Note: This is the sixth in a series I’m doing on the book “An Oklahoma I Had Never Seen Before,” edited by Davis D. Joyce. You can see them all under the Oklahoma history tag.
This chapter, written by Marvin E. Kroeker, deals with the treatment of the Mennonite communities in Oklahoma during the first and second world wars. Kroeker recounts, particularly during the first war, the danger faced by these German-speaking immigrants who refused to join the military.
I grew up living near Corn, one of the largest communities dominated by Mennonites in the state, and have regular contact with other Mennonite households through my work. I can attest to how reclusive members are to this day. This is largely because they don’t proselytize, but I assume it also has to do with some of the history of the Mennonite community in Oklahoma. Who can blame them considering the history of how they have been treated? Kroeker gives accounts of crowds marching on churches and demanding that they hold services in English. At least today, when people say idiotic things about immigrants needing to do everything in English, they usually get called out for being racist.
Discrimination over language was just the beginning. Multiple Mennonite churches were burned, and a police officer had to intervene to stop a lynching of a man who had been jailed after he complained about the closing of a German Bible school. No charges were ever filed against anyone in the mob.
In 1919, Cordell, a town near Corn that is still known in the area for its long history of racism and poor treatment of outsiders, outlawed the use of German within city limits.
Oklahoma was one of the worst states for its treatment of pacifists during WWI, but actions on the national level encouraged as much. While there was a religious conscientious objector policy written into the draft law of 1917, President Wilson failed to implement it. Mennonites were drafted into combat service alongside everyone else (as opposed to being given non-combat duties). When they refused to comply, they were court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison.
From the essay:
By December 1918 there were 150 Mennonite COs jailed at Fort Leavenworth; 35 came from Oklahoma, more than from any other state. Twelve of the Oklahomans came from Washita County. Henry Reimer, whose father had survived the lynching at Collinsville, was among those detained at Fort Leavenworth. The men remained incercarated until freed by general amnesty after the end of the war. At that time, The Oklahoma state legislature passed a resolution condemning the amnesty decree.
Oklahoma is one of those weird states with a history of mixing progressive politics with racist and religiously oppressive politics. Mind you, all of this was going on less than a decade after the strong progressivism in early Oklahoma I’ve already written about.
Kroeker attributes the level of hostility to Mennonites in Oklahoma during WWI to multiple factors. First, the demographics were strongly against the Mennonites. Oklahoma’s religious makeup was heavily dominated by denominations that bought into Just War Theology. Mennonites don’t proselytize, and they didn’t make a very strong effort to explain their beliefs to the public. Most of them were first generation immigrants who didn’t speak English well, so when they tried it led to very unfortunate misunderstandings.
Kroeker also points to Mennonite nonconformity as a possible contributing factor the the hostility. Oklahoma was the last true frontier state, and he points to historians who argued that social cohesiveness was very important on the frontier. Quoting Ray A. Billington from the essay:
…Amidst the anonymity of a city, a person might dare to be different; amidst the intimacy of the frontier, he did not.
This difference in culture between the west and the east played out in the way draft boards, media and officials treated Mennonites, alongside the broader public.
Things had changed for the better by the time WWII rolled around. Harlan F. Stone, later to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, convinced FDR that Mennonites should be given reasonable non-combat alternatives and not be required to wear the uniform. Additionally, the Mennonite community saw the war coming and had learned to be pro-active. They approached the Roosevelt administration with their concerns and suggestions for how to deal with them before the draft began. This led to the creation of the Civil Public Service (CPS), where COs were assigned to work on conservation projects, mental hospitals and medical experiments for the military. Most of the COs out of Oklahoma ended up working in mental hospitals.
While things had improved on the national level, things still weren’t great in Oklahoma. Draft boards didn’t like giving people a CO status.
The largest number of CO classification appeals of any county in the United States originated in Major County, Oklahoma. In most cases, the Appeal Board overturned the negative rulings of the Oklahoma draft boards.
There was also discrimination against those who filed for CO status. COs risked losing their jobs if it got out.
Kroeker recounts tensions between Corn and the surrounding towns of Bessie and Cordell still being high during WWII. The non-Mennonite but historically German residents of Bessie and Cordell found it hard enough to deal with discrimination, without being associated with pacifists. As a result, Mennonites were often refused services and their homes and churches were frequently vandalized.
As is still the case today, The Daily Oklahoman‘s editorial page was no friend to those being mistreated, and the Oklahoma American Legion passed a resolution calling for the repeal of the CO provisions in the draft law, and sent it to Senator Elmer Thomas. Thomas introduced a bill calling for the repeal that died in committee.
Oklahoma continued its tradition of mistreatment of pacifists into the 1950s.
During that period of hysteria about communist, the Oklahoma legislature passed a strident loyalty oath that required all state employees not only to swear that they had no Communist leanings but also tha they would be willing to bear arms in defense of the country.
It was ruled unconstitutional when a Quaker history professor at OU refused to sign.
Kroeker says that documented cases of Mennonite discrimination and challenging of CO statuses during Vietman were there, but not as high. Part of that has he attributed to the change in views of war in other denominations, and the rise of non-Mennonite conscientious objection as a way to protest what was an increasingly unpopular war.
This book was published in 1994, and even back then Kroeker ended it on a relative sour note, saying that he suspected that the decent treatment of Mennonites that exists today in Oklahoma only lasts “until the next war breaks out.” We’ve had two wars since then, both without a draft. I know an Anabaptist lawyer who works to help those in the military who have a change of heart get CO status. If his stories are any indication, I’d guess that Kroeker is probably right.
