On the Frontlines of Conscience: An Account of Four Hutterites Sentenced to Hard Labor at Alcatraz

To Hutterites and members of other historic peace churches, serving the military in any way goes against the biblical commandment “thou shalt not kill” and Jesus’ admonition to turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Four young men from a Hutterite colony in South Dakota—brothers Joseph Hofer, Michael Hofer, and David Hofer, and Joseph’s brother-in-law, Jacob Wipf—followed these beliefs and refused to perform military service in World War I. They were among 504 conscientious objectors who were court-martialed during the war. Within a year, as a hyperpatriotic fever swept across the country, the men had traveled from the guardhouse at Camp Lewis in Washington State to Alcatraz off the coast of California and on to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where the two youngest died. The military listed pneumonia as the cause of death for Joseph and Michael Hofer. The Hutterites, for their part, buried the men as martyrs, citing mistreatment.

Dora Maendal, Fairholme Hutterite Colony, Manitoba, Canada
Duane Stoltzfus, Goshen College

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