Global Mennonites and the Justice System Since 1525
Martyrs, Perpetrators, Enforcers, and Advocates
October 3–4, 2025
Hosted by the Centre for Transnational Mennonite Studies at The University of Winnipeg
In-Person and Livestreamed
From their persecution in the sixteenth century to the diverse realities of the present, Anabaptists have been subject to and participated in systems of discipline, punishment, and the administration of justice. Mennonites have carried and consecrated memories of martyrdom and incarceration—from the Reformation to the Gulag—as core elements of group identity. They have also resisted participation in state institutions, and this has led to accusations that they seek to “live outside the laws” of host societies, a critique amplified in moments when Mennonites have appeared as perpetrators of crime. At other moments in their 500-year history, Mennonites have turned to the state to discipline their own recalcitrant members and to police the actions of neighbours. Gradually, they have also come to serve in roles throughout the justice system including in policing, the courts, and corrections. Simultaneously, Mennonites have become advocates for reforming aspects of the justice system that reflect differential privilege and systemic racism.
This conference considers the many entanglements of Mennonites and the justice system—as martyrs, perpetrators, enforcers, and advocates—from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Video recordings of the entire conference can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
Schedule
Friday, October 3
8:45–9:00 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction
- Welcome: Tracy Whalen, Dean of Arts
- Opening Remarks: Aileen Friesen, Co-director of CTMS, University of Winnipeg
- Conference Introduction: Ben Nobbs-Thiessen, Chair in Mennonite Studies, University of Winnipeg
9:00–10:30 a.m.
Anabaptists, Conflict, and Punishment in Early Modern Europe
- Chair: Karl Koop
- Linda Huebert Hecht, “The Austrian Anabaptist Court Records of 1525 to 1531 Document the Criminal Actions of Anabaptist Women”
- Troy Osborne, “Boundaries of Belief and Behaviour: Dutch Mennonites, Church Discipline, and Social Control”
- Andrew Klassen Brown, “In Defence of the New Jerusalem: The Theological and Legal Case for Anabaptist Münster”
10:30–11:00 a.m.
Coffee Break
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Imprisonment and Persecution in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, Part 1
- Chair: Brian Froese
- Nataliya Venger, “Peace, Order, and Offence: State Legal Regulation of Mennonite Colonies in the Russian Empire (18th–19th Centuries)”
- Ed Krahn, “The 1925 Second Martyrs’ Synod and the KfK”
- Maria Lotsmanova, “Special Settlements as the Lesser-Known Form of Official State Persecution During Stalinism: The Experience of My Ancestors”
- Aileen Friesen, “A Gendered Analysis of NKVD Arrest Files”
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Lunch Break
1:30–3:00 p.m.
Imprisonment and Persecution in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, Part 2
- Chair: Jeremy Wiebe
- Werner Toews, “Law and Disorder: Mennonites and the Great Terror of 1937”
- Waldemar Masson, “Persecution and Hope: Survival Strategies in a Hostile Regime – How My Mennonite Family Survived the Soviet Union”
- Naemi Fast, “‘The Soviet Union Accuses’: Three Mennonite Preachers in a Public Trial in Karaganda in 1962”
- Alex Tepperman, “The Jacob Luitjens Debate: Religion, Justice, and the Challenges of In-Group Solidarity”
3:00–3:30 p.m.
Coffee Break
3:30–5:00 p.m.
Keynote Address: Tobin Miller Shearer, “‘A Beginning in Birmingham’: Vincent Harding, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Curious Contributions of a Black Mennonite Civil Rights Activist”
Saturday, October 4
9:00–10:30 a.m.
Indigenous Justice: A Call to Action
- Chair: Stephen Penner
- Christy Anderson, “Indigenous Women and Policing: ‘There Is No Justice, There Is Just Us’”
- Brenda Gunn, “Treaties, Reconciliation, and Justice”
- Dawnis Kennedy
10:30–11:00 a.m.
Coffee Break
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Old Order and Low German Mennonites: Policing and Perception in Canada and Mexico
- Chair: Michaela Hiebert
- Peter Rempel, “The Old Order Mennonite Community Confronts Its Sins and Encounters the Justice System: Lessons Learned and Community Healed”
- Steven Kohm and Meg Lonergan, “Popular Entanglements of Crime, Justice, and Community in Canadian Mennonite Crime Film and Television”
- Ben Nobbs-Thiessen, “Narco-Mennonites and the Canadian News Cycle”
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Lunch Break
1:30–3:00 p.m.
Prison Ministries and Prison Reform in Canada, Mexico, and Paraguay
- Chair: Conrad Stoesz
- Donald Stoesz, “Mennonite Advocacy in Relation to Correctional Service Canada’s Procedures and Goals”
- Delwin Epp, “Edgar W. Epp: Living Micah 6:8 in Corrections”
- Emmanuel Gonzalez Montañez, “Mennonites of Quellen Colony and the Prison System: The History of the Grupo Evangélico a la Prisión in Chihuahua, Mexico”
- Martin Eitzen, “Freedom Behind Bars: The Libertad Church in the Penitenciaría Nacional de Tacumbú in Asunción, Paraguay”
3:00–3:45 p.m.
Poetry Reading, Bradley Peters, author of Sonnets from a Cell
Major Contributors: Special thanks to the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada, Mennonite Central Committee, and the University of Winnipeg.
