had arranged for Pastor Gerber to come to France right after Christmas, 1942. But in November, 1942, our plans were put to naught, when the Americans landed in North Africa and all French borders were closed. As we foresaw at that moment that Americans might have to leave the country, probably on very short notice, we decided to get married at the City Hall, hoping that I could be baptized and our marriage consecrated in the very near future. Mr. Ybargoyen, the Urugayan consul at Lyons, a good friend of all the Mennonite Relief workers who had come to France, and Miss Lois Gunden, who I think needs no introduction, were our “Witnesses.” It was a hectic day that November 11, 1942. The Germans were coming into town, their tanks and motorized troops were riding through the streets all day, the officials of the American Consulate were leaving Lyons to go into internment and nobody knew what the next hour would bring. But we give thanks unto the Lord, for He kept us and guided us during those days, or better months, of uncertainty and anguish. “He that keepeth thee will not slumber.” Ps. 121:3.

As you know from previous reports, Lois Gunden stayed with us in Lyons until January, 1943, when all three of us obtained the permission to join the official American group in detention, which had been sent to Baden-Baden, Germany, by that time.

In connection with the relief work of the Mennonite Central Committee, I would like to bring back to your memory some verses of Ps. 84:

“Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, they will be still praising Thee”.…

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. WHO PASSING THROUGH THE VALLEY OF BACA MAKE IT A WELL; the rain also filleth the pools.”

The Valley of Baca, which means the Valley of Weeping, is a dark valley through which every individual has to pass and through which whole nations are going at the present time. In this valley of weeping, which is a desert, there is a great need for men who take their strength in the Lord and who can turn the desert into a well, a well at which people who thirst can come and find new strength to continue their path. May the Lord grant us to be such a man, to be such a WELL where others who are discouraged, who hunger and thirst for material and above all spiritual food, may find the very best one can give unto others: a bit of love.

As I said at the end of the previous post, it did not take Bea long after arriving in the U.S. to become a vital and vocal force within the Mennonite community. Her many speaking engagements and especially her self-introduction on the pages of The Mennonite demonstrate this well. But this is not all that Bea had to say, as we will discover in a post a little further down the road.

Bullers in The Mennonite 3

We ended the previous post in this series with an article dated 29 December 1942. At that time Joseph Byler, who was in charge of the Mennonite Central Committee’s French relief work, had just returned to the United States. Byler had departed France only days before the Germans occupied Vichy France, but he thought, or rather hoped, that Henry and Lois Gunden might be permitted to continue the relief work. 

Of course, we know that the workers were taken into German custody shortly thereafter, which is the gist of the next mention of Henry in The Mennonite:

6 April 1943 (page 6 here, lower right column)

Relief Workers Now in Germany

Through the State Department in Washington the Mennonite Central Committee has been informed that Brother Henry Buller and wife and Sister Lois Gunden, erstwhile relief workers in France, have joined the diplomatic group in Baden Baden, Germany. Here they await exchange and repatriation, as did Brother M. C. Lehman a year ago. There is no way of knowing at what date this will be possible.

Reports indicate that they are well treated. Exchange of mail with relatives is possible through official channels.

The report mentions that the situation of the three MCC workers in France was the same as M. C. Lehman had faced roughly a year earlier. In December 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor prompted the U.S. to declare war on Japan, Germany, in keeping with its alliance with Japan, declared war on the United States. American diplomats and citizens based in Germany were taken into custody, and over a hundred of them were housed in Jeschke’s Grand Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Germany (for a full account, see here).

MCC worker M. C. Lehman was one of those detained in that group. The 10 February 1942 issue of The Mennonite (here) reported his internment, the 31 March (here) and 12 May (here) issues shared that he was doing well, and the 16 June issue (here) announced that he had returned to the U.S. on 1 June. His internment was in many ways similar to that that Henry, Bea, and Lois experienced, although at five months his was less than half as long as theirs.

Note, finally, that the report above is the first to mention Bea, who is identified simply as Henry’s wife. Later in the same issue, we hear more.

6 April 1943 (page 15 here, lower right column)

—Bulletin, First Mennonite Church, Upland, Calif.: “Word has been received of the marriage of Henry Buller to a Mennonite girl by the name of Beatrice Rosenthal who was secretary of the relief work in France. This marriage occurred some time last fall. Mr and Mrs. Buller and Miss Lois Gunden are at the present time interned in Baden Baden, Germany.… They are well and are receiving good treatment. Mail and small food packages may now be sent to them.”

A bulletin for Henry and his parents’ home church reported his marriage Henry to Bea. Curiously, she is identified as a “Mennonite girl,” something that she certainly was not. How can we explain this? Did Peter P and Margaretha, presumably the source of the bulletin announcement, not know that Bea was Jewish? Were they uncomfortable with her ethnicity? Or were they rather protecting her? It does not seem too far-fetched to imagine that she was identified as a Mennonite to hide her ethnicity from the German authorities who now held her captive. If the Gestapo guards had known that Bea was Jewish, her life would have been in immediate danger.

The next mention of Henry (but not Bea) came a month and a half later.

18 May 1943 (page 4 here, left column)

RELIEF

Word from Lois Gunden in Germany

A cheerful letter, dated March 5, from Sister Lois Gunden has recently reached this country from Baden Baden, Germany, via the State Department. The letter, written to her family in Goshen, Indiana, tells of living in a large hotel in Germany’s Black Forest region.

The time of the diplomatic group, with which Sister Gunden and Henry Buller are attached, is spent in language study, reading, and music practice. Quoting from the letter: “We are served good meals with plenty of food well prepared.”

Nothing is known at this time as to the date of return to America.

Three months later, nothing had changed.

20 July 1943 (page 1 here, right column)

Somewhere at Sea

…

Though literally not at sea, our former relief workers in France still remain “stranded” at a hotel in Baden-Baden, Germany. A May 6 letter from Sister Lois Gunden to her family tells that a party of 13 members are interned with the embassy. Of this number two are the Mennonite relief workers, Bro. Henry Buller and Sister Gunden. The group has organized a “school” and engages in recreational pursuits to pass the time. Writes Sister Gunden: “We are certainly fortunate to have such a congenial group of people with whom we pass day after day in the same place doing ever and ever more or less the same things.” On each Sunday the group, duly accompanied, may attend church services. Mail from the U.S. reaches the group at intervals some weeks apart. Negotiations with foreign offices are still in process to enable a return from Germany to America.

Four months beyond that, their internment continued.

23 November 1943 (page 12 here, right column)

Christmas Gifts to Internees

American Friends Service Committee is planning to send Christmas gifts to their relief workers interned in Baden Baden, Germany, through their representative in Geneva, Switzerland. Through the channel the Mennonite relief workers interned there, Lois Gunden and Henry Buller and wife, will also receive Christmas cheer.

30 November 1943 (page 16 here, right column)

—Bulletin, First Mennonite Church, Upland, California

“Mr. and Mrs. Buller have received a letter from their son Henry and he is still interned in Baden-Baden, but both he and his wife are well and are spending their time profitably in study.”

Finally, in early 1944, the news for which everyone had been praying and waiting: the three MCC relief workers were homeward bound. Three reports in relatively quick succession display the growing hope of their imminent return.

7 March 1944 (page 7 here, right column)

Interned Relief Workers May Return

The State Department has announced that negotiations with the German Government have been completed for the return of diplomatic officials and others who were trapped in France when that country was occupied by the Germans. The Swedish motor-ship, Gripsholm, sailed February 15, from Jersey City, for Lisbon where the exchange will be made on February 24. The release further states, “With the returning American diplomats there will be certain newspaper correspondents, relief workers … all of whom have been held in Germany since early in 1943.”

Although M.C.C. has received no official confirmation from the State Department it is taken for granted that the exchange will include the three M.C.C. relief workers, Brother and Sister Henry Buller and Sister Lois Gunden, who have been interned at Baden Baden, Germany

21 March 1944 (page 16 here, right column)

Interned Relief Workers Returning

It now seems certain that Henry Buller and wife and Lois Gunden, are included among the repatriates returning from Europe on the Gripsholm. No doubt by the time this notice is read they will be in this country. The exchange liner is scheduled to dock at Jersey City sometime between March 10 and 15.

4 April 1944 (page 13 here, lower right column)

Relief Workers Return on Gripsholm

Among the many repatriates on board the Gripsholm, when it docked in Jersey City, on the evening of March 15, were the three Mennonite relief workers, Henry Buller and wife, and Lois Gunden. For over a year they had been interned in Southern Germany. Although they were eager to return to the United States, they were in very good health and had received good accommodation.

Brother Buller and Sister Gunden were sent to France as relief workers in 1941. Their relief activities came to a close after the Americans landed in North Africa in November of 1942. They are in possession of reliable reports that the work which they started is continuing, although on a reduced scale.

After being detained slightly more than a year, Henry, Bea, and Lois stood on U.S. soil. Of course, we already knew how this story ended, but it is instructive to read the events as they were reported to family and friends in the States.

What I find most intriguing are the various references to Bea. She is most often identified simply as Henry’s (unnamed) wife. Her name is given only once, in the church announcement of their marriage, where she is identified as a Mennonite but not as a Jew (understandably so). Notably, when it is certain that the MCC workers are on their way to freedom, she is recognized as part of the group, as Sister Buller.

Bea had finally arrived, not only on the dock at Jersey City, but also as a member of a Mennonite family. As we will see in the next post in this series, it did not take long for Bea to find her identity in her new life. She soon became a vital and vocal force within Mennonite circles.

Bullers in The Mennonite 2

At the end of the previous post in this series (see here), we read the short cable that Henry sent when he arrived in Marseille. Although the cable had been sent on 26 February, the report appeared in the 8 April issue of The Mennonite. Henry makes his next appearance just two weeks (or two issues) later, when a letter dated 21 March 1941 is shared with the readers of The Mennonite:

22 April 1941 (p. 8 here, right column) 

Henry Buller letter, Lyon, France, March 21, 1941

We have decided to take over a Convalescent Home for children on the beach near Perpignan. It will be for children from the camps who can not stand the rigors of the camp and yet are too well to be in regular hospitals. Miss Gerber, a French-assistant, and I are planning to go down there early next week to take over the work. The Quakers will send a directress to the colony of La Rouviere to keep charge while another directress is found by our directors. Dr. Lehman, Mr. Hoover, and Dr. Wiens are in Lyon now looking over the work there.

     In view of the fact that the Red Cross is planning to bring into Lyon and its environs 83 tons of milk we have not gone ahead with the purchase of additional milk. Mr. Kershner suggested doing more direct relief to individual children in their homes. Either by providing them with milk and supplementary vegetables or giving them about five francs per day and letting the family provide additional rations. He also expressed the opinion that in most cases it would be better and cheaper to aid French children in their own homes rather than taking them into colonies. Mr. Wiens and I have not taken any action in this respect as yet.

Henry mentions a home for children that the MCC staff in France had decided to take over. This is none other than the Villa Saint Christophe, the twenty-room house where Lois Gunden (see here) cared for children of families detained at the Rivesaltes refugee camp. Lois Gunden and Helen Penner did not arrive until October 1941; according to this letter, Henry had initiated the work at the children’s home roughly six months earlier.

We next hear about Henry in a letter that Helen Penner sent shortly after she and Lois Gunden arrived in France.

11 November 1941 (p. 9 here, right column)

—Helen A. Penner, newest General Conference relief worker in France, wrote the following from Cerbere, France, on October 20, 1941: We arrived in France at about 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. … We crossed through a long tunnel, about one and one half miles long, and came out in France in Cerbere. The scenery from Barcelona on was beautiful. At first we could see the Pyrenees mountains in the distance and finally we were in them. The mountain sides were terraced for cultivation in many places. After we were in the customs house another American Express man told us that Jesse Hoover and Henry Buller were in town and had been looking for us the day before. Mr. Hoover obtained permission to enter the room where we were waiting. Were we glad to see him! The Mennonites have such a good reputation here that when he explained that we were also part of his group, they ok’d our baggage without opening it. That made us happy, too. 

Although we learn nothing new about Henry, we do learn of another route that MCC workers took to get to their destinations. Whereas Henry sailed to Lisbon, Portugal, and then went on to Marseille, France, Helen and Lois sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar, past the Rock of Gibraltar, and on to Barcelona, Spain. From there they traveled north by train and across the border via the Balitres tunnel (above) that connected Portbou, Spain, and Cerbère, France. For a more detailed account of the journey, see Helen Penner’s “Traveling in France” here.

By late January, Henry had left the children’s home under the able management of the new workers and shifted his attention and efforts north to Lyon. His concern at that time was distributing powdered milk to the thousands of French school children there.

27 January 1942 (page 8 here, right column)

RELIEF

Appreciation for Milk Given to Children

A letter from Brother Henry Buller, December 2, describes the distribution of milk to the ten thousand or more school children in Lyon, France. Quoting from Brother Buller: “When our supplies of milk are taken against the large number of children found in Lyon, one realizes immediately that it is not enough to carry on an intensive program over a large period of time. Yet I am sure that even this little bit will do its part in helping the children through this difficult winter. We are passing through a period here when even a little bit counts for very much.… One begins to think more and more of the tremendous possibilities that could be realized if one had the almost inexhaustable [sic] supplies of food stuffs that we have in America.”

That letter, dated 2 December 1941, was followed by another a little more than a month later.  

24 February 1942 (page 2 here, right column)

RELIEF NOTES …

Winter in France

Fortunately, the winter has not been as severe as it might have been according to reports of past winters. We have had one snowfall, which however, did not remain very long. Since Christmas time we have had a few traces of snow and ice on the streets. The colder weather makes things much more difficult for everybody. Winter out here brings with it the long lines of people waiting to buy their ration of food, whatever it might be, potatoes, break, milk, etc. It is a pity to see the undernourished people being forced to stand in lines, sometimes an hour or two at a time. Especially so, when one realizes that their clothing is often worn thread-bare and their homes poorly heated for lack of coal.

The above is an extract from the latest letter of Brother Henry Buller, dated January 6, 1942.

Conditions in Lyon were terrible: undernourished and poorly clad people standing outside in the cold for several hours to secure whatever food they could, then returning to their poorly heated homes to eat their meager rations. The only bright spot was that the winter of 1941–1942 was not as severe as it had been in the past.

In the midst of their demanding work, Henry and his colleagues did take time to reflect on their efforts and to refresh their spirits, as reported in a May 1942 news item. At the time of the conference, on 30 and 31 March, Henry had been serving in France for thirteen months.

26 May 1942 (page 12 here, right column)

RELIEF

French Workers Hold Conference

On March 30 and 31 the Mennonite relief workers in France, Brethren Joseph N. Byler and Henry Buller together with Sisters Lois Gunden and Helen Penner met in a two-day conference at Vernet-les-Bains.

     Writing about this conference, Sister Gunden says: “Our Mennonite conference at Vernet was quite profitable to all of us.… During our sessions of Monday evening, Tuesday morning, and afternoon we went over our whole program, considered the possibilities of our future work and spent time together in devotional periods.”

Five months later, The Mennonite published “Have a Heart in a World of Need,” by Helen A. Penner. We met Helen Penner earlier as a colleague of Lois Gunden; the two of them assumed responsibility for the children’s home on the Mediterranean shore in Canet-Plage. Unfortunately, Helen suffered a nervous breakdown two months after arriving in France. She rested and recovered during a lengthy stay in Vernet-les-Bains (this no doubt explains why the two-day conference mentioned above took place there), then returned to the U.S. in mid-May (see Gunden 2013). It was back in the U.S. that Helen authored the article excerpted below.

20 October 1942 (page 6 here)

In our program of aiding war sufferers in France we are working in a number of different ways. At Cerbere we have a canteen where forty-five children are fed regularly, at Banyuls and Collioure, a distribution center gives out food to need families of three small towns, at Canet Plage we have a convalescent home for sixty children from the concentration refugee camp near there. In Lyon and surrounding districts where Brother Byler and Henry Buller are working, we are helping needy children by feeding them at school. Brother Byler has estimated that about 35,000 were aided last winter.

Helen’s report offers both an informative overview of the MCC work in France at that time and Henry’s role within it. Six months after Helen returned, another MCC relief worker in France, Joseph N. Byler (see further here) also came home. With him he brought greetings from Henry and Lois, as well as hints about an uncertain future. 

29 December 1942 (page 12 here, lower left and middle right columns)

RELIEF

Greetings from Workers in France

Before leaving France on November 6, 1942, Brother Joseph N. Byler was asked by Brother Henry Buller and Lois Gunden to extend to their friends in America the season’s greetings and to thank the churches for their prayerful support. Both Brother Buller and Sister Gunden were in good health and spirits at the time of his departure.

…

Brother Byler Returns from France

On November 29, 1942, Brother Joseph N. Byler reached Philadelphia, having sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, last November 16 abroad [sic] the Portuguese vessel, Serpa Pinto. Brother Byler left France on November 6 or several days before the present French crisis.

     At the time of his leaving plans for the winter relief program were completed and Brother Henry Buller and Sister Lois Gunden were prepared to carry on through the winter. A cable from Geneva, Switzerland, dated November 27 states that Lois Gunden and Henry Buller are in Lyon. Brother Byler offers the opinion that they are there directing the relief work and may be allowed to continue though this is uncertain. There is a reserve of funds on hand which would permit work for about a year.

The “present French crisis” that the report mentions was the German occupation of Vichy France on 11 November 1942. That was the same day, you may recall, that Henry and Bea were married. Curiously, neither the wedding nor Bea herself is mentioned in the cable sent from Geneva; we will see a similar pattern in the next post’s reports from The Mennonite.

For the moment, we need only observe that the cable was sent from Geneva, presumably because direct contact with the U.S. and other Allied countries was impossible, now that the German army controlled southern France. The most that Joseph Byler could say about the future of the MCC work was that, although the funds were available, Henry and Lois did not know if they would be permitted to continue. We do know what happened next, and that part of the story will be the main focus of the next post in this series. 

Work Cited

Gunden, Mary Jean. 2013. “Lois Gunden: A Righteous Gentile.” The Mennonite. 1 September. Available online here.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Learning the key people, events, and dates of our history is important, but sometimes nothing can tell us who we are as a family better than a simple photograph. With that in mind, I give you Aunt Maria riding an alligator.

It is unknown when this picture was taken, although it was probably in the mid-1940s. Neither do we know where the photo was taken, although my bet is on the Los Angeles Alligator Farm, which was, as far as I can tell, the only alligator farm in California during the mid-twentieth century. 

The Los Angeles Alligator Farm was located in the Lincoln Heights area on the west side of Los Angeles and so would have been an easy 40-mile drive from the Buller home in Ontario, California, If, in fact, the photograph was taken at the Los Angeles Alligator Farm, then one wonders if Maria might be riding Billy, the oldest and most docile of the farm’s many grown alligators. Indeed, Billy was so easy to handle that he starred in a number of movies over a forty-year career (see here and here).

Thanks to Carolyn Stucky for sending this and other family photos. Seeing Maria riding an alligator gives me a whole new appreciation for her—and for what it means to be a member of this family.

Bullers in The Mennonite 1

A previous post cited an article about Lois Gunden (here) that had been published in a weekly serial known as The Mennonite. This paper, an official publication of the General Conference Mennonite Church, began in Pennsylvania in 1885 but moved to Newton, Kansas, in 1937. The purpose of The Mennonite was to offer “devotional articles, general articles of information and inspiration, news of General Conference activities, including missions and relief work, and news of General Conference congregations and schools” (Smucker and Shelly 1957). The entire collection of The Mennonite issues is now freely available online in several locations (see here or here), which makes it an inviting resource to explore.

All that is background to the story of this post. I recently searched online for the address at which Peter P and Margaretha and several of their children had lived in Ontario, California: 426 East I Street. One of the results returned was in a 1941 article published in The Mennonite. That article referenced Henry’s MCC appointment, namely, that he had been originally slated to serve in England but was now headed to France (see the 28 January 1941 entry below). Intrigued, I wondered how many other references to Henry or other members of our immediate family the 1941 volume contained.

Several hours later, I had collected from issues spanning 1939 to 1955 nearly one hundred specific references to our immediate family. Most concerned Henry and/or Bea, given the prominent role they played in the MCC, but Peter P, Margaretha, Maria, Sara, and even Benny Jr., Peter P and Margaretha’s grandson who drowned in a sand pit, also appeared. Many of the references are fairly mundane, but others are interesting enough to be quoted here. Several others are so consequential that they will receive their own individual posts.

This post will begin this series by focusing on Henry. The first possible reference to Henry appears in the 28 November 1939 issue of The Mennonite. Since Henry was born 20 December 1915, he would have a month away from his twenty-fourth birthday. Peter P, Margaretha, and family had moved to California three years earlier. Their house in Ontario was roughly 2 miles from the First Mennonite Church of Upland, California, which is mentioned in this first extract (see Hostetler 1959; now the Upland Peace Church; see here).

I used the word possible above because we cannot be certain that the Henry Buller mentioned is Uncle Henry; however, unless there were several Henry Bullers in the Upland church, the identification seems relatively secure.

28 November 1939 (page 9 here, right column)

Pacific Youth at School

The fall semester finds many of our young people enrolled in colleges and universities. …

UPLAND, CALIF. At Bethel: Alice Hostetler, John Toews, Henry Buller …

This brief report places Henry at Bethel College, in North Newton, Kansas, for the fall term of 1939. Was this his first year? his second? third or fourth? Here is where the chronology becomes confusing. According to the 1993 obituary for Henry in the Mennonite Weekly Review (see here), Henry graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Bethel in 1941. If that is correct (but see below), he probably began his college education in 1937 (i.e., four years to complete his degree). If so, then Henry would begun his third, or junior, year in 1939. However, all this is speculation.

Complicating the matter further are the following references to Henry in late 1940 and early 1941:

17 December 1940 (p. 15 here, right column)

—First Mennonite Church of Upland, California—

On December 1st the singers and musicians of this church again rendered “The Messiah” under the able direction of its pastor, Rev. Lester Hostetler. A chorus of fifty-five voices, accompanied by organ and piano and assisted by a string ensemble participated in the rendition of this great masterpiece. Henry Buller has been accepted by the Mennonite Central Committee for Relief work in England. His present address is Butterfield, Minn.

28 January 1941 (p. 7 here, lower left column)

Mennonite Central Committee Relief Notes …

Bro. M. C. Lehman, who has served the Committee from Britain in connection with its relief services in Poland since December 1939, returned to New York from Europe on December 23, 1940. Bro. Lehman plans to remain in the United States until about mid-February and then to again return to his field of service. He is at present engaged in a two-and-one-half weeks tour of Mennonite centers in the middle west and is planning to contact a group of congregations in Ontario before his return. Ernest Bennett, Cumberland, Maryland, who has served in Spain and France for the past two years returned to New York January 14th. It is planned to have Bro. Bennett give full time service to the work of the Committee in the home land. Bro. Henry P. Buller, 426 East “I” Street, Ontario, California, who had been appointed to serve us in England is instead arranging to proceed to unoccupied France and to assist Bro. Wiens at that service. His sailing to Lisbon, Portugal, is arranged for February 1st.

There is a lot of information contained in these reports, but several details stand out. First, although the First Mennonite Church of Upland continued to be Henry’s home church, in December 1940 he is reported as living in Butterfield, Minnesota, a town 6 miles east of the Mennonite community of Mountain Lake. (For a similar comment, see the post here.) If Henry was living in Minnesota in 1940, he was not attending classes in Kansas at that time. 

A month later, in January 1941, he is said to be living at home with his parents in Ontario, California. Perhaps this was his legal address, but it gives one pause. Also worth noting is the fact that Henry does not appear in the 1938 Bethel College yearbook (see here), which leads one to wonder if and when he did attend and earn his degree from Bethel.

The picture is clouded further by the next two references to Henry in The Mennonite. As reported above, Henry was accepted for MCC service and was originally assigned to work in England. When Ernest Bennett, who had been serving in France, returned to the U.S., Henry was reassigned to the work there. His ship was set to sail on 1 February 1941, which would seem to preclude a graduation from Bethel later that year.

In any event, during Henry’s cross-country journey to the east coast, he appeared among several Mennonite groups in Pennsylvania. 

 18 February 1941 (p. 11 here, left column)

Fellowship Banquet

The third annual Y. P. [Young People’s] Fellowship Banquet was held in the newly renovated and very beautiful Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton, Pa. A group of about two hundred young people of the Eastern District Conference gathered on Saturday evening, January 25, for a time of fellowship and inspiration. … We had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Mr. Buller, a young man from California, who was to sail for France on February 5, to do relief work. He spoke briefly about the work being done and the need for continued effort.

18 February 1941 (p. 9 here, right column)

Report of the Third Quarterly Conference of the Eastern District, Held at Bethany Church, Quakertown, [Pennsylvania,] Monday, January 27

Mr. Andrew Shelly spoke to us on the theme: “A Ministerial Student Looks at His Church.” … Of the Relief work he said, “We are doing a large piece of work that is vital in a neutral way. This work needs to be supported. There is much that can be said, but the time is short. This work is kept before us constantly at the present time.” (Then he referred to Mr. Buller who was in our midst and about to leave for France to do relief work.)

We do not know whether Henry set sail on 1 or 5 February or even which passenger line or ship carried him across the Atlantic. All we can say for certain is that Henry arrived at his destination three or so weeks later, as reported in a 26 February 1941 cable included in The Mennonite:

8 April 1941 (p. 14 here, left column)

WORKERS ARRIVE

Cable from Henry Buller, February 26—“HAVE ARRIVED SAFELY MARSEILLE THIS MORNING.”

In all likelihood (based on comparable accounts from that time), Henry took a train from Lisbon to the southern port city of Marseille, France. Today that train journey takes over 22 hours; I expect it took somewhat longer in the mid-twentieth century.

This seems a good place to stop for now, before we explore articles about Henry’s relief work in France in a subsequent post. Before we close, however, it is worth pondering that, at the exact time Henry was sailing to Lisbon and traveling on to Marseille, thousands of Jewish refugees were fleeing the Nazi terror and certain death along the same, albeit reverse, route: through France to Lisbon or perhaps Barcelona, then on to the safety of the U.S. (see here). Ironically, Bea and her family had not been among those Jews who succeeded in leaving France; providentially, they—and Henry as a part of the family—would survive the Nazi threat and make their way to safety after the war.

Works Cited

Hostetler, Lester. 1959. “First Mennonite Church of Upland (Upland, California, USA).” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.

Smucker, J. N., and Maynard Shelly. 1957. “Mennonite, The (1885–1998) (Periodical).” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Available online here.