About the Book

Here for the first time in print is the story of a small group who dared to confront Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich with the love of Jesus Christ. Avoiding covert resistance on the one hand and complicity and compromise on the other, the Rhön Bruderhof, under the courageous leadership of Eberhard Arnold, boldly witnessed to the politics of the Kingdom of God in Nazi Germany. Although "less than a gnat to an elephant," in Arnold's words, they believed that as God's ambassadors love could overcome hatred-even of Adolf Hitler himself. This is an amazing account of a community who stayed true to the nonviolent way of the Cross, and how, despite relentless Nazi opposition, God protected and victoriously led them along the way.

Book Trailer

Praise

Seeking to embody the Sermon on the Mount and articulating a clear Anabaptist theology of church and state, the early Bruderhof movement gives a courageous testimony to nonviolence in a harsh totalitarian state. Emmy Barth tells a compelling and well-crafted story that is hard to put down.

Donald B. Kraybill, author of The Upside Down Kingdom

In An Embassy Besieged, a small community of Christians courageously and graciously refuses to compromise their faith in the face of the worst human evil. Their witness has much to teach us today in a world so riddled with prejudice, so tired of militarism, so starved for grace, and so desperate for imagination.

Shane Claiborne, author, activist

Scripture tells us that we are to be a counter-cultural community, living out the radical teachings of Christ. This book sets a pattern for those who want to live faithfully in opposition to the dictatorial consumeristic culture of our age.

Tony Campolo, Eastern University, St. Davids, PA

Tablet of Contents

  1. Historical Background: The Path to Community
  2. Hitler’s Rise to Power
  3. March to April 1933
  4. May to June 1933
  5. June to October 1933
  6. October to November 1933
  7. Plebiscite and Raid
  8. November to December 1933
  9. January to February 1934
  10. February to May 1934
  11. June to July 1934
  1. Romans 13
  2. July to August 1934
  3. September to December 1934
  4. January to March 1935
  5. March to October 1935
  6. The Revelation of John
  7. November 1935
  8. December 1935 to July 1936
  9. August to December 1936
  10. January to April 1937
  11. May to July 1937
Tags:
Nonviolence
Society and Politics
Religious Liberty
Conscientious Objection