Neufeld, Herman H. (1890-1959)

Herman H. Neufeld.

Herman H. Neufeld: editor and minister; born in September 1890 in Sergeyevka, Ukraine, Fürstenland colony, to Elder Hermann and Katherina Neufeld. The family then moved to Nikolaievka, where Neufeld spent his youth. Later he attended the Halbstadt School of Commerce and the University of St. Petersburg. He was baptized and became a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church. In 1913 he was married to Anna Neufeld (a cousin). Five children were born to them, one of whom died in infancy.

In 1917 the Neufelds moved to Germany, and in 1920 they immigrated to Canada, settling near Herbert, Saskatchewan. Soon a further move took them to Scottdale, Pennsylvania, where Neufeld became the editor of Die Mennonitische Rundschau (MR), which primarily served the Russian Mennonite community. In 1923 he purchased the paper and moved it to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he founded the Rundschau Publishing House. He continued as editor until 1945, when the paper was sold to to group of Mennonite Brethren businessmen. His wife, Anna, died in 1944.

Neufeld was implicated with pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic views and propaganda. In July 1933 his Mennonitische Rundschau press began printing the Canadian Nationalist for the Canadian Nationalist Party, which was deemed to be anti-Semitic. Two years later he began printing the Deutsche Zeitung fuer Canada, which was clearly pro-Nazi. After a formal charge was laid against him and his wife, Anna, they apologized, claiming they had not known the nature of some of the contents of articles. They discontinued printing it thereafter.

Neufeld, in the meantime, was also ordained as a minister in the South End Mennonite Brethren Church. After resigning as editor of the MR, he continued his studies and earned his doctorate in theology. He devoted himself to ministry to the native population in northern Manitoba with the United Church of Canada. In 1953 he married Ruth Pope, a nurse, and moved to Vancouver, BC, where he also served at the City Mission. He died on 28 December 1959 and was buried in Winnipeg.

Neufeld was the longest serving editor of the longest continuously published German Mennonite newspaper in North America. He was the key person in the transition of the MR to Canada and the later transition to becoming the main periodical for the Mennonite Brethren constituency in Canada. During the period when he was editor it was also the major link to news about the Mennonites in the Soviet Union.

Bibliography

Grad, Kenneth. “Civil Law Alternatives in the Fight Against Hate Speech: The Case Study of the Marcus Hyman Act (2022)”. Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes 33 (Spring 2022). https://ssrn.com/abstract=4023486

Schrag, Alyssa. “Peace or persecution: Mennonite involvement in the Holocaust.” Mennonite Life 66 (Summer 2012). https://mla.bethelks.edu/ml-archive/2012/peace.php

Author(s)	Abe J Dueck
Date Published	July 2023

Cite This Article

MLA style

Dueck, Abe J. "Neufeld, Herman H. (1890-1959)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. July 2023. Web. 24 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Neufeld,_Herman_H._(1890-1959)&oldid=176414.

APA style

Dueck, Abe J. (July 2023). Neufeld, Herman H. (1890-1959). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Neufeld,_Herman_H._(1890-1959)&oldid=176414.

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