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.
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