Eberhard Arnold

Arnold, Eberhard. (Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany, July 1883-November 22, 1935, Darmstadt, Hesse). His ancestors had left England in the early seventeenth century for religious reasons and were among the earliest settlers of Connecticut. Eberhard's father, Carl Franklin Arnold, had come to Germany from Ohio for his education and had settled there. He held the chair of Church history at the University of Breslau, Silesia.

At the age of sixteen, Eberhard Arnold experienced a decisive turning point in his life and from that time on his driving motive was to take Jesus' demands totally and seriously and to truly continue the life of the first church as described in the Acts of the Apostles. As a university student at Halle, he was active in the Student Christian Youth Movement, also holding scripture classes among the students. He broke with the state church after his marriage to Emmy von Hollander in 1909 and worked as a free-lance writer and lecturer. In 1916, he because literary director of the Furche Press in Berlin, and also edited its monthly magazine Die Furche for a time.

In 1920, with a small group of convinced Christians, Eberhard and his wife felt called to start the Bruderhof (now known as the Hutterian Society of Brothers) at Sannerz, near Frankfurt-am-Main. His last fifteen years were spent in active communal life, which also included writing, speaking, and traveling to further the brotherly life.

During his lifetime he wrote many poems, fifty-five of which have been set to music and published in Songs of Light.

--Marlys Swinger, DNAH Archives