Chosen Nation: Mennonites and Germany in a Global Era by Benjamin W. Goossen

The image of humble Mennonite women juxtaposed with Nazi Stormtroopers might seem quite incongruous and rather jarring to most readers, but after reading Benjamin Goossen's Chosen Nation, the grouping of two such seemingly disparate parties takes on a clearer, but still quite disturbing, meaning. Many readers are likely to think of Mennonites as a pacifist, predominantly rural community, committed to a life of material simplicity, set off from the larger culture in a manner similar to but perhaps not quite as extreme as the Amish, their brethren in the Anabaptist tradition. But that picture of the Mennonites, at least as they lived in Germany during the century or so covered by Goossen, is likely to change after reading Chosen Nation. In this meticulously researched work, Goossen demonstrates the challenges faced by the traditionally nonviolent Mennonite community during the years of emerging German nationalism and eventual Nazification. In the process he offers a case study of how a group's religious identity and moral compass can be challenged by both internal and external forces to such an extreme degree that its character seems so fluid as to become almost empty.

The larger arc of Goossen's work explores the many threads of how the Mennonite community in Germany adjusted to the rise of German nationalism from the late nineteenth century through the Nazi era. Goossen examines the both surprising (to non-Mennonite scholars) and disconcerting manner in which the Mennonite response created a rift within the denomination, raising questions about the very nature of Mennonite identity. While thousands of Mennonites emigrated from the emerging German state in the late nineteenth century in an attempt to preserve their distinctiveness as a peaceful, spiritually separate community, others came to embrace not only German nationalism but even the militarism that became a foundational element of the evolving nation that would culminate in the war machine of the Nazis. Goossen's account, for instance, of the role of the Union of Mennonite Congregations in trying to convince German Mennonites that it was in their interest, and consistent with their faith, to adopt "Germanness" in its many manifestations—even to the point of abandoning traditional Mennonite values—will strike some as a profoundly troubling example of how easily a spiritual community can lose key aspects of its sense of self.

Goossen also nicely (and, again, distressingly) documents the process by which the German state intentionally attempted to manipulate the Mennonite community for its own nationalist purposes. The identification of the Mennonite religion as the ideal expression of a "German" Christianity, the description of Germany as the "fatherland" of the Mennonites, and the troubling designation of the Mennonites as a pure racial group ("quintessential Aryans") reflect the various ways in which the German government attempted to co-opt the Mennonite community in its broader program of race-based nationalism.

Perhaps most surprising is the extent to which large sections of the German Mennonite population bought into the German nationalist agenda, adjusting their own identity and even changing centuries old practices (e.g., opposition to war) in order to participate in the benefits of their favored position in the eyes of the government. Goossen's account of Mennonite acceptance of and participation in Nazi antisemitism and the actions that resulted in the Holocaust bring to light an aspect of Mennonite history that is often overlooked.

Goossen rigorously documents these events, carrying the narrative forward in a manner that is rich in detail but simultaneously a compelling story. Aside from its interest to scholars of the Anabaptist churches, Chosen Nation is a wonderful resource in the study of how a religious community can struggle to maintain its principles in the face of political and other social pressures. In particular, scholars who are interested in the widely explored issue of how Mennonites in the modern world construct and maintain their uniqueness will find this book to be an invaluable source of information on Mennonite identity formation from the late nineteenth century through the second World War.