Trail West Dispatch #1

Here is the first column in the Trail West Dispatch series.  The target audience is people who attend the same church as I do.  I just sent out the fifth column, and am posting previous columns here in case late subscribers wish to read columns they missed when they were initially published.  

In an introductory letter to people at church, I wrote that the first number of columns will draw writing prompts from chapter titles in Timothy Snyder's book On Tyranny.  New columns typically publish on Saturday evening.

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Trail West Dispatch #1                                                                       September 6, 2025

“Do not obey in advance.  Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.  In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” -Timothy Snyder

Most of us understand that a Democracy or a Republic is a government that differs from Communism (Russia), pre-WW2 Fascism (Italy), Nazism (Germany) and Imperialism (Japan).  “Tyranny” is a feature of every government system in the second list.  It is a cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control.  None of us idealizes tyrannical forms of government.  They violate Christian norms on every hand, and often cause great suffering.  Yet, the United States looks less and less like the Democratic Republic envisioned and installed by the founders; and it has a growing number of tyrannical features. Timothy Snyder wants us to resist this trend, which he summarizes under the term “authoritarianism.”

“Do not obey in advance” sounds like good advice, and certainly seems like a better option than resisting the trend by breaking existing laws.   Acting on several related imperatives seems even better–all of which can be pursued outside of any kind of government structures without breaking laws.  
1.  Decide in advance that only God will have your absolute loyalty and obedience.  
2.  Do not try to ingratiate yourselves in any way with a corrupt ruler, including by obeying in advance.
3.  Never excuse or justify evil, especially when it occurs in the pursuit of power.  
4.  Seek to bring about change by loving and serving the people around you, as Jesus did.  
5.  Guard against “the deceitfulness of riches.”
6.  Pray.

The historical record from 1933-1945 does not cast the German Mennonites in a favorable light, partly because of how they failed in some of the above areas.  They chose loyalty to and complicity with Hitler, whose evil cruelty is legendary.  As Aryans (white non-Jewish), Mennonites were not in danger of being dehumanized and targeted for extermination.  Perhaps this favored racial identity gave them an inflated sense of their own virtue and entitlement, completely clouding their vision.

Germany had been humiliated and impoverished by being forced to pay steep reparations (for wartime destruction) after they were defeated in WW1.  Hitler was lawfully elected, promising to make the country prosperous and powerful again.  This appealed to the Mennonites, as it did to many other Germans.  Things fell apart swiftly, or came together beautifully, depending on one’s perspective. “[T]hrough constitutional means. . . Hitler systematically disabled and then dismantled his country’s democratic structures and processes” within 53 days. 

A group of Mennonites wrote a letter to Hitler in 1933, thanking him “for the powerful revival that God has given our nation through your energy, and [they promised] joyful cooperation in the upbuilding of our Fatherland through the power of the Gospel, faithful to the motto of our forefathers: No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ.”  

Hitler wrote back and thanked them “For your loyalty and your readiness to cooperate in the upbuilding of the German nation . . .”

Other Christians, Hutterites among them, did not fare well under Hitler.  Many of them fled Germany, and most of those left behind were persecuted.  I am not aware that Mennonites ever used their voice to reprove Hitler or to defend the Jews, some of whom died near the homes and fields of German Mennonites, either in concentration camps or in portable gas chamber vans that traveled throughout the countryside.  This sobering record of complicity with an evil ruler, which was fueled by a desire for prosperity, prominence, and power should prompt deep reflection and humility for the American Mennonites of 2025.