Relief Work as Pilgrimage

“Mademoiselle Miss Elsie” in Southern France, 1945–1948

Nonfiction, History, France, Military, World War II, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book Relief Work as Pilgrimage by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey ISBN: 9781498508117
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: August 20, 2015
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
ISBN: 9781498508117
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: August 20, 2015
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

In 1945, Elsie C. Bechtel left her Ohio home for the tiny French commune of Lavercantière, where for nearly three years she cared for children displaced by the ravages of war. Bechtel’s diary, photographs, and letters home to her family provide the central texts of this study. From 1945 to 1948, she recorded her encounters with French society and her immersion in the spare beauty of rural France. From her daily work came passionate musings on the emotional world of human interactions and evocative observations of the American, Spanish, and French co-workers and children with whom she lived.
As a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Bechtel was part of the war relief efforts of pacifist Quakers and Anabaptists. In France between 1939 and 1948, MCC programs distributed clothing, shared food, and sheltered refugee children. The work began in the far southwest of France but, by the time Bechtel completed her service in 1948, had moved to the Alsace region, where French Mennonites clustered.
Bechtel’s writings emerged from a religious context that included much travel, but little reflection on the significance of that travel. Yet, religiously motivated travel—an old tradition in southwest France—shaped Bechtel’s life. The authors consider her experiences in terms of religious pilgrimage and reflect on their own pilgrimage to Lavercantière in 2006 for a reunion with some of the people marked by the broader effort that Bechtel joined.
To understand Bechtel’s experiences and prose, the authors examined archival sources on MCC’s work in France, gathered oral and written narratives of participants, and researched other war relief efforts in Spain and France in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on these various contexts, the authors establish the complexity, but also the significance, of pilgrimage and humanitarian service as intercultural exchanges.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 1945, Elsie C. Bechtel left her Ohio home for the tiny French commune of Lavercantière, where for nearly three years she cared for children displaced by the ravages of war. Bechtel’s diary, photographs, and letters home to her family provide the central texts of this study. From 1945 to 1948, she recorded her encounters with French society and her immersion in the spare beauty of rural France. From her daily work came passionate musings on the emotional world of human interactions and evocative observations of the American, Spanish, and French co-workers and children with whom she lived.
As a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Bechtel was part of the war relief efforts of pacifist Quakers and Anabaptists. In France between 1939 and 1948, MCC programs distributed clothing, shared food, and sheltered refugee children. The work began in the far southwest of France but, by the time Bechtel completed her service in 1948, had moved to the Alsace region, where French Mennonites clustered.
Bechtel’s writings emerged from a religious context that included much travel, but little reflection on the significance of that travel. Yet, religiously motivated travel—an old tradition in southwest France—shaped Bechtel’s life. The authors consider her experiences in terms of religious pilgrimage and reflect on their own pilgrimage to Lavercantière in 2006 for a reunion with some of the people marked by the broader effort that Bechtel joined.
To understand Bechtel’s experiences and prose, the authors examined archival sources on MCC’s work in France, gathered oral and written narratives of participants, and researched other war relief efforts in Spain and France in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on these various contexts, the authors establish the complexity, but also the significance, of pilgrimage and humanitarian service as intercultural exchanges.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book The Oral Presidency of Barack Obama by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Apocalypse and Post-Politics by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book On Thin Ice by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Theatre of the Borderlands by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Authorial Ethics by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book American Democracy by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Transnational Return Migration of 1.5 Generation Korean New Zealanders by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book The Eisenhower Presidency by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Schools and Public Health by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book The Culture of Urban Control by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book The "Other" Karen in Myanmar by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book Big Box Schools by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book After the Factory by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
Cover of the book U.S. Officials and the Fall of the Shah by M. J. Heisey, Nancy Heisey
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy