3 letters, in German (note: this annotator’s German is weak, and readers should read descriptions of letters’ contents accordingly). For biographical material on Walter Quiring (earlier known as Jakob), see GAMEO and also the “Creator Description” of his papers here in the MCUSA Archives. Born in the Ukraine in 1893, Jakob Quiring fled the Soviet Union for Germany in 1921, earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Munich in 1928, and became a teacher and a professor, meanwhile changing his name. From 1934 to 1936, he conducted research on Mennonite colonies in Paraguay and Brazil; his publications include: "Deutsche erschliessen den Chaco" (1936), "Russlanddeutsche suchen eine Heimat" (1938), "Im Schweisse deines Angesichts" (1953), "Mennonites in Canada" (1961), and "Als ihre Zeit erfuellt war" (1964). In World War II, drafted into the German army he served as a translator and journalist and was taken prisoner by the British prisoner. In 1950, he emigrated to Canada where he edited various German language publications including "Mennonitische Welt" (1950-1953) and "Der Bote" (1955-1963) and also was as Professor of German and Slavic languages at United College, Winnipeg. He became known for Nazi-like political views. [Notes: most of the information above, and even some phrasing, are from the aforementioned “Creator Description.” Regarding Quiring’s political orientation, see especially the many references to him in John Thiesen, Mennonite and Nazi?] A kind of trilogy, the letters are closely related, following some sort of a Mennonite meeting at Elspet, Holland [probably in tandem with Mennonite World Conference in Amsterdam in 1936]. Apparently Quiring was deeply concerned about decline among Mennonites in the various countries where they had been living, and believed that the colonies in South America could be the loci of Mennonite renewal. His paradigm for renewal seems to have been quite quasi-Nazi: people realizing their respective destinies as peoples, etc. Implicit is a plea that Mennonites needed to heed Quiring’s voice. Along the way, he also defended himself in the Bender letter apparently against a Bender statement that he (Quiring) was not in accord with Mennonites as a church. And, Quiring made numerous references to the “MZK” [surely Mennonitische Zentral Komite--Mennonite Central Committee], including a suggestion that he deserved pay from MCC for some of his work regarding Mennonite refugees in Paraguay and Brazil but he would not ask for it. Quiring ended the letter to Bender with warm personal greetings to Bender and his wife Elizabeth Horsch Bender.