Lavercantière Children’s Home

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to explore and learn. An earlier post (here) showed a 1940s photograph of the MCC children’s home located at Lavercantière, in southern France. At that time I was unable to locate with any certainty the building in which the home had operated. Thanks to the arrival of a recently purchased book titled Relief Work as Pilgrimage, I now know where the children’s home was located and can confirm that the building still stands.

The front matter of that book contains Roy Blackman’s hand-drawn map of Lavercantière, which depicts all the streets and buildings within that small village (Heisey and Heisey 2015, xiii). One building shown on the map is the Château de Lavercantière, which is further identified as the site of the MCC children’s home. With that information in hand, it was easy to find the village and the exact building in the village on Google Maps (see the building with the red pin here).

The Château de Lavercantière has a long history dating back to the tenth century, when the de Gourdon family held the feudal lordship (seignory) over the surrounding area. The original castle is said to have been taken by Richard the Lionheart in 1188. The present building was erected during the seventeenth century on the foundation of the medieval castle; the original plans were for the building to have a double-t layout (i.e., ⊢⊣, if there were no space in the middle). However, only a west wing (left end in the photo below) was added, and that not until the following century (all information from here). The photograph below, taken by Michel Chanaud, is of the south façade.

The black-and-white photograph in the earlier post appears to have been taken from the opposite side of the building; if so, it shows the north façade. A photo taken from the northeast corner shows the same general area as the MCC photo, albeit from a different angle (© Ministère de la Culture [France], Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, diffusion RMN-GP; here).

Why, you may ask, did the MCC establish a children’s home in a seventeenth-century French château? According to John D. Unruh’s history of the MCC, “The children’s colonies were usually housed in large country estates evacuated since the war” (Unruh 1952, 102). To state the matter simply, these buildings were large and could house a large number of children, and they were vacant and available for the MCC to rent. Thus the MCC’s choice of the Château de Lavercantière was no anomaly but rather the MCC’s standard practice (see, e.g., the end of the post here for the similar Château de Vair children’s home).

Like the children’s home at Canet-Plage (here), which it succeeded, the Lavercantière home operated for a relatively short time, from 1943 to 1948. According to Heisey and Heisey (2015, 41), Augustin Coma, a Spanish refugee who worked with the MCC, signed a three-year lease for the château on 23 December 1942, roughly a month after Henry and Bea had married and eight weeks before they were interned at Baden-Baden. “The decision to move the colony was a hard one,” they write, “since MCC funds in Switzerland were inaccessible for some time and the château in Lavercantière needed repairs to make it livable” (2015, 41).

It remains unclear who actually made the lease payment (perhaps Coma or other relief workers?), but the move from Canet-Plage took place not long after:

The move of children from Canet-Plage to Lavercantière occurred sometime between late January and early March 1943. We can only guess at the monumental labor of gaining approval for and physically moving children, staff, and provisions during the war. In 2007, one of those children, Sara (Sarrano) Abadie, remembered traveling by train to Cahors with a cardboard identification necklace and then in open-bed trucks to Lavercantière. What dangers attended the trip, especially for the Jewish children? (Heisey and Heisey 2015, 42)

This children’s home, we learn later, was especially dear to Henry and Bea. In his last report as director of the MCC’s French operations, Henry wrote, 

Dec. 28–31—On the 28th Beatrice and I traveled to Lavercantière by trains and spent the rest of the year with the folks there. The warmer family spirit of this home has always struck me—I feel it is due to the core of workers (mostly Spanish) that have been with the “SECOURS MENNONITE” for more than five years. They all genuinely LOVE the children. Elsie Bechtel has very understandingly and ably seconded this atmosphere. It was a real pleasure for Beatrice and myself to end 1946 in LAVERCANTIÈRE!!! (Heisey and Heisey 2015, 118)

There is much more about Lavercantière, not to mention the MCC’s relief work in Europe, waiting to be discovered. Some of these stories can be read in M. J. and Nancy R. Heisey’s Relief Work as Pilgrimage: “Mademoiselle Miss Elsie” in Southern France, 1945–1948; other stories no doubt await discovery in the correspondence, records, and archives of the MCC itself.

Works Cited

Heisey, M. J., and Nancy R. Heisey. 2015. Relief Work as Pilgrimage: “Mademoiselle Miss Elsie” in Southern France, 1945–1948. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Unruh, John D. 1952. In the Name of Christ: A History of the Mennonite Central Committee and Its Service 1920–1951. Scottadale, PA: Herald.

Family Letters 2

Following up on yesterday’s discussion of Maria’s letter to Sara (here), this post presents a postcard that Anna wrote to her sister six days later, on 2 April 1927. As before, the correspondence contains no important information or surprising revelations; however, it does provide us a glimpse into the family’s activities on this particular Saturday.

April 2, 1927

Dear sister,

Hello! I hope you are well yet. We arrived home at 9 o’clock and Johnnie and Alice were here, their folks had gone to Lushton. We had no trouble while going back. But we stopped at Friend to get gasoline but we didn’t need it. Roads were lots better in [the] evening.

How do you like it out there? I think I would like it there. When I am bigger I think I will work there too.

With best regards from

Anna Buller*

It is remarkable how so few words can prompt so many questions. First, when and where had the family driven? It sounds as though the trip took place on the Saturday when the letter was written, although that is not certain. It also seems that Sara knew about the long drive, since Anna did not see any need to tell here where they had been. Did Sara know because the drive had been to Beatrice to see her? The route through Friend, Nebraska, which is roughly halfway between the Buller-Epp farm and Beatrice, lends plausibility to the thought that the family had taken a Saturday drive to see Sara. However, Anna asking how Sara “like[s] it there” sounds odd, if they had just seen each other. In the end, we must leave this question unanswered. 

Perhaps some reader can answer a second question: Who were Johnnie and Alice? It seems clear that they were brother and sister, since their parents had gone to Lushton. Presumably they were neighbors, otherwise their folks would not have left them at the Buller-Epp farm. Or did they perhaps wander over on their own after they parents had gone to town? Finally, had one or another of the family stayed behind so that Johnnie and Alice had some company at that late hour? Inquiring minds want to know.

Not to be lost among all the questions is an important observation: by 1927 Peter P and Margaretha had their own automobile. One wonders what model and year it was and when they first bought it. Beyond that, I begin to wonder how many automobiles were in York County by that year. So many questions, so few answers!

Finally, a closing observation: in spite of her stated wish, Anna did not follow Sara to the Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital in Beatrice. However, another family member did—but that is a story for another post.

*spelling corrected throughout

Family Letters 1

Ninety-seven years ago today, on 27 March 1927, a Sunday, nineteen-year-old Maria Buller put pencil to paper and wrote her older sister Sara a letter. Where was Sara, you may wonder, that Maria had to send her Easter greetings via a letter? Sara had taken a job in Beatrice, Nebraska, at the Mennonite Deaconess Home and Hospital. We do not yet know when she began working there or when she left, but we have ample evidence that at least during 1927 she was employed at that hospital.

Maria’s letter does not contain any surprising information or shocking revelations. Still, it does give us insight into some aspects of life on the farm. Grandpa Chris had married Grandma Malinda several months earlier (on 20 January), so I assume they no longer lived with Peter P and Margaretha. Maria and the three children younger than her—Peter E, Anna, and Henry (sixteen, fourteen, and twelve, respectively)—were still at home, of course, and Peter and Anna are mentioned in the letter below.

With that brief background, we are ready to ready Maria’s nearly century-old letter to her older sister Sara.

March 27, 1927

Lushton, Nebr.

Good Evening Dear Sister:

At first, I wish you a Happy Easter. We are all well and hope you the same. The weather has been very nice for sometime, really spring must be here again. Only the wheat fields are very slow and are not looking very nice yet. But hope they will turn out nicer soon.

Well what are you doing all the time? Have you been very busy the last weeks? I was looking for a letter already but have not received any yet. Did you receive my letter which I had written about 2 weeks ago? Have you started house cleaning already?

I cleaned the back porch and the out-door basement hall Monday and soaked the wash and Tuesday we wanted to do our washing once more but when I tried to build a fire Monday night, it was impossible and as we could not have any fire in the furnace since a few weeks, and had not had any fire under the butchering kettle—well then I could not start any fire here either so Tuesday morning I pulled down the stove pipes to see what was the matter. To my surprise the chimney holes were full of soot, the soot had fallen down the chimney and filled up the stove pipe holes. Well, I carried out about 3 dish pans full of soot out doors and Anna cleaned the pipes and then we were ready to go on with our washing. Well, we finished our rubbing just before dinner and were going to start right after dinner. The water was boiling and I fixed the first tub while Pete should start the machine engine but he worked on it for about an hour and could not get it started. Well the water was hot and the clothes were soaked and the first thing we knew we had to do it by hand because Pete wanted to plow and the wash machine engine needed an over haul. So we started to do the wash once more by hand and then threw the wash in the boiling water and boiled it till the next bunch was ready which took us only about 15 to 20 minutes and then they were boiled. We had 6 bunches and were done just as early as the other times, only a little more tired and had everything dry.

I did the ironing today and folded the rest. Anna and Mother were busy outdoors making a little early garden and replanting some flowers. Pete is plowing and father is rolling the wheat fields. Have 16 hens setting and mother is going to set 4 more tomorrow so that will make 20.

Folks took the cream to town today and took 12 hens along which weighed 7½ lbs each and brought $17.80. We butchered one Monday which weighed 8 or was it even 8½ lbs. I do not know exactly but it was very large and looked as if we were butchering a goose as we opened it. The hen plus 3 doves gave 2 meals and some left. Had soup Monday supper.

Have my black dress finished and if I will get my pin which I ordered last Sat., tomorrow I’m going to put in on Friday.

Well the rest are all sleeping already and I will have to be soon. Am tired and have written in such a hurry that you will be glad the end has come. So Good Night. Wishing a Happy Easter.

Your S. Maria

I confess that I have only a tenuous grasp of all that was involved in washing clothes in 1927, but as I understand it the washing process began with soaking the clothes in cold water for an extended period of time (Monday night above), to loosen the dirt. Maria refers to rubbing as the next step: clothes were rubbed on a washboard, with soap and brushes used to scrub out any dirt and stains.

This is the point at which Maria’s anecdote about the engine that would not start comes into play. In the early 1920s Maytag developed a wringer washer that achieved immediate popularity, since it was powered by both an electric motor and a small gas engine (for those not yet on the electric grid). The motor/engine operated the washing mechanism in the tub and the wringer mounted on top. We cannot say for certain that this is the type of machine that Maria and Anna were using, but the reference to the engine is a good hint that it was. (For more on early Maytag wringer washers, including a video of one in action, see here.)

Since Pete could not get the engine to start, the girls had no choice but to wash clothes the old-fashioned way, by boiling them in a kettle containing soapy water for 15–20 minutes, then wringing them out by hand, which probably involved twisting each piece of clothing one way and then the other until as much water as possible had been squeezed out. If this is what Maria and Anna went through for this week’s laundry, it is no wonder that they were “a little more tired” than usual.

Other tidbits of interest from Maria’s letter include the note that the family sold cream and twelve hens in town, earning $17.80 in the process. Or was that amount just for the hens? Either way, that seems a tidy sum for 1927, since it is equivalent to roughly $308 today. Maria also notes that Pete was plowing, that is, preparing the soil for planting crops. Peter P, on the other had, was rolling the wheat fields. I read elsewhere that it is good practice to roll winter wheat in the spring, so that the soil is compacted and thus retains moisture more effectively and the roots are pushed firmly into the ground (for an interesting video explaining the process, see here). 

There is no doubt much more that we could explore here. What else catches your eye in Maria’s letter?

* Thanks to Carolyn Stucky for transcribing and sending the text of this letter.

MCC Relief Work in France

The most recent post in the Bullers in The Mennonite series (here) mentioned various MCC sites scattered throughout France. Several of these locations—two of the children’s homes and the MCC center at Chalon-sur-Saône—warrant further attention.

The first children’s home to highlight is the one located at “Anetz par Ancenis, a town near Nantes in western France” (the brown pin in western France on the map here). Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any further information about this home, apart from one crucial fact: this was the children’s home that Bea’s parents, Richard and Marie Rosenthal, directed and at which Bea’s younger brother Gerard worked from May/June 1945 until the three of them immigrated to the U.S. in May 1946.

How do we know this? Gerard himself recounts the story:

The Mennonite Central Committee established children’s homes in all over France, some of them in Alsace-Lorraine and one of them in the area of Nantes. We [Gerard and his parents] figured out very quickly that we weren’t going to be able to come to the United States until things quieted down. … They [the MCC] offered us employment in one of the children’s homes. My parents became directors, and I sort of became the gofer. So we … moved to this little town of Alcenis. … For a year we worked there. In the meantime my sister came back to France; they [Bea and Henry] lived in northern France in Chalon-sur-Saône. That’s where they had their headquarters. I would go there and pick up food and clothing. They taught me how to drive, and I had a Jeep to drive. I was in seventh heaven; it was glorious. We lived there for a year and functioned there for a year. Then in May of 1946 we finally got our visas [and immigrated to the United States]. (transcribed from the Shoah Foundation interview, 2 February 1996; sincere thanks to the Rosenthal family for pointing me to and providing this and other resources)

Perhaps someday we will stumble upon additional information about the children’s home and the work of the Rosenthals there. For now it is enough to know that they reconnected with Bea and Henry shortly after the end of the war.

The second children’s home worth noting is “the former Canet-Plage convalescent home [then located] at Lavercantière” (the orange pin in southwest France on the map linked above). The Canet-Plage home is the subject of ongoing interest, due to Henry’s involvement in the initial establishment of it and its later role as a safe haven for Jewish children who would otherwise have been sent to Nazi death camps (see here). When German troops took possession of the Canet-Plage house in February 1943, the children living there at the time were moved to a chateau in Lavercantière (pictured on the right). 

I have been unable to determine if that chateau is still standing; I suspect it is, since there a a number of similar-looking buildings in Lavercantière today, and one in particular looks promising, if only we could view it from the same angle as the photo above.

There is no such uncertainty with the next MCC site that we will consider: the MCC center in Chalon-sur-Saône. We begin with a photo of “Alma Lehman, Alsatian Mennonite Central Committee worker at MCC headquarters at Chalon-sur-Saone ca. 1946.” Looking just at this photo, there is little that we can discern. However, the photo does contain hints that enable us to put additional pieces together. Note, for example, the stone or brick wall in front of the whitish building on the left. Notice also that the building is two-story and has tall windows apparently evenly spaced. Finally, look closely at the area between the first and second floors: it appears that there is some sort of light fixture on the outside of the building.

With all those details in mind, we are ready to take a second look at a photograph that we viewed in early January, in a post titled “Bea and Henry in Europe” (see here). The photo shows a group of MCC workers in France after World War II.

The first thing that catches my eye is the stone wall behind the workers. It looks strikingly similar to the stone wall on the left of the Alma Lehman photo above. The color of the building resembles that in the first photo as well, and the shape of the windows seems to be the same. In fact, zooming in close with the first photo reveals the same notches on the sides of the window as we see in the second photo.

Of course, knowing what we now know, that the MCC center in France was permantently located in Chalon-sur-Saône after World War II, it only seems reasonable to conclude that the group photo here was also taken in front of the center located in that city.

As is evident in the first photo, the front of the MCC center was close to the street, with access limited to foot traffic. Thus it is no surprise that the back of the center was where supplies were unloaded and loaded. That is what we see in a third photo.

Looking closely and working left to right, one can spot two jeeps, a van, an army truck in the distant background and another in the foreground, and the front end of a third jeep between the two trucks. Note also that someone is carrying a basket of something (presumably clothes or food) to one of the trucks. Finally, zooming in close one can see that the first-floor window has the same notch pattern on the side, which confirms beyond doubt that this is the same building as that in the other photos: the MCC center in Chalon-sur-Saône.

Thanks to the wonders of Google Maps and Street View, we can see that the building still stands today (to explore the building on your own, go here).

We know from MCC reports that the center was located on Impasse Du Tranche, which, it turns out, is a relatively short street in Chalon-sur-Saône, so locating the building was not that difficult. The red cross on the sign toward the right end of the building lets passers-by know that the building is associated with the Croix Rouge Française (French Red Cross). Today the building houses a day center for homeless people in the area, offering them both essential services and social support. So it is that, nearly eighty years after the MCC served the people of France out of this building, the legacy of service continues there even today.

Note: all the photographs from the 1940s were taken by MCC relief worker John L. Fretz and made available by the Mennonite Archives of Ontario on the Mennonite Archival Information Database (MAID; see here). 

Bullers in The Mennonite 8

During the first months of 1945, Henry and other MCC workers in Europe had made great progress in reestablishing vital relief programs serving the war-ravaged population of France. As we read at the end of the last post, by the end of September 1945—which was only fifteen months after Allied forces had landed on the beaches of Normandy, a mere eleven months after the liberation of Paris, and only four months after the German surrender—the MCC had set up a new French headquarters.

2 October 1945 (page 12 here, upper right column)

A new headquarters has been decided upon for the French work. Communications to French workers should be addressed: Impasse Du Tranche, Chalon sur Saone.

Three weeks later, in the 23 October 1945 issue of The Mennonite (page 13 here, lower left column), we read a more extensive report on the French mission.

The Mennonite Relief Program in France 

The present phase of the M.C.C. relief program in France—“Secours Mennonite aux Enfants”—began in March of this year when Samuel Goering and Henry Buller were able to enter that country. At the time of their entry, three children’s homes were in operation. Since that time three additional homes have been set up and a central office has been established. Eight Mennonite workers are serving in this part of the relief program and four more are under appointment. 

The six children’s homes in operation are: (1) the former Canet-Plage convalescent home now at Lavercantiere, in south-central France about sixty miles north of Toulouse; (2) the “Le Dolivet” nursery at Plottes, about seventy miles north of Lyon; (3) the “Chateau Mont Simon” children’s colony, near Vescours, also north of Lyon; (4) the “Chateau du Chevagny,” a babies’ home near Macon, also north of Lyon; (5) a children’s home at Wissembourg in Alsace; and (6) a children’s home at Anetz par Ancenis, a town near Nantes in western France. 

The central office of Secours Mennonite was provisionally set up at Pont-de-Vaux, a town north of Lyon and the former home of Roger Georges, the French Christian who directed the Mennonite work during the German occupation. More recently the central office has been permanently established at Chalon-sur-Saone, a city about ninety miles north of Lyon. Besides providing a center for the relief personnel in France this office is also serving as a clothing depot and distribution center. A center has also been established in Paris in cooperation with the Brethren Service Committee. This office in the capitol city will serve incoming workers and also be the headquarters when official and business contacts have to be made in the city.

There is a lot to unpack here. We begin with the location of the permanent MCC French office at Chalon-sur-Saône (the blue pin in the lower center of the map below), or Chalon on the Saône (River). Chalon-sur-Saône was a medium-sized city of approximately 32,000 people at that time, but it was strategically located. As noted in the report, it was 90 miles north of Lyon (where the MCC office had formerly been located); it was also much closer than Lyon to the Alsace region, where most French Mennonites lived (see discussion of Alsace here).

The report also locates the six children’s homes that were operating at that time. The pins on the map show the relative distribution of those homes. Three of the homes were close to Chalon-sur-Saône: Plottes (yellow pin), Vescours (purple), and Macon (black). The home that had been located at Canet-Plage (see here, here, and here) was now at Lavercantiere (orange, lower left). A fifth home was located in western France, in Anetz par Ancenis, or Anetz by the city of Ancenis (brown, center left). Finally, one home was located within the Alsace region, in the town of Wissembourg (green, upper right).

Finally, the reports states that eight Mennonite workers were based in the Chalon-sur-Saône headquarters and that four more had been assigned there. In six months’ time, from March through September 1945, MCC’s footprint had grown from two (Henry and Sam Goering) to eight, and it was scheduled to increase by another 50 percent in the near future.

The staff members assigned to France are not named here, but a subsequent report, dated 4 December 1945 (page 13 here, upper right column), identifies some of the workers.

French Center Gets Under Way 

Henry Buller, in charge of Mennonite relief in France, writes in a recent letter concerning the activity at the Chalon Center: 

“Counting John Fretz, there are now ten members in the French unit, a very nice increase since last March. The extra work and noise around the center are certainly welcome—especially the noise of B. F. Hartzler getting the place organized and fixed up with hammer and saw. The trucks from England arrived here at Chalon on Monday evening, October 29. Since that time John Fretz and Robert Goering have been putting motorbikes and bicycles together.” 

From September to November (when the letter was written), two additional MCC workers had joined the team in France. Although we cannot say at this moment who the two new arrivals were, we do know that the Chalon-sur-Saône staff included Henry, John Fretz, B. F. Hartzler, and Robert Goering. No doubt there were other MCC workers at the new center, with still others staffing the six children’s homes spread throughout the country.

Not to be missed is the statement that Henry was “in charge of Mennonite relief in France.” This is, to my knowledge, the first reference to Henry as the director of the French operations. Whether he had been appointed to that position prior to his return to France or sometime subsequent to it is unknown. It may well be that his elevation to director took place at one of the organizational meetings held in Paris in July and September 1945 (see here). Perhaps this took place when Sam Goering was placed in charge of the northwest European operation (see the left column of the 4 December 1945 page linked above).

We hear nothing further about Henry in 1945 issues of The Mennonite; the next mention of him, a report of happy news, appears early in 1946. We will take up the thread of the narrative in a subsequent post, but first we will examine several photographs, both old and new, related to the MCC relief effort in France.

Bullers in The Mennonite 7

When we last checked in on Henry, he and Sam Goering had just crossed the channel from England to France and toured the war-ravaged country for nearly a month. Goering then returned to London and cabled a brief report to the MCC leadership.

Returned Wednesday. Found commitments made for eight homes. Three operating now with approximately 200 children. Entr’aide assist equiping [sic] places. Caution against over expansion. Agreed supporting plan in general pending your approval. Investigated wide area. Conditions tragic many places. Visited Widmer, Nussbaumer, Volkmar, and others farther north. Impossible visit Gerber. Volkmar will investigate needs among Mennonites and report. Some lost everything. Committee being organized to cooperate in relief program. Goods not money wanted … Holland indefinite. (15 May 1945 issue of The Mennonite, page 14 here, lower left column)

The cable is cryptic because it is attempting to send as much information as possible in as few characters as possible. However, with a little work, we can unpack the main elements of the message.

Goering reports that commitments had been made (we are not told by whom) for eight children’s homes. At that time, three such homes were serving the needs of roughly two hundred children, so apparently five more were planned. These MCC-sponsored homes were assisted by Entr’aide, which is probably a reference to the Entr’aide française (see further here). Under its original name, Secours national, this relief agency had been associated with the collaborationist Vichy government; after the liberation of France from the Nazis, the agency changed its name to Entr’aide française (likely to obscure its former association with Nazi collaborators).

Goering also mentions that he and Henry had investigated a large area in France and had visited Widmer, Nussbaumer, Volkmar, and others. The names he lists are not cities but rather leaders of Mennonite congregations. The Widmer mentioned was probably Joseph Widmer, elder of the Église Évangélique Mennonite de Pfastatt (see here; for a photo, see here). More certain identifications can be made of Hans Nussbaumer, elder in the Altkirch church, and Henri Volkmar of Colmar (see here for both). Finally, Goering notes that they were unable to visit one person, who was probably Fritz Gerber of the Emmental Mennonite Church near Langnau, Switzerland (see further here).

Not to be lost in all these details is the recognition that there was a significant Mennonite presence in the Alsace region of France. Alsace is located on the far eastern edge of France along the Rhine River plain; Germany and Switzerland lie across the river to the east (see the map here). Mennonites fleeing persecution first came to the Alsace region in the sixteenth century; in time, however, they experienced oppression and harassment here as well, leading many to emigrate to the U.S. in the early eighteenth century. Those who remained lived largely on the fringes, it seems; “they were little in the public eye” (see the full article from which I drew here).

With that brief background, we are able to make better sense of the title of the next report that mentions Henry, published in the 29 May 1945 issue of The Mennonite (page 14 here, lower left column). That title, “Alsatian Brethren Share Relief Load in France,” informs readers that the Mennonite churches in the Alsace region were willing to help with the MCC’s relief work in France. The article informs readers:

Samuel Goering has reported more extensively on the investigation tour through France, made by Henry Buller and himself, between March 19 and April 18, 1945. Excerpts from his report read as follows:

“We made a tour by car of about 2,500 miles touching the following large centers: Dieppe, Le Havre, Rouen, Paris, Le Mans, Angers, Angouleme, Tulle, Le Puy, Lyon, Macon, Dole, Belfort, Mulhouse, Colmar, Strasbourg, Nancy, Paris. We will want to center our work not south but north and east of Lyon.

Before we finish the article, it will be helpful to get our bearings. The route taken by Henry and Goering has been traced on the map below. The northernmost spot (A) is Dieppe, on the coast. From there the two drove to Le Havre (B), after which they backtracked a little and then headed southeast to Rouen (C). After driving to Paris (D), the pair made a sweeping counterclockwise tour of France. After Lyon (J) in the southeast, they drove north-northeast into the Alsace region, before passing through Strasbourg and turning west to return to Paris.

As the article continues, the focus is squarely on the Mennonites in Alsace, which is consistent with Goering’s comment about centering the work “not south but north and east of Lyon.”

“On Easter Sunday we attended services at the Mennonite church in Colmar. In the afternoon Bro. Volkmar who is very much interested in the relief program accompanied us to see Bro. Widmer near Mulhouse who is chairman-treasurer of their conference committee. He agreed to serve as treasurer for relief funds until the permanent committee is organized. From there we went to see Bro. Nussbaumer at Altkirch. All three are members of their conference committee. They wanted to know what the American Mennonites would do, and we promised them $500 a month for the present. We decided to pay over to them, from the money on hand, 100,000 Frs., or the equivalent of four months allowance so that they have enough money to begin now some worthwhile work, a children’s home or whatever they think best. Some of the Mennonites have lost everything, but others lost nothing or very little. Folks who have things will, we feel, gladly give supplies or money to help along. Bro. Volkmar is willing to help in the work to get things started. He has two daughters who are graduate nurses and interested in helping along in the work. The oldest daughter has ten years of experience in the hospital and the younger has worked five years in a children’s home.”

The Alsatian Mennonites had needs of their own, but they also wished to participate in the MCC’s relief efforts. It seems the partnership was to be funded by the MCC ($2,000 seed money) but staffed primarily by the local community (e.g., Volkmar and his two daughters). Importantly, one of the first relief projects to come to mind was a children’s home.

The next report appeared less than a month later. By this time Sam Goering had returned to England, and Henry was the only MCC worker in France. 

19 June 1945 (page 14 here, left column)

Aiding French Mennonite Brethren

Henry Buller has been contacting French Mennonite families in the region of Colmar, Altkirch, Blamont, and Mulhouse, towns in Alsace. Mennonite families who lost everything, or suffered severe loss when the war raged through Alsace, have assisted Brother Buller to visualize how American and Canadian Mennonites can best help. The present need is not financial. Each family feels that there is sufficient money to spend intelligently at present. Financial assistance might be helpful eight or twelve months from now when reconstruction can begin.

There is unanimity in their requests for materials that are especially necessary to continue farm work. Clothing for young and old, and cloth to make work clothing, head the list. Small tools are needed for their farms, orchards, and vineyards: hoes, rakes, forks, spades, shovels, scythes, sickles, etc. Larger tools might include mowing machines and one-row listing plows. The homes will need help with bedding and linens for the next year or two.

Sam Goering has expressed his desire to see a young man go into this area with a fair-sized cement mixer, patterns for cement or prefabricated houses, who could move from one community to another building, with local labor, the houses which are so badly needed.

The statement that the Alsatian Mennonites did not need financial support might seem at odds with the fact that Henry and Sam Goering had just given $2,000 to them. Is the MCC gift the reason they did not need financial support? Perhaps, but it seems more likely that there are two different types of relief work in view here. On the one hand, funding was needed for community-wide projects such as a children’s home; on the other hand, the individual families did not need money so much as the means necessary to resume farming, including work clothes and hand tools such as hoes, rakes, forks, spades, shovels, scythes, and sickles.

Events continued to develop quickly, and one week later The Mennonite reported that Henry had been joined by another MCC worker. Then in July he and a number of colleagues serving in other areas met to develop a plan for the MCC relief program in France.

26 June 1945 (page 22 here, upper left column)

Second Relief Worker Enter France

Vemon Toews is the second Mennonite worker permitted to leave England and enter France to carry on relief work. Henry Buller met him in Paris, June 9, and it is expected that Brother Toews will assist in establishing and expanding the relief program in the northeastern part of France. 

24 July 1945 (pages 11–12 here, lower right column)

French Relief Work Planned 

Definite plans for a Mennonite relief program in France were shaped in Paris, July 4, when O. O. Miller, Sam Goering, M. C. Lehman, and Henry Buller conferred regarding the actual relief situation in France and what Mennonites might do to bring a ministry of relief, especially in behalf of Mennonites in Alsace. Eldon Burke, representative of the Brethren Service Committee, was also present at the meeting. 

No definite information has been received as to the date of M. C. Lehman’s arrival in France, but his coming coincided providentially with the meeting at Paris. A more recent cable indicates that since the time of the Paris conference, Brother Miller has arrived in the Middle East.

The 2 October 1945 issue of The Mennonite (page 12 here, upper right column) includes two reports of significance for Henry’s relief work. According to the first report, three months after the first planning meeting, Henry and several MCC colleagues met once again in Paris, this time to plan the relief program for a much larger area. The second report shared the good news that additional help was on the way; soon the MCC relief work in France would enjoy a staff level better able to meet the needs of the day.

Meeting in Paris 

To further organize and plan the Mennonite relief program in Northwest Europe, the following brethren conferred in Paris on September 11: O. O. Miller, Samuel Goering, C. F. Klassen, John L. Horst, M. C. Lehman, and Henry Buller. M. R. Zigler of the Brethren Service Committee was also present. Our relief program in Holland and France is desperately in need of transport facilities according to a cable sent shortly after the conference. Relief workers are needed who can operate trucks and also serve as repair mechanics. Arrangements are being made to send several vehicles from both England and the States. 

It is also reported that there is urgent need for clothing and food supplies in France. Additional shipments are therefore being consigned to this country immediately. 

C. F. Klassen reported concerning his visit to interned German and Polish Mennonites in Denmark. Brother Klassen has proceeded to Switzerland, Germany, and Holland in the further interest of displaced Mennonites.

Five Workers Leave for France 

Farewell services were held at Akron, September 13, for five outgoing relief workers: Mary Miller, Ella Schmidt, Beulah Roth, Evelyn Egli, and Elsie Bechtel. All five of these workers sailed together from New York the next day on board the troopship, U.S.S. Argentina. They sailed directly for France and will disembark at Le Havre. These workers will likely serve in homes for war victims as nurses, child-training specialists, and matrons.

A new headquarters has been decided upon for the French work. Communications to French workers should be addressed: Impasse Du Tranche, Chalon sur Saone.

Not only had long-term plans been developed and additional relief workers sent to the field, but a new headquarters was being established in the city of Chalon-sur-Saône. Everything was now in place for a new phase of the MCC’s relief work in France.

Coming Home

Here is something I never expected to find—particularly because it never occurred to me that such a thing even existed. The 93-second video embedded below, a 1944 newsreel, shows the arrival of the MS Gripsholm in New York harbor, on 15 March 1944. To be precise, the ship entered New York harbor, then docked in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

Why am I posting about this? Although we probably will never spot them, Henry, Bea, and Lois Gunden were on that ship at this very moment. As the newsreel commentator notes, the ship’s passengers included 663 former prisoners of war and internees who had been exchanged for German prisoners and people of German descent who had been detained by the U.S. Among those 663 passengers were all those who had been interned in the Brenner Park Hotel in Baden-Baden, Germany, that is, all the diplomats held along with Lois and Bea and Henry.

As many readers already know, before broadcast television news rose to prominence in the 1960s, many Americans relied on theater newsreels for a first-hand viewing of current events. For more than eighty additional newsreels from this period, see the videos posted here.

Bullers in The Mennonite 6

The last two posts in this series were centered around Henry and Bea’s life in the United States after they had been released from internment in the Brenner Park Hotel in Baden-Baden, Germany. First Bea (here) and then Henry (here) told their individual and shared stories to the wider Mennonite public. We pick up the story at that point, in mid-1944.

Within a few months, The Mennonite reported that Henry was on his way back to Europe to resume his work on behalf of the Mennonite Central Committee. 

26 September 1944 (page 15 here, lower left column)

Buller Granted Passage to England

Henry Buller, still awaiting passage to England at the time Ellen Harder and John Thut left Akron headquarters, was able to leave the country with John Thut. Brother Buller will assist in relief at the London Center, until such time as permission is granted to carry on relief in areas familiar to him in France.

According to an earlier issue of The Mennonite (here), farewell services had been held for Ellen Harder and John Thut on 4 September, when Henry was still awaiting authorization or a ticket (we do not know which) for his own journey back across the ocean. Fortunately for Henry, whatever was delaying him was resolved within a few weeks, and he and Thut had departed for England by mid- to late September.

Although we might have expected Henry to travel directly to France, he went rather to England to work alongside Thut in the London MCC Center. The note explains that he did not yet have permission to go to France. Why? Recall that the Allied forces had landed on the beaches of Normandy only a short time earlier, on 6 June 1944. Paris had been liberated only a month prior, on 25 August. Granted, the Germans had been pushed out of most parts of France (except in the southeast) by the end of September 1944, but it is not hard to appreciate why nonresident civilians were kept out of what had recently been a combat zone.

The next mention of Henry comes in the 24 October 1944 issue (page 14 here, lower left column):

Thut and Buller in England 

By letter it has been learned that John Thut and Henry Buller arrived safely in London on September 28. John has gone to Taxal Edge to assist Peter Dyck with the convalescent boys there and Henry is located at the London Center.

Although we hear nothing more about Henry specifically for the remainder of 1944, we can imagine his life based on MCC reports about the England work. The 12 December 1944 issue (page 13 here, middle right column), for example, carried the following report: 

Robot Bombing Accelerated Relief Work in England 

In a summary of the May, June, and July relief work that our Mennonite organization carried on in England, our representative reports that the hazards of the flying bombs brought increased demands for clothing, and particularly bedding. Forty quilts were distributed in the Children’s Hospital at Yorkshire. This hostel gave accommodations to cases of difficult evacuated children. Nineteen quilts, clothing, and financial assistance has been given to an organization to aid its welfare work in the very poor and much bombed sections of London, Liverpool, and Manchester.

The “robot bombing” of the headline was no doubt German V-2 rockets, which were first launched against England on 8 September and continued through March 1945.

A 31 January 1945 letter from Sam Goering, an MCC worker who had recently arrived in England, fills in additional details—and lets us know that Henry was still in the London Center during this time. The second half of the letter, quoted below, was published in the 8 May 1945 issue (page 8 here, lower left column); the first half of the letter, interesting in its own right, is available here.

It was snowing as I arrived at the Center; Henry Buller, looking out of the window, noticed me, and he and Glen Miller came out to meet me. Soon I was in the house. The warm fire and hearty welcome made me feel at home. I was glad I got here early enough to spend some time with Glen Miller and Joe Byler who are to leave for the U.S. in about a week. Here at the Service Center I met all but four of our relief workers the first night. They are a fine group and deeply concerned about fulfilling the mission for which they are here. 

Within an hour after I got here I heard the crash of a V-2 bomb, but it seemed far in the distance. The one next day at noon was not so far away. But the general feeling seems to be that, dangerous as these bombs may be, things cannot stop because of them, and so folks are bravely carrying on. 

Shepherd Hill, where the MCC headquarters is, is a ridge with large houses on it, of which our place is one. In this building they have a group of children who were bombed out of their homes besides the clothing depot and rooms for workers and helpers; so they need a lot of space. My room is on the top floor which means four flights of stairs to climb. 

The children come and go. Here at the Center we have twelve now, but there are many more if we include those staying at the various places we have away from here. Some of these children come from exceptionally fine homes. The letters and telephone calls they get show that they have ties that bind them closely to loved ones.

I had an interesting little visitor this afternoon, Allen, a little boy who went to S. S. [Sunday school] with me a week ago. On Monday he went to school and did not return. He came to stay with us because he was recovering from an illness and their home had been bombed, destroying all but two rooms. When he didn’t return from school we inquired and found that he took the bus and went home. The reason was that, while he was here, a number of alarms that morning warned people of buzz bombs, and he decided it might be safer at home. This afternoon he came with his father to say he was sorry he left without saying anything. While here the father told us how they had lost everything they had, and now are living in two small rooms that are hardly fit to live in. The other day a family I visited recently, called by phone and asked for clothing for people that had lost everything but their lives. These people know through experience how dangerous these bombs are. Yet it is surprising to see how bravely they carry on after five years of it. Each night many still take their bedding and go into the air raid shelters to sleep. I watched them tonight when we came home from town. The subways are lined with beds.… This has been a busy week. Glen Miller and I were on the go all the time. We are at Taxal Edge—here we say goodbye to Glen Miller and Joe Byler. They go to Liverpool from here, and then back to the States. I have visited Vickerhurst, Manor, and Woodlands, and now we are at Taxal Edge, from here we proceed to South Meadows and then I will have visited all the places. 

This has been a quiet day compared to some others we have had recently. You may have heard that the English Presbyterians lost a group of their finest leaders when the building in which they were in conference was hit. Baswick, a Dunkard, who is in charge of war prisoners, had just left the building when the V-2 struck. He had gone there to tell them what the Y.M.C.A. is doing for the war prisoners. Needless to say, he felt very fortunate. Mr. Baswick invited Henry Buller and me over for supper one evening. We had pigs feet, beans and a combination salad—all prepared by him, and it was really good. He expects his wife and children this summer. 

Even when danger is near we are confident that we are in His care and keeping.

According to GAMEO (here), the MCC’s London Center was located at 68 Shepherds Hill. The building pictured above is presumably the London Center, since it is an older four-story building located at that address. This, then, is where Henry lived and worked from late September 1944 through early March 1945, under constant threat of a V-2 rocket shattering his world at any moment.

We can say that Henry left England for France in March 1945 based on a report in 6 March 1945 issue of The Mennonite (page 14 here, lower left column):

Passport  Validation  for  France 

Henry Buller, along with Sam Goering, has now had his passport validated for France. Both of these workers are engaged in relief work in England but will enter France as soon as French visas can be procured. Bro. Buller was a relief worker in France from 1941 until he was interned early in 1943. He is quite eager to return to the work and people he had served earlier.

According to this brief note, by early March Henry had secured authorization to travel to France (via his U.S. passport); however, he still needed permission to enter France (a French visa). That permission was soon forthcoming, since we next read that Henry and Sam Goering left England on 18 March.

15 May 1945 (page 14 here, lower left column)

Samuel Goering, who left England, March 18, and entered France with Henry Buller, returned to England, April 18. Brother Goering cabled the following message from London, April 19, regarding his investigation and contacts in France: 

Returned Wednesday. Found commitments made for eight homes. Three operating now with approximately 200 children. Entr’aide assist equiping places. Caution against over expansion. Agreed supporting plan in general pending your approval. Investigated wide area. Conditions tragic many places. Visited Widmer, Nussbaumer, Volkmar, and others farther north. Impossible visit Gerber. Volkmar will investigate needs among Mennonites and report. Some lost everything. Committee being organized to cooperate in relief program. Goods not money wanted … Holland indefinite. (The original cable used all capital letters.)

There is quite a bit to unpack with the cable message that Goering sent, so this seems a good place to stop before we dig deeper. It is sufficient to know for now that, as of 18 March 1944, Henry was back in France and ready to resume his work of ministering to the needs of the war-ravaged population.