No Lasting Home: A Year in the Paraguayan Wilderness

It is summer, 1940. As Hitler s armies turn mainland Europe into a mass graveyard, his feared Luftwaffe rain bombs on England. Meanwhile, amid the green hills of the Cotswolds, a nest of enemy aliens has been discovered: the Bruderhof, a Christian commune made up of German, Dutch, and Swiss refugees, and growing numbers of English pacifists.Having fled Nazi Germany to escape persecution, the Bruderhof had at first been welcomed in England. Now, at the height of the Battle of Britain, it is feared. Curfews and travel restrictions are imposed; nasty newspaper articles appear, and local patriots initiate a boycott. Debates over whether the community should be allowed to exist go all the way to Parliament.Determined to remain together as a witness for peace in a war-torn world, the little group of 300 half of them babies and young children looks for a new home. No country in Europe will allow them to stay, and Canada and the United States refuse to take them. Where should the refugees try to resettle next? This is their story.