Symposium 2004

The Mennonite Relief Commission for War Sufferers:

An Often Forgotten Organization

Susy Stoltzfus, Senior
Goshen College 2004
 
As a direct response to President Wilson’s declaration of War on Germany in April 1917, the Mennonite Church had by December formed the Mennonite Relief Commission for War Sufferers (MRCWS) to serve those suffering the direct consequences of war. [1] From 1919 through 1921 the Relief Commission sent thirty one Mennonites to Turkey, Syria and Lebanon to work with the Neat East Relief (NER).[2] Leaders of the Relief Commission such as Aaron Loucks (Commission President and member of the Mennonite Church’s Military Problems Committee), William Derstine (a key member of the commission’s executive board). and Orie Miller (leader of the initial group of workers sent to the Middle East) always considered Russia and helping the suffering Mennonites there, however until 1920, they were willing to wait for the U S Government to open that door. Also from the beginning the MRCWS sent money to both the NER and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) for their reconstruction work in France. In addition to the monetary aid to the Friends work, at least fifty drafted Mennonites entered the reconstruction and relief training program at Haverford College during 1918 and then worked in France in 1919. This relationship between the MRCWS and the NER enabled Mennonites who had not been drafted during the war to express their nonresistance in a positive and active manner. Nevertheless, the history of the MRCWS and its relationships with other relief agencies is also a story of conflict and uneasy compromise. [3]

            A somewhat uncomfortable working relationship quickly developed between the AFSC and the leadership of the MRCWS. Though members of the AFSC were always willing to give some space in decision making to the Mennonites, the MRCWS felt they did not have a loud enough voice for their contingent of workers in that program. This feeling of unfair exclusion from decision making with the AFSC led Loucks to strongly argue for sending men to work with NER in the first weeks after the November 1918 armistice. After the December 30, 1918 joint missionary conference and Relief Commission general board meeting in Elida, OH was canceled because of a flu epidemic a special meeting was held in Lancaster, PA on January 4, 1919. This meeting of the MRCWS Executive Committee and representatives from the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, Lancaster Conference Bishop Board and the Franconia Conference came to the unanimously conclusion that personnel should be sent to NER at the earliest possible chance.[4]

            Just three weeks later, on January 25th, the first seven Mennonite workers departed for the Near East expecting to be able to form a separate and autonomous unit to serve the suffering Armenians. The NER officials in New York were still operating under the impression that their organization was primarily a coordinating committee for the numerous American Protestant Missions present in the region. But in the short time since the World War had ended, officials in the field were in quickly transforming their organization into a nonreligious and apolitical organization chartered by the Unites States Congress. Only once the Mennonites were in Beirut did the reality of the different expectations of officials in New York and on the field become apparent.[5]
Out of respect for the Mennonites’ desires of both an autonomous unit and doing clearly meaningful work, James Barton, director of the Beirut District, initially kept these seven Mennonites in Beirut and quite soon gave Orie Miller the very important job of managing the food and clothing warehouse[6]. For some time these Mennonites assembled cars and trucks that had come from the United States As this task was completed three of these six workers were given orphanage work in the Beirut District, two remained in the transportation division and Chris Graber became director of the Aleppo refugee camp.[7]

            The MRCWS was so impatient to get some of its workers into the Near East that its investigation team of Aaron Loucks and William Derstine did not precede but rather accompanied Orie Miller and his companions, as figure 1 shows.

Figure 1


This photograph was taken as the first group of Mennonites sent with MRCWS to the Near East in January 1919. Derstine and Aaron Loucks, members of the MRCWS Executive Board accompanied this group of seven workers.
Credit: Ira Deter Photograph Collection, Hist. Mss. 4-203 SC “Mennonites in World War I, Photograph #847, Mennonite Church USA Archives, Goshen, Indiana (MCUSAA-G)
 
 
Not only did Miller’s group not particularly benefit from any of Loucks and Derstine’s findings but neither did the second group of Mennonite workers, since they left New York in late February, about the same time that Loucks, Derstine and the others arrived in Beirut. [8]
This second group went directly to Constantinople, without stopping at all in Beirut, and they could not understand why the NER officials there were unwilling and unable to send them to an autonomous Mennonite unit somewhere in Turkey. Without any word from Loucks or Derstine or the workers in Beirut, the second group decided it was most prudent to go from Constantinople to Derindje where there was some work. Within a few weeks in the field, they were asked to go to the Caucuses but refused because they still expected to be able to be united with the first group. This unification did not happen and the group was soon scattered throughout Turkey, but like some in the first group, two members of this group, Ernest Miller and Jesse Smucker, were given leadership positions as station directors at Mardin and Diarbekir respectively.
Entering into relief activities with considerable ignorance of the political context of the Near East meant that issues of correct clothing and relationship to military establishments were somewhat problematic for at least these initial two groups of Mennonite workers. This picture (figure 2) taken in the summer of 1919 seems to show that many of these first eleven Mennonites had to wear uniforms that were some combination of military and “worldly” businessman type attire.

Figure 2


Credit: Ernest E. Miller Photograph Collection, Hist. Miss. 4-10 Box 3, File 1 entitled “Relief Photo Album” Photo #1704, MCUSAA-G.
 
 
 
Clearly the caps worn by five of the men are quite similar to what a army officer might wear. The issue of whether the Mennonites’ uniform could be plain clothes was resolved at some point in 1919 because as figure 3, the group of Mennonites who departed in January all wore plain clothes even for a picture of the entire group of NER volunteers.

Figure 3

 
Credit: Menno Nussbaum Photo Collection, Hist. Mss. 4-357 1/1 “Departing Group,” Photo #767 MCUSAA-G
 
In addition to the question of appropriate attire, some of these first Mennonites had to decide whether they could work under the American Red Cross, which they perceived as being too closely associated with the Army. In June 1919, the Mennonites in transportation department refused to drive transports because it was directed by the Red Cross. However, at least one Mennonite, David Zimmerman, was made to return to this service before the Red Cross turned all its work over to the NER in July 1919.[9]
Despite this reluctance to associate even with the Red Cross and most surely their stated refusal to carry any weapons; Mennonites were relied upon to transport money between Beirut or Aleppo and interior stations. This reliance on nonresistant Mennonites to transfer money displays an amazing amount of trust in their safety by both the Mennonites and NER officials. Train travel was very slow and while the Mennonites were surely trustworthy they also refused to carry any type of weapon to defend themselves against either bandits or possibly unruly Turkish soldiers.
Though all within the MRCWS had from 1917 considered trying to start a unit in Russia, they were at that point willing to wait until a way was officially opened. This resolve changed in the summer of 1920 when all North American Mennonites heard first hand accounts of the suffering in Russia from the Studien Kommission, a delegation of Mennonites sent from Russia. In early September, the MRCWS in association with the still forming Mennonite Central Committee sent the trio of Orie Miller, Clayton Kratz and Arthur Slagel to investigate the conditions and to begin work in Russia. Except for Miller and Kratz’s early October trip into the Mennonite colonies of Molochna and Chortiza, which are seen at the top of the map (figure 4), the way for work in Russia remained closed for another year. In the meantime Miller, Slagel and some additional Mennonites did work in Constantinople among the Russian refugees there.
 

Figure 4

 
 
Credit: Inside front cover of James Barton, Story of Near East Relief, (New York: Macmillan 1920)
            At the same time MCC workers were actually able to enter Russia, the MRCWS sent its last contingent to work with the NER. This group of six workers departed in August 1921 for a term of two years. Like many from the earlier groups, a few of these men had positions of leadership and responsibility. Roy King was director of transport in Beirut district and Herman Kreider was general relief director for Aleppo.[10]
            Both these positions carried a heavy weight of responsibility during their time of service because from mid 1921 the Turks were finishing the genocide and expulsion of Armenians. This expulsion has begun in a well coordinated way possibly as early as 1908. Most of the Armenians escaping Turkey came through Aleppo on their eventual way to Beirut, Jubal, or Sidon.
            As office secretary in Beirut, Nellie Miller Mann, a member of the last group of Mennonites, saw and also recorded many of the movements of orphans and refugees. For instance in December 1921, she reported in a letter that they moved sixty Armenian orphans from Ghazir to Sidon but soon they were again moved to Jubeil because NER officials figured it was best to separate the Armenians and the Syrians. Sidon was the final destination for the Syrians while Armenians ended in Jubeil.
            From 1919 until 1925, then MRCWS offered Mennonite men a first entry into the complications of overseas relief work. Though their desires for a definable and autonomous unit were immediately dashed upon arrival on the field in early 1919, the positive working relationship with the Near East Relief not only continued until the political climate calmed in 1925 with the formation of modern Turkey but also, at least partially, enabled MCC to quickly build relationships with organizations like the American Relief Administration. During this period of time, while the Relief Commission was a prominent and autonomous organization, it did enable young non-drafted Mennonite men the opportunity to give a productive a positive expression to their deeply held ethic of nonresistance. Nevertheless, the importance of the Relief Commissions work was soon lost even to contemporaries when its independent identity combined with a similar committee within the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities. Also mutual aid programs of one sort or another for Mennonites in Russia continued to resurface during the 1920s and 1930s which enabled MCC to remain an easily identifiable organization.



Appendix A: Mennonites in NER by Key Job Performed
 
 
 


Syrian Orphanage, Jerusalem
Frank Stoltzfus- asst director
Amos Eash- director
Roy Kauffman- asst director
 
Other Orphanage Work (role, district)
William Stoltzfus (director, Sidon)
Silas Hertzler (asst dirctr, Sidon)
John H Wayre (director, Caesarea)
 
Transport work (District)
Daniel Zimmerman (Beirut)
Ezra Deter (Beirut)
Paul Snyder (Marash)
Ernest H Miller (Beirut)
Daniel D Stoltzfus (Beirut)
Eli Stoltzfus (Beirut)
Fred Swartzendruber (Beirut)
Roy J King (Beirut)
John Detweiler (throughout Turkey)
Chris Augsberger (Aleppo & Marash)
 
Died in service
Menno Shellenburger
Director Aleppo Refugee Camp
Christian L Graber
 
Lodging House Manager Beirut
Rebecca Stoltzfus Bender
 
Secretary- Beirut
Nellie Miller Mann
 
Machinist- Beirut
Roy Myer
 
Director or Assistant, General Relief (district)
Orie Miller (Beirut)
Ernest E Miller (Mardin)
Jesse Smucker (Diabeker)
Martin Weaver (Aleppo)
Herman Kreider (Aleppo)
Joe Detwiler (Mardin)
 
Office Manager- Beirut
Ray Bender
 
Type of work unclear
Leo Myer (Samsun, Constantinople)
Menno Nussbaum (Beirut)
Milo Zimmerman (Beirut)
 
 



Appendix B: Mennonite Workers in NER by Departing Group[11]
 
Worker                          Hometown         Departed USA              Role in NER
Orie Miller                     Akron, PA`        January 1919               Asst Director Gen. Relief Beirut Dist
Daniel Zimmerman          Ephrata, PA        January 1919               transport work, Beirut
Frank Stoltzfus               Lima, OH          January 1919               Asst Director Syrian Orphanage Jerusalem
William Stoltzfus                        Lima, OH          January 1919               Director Orphanages in Sidon District
Christian L Graber           Noble, IA           January 1919               Director Aleppo refugee Camp
Ezra Deter                      Morrison, IL       January 1919               assistant to Daniel Zimmerman
Silas Hertzler                  Denbigh, VA      January 1919               assistant to William Stoltzfus
 
Ernest E Miller               Middlebury, IN   February 1919              Director Mardin Station
Leon Myer                     Lancaster, PA     February 1919              Samsun- Constantinople
Jesse Smucker                 Smithfield, Oh    February 1919              director Diabeker Station
Paul V Snyder                Plainview, TX    February 1919              transport Marash District
 
Amos M Eash                 Chicago Mission July 1919                   director Syrian Orphanage Jerusalem
John H Wayre                 W Liberty, OH    July 1919                    director Caesarea Boys’ orphanage
 
Ernest H Miller               Fentress, VA      November 1919            transport Beirut
Chris Augsberger             W Liberty, OH    November 1919            transport Aleppo and Marash
Eli Stoltzfus                   Lima, OH          November 1919            transport Beirut
 
Ray Bender                    Springs, PA       February 1920              office manager Beirut
Milo Zimmerman                        Harper, KS         February 1920              worked in Beirut District
Roy E Myer                   Lancaster, PA     February 1920              machinist Beirut district
Martin L Weaver             La Junta, CO      February 1920              asst general relief Aleppo district
Menno Nussbaum            Orrville, OH       February 1920              worked in Beirut District
Roy Kauffman                W Liberty, OH    February 1920              asst Syrian Orphanage, Jerusalem
Daniel D Stoltzfus           Martinsburg, PA February 1920             transport Beirut District
Fred Swartzendruber         Wayland, IA       February 1920              transport Beirut District
 
Rebecca Stoltzfus Bender Springs PA       May 1921                   lodging house manager, Beirut
 
Menno Shellenberger        Hesston, KS       July 1921                    died of smallpox Dec 1921
Roy J King                    Hesston KS        July 1921                    transport director- Beirut
Herman Kreider               Wadsworth, OH July 1921                   director Aleppo district
Joe Detweiler                  Volant, PA         July 1921                    director Mardin Station
 
John Detweiler                Birch Tree, MO   July 1921                    transport work in Turkey
Nellie Miller Mann          Elkhart, IN         July 1921                    secretary Beirut
 
Though the initial term for all but the final group was only one year many worked some time beyond the end of that one year.
 




 
 


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[1] Mennonite here signifies the (old) Mennonite Church (1896-2002). In 2002 the (old) Mennonite Church (MCs) and the General Conference Mennonite Church (1860-2002; GCs) in North America transformed themselves into Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. Previously many of the distinguishing characteristics of the MCs and GCs related to time of immigration to North America and location of their communities.

[2] The NER was established in 1915 by a group of distinguished New York businessmen in response to a plea from Ambassador Henry Morgenthau who would become a board member.

[3] Kathryn Yoder, whose presentation immediately preceded mine when this paper was presented at the Goshen College Undergraduate Symposium in March 2004, spoke about the Mennonite Central Committee unit which for the first four years after the end of World War Two worked in interior southern China. One significant parallel between the experiences of the MRCWS volunteers and the MCC China unit is that in both cases the Mennonites entered into their foreign relief work in great ignorance of most of the political unstable situation.

[4] Guy F Hershberger Collection , Hist Mss 1-171 box 65 folder 12B entitled "WW I "Near East Relief" (typed Stoltzfus)" pg. 3,4, Mennonite Church USA Archives- Goshen, Indiana (MCUSAA-G) (GFH typed). The original 100+ page handwritten manuscript along with some notes are in Hist Mss 1-171 box 65 folder 12.

[5] In 1915 responding to the horrendous dispatches from Henry Morganthau, United States Ambassador to Turkey, the various American Protestant Mission Boards with established missions in Turkey and Syria formed the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief to co-ordinate efforts. Following the November 11, 1918 Armistice which ended World War One, this organization was reconstituted under a 25 year Congressional charter as the Near East Relief (NER). With this charter the NER began distancing itself form any type of stand on religion. In 1944, when the 25 year charter ran out the NER reorganized again under the name Near East Foundation (NEF). The NEF still continues to work with refugee in the Near East today. For More information on the NEF see www.neareast.org

[6] GFH typed, pg. 19.

[7] GFH typed, pg. 27.

[8]Letter Ernest E Miller to Levi Mumaw, 13 June 1919, found in Mennonite Relief Commission for War Sufferers Collection V-2-2, Levi Mumaw, Secretary- Treasurer, Records 1918-1925, Box 5 folder 9 entitled “Correspondence June 1919, MCUSAA-G

[9] Kratz remained in the Mennonite colonies in South Russia (Ukraine) after Orie Miller returned to Constantinople but was never heard from again.

[10] Found in Cleo and Nellie Miller Mann Collection, HIst Mss 1-695.2, box 6 (grey) folder 7 entitled “ Diaries 1921-1923 (Syria), MCUSAA-G

[11] The data for both the Appendices were found in Guy F Hershberger Collection, Hist Mss 1-171 box 65 folder 12 entitled “WW I project Ch. VI “Near East Relief,” MCUSAA-G.