The Hutterian Brethren

1
The Hutterian Brethren
2
The Hutterian Brethren are better known as
Hutterites. They are found today in the states
of Montana, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and
Washington state in the USA and the prairie
provinces of Canada.
3
The Hutterites are part of the Anabaptist
movement that came out of the protestant
reformation of the sixteenth century.
4
The Anabaptist movement traces its roots to
before the protestant reformation. Their name,
Anabaptist means rebaptizer . The Anabaptists
believed that baptism should only be administered
to Believers , those who were old enough to make
a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ and
His teachings.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you for the
remission of sins. Acts. 238
5
The Anabaptist family includes the following
groups
Amish
Mennonites
Hutterites
Brethren
6
The Anabaptists met severe persecution in Europe.
Many of the Anabaptists died a martyrs death
for their faith. The Anabaptists have a large
book telling the accounts of the hundreds of
martyrs for their faith. This book is called
The Martyrs Mirror . The Hutterites also have
a large book containing the stories of just
Hutterite martyrs called The Big History Book
or The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren.
This book is found in nearly every Hutterite
home. This book gives the account of hundreds
of martyrs for the faith. Jacob Hutter was an
early convert to the Hutterian faith and he
became an able minister in the Hutterian church.
He was burned at the stake at Innsbruck,
Austria in 1536. Thus he sealed his faith with
his own lifes blood.
7
What makes the Hutterites different from
other Anabaptist groups is their commitment to
communal living. The Hutterites taught that
property should be held in common by all the
members of their community. In 1528 a group of
Anabaptists were in desperate shape. One of the
leaders of the group laid his cloak on the ground
and asked that all present bring their
possessions and lay them on his cloak. This was
the beginning of what today is the Hutterian
Church which bases their belief in common
ownership on New Testament verses found in the
book of Acts.
And all that believed held all things in
common. Acts. 244
8
Many people today confuse Hutterites with
Mennonites. The Hutterian Brethren or
Hutterites take their name from Jacob Hutter, an
early leader among the Anabaptists who had
adopted the practice of communal living.
Mennonites believe in private ownership and live
in their own homes and farms. They take their
name from Menno Simons. Menno was an
influential Anabaptist leader in northern Germany
and in Holland in the early 1500s.
Menno Simons Early Anabaptist leader in Holland
from Whom the Mennonites take their name.
Jacob Hutter Leader of communal Anabaptists,
burned At the stake in 1536. From whom The
Hutterites take their name.
9
Under severe persecution, the Anabaptist
movement grew throughout Europe. These people
were chased all over Europe and many of them
eventually elected to come to America in hopes of
finding a place to freely practice their
religion. The Hutterites moved all over
eastern Europe, establishing new communities only
to be persecuted and driven from their homes.
They were driven from Moravia to Slovakia, to
Rumania, and finally accepted the invitation of
the Russian Czar to come and settle along with
other German immigrants in southern Russia and
the Ukraine.
Photo Courtesy Church of the Brethren
10
The Hutterites developed thriving
self-sufficient communities wherever they went.
Early day Hutterites were noted for

• Their Schools
• Their weaving skills
• Farming and production of livestock
• Their medical skills
• The production of fine pottery

11
Fine Hutterian pottery from the 1600s. This
style of eastern European pottery is called
Habaner pottery.
12
In spite of intense persecution, the Hutterian
Church continued to grow. Their colonies
prospered. Their numbers eventually reached the
thousands. The Hutterites sent out evangelists
all over Europe. They directed their converts
to their communities in Moravia and Slovakia.
The majority of these evangelists were killed for
their evangelical activity and refusal to return
to the state church.
13
Wherever they settled the Hutterites were
welcomed for their farming and industrial
abilities but despised for their
peculiar religion.
14
For about the first hundred years the
Hutterites increased in strength and numbers. By
the late 1600s the movement had grown cold. The
Hutterites had abandoned communal living.
Persecution had forced many of them to abandon
communal life and to seek living on their own.
Many, too, had returned to the state church
rather than face more persecution for their self
and families. Many more were killed for their
faith. A very small group of sixteen people had
preserved the Hutterite sermon, history, and song
books even though they had abandoned communal
living in order to survive.
15
The Protestant Reformation began to sweep
Europe. Many people left the Roman Catholic
church and adopted the teachings of Luther,
Zwingli, or Calvin. Some areas of
Europe remained under Roman Catholic rule and
Protestants were banished to remote parts of
Europe. The survival of the Hutterite
church was a result of a group of Carinthian
Lutherans who met persecution and sought refuge
in Transylvania, (in Rumania).
16
This group of Carinthian Lutherans met up
with the remnant of the old Hutterites who were
living in Transylvania. These people read the
Hutterite writings and became convinced that
these writings contained the truth, and communal
living was again revived in 1755 with about fifty
new converts and sixteen old Hutterites.

17
From these Carinthian converts to the Hutterian
Brethren we know the following last names came
into the fellowship

• Gross
• Hofer
• Kleinsasser

• Stahl
• Waldner
• Wipf
• Wurtz

Hutterite Wedding dress from the early 1800s
18
Again the Hutterites experienced persecution for
their beliefs and so they accepted the Russian
Czars invitation to come to South Russia where
they would be free to establish their colonies
and practice their religion.
19
With the addition of these new converts,
the Hutterites were also able to make some
converts from the Mennonites. These Mennonites
had similar basic beliefs to the Hutterites and
had also accepted the Czars invitation to come
to South Russia where they could run their own
German villages and schools, and where they would
be free to practice their faith. The
Hutterites prospered in Russia, increasing in
number of colonies and people. In time,
prosperity caused them to stray from their
original teachings and communal living was again
abandoned and the Hutterites adopted a system of
private enterprise like their Mennonite
neighbors.
20
By the 1870s, conditions had changed in
Russia. The German people living in the Ukraine
were no longer granted the privileges that had
been granted to them when they had settled in
Russia a hundred years before. Many of these
Germans living in South Russia began to move to
America. About this time a Hutterite by the
name of Michael Waldner had a vision of heaven
where the angels were singing and praising God,
and hell, where there was anguish and pain.
Waldner asked the angel where his place would be
and Waldner reported the angel told him Can you
tell me whether any person was saved from the
great Flood besides those in the ark? Now you
know your place. The ark is the Gemeinshaft of
the Holy Spirit to which you no longer belong.
21
The Hutterites who had returned to community of
goods soon organized themselves into three basic
groups.

• Schmiedeleut Named for their leader, Michael
  Waldner, a Schmied or blacksmith. They
  settled at Bon Homme Colony near Tabor, Bon
  Homme County, in what is now South Dakota in
  1874.
• Dariusleut Named for their leader Darius Walter.
  They first settled at Wolf Creek Colony, west
  of Freeman, Hutchinson County, South Dakota.
  They arrived here in 1875.
• Lehrerleut Named for their leader, Jakob Wipf,
  who was a Lehrer or teacher. They established
  Elm Springs Colony in northwestern Hutchinson
  County, in what is now South Dakota in 1877.

Leut pronounced light is the German word for
people. Hence The blacksmiths people, Dariuss
people, and the teachers people.
22
Since coming to the United States, the
Hutterites have basically remained in the same
three groups that they came to America with.
Here on the Dakota prairies they built their
colonies to last for generations. Pioneer life
on the prairie was harsh, but the Hutterites and
their belief in and practice of communal living
gave them an advantage in settling and developing
the country. Soon the original three Hutterite
colonies thrived and planted daughter colonies.
The colonies focused on agricultural related
industries. The Hutterites tended to settle in
the James River Valley of South Dakota. They
built their colonies on the river where they
could build dams and mills to grind grain.
Things seemed to go well for the Hutterian
Brethren in South Dakota.
Old Elm Springs Colony
23

• Peace and prosperity on the Dakota prairies
  eventually came to an end when the United States
  entered the First World War.
• Many people resented the Hutterites for
  several reasons
• They spoke their own German dialect amongst
  themselves instead of English.
• The Hutterites were pacifists and refused to
  fight in the war.
• The Hutterian Brethren were considered poor
  citizens because they also refused to buy war
  bonds.

24

• Several young Hutterite men were thrown
  in federal prison because they refused to serve
  in the U.S. Army. There they were harassed and
  treated so badly that two of the young men died
  from the rough treatment.
• Their bodies were shipped back to
  Rockport Colony in South Dakota. When the
  coffins were opened, the Hutterites found these
  young mens bodies were dressed in U. S. Army
  uniforms which they had refused to wear when they
  were alive.

Hutterite martyrs Joseph and Michael
Hofers graves at Rockport Colony in South Dakota.
25
Hutterites and other German speaking people
soon found themselves as being looked upon with
suspicion. They were told to not speak
German. They were also forbidden to conduct
their church services in German. A
Mennonite minister in Montana was lynched for
conducting church services in German. Many
German-Russian Americans found they were no
longer welcome in town and were slandered, had
rocks thrown at them, and were forced to enter
stores from doors located in the back off the
alley. The Hutterites in particular were
singled out for persecution from patriotic
individuals. Besides some of their young men
dying a martyrs death in Leavenworth prison
angry bands of vigilantes raided Hutterite
colonies. These people drove off the
Hutterites livestock, sold the livestock, and
bought war bonds with the proceeds. They put
these bonds in the colonys name.
26
Starting in 1918, all the Hutterite colonies
in the United States began a migration from South
Dakota to Canada where they felt they would be
free from the persecution they had received
during the World War. The only colony that
remained behind was Bon Homme Colony near Tabor,
South Dakota. ALL the Hutterite colonies in
South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota today
are descended from this colony. So are the
colonies that moved to the province of Manitoba
in Canada. These are the Schmiedeleut
colonies and they are considered the most
progressive and liberal of the Hutterites.
27
The Lehrerleut and Dariusleut have never
returned to their original colonies in South
Dakota. Neither did they settle near the
Schmiedeleut in Canada, but they built their
colonies in Alberta, and Saskatchewan. In
time, they spilled back across the border into
the United States. Both the Lehrer and Darius
people have colonies in Montana and the
Dariusleut have colonies in the state of
Washington. During the depression of the
1930s so many farms in South Dakota had been
abandoned that the legislature of South Dakota
sent an invitation to Canada asking the
Hutterian Brethren to return to their abandoned
colonies.
28
The Schmiedeleut were the only Hutterites to
accept the South Dakota legislatures
invitation. They bought the abandoned colonies
left by the Lehrerleut and Dariusleut and have
since multiplied to nearly sixty colonies in
South Dakota.
29

• During World War II, the Hutterites again
  refused to enter into military service. They
  were classified as conscientious objectors.
  The Hutterite young men of military age were
  assigned to work in alternative service programs
  along with other young men from the Historic
  Peace Churches.
• The Historic Peace Churches are
• Amish
• Mennonites
• Brethren
• Hutterites
• Quakers

30

• In the last sixty years the Hutterites have
  enjoyed a period of
• peace in both Canada and the United States.
• It has been a time of growth and expansion.
  Colonies have
• grown and new colonies have been organized and
  settled.
• The Hutterites have grown to a population
  of nearly 40,000
• people in North America.
• Their colonies number as follows
• Schmiedeleut, over 150 colonies.
• Dariusleut, over 230 colonies.
• Lehrerleut, over 100 colonies.

31
Unlike their spiritual cousins , the Amish,
the Hutterian Brethren have readily accepted
technology. Hutterite land holdings have grown
larger in recent years just like the farms of
their Englisch neighbors. Hutterites refer
to people who live outside the Hutterite Colony
system as Englisch. Non-Hutterite farms have
grown larger and have become more specialized.
The same thing has happened with the
Hutterites. Whereas colonies were once
pretty much a self-contained self- sufficient
community, the Hutterites have specialized their
agricultural enterprises. Hutterites use large
modern equipment for the production of their
grain and livestock. The Hutterites have
become major producers of hogs and turkeys. Many
have developed successful dairy herds.
32
Some colonies have maintained large laying
houses with tens of thousands of birds. The
Hutterites are among the nations largest
producers of turkeys, and produce the majority
of the geese consumed in the United States.
33
Hutterite colonies maintain a level of
self-sufficiency. Their colonies produce
vegetables from large gardens for their own use
and for sale to their Englisch neighbors.
Some colonies have orchards and vinyards for
their own use. Some colonies raise and
dress large numbers of chickens and ducks for
personal use and to sell directly to consumers.
Many colonies still keep bees as a
sideline. A few colonies still maintain
the business of making and selling brooms
34
Hutterians do most of their own building.
Their blacksmiths do most of their own repair
work as well as doing repair jobs for other
farmers outside the colony. Most colonies
have their own milling facilities to grind the
feed needed by their livestock enterprises.
Most Hutterite clothing is homemade. Hutterite
women are accomplished seamstresses and
fastidious housekeepers.
35
As times have changed and land for
expansion becomes more expensive and harder to
obtain, Hutterite colonies, like the Amish,
Mennonites, and Brethren have found that they
need to enter into business and manufacturing to
survive in a modern economy. No doubt
expansion will continue in this direction as they
move into the future.
Some colonies today do manufacturing work.
One colony in South Dakota has a feed mill
where they sell commercial feed under their own
label. Another nearby colony operates a
lumber and building supply business where their
clients are other Hutterite colonies and
non-Hutterians in the area. Other colonies
have developed enterprises such as print shops
and furniture and cabinet making businesses.
36
Many non-Hutterites upon their first visit
to a Hutterite colony report that it is like a
visit to a foreign country. This no doubt
in part is true because the Hutterites have been
able to hang onto their generations old Tyrolean
dress styles, and also have maintained old world
customs and traditions. Hutterites have
learned to be prominent members of local
economies while trying to maintain a centuries
old faith, lifestyle, and language. The
Hutterite writings are preserved in a very old
style of High German with sermons being read
daily from sermon books that have been passed on
by their forefathers from generation to
generation. Many of these books have been hand
copied dozens of times. While this old
style high German is the language of their
church, it is not the language of the home. A
Hutterite childs first language and the one that
Hutterites speak among themselves is Hutterisch.
37
Hutterisch is a very unique language.
The basis of this language is a Tyrolean German
dialect. However, in their being persecuted
and chased all over Eastern Europe, the
Hutterites picked up a little in every country
of their sojourn. The Hutterisch language is
therefore a conglomeration of Tyrolean German,
Romanian, Russian, and English.
Hutterisch is an unwritten language and is very
unusual in that it freely mixes three very
different language groups Germanic,
Romantic, and Slavic. The Hutterites and
a few remaining Hutterisch Mennonites are
the worlds only speakers of this language.
38
A few Hutterite colonies operate their own
private parochial schools. Most colonies in
the U.S. and Canada, however, have a unique
arrangement with their local public school
districts. Under this arrangement, textbooks
and a public school teacher are supplied by the
district. The building and its up- keep is
supplied by the colony. This enables the
students to receive a public school education
while not having to attend a consolidated
public school attendance center. Most
Hutterite schools are an old fashioned
one-room-country-school setting with multiple
grades in one room. The majority of Hutterite
childrens formal education will end upon
completing the eighth grade.
39
Hutterite children attend German school
which is conducted by a man selected from within
the colony to over see the children. They
usually attend these German classes for an hour
in the morning before English school and another
hour in the afternoon when English school is
complete. German school is often held on
Saturday morning as well. Children
typically attend German school between the
ages of five and fifteen and English school
until completion of the eighth grade. A
few colonies today encourage correspondence for
high school or have developed a high school
program for their students. After a young
person has his or her fifteenth birthday, they
no longer will attend German school and will
quit eating in the childrens dining room and
take their place in the adult dining hall.
Hutterites do not have private kitchens in their
apartments but eat their meals at the common
kitchen or dining hall.
40
After a young persons fifteenth birthday,
a young woman will begin to take her place
helping with cooking, sewing, baking and working
in the garden. A young man will be assigned to a
job with the other men of the colony. In the
years to follow, he will be moved to numerous
different positions around the colony so he will
get a feel for all the jobs on the place.
Hutterites working together are a living example
of the old German proverb that says Many hands
make light work. They can rest assured
that no one person has to work too hard and that
all their physical needs will be taken care of
and provided for from the cradle to the grave.
They all work together for the good of everyone
in the community. The Hutterite system has
stood to the present as the most successful
utopian communal experiment in history.
41

• The Hutterian communal philosophy is one of
  hands to work
• hearts to God.
• The average Hutterite will never have to
  worry about
• Looking for or applying for a job.
• Paying their own bills.
• Needing medical or dental care.
• Being put in a nursing home.
• Paying for funeral expenses.

The Hutterian system of community of goods is
one where every individual works for the benefit
of the entire colony and the entire colony works
to care for the individual.
42
The Hutterian Brethren have a remarkable history.
Time will show what the future holds.
43
This PowerPoint presentation done by Daniel
Flyger Oaklane Colony School 146 Dwelling
Rd. Alexandria, SD 57311
44
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