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Ontario History

Cast Down, But Not Forsaken The Second World War Experience and Memory of German-Canadian Lutherans in Southwestern Elliot Worsfold

Volume 106, Number 1, Spring 2014 Article abstract This study seeks to reassess the notion that German- in Ontario were URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050721ar “silent victims” during the Second World War by exploring the wartime DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1050721ar experience and memory of German-Canadian Lutheran congregations in Oxford and Waterloo Counties. Far from silent, Lutheran pastors initiated See table of contents several strategies to ensure their congregants did not face discrimination and internment as they had during the First World War. These strategies encompassed several reforms, including eliminating church Publisher(s) services and embracing English-Canadian symbols and forms of post-war commemoration. However, these reforms were often met with resistance and The Ontario Historical Society ambivalence by their congregations, thereby creating a conversation within the German-Canadian Lutheran community on how to reconcile its Germanic ISSN and Lutheran heritage with waging a patriotic war. While previous studies have primarily focused on identity loss, this study suggests that the debates 0030-2953 (print) that occurred within these Lutheran churches were representative of the 2371-4654 (digital) community’s German-Canadian hyphenated identity.

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Cite this article Worsfold, E. (2014). Cast Down, But Not Forsaken: The Second World War Experience and Memory of German-Canadian Lutherans in Southwestern Ontario. Ontario History, 106(1), 57–76. https://doi.org/10.7202/1050721ar

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ grand duke alexis visits 57 Cast Down, But Not Forsaken The Second World War Experience and Memory of German-Canadian Lutherans in Southwestern Ontario By Elliot Worsfold

ne of the several responsibilities into the church parking lot, where they of Lutheran pastors during the listened to the service on the newly in- Second World War was to con- stalled PA system. Speaking to his griev- Oduct memorial services for members of ing congregation, Stockmann framed their congregation who died while serv- Weitzel’s death in both militaristic and ing overseas. On 6 August 1944, the Rev- religious terms by quoting a verse from erend Otto Stockmann of Tavistock-Se- Corinthians: “We are troubled on every bastopol’s Trinity Evangelical Lutheran side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, Church performed one such service for but not in despair; Persecuted, but not a young man well-known to the congre- forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”.1 gation, Corporal Francis Weitzel. The The passage quoted by Stockmann expected attendance to Weitzel’s memo- is one of the many complex German- rial service was so great that Stockmann Canadian Lutheran2 interpretations of installed a public announcement (PA) the Second World War. Previous studies system in the church. This proved wise, as on German Canadians during the world the church hall quickly filled on the day wars focus largely on internment and dis- of the service and congregants spilled out crimination.3 This study seeks to reassess

1 “Memorial Service For Cpl. Weitzel,” Tavistock Gazette, 9 August 1944. I am indebted to Sherrill Calder and the Tavistock & District Historical Society for providing a complete run of the Tavistock Ga- zette. 2 The three largest German-Canadian religious groups are Lutherans, , and Catholics. Adopting a Lutheran perspective is important, as German-Canadian historiography remains divided as to whether or not historians can speak of the German-Canadian community as a homogenous group due to its religious diversity. This study therefore focuses specifically on German-Canadian Lutherans, acknowl- edging that German-Canadian Mennonite and Catholic groups may have their own distinct wartime ex- periences. See Gerhard P. Bassler, “Silent or Silenced Co-Founders of Canada? Reflections on the History of German Canadians,” Canadian Ethnic Studies, 22:1 (1990), 42. 3 Angelika Sauer outlines this narrative in Angelika E. Sauer, “The ‘Ideal German Canadian’: Politics,

Ontario History / Volume CVI, No. 1 / Spring 2014

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Abstract This study seeks to reassess the notion that German-Canadians in Ontario were “silent victims” during the Second World War by exploring the wartime experience and memory of German-Cana- dian Lutheran congregations in Oxford and Waterloo Counties. Far from silent, Lutheran pastors initiated several strategies to ensure their congregants did not face discrimination and internment as they had during the First World War. These strategies encompassed several reforms, including elimi- nating German language church services and embracing English-Canadian symbols and forms of post-war commemoration. However, these reforms were often met with resistance and ambivalence by their congregations, thereby creating a conversation within the German-Canadian Lutheran community on how to reconcile its Germanic and Lutheran heritage with waging a patriotic war. While previous studies have primarily focused on identity loss, this study suggests that the debates that occurred within these Lutheran churches were representative of the community’s German-Ca- nadian hyphenated identity. Résumé: Nous cherchons à réévaluer l’idée que les Germano-Canadiens de l’Ontario ont été des “victimes silencieuses” pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en examinant les expériences et les souvenirs des congrégations luthériennes germano-canadiennes dans les comtés d’Oxford et de Wa- terloo. Loin de rester silencieux, les pasteurs luthériens ont adopté plusieurs stratégies pour protéger leurs ouailles contre la discrimination et l’internement qu’ils avaient subis pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Parmi ces stratégies nous trouvons des réformes telle l’élimination dans les églises des offices en langue allemande et, après la guerre, l’adoption de symboles et autres formes de commé- moration anglo-canadiennes. Ces réformes ont souvent rencontré la résistance et l’ambivalence des congrégations, ce qui a provoqué un débat sur la meilleure façon de concilier l’héritage germanique et luthérien avec le fait de participer à la guerre en bons patriotes. Certaines études ont vu dans cette situation une perte d’identité. Nous suggérons au contraire que les débats qui ont eu lieu dans ces églises luthériennes étaient précisément l’expression de l’identité composée, germano-canadienne, de cette communauté.

the notion that the war years were solely questions such as: To what extent did about discrimination and identity loss memories of the First World War influ- by using religious records produced by ence how German-Canadians reacted to German-Canadian Lutheran churches the Second World War? How did local in Oxford and Waterloo Counties and Lutheran pastors reconcile the position the personal papers of their congregants. of German-Canadian Lutherans in a war Exploring these sources will help answer in which were considered “the

Academics and the Historiographical Construction of German-,” in A Chorus of Differ- ent Voices: German-Canadian Identities, eds. Angelika E. Sauer and Matthias Zimmer (: Peter Lang Publishing, 1998), 236. For those who have contributed to this narrative see Heinz Lehmann, The German Canadians, 1750-1937: Immigration, Settlement & Culture, trans. Gerhard P. Bassler (St. John’s, Newfoundland: Jesperson Press, 1986), 305; Gerhard P. Bassler, The German Canadian Mosaic: Today and Yesterday: Identities, Roots and Heritage (Ottawa: German-Canadian Congress, 1991), 61; Bassler, “Silent or Silenced Co-Founders of Canada?” 42-43; Arthur Grenke, The German Community in , 1872 to 1919 (New York: AMS Press, 1991), 151.

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enemy”? What strategies did Lutheran war and waged the Second World War on pastors employ to avoid the same type of their own terms. While previous studies ethnic conflict that dominated the Ger- have primarily focused on identity loss, man-Canadian experience in the First this study suggests that the debates that World War? Investigating these questions occurred within these Lutheran churches will move the study of Ontario’s German were representative of the community’s Canadians beyond the study of intern- German-Canadian hyphenated identity. ment and will contribute to a greater un- Few historians have used sources derstanding of ethnicity during wartime. produced by German Canadians in order This article begins with a brief over- to understand their wartime experienc- view of German-Canadian Lutherans pri- es, though this has not prevented them or to the Second World War, for in many from making bold claims. Writing in the ways their wartime experiences had their 1930s, German scholar Heinz Lehmann origins in the First World War. Following proclaimed the death of German-Cana- this overview, it charts the different strat- dian culture in “eastern Canada” as a re- egies German-Canadian Lutheran pas- sult of discrimination and anti-German tors employed to negotiate their congre- propaganda that occurred in Canada dur- gations through the Second World War. ing the First World War.4 As a German Pastors accomplished this by embracing national, Lehmann defined “Germaness” English-Canadian cultural norms such based almost exclusively on language.5 as the English language, a patriotic pub- Subsequent historians directly exploring lic presence, and forms of postwar com- the war years echoed Lehmann’s lament memoration. However, these reforms in their own work, reiterating that Eng- were often met with resistance and am- lish Canadians during the First World bivalence by their congregations, thereby War “affected the attitude which Ger- creating a conversation within the Ger- mans had towards themselves”.6 Using man-Canadian Lutheran community on records from the Department of Exter- how to reconcile its Germanic and Lu- nal Affairs, historian Robert Keyserlingk theran heritage with waging a patriotic concluded that German Canadians were war. By charting the complex debates and treated more “leniently” during the Sec- contested memories of this community, ond World War because the department this article suggests German-Canadian recognized that not all German citizens Lutherans were far from silent during the agreed with Hitler and the Nazis.7 Bar-

4 Lehmann, The German Canadians, 75. Writing with an emphasis on , Lehmann classifies eastern Canada as the provinces east of . 5 Lehmann, The German Canadians, 66, 75-77. 6 Grenke, The German Community in Winnipeg, 151; Bassler, The German Canadian Mosaic, 61. Patricia P. McKegney, The Kaiser’s Bust: A Study in War-time Propaganda in Berlin, Ontario 1914-1918 (St. Jacobs, Ontario: Bamberg Press, 1991), 196; John English and Kenneth McLaughlin, Kitchener: An Illustrated History (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1983), 130. 7 Robert H. Keyserlingk, “The Canadian Government’s Attitude Toward Germans and German Ca-

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bara Lorenzkowski ably expanded on from scholars prescribing ideal traits or Keyserlingk’s initial findings by using actions onto their subjects. This is most discourse analysis to demonstrate how notably the case in discussions relating to the Canadian government had precon- the German language, as speaking Eng- ceived notions of “dangerous” and “dis- lish is often misunderstood as becom- loyal” Germans during the initial phase ing “more Canadian” and “less German”. of internment.8 Sauer notes that this, in turn, has created Though these studies are useful in a strong filiopietistic tradition in the unearthing the discriminatory attitudes historiography.10 Lorenzkowski’s recent of wartime Canada, they do little to un- scholarship on the German language in derstand how German-Canadians ex- Waterloo County ably addresses Sauer’s perienced the war internally. Recently, concerns by not victimizing her subjects. Canadian and American historians have Lorenzkowski shows how “ordinary” challenged the notion that the First German Canadians actively chose to World War acted as a destructive land- speak a mixture of German and English in mark for Germans in North America.9 public, despite the protest of ethnic elit- Canadian scholars have yet to extend this es. Rather than lamenting their “failure” approach to the Second World War and to maintain certain linguistic traditions, often discuss the war tangentially rather she notes that this new form of language than overtly. As such, this study channels is instead representative of the fluidity of its efforts in directly exploring how Ger- identity and language. In this sense, she man Canadians during the Second World does not argue that the German-Canadi- War experienced the war internally. an identity is a compromise or a loss, but In her article on the challenges fac- rather that the hyphen denotes a space of ing German-Canadian historiography, cultural interaction.11 This article shares historian Angelika E. Sauer notes that Lorenzkowski’s definition and supports if scholars are to move beyond the “im- the view that a German-Canadian iden- age of German Canadians as permanent tity can manifest itself not only in lan- victims” historians must locate instances guage, but also through religion, aware- of agency. The tendency to describe Ger- ness of heritage, and in public as well as man-Canadians as victims often results private spaces.

nadians in World War II,” Canadian Ethnic Studies 16:1 (1984), 18. 8 Barbara Lorenzkowski, “‘Spies’, ‘Saboteurs’, and ‘Subversives’: German-Canadian Internees and the Wartime Discourse at the Canadian Homefront, 1939-1945,” in A Chorus of Different Voices: German-Cana- dian Identities, eds. Angelika E. Sauer and Matthias Zimmer (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1998), 178. 9 Russell A. Kazal, Becoming Old Stock: The Paradox of German-American Identity (Princeton: Princ- eton University Press, 2004); Barbara Lorenzkowski, Sounds of Ethnicity: Listening to German North America, 1850-1914 (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2010). 10 Sauer, 228, 232, 237-238; Grit Liebscher and Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain, “Canadian German: Iden- tity in Language,” in German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss, ed. Mathias Schulze et. al. (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008), 74. 11 Barbara Lorenzkowski, Sounds of Ethnicity, 214.

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Recent developments in the field of nacular groups.13 Therefore, studying the memory studies offer a further way in war memorials in Oxford and Waterloo which to stop victimizing German Ca- Counties offers another way in which to nadians and devote more time to uncov- gauge how German Canadians operated ering their voices. Scholars such as Hans under the pressures of patriotic English- Werner and Alexander Freund have ca- Canada’s “official culture” while still de- pably completed this task with studies scribing the German-Canadian “vernac- that reveal a better understanding of how ular culture” of the Second World War. postwar German immigrants built new In order to describe the German-Ca- communities, remembered their Nazi nadian wartime experience in greater de- past, and confronted their own memories tail, this paper utilizes records produced of Nazi aggression.12 Their methods can by three German Lutheran congregations: similarly be applied to Ontario’s century Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church old German-Canadian population that located in Oxford County’s Tavistock- experienced the war in Canada. In order Sebastopol, St. Peter’s Evangelical Lu- to do so, John Bodnar’s understanding theran Church and St. James Evangelical of public memory as a combination of Lutheran Church in Waterloo County’s both “official” and “vernacular” culture is Kitchener and Elmira. All three churches particularly useful. Official culture, most act as appropriate case studies as they often supported by business and political were representative of Ontario’s old, es- leaders, focuses on commemorative acts tablished, German-Canadian communi- conveying patriotism and national unity ties.14 Furthermore, Trinity and St. Peter’s whereas vernacular culture, articulated make particularly suitable case studies as by “ordinary” people, generally finds ex- the pastors who led them during the First pression through the promotion of local World War were still there in the Second interests, important ancestors, and pio- World War, providing a continuous link neers of the community. The final com- between the two wars and offering a way memorative act, be it war memorial or to assess whether the established conclu- centennial celebration, often represents sion of “cultural demise” holds weight. St. a compromise between official and ver- James had a different pastor during each

12 Alexander Freund, “Troubling Memories in Nation-Building: World War II—Memories and Ger- mans’ Interethnic Encounters in Canada After 1945,”Histoire sociale/Social History 39/77 (2006); Hans Werner, Imagined Homes: Soviet German Immigrants in Two Cities (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2007); Hans Werner, The Constructed Mennonite: History, Memory, and the Second World War (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2013). 13 John Bodnar, Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 13-15. 14 The 1941 census states that out of approximately the 104,000 Lutherans living in Ontario, 22,000 were located in Waterloo and Oxford Counties. As of 1941, Trinity (est. 1838), St. James (est. 1850), and St. Peter’s (est. 1863) had 567, 519, and 1,899 baptized members respectively. These statistics have been gathered from the 1941 Census and the Statistical Report of the Canada Synod attached to the 1942 synod convention minutes held at Wilfrid Laurier University Archives (hereafter WLUA).

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war, and therefore acts as an appropriate throughout the war.16 counterpoint. Suspicion was quickly elevated to fact in the hysteria of wartime, and St. Peter’s German-Canadian Lutherans pastor, the Reverend Herman Sperling, and the First World War was accused of sending private donations nlike the Anglican and Presbyte- to to support its war effort. No Urian churches in Canada that had evidence was ever found to suggest this a formal connection with England and rumour was true though this did not Scotland, ’s relationship prevent pro-war groups from harassing with Germany is cultural rather than Sperling in the streets and calling for his political. As Lutheranism has its origin internment.17 Trinity’s pastor, the Rever- in the German states, its religious texts end Otto Stockmann, in Tavistock-Se- are predominately recorded in German, bastopol was not as fortunate. The local which effectively became the language Member of Parliament (MP) had him of the church. As a result, the majority arrested and interned in late 1918 on the of Canada’s Lutherans during the First grounds that he had preached to a large World War were of German heritage, body of “Germans” in the language of with Lutheran and German identities “the enemy”.18 Released in August 1919 often reinforcing one another.15 It was on the condition that he preach in Eng- this relationship with German culture lish more often, Stockmann returned that brought many German-Canadian home and was reinstated as Trinity’s pas- Lutherans under suspicions of disloyalty tor. Upon his return, Stockmann told his during the First World War. English-Ca- congregation he would try to “forget” his nadian nationalists expressed particular internment experience.19 concern over how frequently Lutherans Stockmann’s desire to “forget” his spoke German in their churches, claim- wartime experience was common among ing that pastors often hid pro-German German-Canadian ethnic leaders in Wa- sentiments within their weekly sermons. terloo County after the First World War. Fears that German Canadians would sab- Historian Geoffrey Hayes has described otage the Canadian war effort motivated how postwar hostility to German culture both members of the public and the gov- proved problematic to Waterloo Coun- ernment to support the internment of ty’s German-Canadian leaders who, just approximately 2,000 German-Canadians several years prior to the war, often cel-

15 Lehmann, The German Canadians, 77. 16 Bassler, The German Canadian Mosaic, 62. 17 W.H. Heick, “The Lutherans of Waterloo County during World War I,”Waterloo Historical Society 50 (1962), 24-25. 18 The local MP provided these reasons for Stockmann’s internment after Trinity’s congregants de- manded to know why their pastor was interned. “Dr. M. Steele’s Report on Rev. Stockman (sic) Case,” Tavistock Gazette, 3 January 1919. 19 “Personal and Local,” Tavistock Gazette, 4 September 1919.

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ebrated the county’s German identity. In terwar years. Lutheran leaders became response to the war, Waterloo County’s less interested in international issues and German-Canadian leaders, such as Wa- more concerned with domestic issues terloo Historical Society president Wil- such as temperance.23 This is partly due liam H. Breithaupt, constructed a new to immigration restrictions shortly after identity through literature, local histo- the First World War that barred German ries, and public monuments that empha- immigrants from Canada until 1923.24 sized the area’s German pioneers, loyalty, This proved particularly problematic and nationalism.20 Far from an isolated for Canada’s Lutheran churches, as they event, ethnic groups in the traditionally obtained their pastors from similarly commemorated pioneers as a seminaries located in Germany. For- part of their “vernacular culture”. In fact, tunately, by the end of the war, the Lu- pioneers were the most common image theran seminary in Waterloo (established used by “ordinary” Americans in their 1911) had trained a sufficient number of commemorative acts.21 However, the im- Lutheran pastors to prevent large gaps in age of the pioneer had different connota- Lutheran leadership from occurring. This tions in mid-twentieth-century Ontario helps explain the shift towards national than in the United States. Canadians issues, and why anti-German Lutheran favoured the image of a pioneer, specifi- sentiment was less publicly pronounced cally loyalist pioneers, as nation build- during the Second World War.25 ers.22 Pioneers were therefore a part of Despite the new emphasis on Cana- Ontario’s “official culture” rather than dian issues, Lutheran churches still acted a vernacular expression. By construct- as traditional German spaces throughout ing a pioneer narrative similar to those the interwar years. After the war, Stock- found in English-Canadian communi- mann kept his promise and preached ties, Breithaupt expressed a form of eth- one English language sermon a month, nic pride that English-Canadian society while the rest remained in German.26 found acceptable. His wartime experience therefore did Canada’s Lutheran churches also not deter him from maintaining German refocused their priorities during the in- as the primary language of the church.

20 Geoffrey Hayes, “From Berlin to the Trek of the Conestoga: A Revisionist Approach to Waterloo County’s German Identity,” Ontario History Vol. 91:2 (Autumn 1999), 131-32, 145. 21 Bodnar, Remaking America, 16. 22 For the importance of the idea of “The Loyalist” in Ontario see Norman Knowles,Inventing Loyal- ists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997). 23 Clifford E. Nelson, The Lutherans in North America (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 415, 418. 24 Bassler, The German Canadian Mosaic, 47. 25 English and McLaughlin, Kitchener, 167. 26 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church Archives, Congregational Meeting Minutes, 1 January 1920.

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The same was true of Carroll Herman Little (1872- 1958) Lutheran minister, and St. Peter’s and St. James. professor and administrator at the Pastors still conducted Evangelical Lutheran Seminary their weekly sermons and Waterloo College and acting president 1918-1920, 1929- and religious ceremonies, 1931, and 1942-1944. (Wilfrid such as communion and Laurier University Archives) confirmation, largely in German. Perhaps more the government would significantly, Sunday impose conscription and schools were also offered his sons would become in German, giving con- “cannon fodder” over- gregants an opportunity seas. Yet he did not wish for their children to speak to speak ill of the war, and learn the language. fearing that he would be While the First World placed in a “concentra- War left its mark on these communities, tion camp” once “censorship of all letters” Lutheran churches were still preserved as occurred.27 Fear of internment and dis- “German spaces” and as institutions of crimination also motivated Carl Klinck, German identity. It was largely in these Little’s colleague at the seminary and a churches that the German-Canadian member of St. James in Elmira, to com- identity would be further shaped and de- ment on the war. Unlike Little, Klinck bated when Canada went once more to took a more combative approach and ral- war in 1939. lied against the “falsehood, perpetuated since the Great War by… mistakenly pa- The German-Canadian triotic enthusiasts, that Lutheranism and Lutheran Response to War Pro-Germanism (now known as Nazi- erman-Canadian groups in Wa- ism) are synonymous.”28 To dismiss this Gterloo County greeted the Second public misconception, Klinck noted that World War with apprehension and un- only 6% of German Canadians in the certainty. C.H. Little, a professor at the Ontario area were actually born in Ger- Lutheran seminary in Waterloo and a many, with the remainder being born in member of St. Peter’s, expressed particu- Canada. Even the 6% minority was not lar concern that the same discrimination cause for concern, as most of this group that occurred during the First World War were “old people” who came to Canada would strike once again. Writing to his as “youthful pioneers,” long before Hit- mother, Little confessed his worry that ler rose to power.29 Much like Breithaupt,

27 WLUA, Carroll Herman Little fonds (hereafter CLF), Carroll Little to Mother, 17 September 1939; WLUA, CLF, Little to Mother, 27 August 1939. 28 WLUA, Carl Klinck fonds (hereafter CKF), Klinck Papers, 2.1.3 Waterloo College and the Nazi issue, 1. 29 WLUA, CKF, Klinck Papers, 2.1.3 Waterloo College and the Nazi issue, 2-3.

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Right: Carl Klinck, dean of Waterloo College. (Wilfrid Laurier University Archives)

Klinck capitalized on the “pioneer myth” in order to demonstrate loyalty and the indigenous nature of German-Canadian Lutheranism in Canada. Little and Klinck seem to offer two polarized responses to the German-Ca- nadian Lutheran strategy of successful negotiation through the Second World War. However, both men were congre- gants and could vocalize their views without it impacting others. On the oth- er hand, pastors at Trinity, St. Peter’s, and St. James, were charged with ensuring that hundreds of their congregants did not once again suffer discrimination and internment. Their reaction to war there- fore fell in between the two extremes plications another war might have on offered by Little and Klinck, not - com his congregation. After a full debate, pletely ignoring the war, but not being the church council agreed to suspend quite as combative as Klinck. As a result, German language sermons and instruc- they downplayed the Germanic heritage tion in their Sunday school shortly after of their congregations while still actively Britain declared war on Germany. Like- participating in the war effort by inte- wise, Stockmann also converted Trinity’s grating English-Canadian culture and religious services to English in order to symbols into their churches. avoid “possible offence or provocation” from the outside community.30 The Rev- Language Reforms erend Lloyd Kalbfleisch, the pastor at n the opening stages of the war, the St. James in Elmira, was more uncertain, Ithree pastors suspended the use of perhaps because he had been a student German in their churches. Owing to the at a Lutheran seminary during the First “unsettled condition” in Europe, Sper- World War, and had not experienced the ling held an emergency church council same level of discrimination as Sperling meeting at St. Peter’s to discuss the im- and Stockmann. A younger and more in-

30 WLUA, Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada fonds (hereafter ESF), LM10 Kitchener St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (hereafter St. Peter’s), reel 15, Church Meet- ing Minutes, 6 September 1939; WLUA, ESF, LM20 Sebastopol-Tavistock Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (hereafter Trinity), reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 2 May 1940.

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experienced pastor, Kalbfleisch took his not occur without protest from their cues from his elders and told his church congregants. By March 1940, members council that “several churches have dis- of St. Peter’s congregation formally or- continued German services” and wished ganized resistance to Sperling’s decision to know if St. James should follow their to switch entirely to English language example. Church council members Josi- services. Led by congregant John Schell, ah Schmidt and A. Bowman offered their the protestors circulated a petition to support to the hesitant pastor, and sub- gauge if the congregation still desired to sequently passed a resolution suspending worship in German. Schell and his sup- German language services at St. James for porters requested that the church council the remainder of the war.31 offer at least one or two German sermons Stockmann also experienced some a month, and at least one German lan- anxiety over suspending German lan- guage communion per year. Schell also guage services, although his uncertainty wrote to the church council detailing his was based on concern for his congrega- demands and requested to meet person- tion rather than inexperience. He was ally with them to express his opposition concerned that congregants would be to Sperling’s language reforms. St. Peter’s discouraged from attending sermons church council proved hesitant to meet at Trinity if they were not conducted with a congregant who so vocally op- in German. In a public announcement, posed its wartime actions and therefore Stockmann recognized that the transi- rejected his offer. Instead, they wrote to tion to English was not ideal and pleaded Schell reminding him of the reasons Ger- with congregants to remain loyal and man language services were suspended. dedicated to the church during this “dif- Though the council did not risk asso- ficult time.”32 The possibility of losing ciation with someone as vocal as Schell, congregants was a real threat but pastors they organized a committee to meet with considered language reforms a neces- the more moderate members of the con- sary precaution to avoid arousing pub- gregation who signed Schell’s petition to lic suspicions of disloyalty. Sperling and reinforce the importance of not speaking Stockmann were both subject to public German while Canada was at war.33 attack during the previous war over their Schell’s convictions did not waver in commitment to preaching in German the following months and he continued and took no chances in encountering the to campaign at St. Peter’s congregational same criticism once again. meetings. In a May 1940 meeting, Schell The elimination of German language once again outlined his stance on reintro- services at the three congregations did ducing German language services and

31 WLUA, ESF, LM7 Elmira St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church (hereafter St. James), reel 1, Church Council Minutes, 17 September 1939. 32 WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 2 May 1940. 33 WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 15, Church Council Minutes, 25 March 1940.

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asked that the church council reconsider gregation approached Stockmann during their earlier decision. Schell’s second ef- the winter of 1940 in attempts to rein- fort occurred at an inopportune time, as state German language services. Specifi- in the previous week the Nazis had suc- cally, they wished to create an exception cessfully invaded northern Europe fuel- for a German language Easter service. ling English-Canada’s fears that Canada While the exact number is not detailed, was subject to internal threats. The danger enough congregants approached Stock- of “fifth columnists,” citizens who will- mann that he felt it necessary to explain ingly collaborated with the Nazis against publicly why Trinity needed to maintain their own countries, played on English- its language policy. At the January 1941 Canadian fears that German-Canadians congregational meeting, members of the were actually loyal to Germany.34 Given congregation voted on the issue of a Ger- these fears, the church council proved man language Easter service. A record 43 even less likely to grant Schell’s wishes members attended the meeting, when than before. Still, the congregation de- typically the average attendance hovered bated Schell’s demands and only stopped around 20-25.36 The resolution to hold when they received a phone call notify- an Easter service in German received ing them that Sperling had died due to overwhelming support from the congre- complications during kidney surgery. gation and was subsequently passed by The unfortunate omen was interpreted the church council. as sufficient grounds to end the meeting However, the vote was not entirely and table other discussions for future re- unanimous and it did not have the total view.35 For the remainder of the year, St. support of the congregation. Out of the Peter’s church council remained preoccu- 43 members present, four voted against pied with finding a suitable replacement the resolution. Stockmann recorded those for Sperling and had little time to address names and, tellingly, the abstainers were the concerns of individual congregants. members of prominent families in the International affairs coupled with inter- church who had close ties to the church nal church concerns ultimately ended council.37 As Stockmann and the church Schell’s efforts to bring the German lan- council had originally suspended use of guage back to St. Peter’s. the German language, it seems as though Although Schell’s campaign did not the family members of the church coun- succeed, Trinity’s congregation did enjoy cil supported their initial decision. The one small victory. Trinity’s church records congregation received its wish at Easter suggest that several members of the con- in 1943, with Stockmann conducting a 34 Keyserlingk, “The Canadian Government’s Attitude Toward Germans and German Canadians in World War II,” 17. 35 WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 13, Church Meeting Minutes, 6 May 1940; WLUA, ESF, 5.0.6 Pastors: Biographical Information, Herman A. Sperling. 36 WLUA, ESF, Trinity, file 3.48.5.1, Congregational Meeting Minutes, 1 January 1941. 37 Ibid.

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morning Easter service in German and The debate over language in these another service later that day in English three congregations sheds greater light for those who were not comfortable at- on the relationship between Lutheran- tending it in German.38 This division be- ism and the German ethnic identity. tween church council and congregants is Congregants at all three churches peti- highly reminiscent of St. Peter’s church tioned primarily for the opportunity to council’s unwillingness to even publicly speak German on days with a specific associate itself with Schell. In the minds religious importance or at important re- of Trinity’s more elite members, the risk ligious rituals, such as at Easter or confir- of appearing and speaking German was mation ceremonies. This debate reiterates not one worth taking. While Trinity’s the degree to which the church evolved vote appears to have had the general sup- into an important German space during port of the congregation, there still re- the interwar years and saw the German mained a split between the congregation and Lutheran identities of congregants as and its pastor and church council. two halves of a single mold. While Loren- St. James’s church council also proved zkowski’s scholarship ably describes how instrumental in ensuring that English German gradually fell from public use remained the language of the church in Waterloo County, this trend did not throughout the duration of the war. Dur- occur within Lutheran churches. In fact, ing a public meeting open to the congre- rather than treating the switch to English gation in July 1940, the congregation with ambivalence as German Canadians discussed the possibility of including did in the public sphere, congregants German language services while schedul- fought vigorously to maintain it in their ing next year’s sermons. At this juncture, churches. This difference reveals a key as- church council members Schmidt and pect of the development of the German Bowman intervened and passed a resolu- language in Ontario. As its mixed pub- tion reaffirming that the church would lic use indicates, the German language continue worshipping in English, just as in Ontario in the 1940s had largely lost they had decided with Kalbfleisch at the its practical use. Instead, the German beginning of the war.39 The possibility of language was now imbedded with reli- speaking German was once again brought gious and cultural importance. The spir- up the following year in May 1941, this ited protests within these three Lutheran time in regards to conducting a Ger- churches remains a testament to the cul- man communion service. Once more the tural significance congregants placed on church council upheld its mandate and speaking the language of their ancestors “thought it best to omit [the] service” during times of religious importance. To and hold the ceremony in English.40 speak German at church contained more 38 WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 29 March 1943. 39 WLUA, ESF, LM7 St. James, reel 1, Congregational Meeting Minutes, 7 July 1940. 40 WLUA, ESF, LM7 St. James, reel 1, Church Council Minutes, 11 May 1941.

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than religious meaning, it also provided ordering a new sign for the church. Prior an opportunity to practice and commune to this decision, the sign was inscribed with one’s ethnic identity. While lan- with the name of the church in German guage in the public sphere was fluid and only. The new sign now bore the name of allowed for change, congregants resisted the church not in German, but exclusive- language reforms that violated their per- ly in English.41 ception of the church as a German space As exemplified by alterations to St. during the Second World War. Peter’s and Trinity’s church grounds, public appearances became increasingly Creating Patriotic Space important to Lutheran congregations lthough language reforms were an during the Second World War. The signif- Aimportant consequence of the war icance of a patriotic presence in the pub- in the minds of both pastors and congre- lic sphere is obvious, as St. Peter’s went so gants, it was only one strategy pastors em- far as to reschedule their weekly sermon ployed to help Lutheran churches dem- so as to not conflict with the 1939 Re- onstrate their loyalty to Canada. Pastors membrance Day ceremony. The church also adopted English-Canadian symbols council also advised the congregation to and customs. Prior to the Second World take part in the civic ceremony that was War, Lutheran congregations commonly held at the cenotaph in Kitchener. The displayed German language signs on church council at St. James went one step their church grounds, and few had Ca- further, with Bowman suggesting in June nadian or British flags as neighbouring 1940 that St. James allow the Red Cross Anglican churches often did. Soon after to host a fundraising garden party on its the Second World War began, St. Peter’s church grounds.42 church council recommended and subse- One of the clearest ways to demon- quently passed a resolution to purchase a strate loyalty and involvement in the war Canadian flag and raise it on the church effort was the procurement of an honour grounds. Likewise, the Ladies Aid Society roll. A form of commemoration popu- at Trinity donated a portion of its funds larized by English-Canada during the for the church to purchase a flag of their First World War, honour rolls listed the own. Stockmann held a small dedication names of all those who served or died ceremony for the raising of the new flag fighting overseas.43 Acquiring an honour in March 1940. In Kitchener, St. Peter’s roll was particularly easy throughout the church council also took the initiative of Second World War, as the Department

41 WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 15, Church Meeting Minutes, 24 June 1940; WLUA, ESF, Canada Synod Convention Minutes, June 1940, 22; WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 15, Church Meeting Minutes, 14 November 1941. 42 WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 15, Church Meeting Minutes, 8 November 1940; WLUA, ESF, LM7 St. James, reel 1, Church Council Minutes, 9 June 1940. 43 Jonathan F. Vance, Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning and the First World War (: Uni- versity of Press, 1997), 116.

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of National Defence [DND] advertised cities, and businesses, it could be used as that schools, businesses, churches, and a form of “boosterism” to demonstrate to other organizations could all submit a rivals the church’s level of patriotism and request to obtain a free pre-made roll. In sacrifice during the war.46 An honour roll September 1942, Trinity’s church coun- allowed Stockmann and Trinity’s council cil submitted a request for an honour to show that their congregation was ac- roll so that the church council could list tive in the war effort and therefore loyal the members of their congregation cur- to Canada. This fit well with Stockmann’s rently serving in the Canadian Army. desire to convert Trinity into a patriotic Once obtained and updated, they hung space, but it seems not to have resonated it on the entrance of the church, with all with the congregation at large. Though those who entered able to clearly see the no formal protest to hanging the honour sacrifice of their fellow congregants.44 roll in the church was recorded, congre- Ordered from the DND rather than gants greeted it with ambivalence. After designed by the congregation, Trinity’s July 1944, the honour roll was not kept honour roll made frequent use of British up to date and was eventually removed imagery, featuring several Union Jacks from the church once the war ended. and lions adorned with golden crowns. This treatment is in contrast to many According to an advertisement produced other Canadian churches throughout by the DND, these symbols were meant the country, which to this day continue to convey the “authentic heraldic [of ] displaying their honour rolls, or have had the historic majesty of the British Em- them cast in bronze. Though intended pire.”45 The advertisement further noted to signify the congregation’s dedication that symbols from England, Scotland, to the war effort, its eventual neglect in- Ireland, and French-Canada were includ- stead reflects the disconnect that existed ed in the design. Obviously absent from between pastor and congregant through- the honour roll, however, were sym- out the war. bols of Canada’s non-“charter” groups During the First World War, Lu- who also participated in the war effort. theran pastors were criticized for not up- It is readily understandable why Trin- holding English-Canadian norms such as ity’s church council believed it beneficial singing “God Save the King” and saluting for their church to secure an honour roll. the Union Jack.47 Not only did the pas- When hung prominently, it promoted tors directly address these issues during publicly the memory of the congrega- the Second World War by ordering Eng- tion’s soldiers. Like in other churches, lish flags and signs, they further affiliated

44 WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes,28 September 1942. 45 WLUA, CKF, 1.6 Honour roll of Waterloo College and Seminary. 46 Vance, Death So Noble, 119. 47 The most well-known instance of this was the Reverend C.R. Tappert of St. Matthews in Berlin/ Kitchener. See Geoffrey Hayes,Waterloo County: An Illustrated History (Kitchener, ON: Waterloo His- torical Society, 1997), 121.

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themselves with the outside community the churchyard, one for each of Trinity’s by attending Remembrance Day cer- soldiers killed in action. The trees were emonies and hosting patriotic fundrais- later complemented by a plaque erected ers. By transforming Lutheran churches on Stockmann’s initiative bearing the into patriotic spaces, pastors could dispel inscription “These trees were planted in rumours like those that had circulated loving memory of Clarence Kalbfleisch, during the First World War that Luther- Francis Weitzel [and] Alfred Kingsley ans held secret “pro-German” meetings who gave their all for king and country at their churches. Further still, by using 1939-1945.”48 Far from unique, similar the same patriotic symbols and customs inscriptions emphasizing the same values as English-Canada, German-Canadian can be found on war memorials across Lutherans avoided accusations of disloy- Canada.49 At first glance, this commemo- alty while simultaneously highlighting rative act suggests that German-Canadi- their own dedication to the war effort in ans understood the war in similar terms readily understandable ways. This is par- as English-Canada, stressing patriotism ticularly true for the Reverends Sperling and dedication to “King and country” and Stockmann, who exercised a degree above all else. However, this conclusion of self-regulation by adopting English- does little to acknowledge the complex- Canada’s patriotic symbols and societal ity of the German-Canadian response to norms. They took no chances risking in- the war. There are several other ways to ternment once again. glean meaning from a monument aside from simply reading its inscription. Commemoration and Memory Further meaning can be extracted ising casualties became increasingly from Trinity’s war memorial through a Rcommon as Canada became more spatial analysis of the monument. Trini- involved in overseas operations in Italy ty’s church cemetery groups its head- and Normandy in 1943-1944. These stones and burial plots by different dec- losses were acutely felt at the local level ades. Given that all three soldiers died in and groups across Canada initiated acts the 1940s, the obvious place for the war of commemoration to pay respect to their memorial was in the 1940s section of the war dead. German-Canadian Lutherans church cemetery. However, the church also participated in this process to give council decided that it should be placed voice to both their grief and pride in their in the “old cemetery” where the pioneers contributions to the war effort. In March and founding members of the church of 1945, Trinity’s church council passed were buried.50 The association between a resolution to plant three maple trees in war dead and German pioneers once

48 WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 19 March 1945; WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 31 May 1948. 49 Vance, Death So Noble, 162. 50 WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 19 March 1945.

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again conforms to the model emphasized alty could not be questioned; they too by Breithaupt and Klinck. By placing its had served, and they too had sacrificed. war memorial with its pioneers, Trinity Despite the public nature of the seems to have been creating a landscape war memorial, it remained very much of loyalty that recognized the contribu- a personal product of Stockmann. The tions of their church to the creation and trees planted in memory of the three maintenance of Canada. The language soldiers were, tellingly, maples and not used on the plaque and the selection of oak, the tree most commonly associated Canadian maple trees further enhanced with Germany and German culture.52 the loyalty motif. Perhaps more person- In planting the trees in the churchyard, ally, the placement of the memorial is Stockmann was quite literally connect- indicative of the status the congregation ing the memory of the three soldiers with granted their three dead soldiers. the church itself, and with their Luther- Trinity’s “old cemetery” is located an, German, and Canadian identities. at the front of the churchyard, directly While the location of the memorial beside the entrance to the church, and provides insight into the value placed on is viewable from the road running south the three fallen soldiers, memories of one into Tavistock’s town core. In contrast, of the soldiers, Francis Weitzel, the sec- the 1940 burials are located further be- ond name on the plaque, reveal a more hind the church, largely hidden from controversial story. Weitzel was born in public view. Much like the honour roll, Tavistock in 1921 and was orphaned at the placement of the war memorial sug- a young age. Sympathetic to his situa- gests it was to be publicly viewed to tion, the community offered Weitzel odd ensure that the memory of these three farming jobs to help sustain him finan- congregants remained in popular con- cially through his teenage years. Much sciousness. A number of Canada’s eth- like other Lutheran youth in the commu- nic groups interpreted military service nity, he attended Trinity while growing as the clearest way to demonstrate loy- up and likely learned to speak German alty. To die during battle, then, and the as a result of Stockmann’s Sunday school sacrifice of blood, was seen as the high- instruction.53 It is perhaps unsurprising est proclamation of one’s dedication to that Weitzel enlisted with the Canadi- Canada.51 Seen by all who passed, the an Army after the outbreak of the war. war memorial showed that Trinity’s loy- Steady work, three meals a day, and daily

51 Frances Swyripa, “The Politics of Redress: The Contemporary Ukrainian-Canadian Campaign,” in Enemies Within: Italian and Other Internees in Canada and Abroad, ed. Franca Iacovetta, Roberto Perin, and Angelo Principe (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), 359. 52 In contrast, German-Canadians in Waterloo County commemorated events with oak trees prior to the First World War. Lorenzkowski, Sounds of Ethnicity, 140. 53 Biographical information on Weitzel has been complied from Weitzel’s “Year of the Veteran” file lo- cated at the Tavistock & District Historical Society; Library and Archives Canada, RG24, volume 27306, Francis Weitzel Attestation Papers.

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Soldiers of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada having breakfast, Buron, , 9 July 1944. (Library and Archives Canada)

pay would have given him a new level of secu- rity and wealth.54 Weitzel enlisted with the Highland Light Infantry of Cana- da, a regiment raised in Waterloo County, and took part in the inva- sion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. His first real engagement, and that of his regiment, occurred on 8 July when they were tasked with less secured, but also Weitzel’s dead body, liberating the French village of Buron. sprayed with bullets.55 As they believed The regiment engaged in heavy fighting he took the final objective alone, Weitzel’s throughout the day and Weitzel’s compa- regiment saw fit to nominate him for the ny was tied down in the village. Though Victoria Cross, the highest award that a already wounded, Weitzel seized the Commonwealth soldier could receive for initiative and led his section towards an bravery on the battlefield. Weitzel was orchard on the village outskirts, the com- rejected for the award on the grounds of pany’s final objective. Members of his sec- insufficient witnesses but the regiment tion were wounded or killed shortly upon dismissed the official record, emphasizing entering the orchard, leaving Weitzel to that the final objective had been cleared carry on alone. Popular memory and the when they reached Weitzel’s position.56 recollections of veterans claim that Weit- Weitzel’s regiment was not the only zel, firing a Bren gun from his hip, pro- group left unsatisfied with the official ceeded to singlehandedly neutralize two record. Rumours continue to circulate in German machine-gun posts. When the present day Tavistock that Weitzel was de- rest of his company reached the orchard nied the Victoria Cross not because there later that day, they found the area more or were insufficient witnesses, but rather be-

54 Weitzel is quoted discussing his financial security in “Gallant Action of Cpl. Francis Weitzel Wins Praise of H.L.I. of C. Regiment,” Tavistock Gazette, 19 July 1944. 55 J. Alan Snowie, Bloody Buron: Normandy–08 July 1944 (Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1984), 67-68. 56 Snowie, Bloody Buron, 92.

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cause of his German heritage. Weitzel’s German-Canadian contributions to the rejection is labeled a “political” decision.57 war effort, rather than ethnic discrimina- Whether true or not, the rumours reveal tion. Trinity’s memorial is a clear exam- more about the German-Canadian iden- ple that ethnic Canadian forms of com- tity than about Weitzel’s sacrifice over- memoration cannot always be taken at seas. The importance of his death to Trin- face value. Though Stockmann used the ity and the community is demonstrated language and symbols of English Canada, by the large attendance at his memorial the placement of the memorial suggests service, and the fact it received front-page that he was more concerned with dem- coverage in the Tavistock Gazette. In con- onstrating Trinity’s loyal and patriotic in- trast, Trinity’s other two fallen soldiers volvement in the war. This, coupled with received scant mention.58 The resonance Weitzel’s Victoria Cross controversy, in- Weitzel’s death had in the community is dicates that German-Canadians had their very similar to Bodnar’s conception of own distinct memories of the war, even if “vernacular culture,” where important they were hidden from public view. family members are most prominently Unlike Trinity, St. Peter’s and St. remembered among “ordinary” people. James did not order honour rolls or erect It is telling that, in the public mind, the memorials for their war dead. Though St. British did not slight Weitzel because he Peter’s did make note of the congregation’s was a colonial Canadian, but because he total casualty rate near the end of the war, was “German.” In the case of Weitzel’s no formal process of commemoration was Victoria Cross, war did not diminish the ever initiated.59 This lack of commemora- German-Canadian identity, but actually tion highlights a portion of the German- served to heighten it. Canadian wartime memory that is differ- The Victoria Cross controversy is not ent than that of Trinity’s. St. Peter’s lack of reflected in Trinity’s war memorial. In- commemoration is reminiscent of Little’s stead, Stockmann constructed a “public restrained attitude towards the war. In a memory” of the Second World War that letter to his mother, Little expressed how aligned with English-Canada’s official upset the idea of war made him, but he memory of the conflict, allowing those chose not to vocalize his fears in case they who view the memorial to leave with were interpreted as signs of disloyalty. positive images of patriotism, loyalty, and Little ended his discussion of the war by

57 William Powell, Oxford Heroes: Lost But Not Forgotten (n.s., 2010); “The farmhand at war: Re- membering the greatest hero of bloody Buron,” The Record, 11 November 2010; “Veteran challenges nation,”Tavistock Gazette, November 2005; Snowie, 92. 58 Clarence Kalbfleisch was a farmer from Tavistock and died at the Battle of Ortona on Christmas, 1943. Alfred Kingsley was a clerical worker from Kitchener and married a member of Trinity’s congrega- tion. He died on7 October 1944. Although Kalbfleisch’s family encountered financial difficulties as a result of his death, the dominant popular memory surrounding these three soldiers focuses primarily on Weitzel. 59 WLUA, ESF, LM10 St. Peter’s, reel 13, Church Meeting Minutes, 29 January 1945.

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stating that in Waterloo County, “silence World War, these pastors demonstrated a is golden.”60 Like Little, both St. James degree of self-regulation by suspending the and St. Peter’s chose not to draw further German language and conforming to Eng- attention to their lish-Canadian congregations by symbols, pub- commemorating lic rituals, and the war. However, forms of com- after the war end- memoration. ed, their councils German-Cana- did offer other dian Lutheran strategies to heal pastors exer- the divisions war cised control caused in their over their own congregations. fates through Their pastors and these initiatives church councils and took a lead- slowly reintro- ing role in dem- duced German onstrating their language services loyalty and ded- in their churches. Trinity’s memorial stone for Clarence Kalbfleisch, Francis Weit- ication to the Stockmann be- zel and Alfred Kingsley. Photo by the author. Canadian war gan preaching predominantly in German effort. They were not passive victims over again in January 1946 and the other con- whom the federal government exercised gregations followed suit, largely embold- sole authority, but were rather the primary ened by the influx of post-war German agents in their wartime experience. While immigrants who also desired to worship Keyserlingk is partially correct in conclud- in German.61 The war did not deter these ing German-Canadians were treated more Lutheran churches from maintaining and “leniently” during the Second World War continuing their role as important Ger- as a result of a new government perspec- man spaces. tive, he did not fully appreciate that this was also true because German-Canadians Conclusion gave the government very little reason to he church records used in this study suspect them of disloyalty. Though their Treadily give voice to the strategies reforms were at times controversial, Ger- pastors Sperling, Stockmann, and Kalb- man-Canadian Lutheran pastors waged fleisch used to negotiate their congrega- the Second World War on their own tions through the Second World War. terms. Motivated by their memories of the First German-Canadian Lutheran con-

60 WLUA, CLF, Little to Mother, 23 July 1939. 61 Trinity’s church council did not switch back to German with complete confidence. They decided

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gregants did not remain silent through- ingly obvious that German-Canadian out the war and also voiced their oppo- Lutherans had their own understanding sition to the reforms implemented by of and reasons for commemorating the their pastors. Their desire to continue Second World War. They did not just im- worshipping in German, and to main- itate Canadian culture; they gave voice to tain memories of the war no matter how both Lutheran achievement and loyalty. controversial, suggests that an ethnic Furthermore, the lack of commemora- and cultural German consciousness was tion at St. Peter’s and St. James adds diver- still present among these three congrega- sity to the community’s memory. Victim- tions. By voicing their opposition to the hood and internment does not accurately English-Canadian practices supported reflect the variety and complexity of the by their pastors, these congregations as- German-Canadian Lutheran experience serted their ethnic German identity. They and memory of the Second World War. resisted or ignored attempts by their pas- Identities are constantly in flux. This tors to downplay their German heritage. was certainly true of the German-Cana- A close study of these three churches dians associated with Trinity, St. Peter’s, demonstrates that they still expressed an and St. James during the Second World interest in their German heritage, even in War. Within church walls, they debated the dangers of wartime. and actively supported their German- It is unsurprising that a culture of si- Canadian identity by resisting language lence and victimization is often associat- reforms and by voicing alternative mem- ed with the German-Canadian wartime ories to the war, at the same time their experience. German-Canadian reactions pastors modeled their actions after those to the war occurred predominantly with- of patriotic English-Canada. As a result, in Lutheran churches, not in the public the Second World War created a conver- sphere. To date, historians have relied on sation between pastor and congregant as sources produced outside the commu- to what it meant to be Lutheran, Cana- nity, and have missed these expressions dian, and German. Perhaps the passage of agency. Since Trinity used English- quoted by Stockmann at Weitzel’s me- Canadian forms of commemoration, and morial service is a more accurate descrip- the memory of Weitzel was discussed pri- tion of the German-Canadian wartime vately, it is perhaps understandable that experience than the old pastor even real- the German-Canadian memory has also ized – “We are troubled on every side, yet gone relatively unexplored. By looking not distressed; we are perplexed, but not at the placement of and motive behind in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; Trinity’s memorial, it becomes increas- cast down, but not destroyed.”

to withdraw advertisements about their weekly sermons from the Tavistock Gazette at the same time so as to not attract greater attention. See WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 24 Sep- tember 1945; WLUA, ESF, LM20 Trinity, reel 4, Church Council Minutes, 26 November 1945; Sauer, 236; Bassler, The German Canadian Mosaic, 14.

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