Conscientious objection to war can affect all members of a family in different ways, not only the ones faced with the choice of whether or not to fight.
Kauffman Museum at Bethel College will host author Carolyn Zeisset with “Caught in the Middle Between Voices of Conscience and Voices of Patriotism,” March 22 at 3 p.m. on Zoom.
Those interested in the presentation are asked to join at home via https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89861064083?pwd=C7M8myHWBtMmLZpKGEzavzY0V4KLZa.1
In her presentation, Zeisset will look at the ambiguities of conscientious objection and religious exemption in the United States at the time of World War I, with added complexities of generational identities and socioeconomic conditions in the first decades of the 20th century.
Zeisset will also talk about the parallels in her most recent book, Caught in the Middle, to the museum’s current special exhibit “Voices of Conscience: Peace Witness in the Great War.”
Caught in the Middle, the novel, tells the story of 12-year-old Alice, part of a German heritage family who attend a peace church, during the years 1918-19 when the United States enters the Second World War and a flu pandemic spreads.
As Alice is growing into womanhood, she also struggles with whether she is German or American, with the reality of older brothers being drafted, and with a friend’s rejection.
Caught in the Middle, and Zeisset’s first novel, Then the Rules Changed (which follows the story of Alice’s father, Isaac, as he emigrates at age 9 with his family from Imperial Russia to the Great Plains in 1874), are for sale in the Kauffman Museum Store.
Carolyn Zeisset grew up hearing stories from her family and others, and wrote her first book at age 8. Being the daughter of a German Mennonite mother and English-Scotch-Irish father helped develop her lifelong interest in history, culture and language.
Zeisset is an educator who has taught and written curriculum for pre-school, elementary, middle school and adult levels in public school, religious and business settings. She has also written articles for numerous professional and organizational magazines and newsletters.
In addition to her two novels, she is the author of Sketches, 1877-1981: Remembering Susie, about her Scotch-Irish washerwoman grandmother, and A Mennonite Heritage: A Genealogy of the Suderman and Wiens Families, 1800-1975.
Zeisset’s program at Kauffman Museum is free and open to the public. Contact director Andi Schmidt Andres at asa@bethelks.edu for more information.
“Voices of Conscience” opened at the beginning of the fall 2025 semester, and will be at the museum through May 2026. Itlifts up World War I peace protesters, tells related stories of resistance, and suggests parallels to the culture of war, propaganda and violence in the world today.
Regular Kauffman Museum hours are Tues.-Fri. 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 1:30-4:30 p.m., closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission to “Voices of Conscience” and the permanent exhibits – “Of Land and People,” “Mirror of the Martyrs” and “Mennonite Immigrant Furniture” – is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 6-16, and free to Kauffman Museum members and children under 6. The museum store is open during regular museum hours. See kauffmanmuseum.org or the museum Facebook page for more information.
