European Mennonites and the Holocaust is a collection of essays stemming from the March 2018 “Mennonites and the Holocaust” conference held at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. These studies of European Mennonites in the era of National Socialism provide insightful case studies demonstrating the fluidity—and utility—of national identity among European Mennonites during World War II and the postwar years. This is especially evident in studies of Mennonites in the Soviet Union who benefitted from their identification as Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) by the German occupying force only to self-identify as Dutch when applying for “Displaced Person” status after fleeing the Red Army (see essays by Dmytro Myeshkov and Erika Weidemann).

In many ways the essays in this volume echo German historiographical debates from years past. Steven Schroeder bemoans the lateness of Mennonites coming to terms with their past, writing, “Perhaps things would be different if Mennonites had engaged these questions earlier on . . . or had engaged in a Historikerstreit (‘battle of the historians’) over our own history in the immediate postwar period or even in the 1980s as German historians did” (314–315). Though late in coming, these essays provide an honest look at the good and the bad of Mennonite responses to the Holocaust. In this volume Mennonites play the roles of perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, and rescuers. These studies undermine the postwar narratives that suppressed memories of collaboration and equated the sufferings of Mennonites in the Soviet Union to that of Jews under National Socialism.

These diverse essays demonstrate that European Mennonites of the twentieth century defy facile characterizations. The historical actors analyzed in these studies represent a varied, transnational group. The American, Canadian, Dutch, German, and Ukrainian authors of this volume further reflect the transnational dimension of Mennonite studies. Although largely written by Mennonite insiders (including those who examine the moral failings of their own family members), this book is a valuable addition to fields outside of Mennonite history, including Holocaust, memory, and transnational studies.