If DNA is controversial, I will switch to religion which may be less so. For variety, as much as anything, I will relate a story on the Hutterites in the Feb/Mar year 2000 issue of German Life, a magazine. Many people compare the Hutterites to the Anabaptists, or, in particular, to the Amish and the Mennonites. A distinguishing characteristic is their communal life.
"Whats mine is thine", the German-speaking Hutterites believe. But, communal life goes beyond that, as they eat, worship, and attend school together, even though women sit on one side, and men on the other side. After segregation by sex, they order themselves by position and age.
Though they seek no converts to their agrarian way of life, their large families keep the 500-year-old faith strong numerically. Many of the Hutterites colonies are to be found in our Dakotas and in Canada.
In Europe, their history is similar to the general Anabaptist history, where they brought down the wrath of the state and established churches for their belief in adult baptism and pacifism. A colony was established at Austerlitz as a refuge. Their leader was Jacob Hutter, from whom they took their name. Jacob was captured, taken to Innsbruck, and executed in 1536.
In spite of setbacks such as this, the group flourished for a while as estate farmers and workers. They were also noted for their pottery. But oppression fell on them severely, and they moved from Moravia, to Hungary, to Moravia, to Slovakia, to Transylvania, to Wallachia, and to Moldavia. In 1770, they found refuge in Russia under Catherine the Great, who granted them exemption from military service, control of their schools, and freedom of religion. The Russian seal on the agreement said, "Eternity to eternity to eternity." Eternity lasted 100 years, and in 1870, when Alexander II revoked Catherine's edict, the Hutterites fled to the prairies of North America, where they bought land.
Some of the people elected to have their own land, as opposed to the communal land. They often associated with the Mennonites. The Hutterites practice an open door policy, in that anyone can leave who wishes to do so. As the colonies grew, they generally created daughter colonies when the parent colony reached about 150 people.
During World War I, their pacifism did not agree with their neighbors' views. The pressure was so great that sixteen of the seventeen American colonies moved to Canada. During the Great Depression, South Dakota offered inducements to lure the Hutterites back. Several colonies did return. World War II brought another crisis, but conscientious objectors could take up alternative service. In general this has been the response of the Hutterites to the draft.
(04 Sep 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.