{"id":2808,"date":"2023-09-18T16:46:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T21:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lwf-refugee-service\/?page_id=2808"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:28:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:28:48","slug":"new-home-draft","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lwf-refugee-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Plume Watercolor” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lwf-refugee-service\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1702\/2023\/07\/Insula-VL-1947-Watercolor-scaled-e1690398871868.jpg” background_size=”initial” module_alignment=”center” min_height=”900px” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” top_divider_height=”88px” bottom_divider_color=”#3E505C” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFF0″ top_divider_style=”arrow3″ top_divider_color=”#3E505C” top_divider_height=”50px” bottom_divider_style=”arrow3″ bottom_divider_color=”#3f5b73″ bottom_divider_height=”50px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”This exhibit” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#c05e5e” width=”95%” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ text_font_size=”16px” header_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ header_2_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ header_2_font_size=”28px” width=”90%” module_alignment=”right” custom_margin=”|||0px|false|false” custom_padding=”|10px||10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

This exhibit…<\/span><\/h2>\n

presents facets of the Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees (LWF-SR) in Europe following World War II, with special focus on the roles of St. Olaf College faculty, staff and students who helped to deliver the LWF\u2019s promise to assist Lutheran Displaced Persons (DPs) in their time of great need.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pictured (left to right): Howard Hong (St. Olaf class of 1931, Professor Philosophy and Senior Field Representative for the LWF-SR in Germany, 1947-1949), James V. Anderson (St. Olaf class of 1951 and <\/span><\/em>LWF-SR Director for the British Zone, 1947-1949) and Sylvester Michelfelder (first Executive Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation) at the LWF Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, ca. 1948<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lwf-refugee-service\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1702\/2023\/08\/LWF_Hong_Anderson_Michelfelder_Geneva_102-1.jpg” alt=”Left to right: Howard Hong, James V. Anderson, Sylvester Michelfelder, at LWF Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, ca 1948″ title_text=”LWF Hong Anderson Michelfelder” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”90%” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”In June 1947″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lwf-refugee-service\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1702\/2023\/07\/AliceErlanderFrankfurtResize.jpg” alt=”Original Caption: %22In the main Lutheran World Federation Resettlement office at Frankfurt, Germany, Miss Alice Erlander selects family registration cards for provisional matching with assurances received from the National Lutheran Council. This field registration was done by a designated committee of the Churches-in-Exile.%22″ title_text=”Alice Erlander Frankfurt (LWF-PS)” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”90%” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#3E505C” text_font_size=”16px” header_2_text_color=”#3E505C” width=”90%” module_alignment=”left” custom_padding=”|10px|0px|10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

In June 1947…<\/span><\/h2>\n

the newly established Lutheran World Federation assembled in Lund, Sweden, to define its purposes, among them: \u201cto support Lutheran groups in need of spiritual or material aid.\u201d(1)\u00a0 That same month, St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy Howard Hong, his family and three young volunteers arrived in occupied Germany to begin the work of supporting Lutherans in DP camps – the so-called Churches in Exile” – with material and spiritual resources. A number of St. Olaf graduates soon followed to share in the service, and later some of those assisted by the LWF-SR made their way to Northfield, Minnesota and to St. Olaf College.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pictured (foreground): Alice Erlander, St. Olaf class of 1947, matching family registrations to assurances at the LWF Resettlement office in Frankfurt, Germany, ca. 1949.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”Lutherans” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#a69665″ width=”95%” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ text_font_size=”16px” header_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ header_2_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ header_2_font_size=”28px” width=”90%” module_alignment=”right” custom_padding=”|10px||10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Lutherans…<\/span><\/h2>\n

were not the only religious group assisting refugees in postwar Europe. Historian of Christianity Mark Granquist, St. Olaf class of 1979, notes, \u201cAll of the major American religious groups were developing aid plans at the time\u2026and the Lutherans considered themselves a major church.\u201d(2) Jewish, as well as Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian groups organized impressive aid initiatives for their fellows in faith, in coordination with national and international governmental entities. A spirit of Christian ecumenism was growing, as was a desire among Lutheran churches worldwide to join together in global community and action.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pictured (foreground, left to right): Howard Hong, Dean J. Kullitis, and Latvian Lutheran Archbishop Teodors Gr\u012bnbergs in a procession from the Berchtesgaden DP camp church, American Occupied Zone, Germany, ca. 1949; Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees 1947-1949 Photographic Section, used with permission of the Lutheran World Federation and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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This project…<\/span><\/h2>\n

began in 2019 with a meeting between St. Olaf Professor of German Amanda Randall and St. Olaf alumnus James (Jim) V. Anderson. Inspired by the story and photos of Jim’s work with Howard Hong and Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees, Randall began recruiting St. Olaf students to join in a long-term research initiative to study the history of the LWF-SR, trace its connections to the college, and create this online exhibit to show and tell the story to a broad audience. The exhibit covers LWF Service to Refugees activity in the American and British Zones of Occupied Germany, and resettlement of Lutheran DPs in Minnesota, Northfield in particular. Ongoing research will continue to expand the exhibit\u2019s geographic and thematic scope.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pictured: Members of the 2023 summer CURI team and John Plume (second to right), former Displaced Person (DP) at Berchtesgaden (American Occupied Zone, Germany) and co-author of “Insula-Island of Hope”, a collection of stories from Latvian DPs who had lived in that camp.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”In addition” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#c05e5e” width=”95%” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ text_font_size=”16px” header_2_text_color=”#FFFFF0″ header_2_font_size=”28px” width=”90%” module_alignment=”right” custom_padding=”|10px||10px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

In addition\u2026<\/span><\/h2>\n

to the narratives in the “Legacies” and “History” sections of the exhibit, archival, interview, and bibliographic research yielded a variety of media and study resources gathered here for visitors to explore in the “Media Gallery” and “Resources” sections.<\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of this exhibit is not to present the definitive story of the Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees. Rather, its purpose is to introduce the history in multimedial format, illuminating the contexts and networks that shaped the initiative and the legacies that followed from it, in order to open a space for ongoing inquiry and enduring memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Film still from \u201cAnswer for Anne\u201d (1949), with LWF-SR Director of the American Zone, Kenneth Senft pictured left.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Constitution of the Lutheran World Federation, 1947.<\/li>\n
  2. Mark Granquist, interview with Anneke Shiller and Natalie Wilson, recorded by Xiaoyang Hu and Amanda Randall, June 6, 2023, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Images<\/span><\/h3>\n
      <\/ol>\n

      Header. Watercolor painting of a Bavarian house, dated 1947 by Valdis Lauva, resident of Displaced Persons Camp \u201cInsula\u201d (Berchtesgaden, Germany); painting donated by John Plume, used with permission of Velta Zadins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Hong, Anderson and Michelfelder: photo donated by John Plume, used with permission of the LWF.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Erlander: Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees 1947-1949 Photographic Section, used with permission of the LWF and the ELCA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Hong, Kullitis and Gr\u012bnbergs: Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees 1947-1949 Photographic Section, used with permission of the LWF and the ELCA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      2023 CURI: photo by Amanda Randall, used with permission.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cAnswer for Anne\u201d: courtesy of and used with permission of the ELCA.<\/span><\/p>\n

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