Bruderhof



www.bruderhof.com  

Basic Facts
The Bruderhof is an international communal movement with more than 2,000 members (and children). Members come from varied backgrounds, but live and work together and share everything in common as the early Christians did.

Basic Beliefs
The center and foundation of Bruderhof faith is Jesus. His teachings, in particular those concerning nonviolence, faithfulness in marriage and love of neighbors and enemies, undergird both their personal beliefs and their communal life. 

They acknowledge God's working in all who strive for justice and peace, no matter their religion or creed. Nevertheless, they take Christ's commands seriously. Because of this, they cannot serve in the armed forces of any country. Rather, Bruderhof members seek to live a life that (in the words of the early Quaker George Fox) "takes away the occasion for war" -- and the social and economic divisions that bring about war. 

Not everyone is called to the Bruderhof way of life. In their experience, community cannot be built on sentimental ideals of human goodness, or for the fulfillment of personal agendas. Their goal is the creation of a new society where self interest is yielded for the sake of the common good.

Basic History
Roots of the Bruderhof movement can be found in Anabaptism and in the Radical Reformation of the early 1500s, when thousands left the institutional churches to live a life of sharing and nonviolence in Christian communities. The modern Bruderhof was founded in 1920. Eberhard Arnold, his wife Emmy, and her sister Else von Hollander were the first members. Leaving the comforts of their Berlin suburb they settled in the tiny village of Sannerz and were soon joined by other like-minded seekers. Over the next ten years the movement, by now known as the Bruderhof ("place of brothers"), grew rapidly. 

Hitler's rise to power brought persecution--and no wonder, for the Bruderhof took in Jews, whisked its children and young men to Switzerland (the former to avoid a Nazi teacher, the latter to avoid military service) and refused to affirm the Fuehrer's chancellorship in a nationwide plebiscite. 

In 1937, after two raids by the secret police, the community was forcibly dissolved and members were given 48 hours to leave the country. After fleeing to England, where three new Bruderhofs were built up, the group later immigrated en masse to Paraguay - the only country that would accept a pacifist community of mixed nationalities during World War II. 

In 1954, in response to a dramatic increase in the number of American guests, the community founded a branch in upstate New York. In the 1960s, the entire movement (which had meanwhile spread over five countries) regrouped in the northeastern United States. Today they live in 11 communities: five in upstate New York, two in southwestern Pennsylvania, two near London (England), one near Frankfurt (Germany), and one in New South Wales (Australia).

Locations 
Woodcrest Bruderhof, 2032 Rte 213, Rifton NY 12471 USA
Bellvale Bruderhof, 359 Gibson Hill Rd, Chester NY 10918 USA
Catskill Bruderhof, 2255 Platte Clove Rd, Elka Park NY 12427 USA
Fox Hill Bruderhof, 80 Coleman Rd, Walden NY 12586 USA
Maple Ridge Bruderhof, 10 Hellbrook Ln, Ulster Park NY 12487 USA
New Meadow Run Bruderhof, Rte 40 E, Farmington PA 15437 USA
Spring Valley Bruderhof, Rte 381 N, Farmington PA 15437 USA
Darvell Bruderhof, Brightling Rd, Robertsbridge, E Sussex TN32 5DR United Kingdom
Beech Grove Bruderhof, Nonington, Dover, Kent CT15 4HH United Kingdom
Danthonia Bruderhof, Glen Innes Rd, Inverell, NSW 2360 Australia
Bruderhof-Haus Sannerz, Lindenstr. 13, D-36391 Sinntal-Sannerz Germany