Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-16-2018 1:30 PM Welcoming Strangers: Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in German Lutheran Ontario and Missouri, 1939-1970 Elliot Worsfold, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Wardhaugh, Robert, The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in History © Elliot Worsfold 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.ca/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, History of Religion Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Worsfold, Elliot, "Welcoming Strangers: Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in German Lutheran Ontario and Missouri, 1939-1970" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository.ca/etd/5678 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact wlswadmin@uwo.
i Abstract: This dissertation examines how German-American and German-Canadian Lutherans in St. Louis, Missouri, and Waterloo County, Ontario, constructed their ethnic identities from the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 to 1970. Did German Lutherans understand their ethnicity as an identity to overcome, or as an identity worth preserving? What role did religion and race play in how they constructed their ethnic identities? It argues that German Lutherans in the Missouri and Canada Synods constructed a hybrid identity that sought to balance their competing ethnic, religious, racial, and national identities. It charts their experiences negotiating discrimination during the Second World War, their efforts to bring German immigrants to North America through lobbying for immigration policy changes, and their struggles to resist pressures to assimilate throughout the postwar period.
Contrary to popular assumptions, German Lutherans did not abandon their ethnic identities during the twentieth century, but rather continued to practice a German ethnic identity within the ethnic boundary zones of their churches. They continued to justify speaking German as a theological necessity, formed alliances with new German refugees and displaced persons to continue their ethnic traditions, and resisted exclusionary mainstream Anglo-Canadian and American nationalisms by advocating for a pluralistic understanding of their past through cultural and commemorative events. By drawing on developments in critical race theory and whiteness studies, this dissertation argues that “whiteness” or a white racial identity is essential for understanding how German Lutherans constructed an ethnic identity. While it was controversial during and after the Second World War to openly identify as German, German Lutherans successfully mitigated these stigmas through their white privilege and ability to form political alliances with white government officials.
Moreover, German Lutherans maintained an ethnic identity because they excluded other immigrants and racialized North Americans from attending their congregations by supporting Jim Crow segregation. By keeping their churches white, they were also able to keep their churches “German.” This study urges immigration historians to look more closely at how whiteness and ethnicity in the twentieth century reinforce, rather than replace, one another. Keywords: German Canadians, German Americans, St. Louis, Waterloo County, Whiteness, Race, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Canada Synod, North American Lutheranism, Transnationalism, Second World War, Cold War Immigration, Displaced Persons ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………iv List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………….
vi A Note on Terminology…………………………………………………………………vii Introduction: Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in St. Louis and Waterloo County, 1939- 1970………………………………………………………………………………1 Debating Assimilation, Hybridity, and the German Ethnic Identity…….3 Transnational Histories of St. Louis and Waterloo County………….18 Lutheranism as a “Lived Religion”…………………………………….25 The Importance of Whiteness……………………………….…30 Organization and Format……………………………………….41 Chapter 1: The Language of Loyalty: Lutheran Churches as Ethnic and Patriotic Spaces during the Second World War………………………………….46 Anti-War Sentiment and the Response to Another Conflict…………….48 Fighting for the German Language…………………………………….56 Protesting Patriotic Space……………………………………………….65 Relations Between St. Louis and Waterloo County…………………….84 Chapter 2: Between Church and State: Race and Religion during the Second World War …………………………………………………………………………….87 The Protestant Appeal………………………………………………….91 The People Come First Controversy…………………………….………97 Whiteness and Race Relations in St.104 Whiteness and the Pioneer Myth in Waterloo County………………….125 Chapter 3: “I Was A Stranger”: Confronting Europe’s Refugee Crisis Through Transnational Ties…………………………………………………….129 Ethnic and Religious Motivations for Assisting Germany………………133 Creating an Infrastructure for Relief Work…………………………….141 Transnational Ties and Early Immigration Schemes, 1946-1950……….148 Race, Religion, and Confronting the Volksdeutsche Problem………….160 Gender Relations and Immigration Work……………………………….168 Old and New Directions in Immigration, 1951-1960……………………180 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….191 Chapter 4: Returning to the Land of Luther: The Campaign to Rebuild West Germany, 1945-1960………………………………………………………….194 Creating a Policy for Providing Relief to West Germany……………….197 Missionary Work as an Ethnic Experience………………………….…205 Ethnicity, Nationality, and Denazification at the Bad Boll Conferences.209 iii Gendering Missionary Work…………………………………………….218 A New Strategy……………………………………………………………229 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….235 Chapter 5: German Space as White Space: Race and Ethnicity during the “Ethnic Reverie” of the 1950s and 1960s………………………………………….238 The Lutheran Church as an Ethnic Boundary Zone………………….243 Gatekeeping in German Lutheran Communities………………….………248 Upholding White Privilege and Supremacy……………………….262 White Flight and Segregation in the Missouri Synod…………….272 German Ethnicity in the Core and on the Peripheries……………….304 Chapter 6: A Church of Many Nations: The Arrival of Lutheran Displaced Persons, 1948-1965………………………………………………………………………….307 The “New Canadian” and “DP” Problem………………………………….309 The Arrival of DP Pastors, 1947-1950……………………………….314 The Skrodelis Controversy………………………………………….325 Jacobi’s Finnish Experiment…………………………………………….336 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………351 Chapter 7: Pioneers and Prophets: German Lutheran Participation in Cultural and Commemorative Events in the Postwar Era……….……353 Addressing Ethnic Divisions and Anti-War Sentiment………………….355 Theology and Rewriting the Past………………………………………….364 The Limits of the White Imagination………………………………….374 Expo 67 and Engagement with Mainstream Nationalisms………….389 Conclusion: Welcoming Strangers……………………………….422 iv Acknowledgements Although my name is listed as the only author of this dissertation, countless individuals made significant contributions to this project.
I am particularly indebted to Geoffrey Hayes for his mentorship, friendship, and supervision during my early years as a graduate student. Many of the questions he posed and suggestions he made significantly informed the early chapters of this dissertation. Jocelyn Hunt, Geoff Keelan, and Vanessa Pritchard also played integral roles in helping me navigate my early academic life. They have my sincere thanks as this process comes to an end.
Sherrill Calder from Tavistock, Ontario, has my overwhelming appreciation for her support over the years. Her passion and belief in my work remained undaunted and I am truly grateful for her support. I could not have asked for a better mentor, supervisor, and friend than Robert Wardhaugh. Rob’s ability to balance humour with critical feedback made him an excellent supervisor that I count myself incredibly lucky to have worked alongside.
Rob was always willing to sit down and talk about this dissertation and, more importantly, how it could always evolve and improve. Rob’s mentorship extended beyond writing and researching this project. He also taught me how to be an effective lecturer, a compassionate teacher, and provided an exemplary model of friendship. I can’t thank him enough.
Laurel Shire also went above and beyond her role as a second reader and committee member. Laurel’s feedback enhanced the clarity of this dissertation and helped broaden its appeal significantly. Laurel also offered support at every stage in the writing and research process, as well as demonstrating her commitment to improving graduate student mental health and wellbeing. I am rare to have found two mentors that I also count as two friends.
Numerous colleagues in the Department of History made writing and researching this dissertation an enjoyable experience. Tim Compeau willingly gave valuable professional and personal advice, and I was fortunate to be in Western’s graduate program at the same time as Rachael Bell, Hayley Caldwell, Carla Joubert, and Daniel Murchison. Kieran Boyko, Michael Chee, and Scott Johns deserve particular praise for causing many memorable Friday nights and foggy Saturday mornings. My fellow graduate student Nolan Brown also deserves special recognition for providing feedback on numerous dissertation chapters as a member of my writing group.
Nolan’s feedback was always much appreciated, as were our post-meeting chats at the Grad Club. I also owe a great deal to several mentors, including Keith Fleming, Alan MacEachern, Francine Mckenzie, Royden Loewen, and Robert Ventresca for their constant support, advice, and friendship. I have also benefitted from the expertise and generosity of numerous archivists. Andre Furlong, Julia Hendry, and Cindy Preece of Laurier Archives are already aware of my eternal gratitude for their tireless cooperation and hospitality over the years.
This dissertation would have been a very different project without their help. Cindy’s constant support and advice turned vague references into full-fledged chapters that resulted in a stronger and more innovative dissertation. Words cannot describe how fortunate I was to share the joys, laughter, and frustrations of archival research with Julia, Cindy, and v Andre. This was truly a collaborative project with the Laurier Archives team.
Mark Bliese, Laura Marrs, and their summer students at the Concordia Historical Institute also proved immensely helpful navigating records relating to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Their patience was greatly appreciated, as was their ability to make this Canadian feel at home in St. I am fortunate that several groups helped fund this dissertation. Several Ontario Graduate Scholarships and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council quite frankly changed my life.
Not only did these awards help fund numerous research trips, they provided a level financial stability previously unknown to me. Thank you to Western’s Department of History and its donors for sponsoring the Eleta Britton Graduate Scholarship in History and Hilborn Doctoral Completion Award. I was also lucky to receive an Edna Staebler Research Fellowship from the Schneider Haus and the Joan Mitchell Travel Award from Laurier Archives. These funding opportunities ensured I could complete researching and writing this dissertation, and they have my thanks.
Robyn Schwarz, above all others, has more of my appreciation and gratitude than I can express on this page. Nobody has read as many drafts of this dissertation as her, and nobody has spent so many waking hours discussing it. She provided feedback with the kind of precision and care that one typically applies to their own project, and greatly enhanced its coherency and structure as a result. Robyn became this work’s greatest champion, which meant the world to me on days when I couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm.
It is impossible for me to read this work without each page provoking memories of office meetings, drinking coffee downtown, and evening chats. Robyn provided a rescuing spark that saw this project through its final stages. Thank you, Robyn. vi List of Abbreviations BAM: Board of American Missions CCCRR: Canadian Christian Council for the Resettlement of Refugees CLC: Canadian Lutheran Council CLWR: Canadian Lutheran World Relief CWS: Commission for War Services EPC: Emergency Planning Council HMC: Home Missions Committee HMB: Home Missions Board IISTL: International Institute of Metropolitan St.
Louis IRO: International Refugee Organization KWCF: Kitchener-Waterloo Council for Friendship LWA: Lutheran World Action LWF: Lutheran World Federation LWML: Lutheran Women’s Missionary League NLC: National Lutheran Council OWI: Office of War Information ULCA: United Lutheran Church in America vii A Note on Terminology Scholarly terms used to define ethnicity and race are often problematic due to the imprecise and subjective nature of both identities. Many racial and ethnic labels fail to capture the fluidity of each of these identities. This study discusses German-speaking Lutherans in Canada, the United States, and Germany. Generally, I use the term “German Lutherans” as an all-encompassing and less cumbersome term to refer to the German- American and German-Canadian Lutherans that lived in St.
Louis and Waterloo County. When referring to only one of these communities, I specify their nationality with the hyphenated term. “German Lutherans” does not refer to people living in Europe unless otherwise specified in the text. Critical race theorists employ a wide swath of terms to refer to the different “races” they study.
In his critical examination of white culture, Richard Dyer describes how many of these terms, such as “nonwhite” or “people of colour,” are problematic because they reinforce troubling power relations wherein “white” is normalized and those outside of this category are othered.i As a result, I use the term “racialized” Canadians and Americans to refer to nonwhite people, out of recognition that white people are not yet racialized in North American society.