Refusal of World War I military service led to Hutterite brothers’ deaths at Fort Leavenworth

FREEMAN, S.D. — Some estimates state that

20 million people,

both soldiers and civilians, died during World War I.

Among those were Michael and Joseph Hofer, a pair of brothers from near Alexandria in Hanson County in South Dakota. But the two did not die on the front lines of battle.

The two died while in the custody of the United States military, which had court martialled them after they refused to be drafted into military service during World War I. As

Hutterites,

the two lived at Rockport Colony, came from a pacifist religious tradition and refused any military service, a position that the government, at the time, did not accept easily.

“It had to be a horribly frightening time,” Norman Hofer, a retired farmer from Freeman, South Dakota, who serves as an expert on local Hutterite and

Mennonite

history, told the Mitchell Republic in a recent interview. “It’s a sad story and yet it’s also a story of a people whose country can be extremely forgiving.”

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Now 86, Hofer grew up with the story of the two brothers and their reluctant term in military service. Over the years he has given presentations on the brothers and general Mennonite and Hutterite history, and the story has also been chronicled by others in texts such as “Pacifists In Chains — The Persecution of Hutterites During the Great War” by Duane C.S. Stoltzfus, “The Prairie People — Forgotten Anabaptists” by Rod Janzen and “Hutterite CO’s in World War One,” edited by Patrick Murphy. Letters home from the men and the accounts of David Hofer, the surviving brother, also gave narrative to the experiences of the men.

Hofer has a personal connection to the story. His grandfather was a first cousin to the two brothers, who died in 1918 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after they had also spent time at the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco when it was still being used as a military prison. Military representatives said they died of illness during their incarceration, but many of their fellow followers believed they were treated poorly due to being conscientious objectors and died as a result of injuries received at the hands of guards at the prison.

The story is now well over 100 years old, and Hofer said it is still recounted in some historical and religious circles. But the roots of the issue at hand — the Hutterites refusal to bear arms — dates back further than that.

Hutterites were part of a larger immigrant group that had their origins in German-speaking parts of Europe. Like many others, those who made up the group moved from their home countries to Russia at the behest of Catherine the Great, who ruled as empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She was hoping to entice German-speaking peoples to populate the Russian prairie and boost the culture and the economy.

“She was not Russian, she was German. A German princess married a Russian prince, and when the old folks die they end up being emperor and empress,” Hofer said. “He’s a wimp, and she’s an outspoken driver and she’s going to be the queen.”

People of many denominations flocked to Russia and the promises made by Catherine the Great. That included land to work that they could eventually own. They could be a part of and practice whichever religious denomination they chose as long as they did not try to proselytize each other. And they could freely choose their occupation, forgoing the old apprenticeship model of their previous countries.

But one particular promise stood out to them.

“And the frosting on top of the cake — you will never serve in the Russian army. It was a big one for the pacifist Hutterites and Mennonites,” Hofer said.

About a century later, the political winds began to change. The death of Catherine the Great left those German-speaking immigrants without their major supporter, and with that came mandates that they would have to learn the Russian language as well as eventually serve in the Russian military.

Groups of scouts were sent to the Great Plains of the United States to evaluate land, where Mennonites and Hutterites soon settled in waves. Some chose to live communally in colonies, as many still do today around South Dakota and North Dakota, as well as Canada and other places. Others preferred to live on individual farms and make their own way in the world outside of communal living. Hofer is a descendant of those who chose to live on their own outside the colony.

But the pacifist traditions of the Hutterites and Mennonites remained. And that became a serious issue during World War I.

Michael and Joseph Hofer, along with their brother David Hofer and a brother-in-law Jacob Wipf, all from Rockport Colony, were conscripted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War I. It was exactly what they had left Russia to avoid, but now that possibility was here in their new home, and they were put in a difficult position.

They explained to Army officials their faith barred them from taking the life of another person or wearing the clothing of someone who does. It made no difference. Their refusal earned them 20 years of hard labor, starting at the Alcatraz United States Military Prison in San Francisco.

There they suffered in harsh conditions. According to historians, they developed rashes and had difficulty fighting off insects because their hands were chained on bars above their heads, which lifted them up on the tips of their toes. They suffered beatings, and one account indicated one of the brothers being rendered unconscious.

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The four were eventually transferred to the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, where Michael and Joseph Hofer both died a few days apart in 1928. The official cause of their death was attributed to illness, but family members and fellow colony members highly suspected that the harsh treatment and conditions of their imprisonment were the true culprits behind their passing.

On top of it, when the family of the dead arrived to claim the bodies, they discovered that both had been dressed in a U.S. Army uniform, which some considered a direct affront to their beliefs and wishes.

Hofer recalled an old-timer from the area who had attended the funerals at Rockport Colony.

“He was a little boy when that happened, and that was such a big funeral that it was almost dark by the time the procession got to the cemetery because it was swamped with colony people and all the rest,” Hofer said. “As they were there in the cemetery, they looked over the valley and could see the bridge where it crosses the James River. He heard the wagon cross the bridge planks carrying the body of the second brother.”

The deaths of the Hutterites were not overly publicized, although it was picked up in a handful of publications, including newspapers in Fargo, Oklahoma and in Canada.

The death of the brothers occurred around the time of a growing exodus of Hutterites out of South Dakota, though Hofer said the brothers’ deaths were not really a motivating factor in their departure, as concerns had been brewing for some time prior. Many South Dakota colonies at the time moved wholesale to Canada, where they were not subjected to the whims of the United States military complex.

This included Rockport Colony, which is now occupied by a different sect of Hutterites than the one that counted the Hofer brothers as members.

While Hofer laments the position the brothers were in and their fate – as a Mennonite he himself is a conscientious objector – he empathizes with the United States government officials who clearly did not know how to handle the delicate situation.

“Among my Hutterite friends, they love to lambast the Army and the U.S. government. But hey, just a minute, they were dealing with something they had never really had to deal with. We had had an exemption for 100 years in Russia, so this was something new. What were they supposed to do?” Hofer said. “I’m totally convinced that after World War I was over and World War II came along, (the U.S. government) said they weren’t going to repeat what happened in World War I.”

With the arrival of World War II about two decades later, the United States government established the Civilian Public Service organization, an option for conscientious objectors to fulfill their service obligations through civilian programs. Those opting for service with CPS made significant contributions to the national good in the areas of forest fire prevention, erosion and flood control and medical science as well as reform of the mental health system.

Photo Courtesy Pacifists in Chains by Duane C.S. Stoltzfus

Pacifists generally embraced the new program, Hofer said, particularly the option to address the mental health crisis occurring in the country at the time. That aspect of service became

a tradition among Mennonites in the decades that followed, with the religious group establishing several mental health hospitals in the United States.

The program even drew pacifist women volunteers that were not subject to the military draft.

Photo Courtesy Pacifists in Chains by Duane C.S. Stoltzfus

They only wished to avoid military service and for the most part were more than willing to go to work for the betterment of their fellow citizens, especially when other young men were required to serve in the military.

“I don’t think it’s fair if my neighbor’s boys are dying in a foreign battle and that my son should sit at home. There has to be something, even if you can’t pick up a gun. You can still serve time,” Hofer said.

Conscientious objectors today are guided through the Selective Service System, which attempts to match them with local employers. Many types of jobs are theoretically available, though jobs must be deemed to make a meaningful contribution to the maintenance of national health, safety and interest. Those jobs include placements in the areas of conservation, caring for the very young or old, education and health care.

The length of service in the program would usually be about 24 months.

In addition to the establishment of alternative programs for conscientious objectors following World War I, the government made overtures of reconciliation toward Hutterites who had left the country to avoid conscription. Those who had left were welcome to return with no penalties to be handed out. Hofer said he knows of no trials held for Hutterites who left for Canada to avoid the draft.

That was the action of a government admitting it wished it had handled things differently, Hofer said.

“It’s so easy to say the military and U.S. government was wrong and that they were all sinful. No!” Hofer said. “It changed a lot. It changed us and it changed them, too.”

Today, the story of the Hofer brothers and their fellow conscripts is well-known among various Hutterite, Mennonite and pacifist groups, Hofer said. The Hutterite group that occupied Rockport Colony in 1918 long ago left to relocate to Canada, with another group having since moved into the former location, but the brothers are still remembered for their perseverance of faith.

Hofer said if nothing else, the United States government coming up with a true alternative program to military service is a powerful legacy left by Michael and Joseph Hofer, the Hutterites and their Mennonite neighbors.

Photo Courtesy Pacifists in Chains by Duane C.S. Stoltzfus

“Nobody. The military, the Mennonites, the government, the court system. Nobody wanted to repeat that,” Hofer said. “To have someone who says ‘no, I’m not going to go’ and then to be forgiving enough that a few months later when the war is over to say ‘come back and continue your life’ (is significant),” Hofer said. “They said ‘look, we’re not going to do this again,’ and were willing to come up with a program.”