This Week in Texas Methodist History August 9

Bishop Selecman Reports on European Trip on Eve of World War II

 

The All European Methodist Conference was scheduled for Copenhagen Aug. 2-6, 1939, and many Methodists from the states decided to attend the conference and include an extended tour of Europe.  Bishop Arthur Moore took a large group of clergy and laity and so did Bishop C. C. Selecman, former pastor of First Methodist Dallas and President of SMU.  Included in the group were others with Texas ties, Bishop Paul Kern, Ivan Lee Holt, Frank Richardson and H. I. Robinson, and Mrs. W. W. Fondren who took her granddaughter Doris.  Mr. Fondren had died the previous January.   They sailed from New York on June 28 for a six day crossing of the Atlantic.  They toured Normandy on their way to Paris.  They toured the usual sites in Paris and Versailles, and then went to Brussels, Waterloo, Berlin, and Potsdam.   Yes, the party was in Berlin just before the invasion of Poland on September 1.   Selecman and the rest of the party could not escape the pernicious Nazi grip on the city.   Krystalnacht had occurred the previous November, and the suppression of the Jews was apparent even though their tour guide tried to steer them away from Jewish neighborhoods.  Jewish merchants were required to post Stars of David in their windows and could sell only to other Jews.  Selecman did bring up the name of Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984) who by this time had already spent 2 years in a concentration camp.  The tour guide replied, “Oh, he got involved in politics.”  

 

While in Berlin the tour group could not escape the pervasiveness of the Hitler Youth who seemed to be everywhere.  They also noted the food rationing in place.  We know now that Hitler was stockpiling food rations for his military.

 

The party then went to Hamburg and boarded another liner for a three week cruise that took them to Iceland, Spitzbergen and the Norwegian coast.    They arrived in Copenhagen on Aug. 2 for the conference which included delegates from Germany, Spain, Moravia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, North Africa, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, the Madeira Islands, Lithuania, Norway, Italy, Jugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, France, Bulgaria, Finland, and Denmark.  The total Methodist membership in all those countries at the time was 122,000. 

 

One of the speakers who received a standing ovation was Josef Bartak  (1887-1964) of Prague.  Bartak had entered the ministry in Texas and was alum of Southwestern University.  See previous post  https://txmethhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=bartak

 

The Conference reported 1600 deaconesses, 910 church buildings, and 80,000 members on the youth roll.   The total value of the property of churches, publishing concerns, etc. was $40,000,000.

 

The Selecman party docked in New York on August 28----three days before the invasion of Poland and the onset of terrible times for both the world and the Methodist church in Europe. 

 

I usually don’t play “What if?” but this story invites the question of what if Mrs. Fondren and Bishops, Moore,Selecman, Kern, and Holt had been in Berlin when the invasion of Poland was ordered?   Thank goodness we will never know.