War monuments, cenotaphs and honour rolls remind us daily of the most dramatic and familiar stories of war. This exhibit tells war stories of a different kind, and lays out an alternative memorial landscape—the landscape of nonresistance.
These stories are gleaned from letters, diaries, newspapers, photographs, government documents and family histories found in the Mennonite Archives of Ontario. Together, they paint a picture of the Great War from a “peace church” perspective.
Every day from September 25-November 11, the names of 661,818 soldiers and nurses on all sides of the First World War killed in 1917 will be digitally displayed at more than 60 locations around the world. The commemoration is a unique expression of remembrance, reconciliation and education, and shows the enormous human cost of the war. The Mennonite Archives of Ontario Gallery (3rd floor, Conrad Grebel University College) will be one of these display locations. The Gallery is also the location of the exhibit “Sites of Nonresistance: Ontario Mennonites and the First World War.”