Remembering the martyrs of Bloemkamp

A ghost story

Abstract

On August 29, 2004, a Dutch Roman Catholic priest named Jan Romkes van der Wal led a workshop to draw attention to a group of people he identified as “the martyrs of Bloemkamp.” The story of Bloemkamp abbey doesn’t figure prominently in the memories of most contemporary Mennonites. But there is no question that it played a critical role in the development of the Mennonite tradition as we have come to understand it.