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.
No comments:
Post a Comment