Hans Haffner of Riblingen, near Schwäbisch-Hall, Württemberg, Germany, an Anabaptist of the Philippite brotherhood in Moravia in the 1530s, and the author of a remarkable devotional tract. He had been baptized at Auspitz by Adam Schlögl in 1533. In 1535, when persecutions in this country became almost unbearable, the entire Philippite group left this land (in contrast to the Hutterites) and planned to return to their native Württemberg. On their way the greater part of this brotherhood was seized and the brethren were imprisoned in the castle of Passau on the Danube (1535). There they were tortured to betray information; many died in the dungeons while many others languished for many years under unbelievable conditions. In 1540 or 1541 Haffner finally recanted together with his wife Angella (or Agnes?), whereupon both were released. He then disappeared from the records; most likely he had returned to Württemberg.

In the Ausbund, the oldest part of which was  composed by these brethren in the Passau prisons, in the hymn No. 100, "Mit Freuden wollen wir singen," the 11th stanza is signed "H. Haff," which Wolkan (Lieder, 39) rightly assigns to Hans Haffner. Haffner is the author of a tract, Concerning the True Soldier of Christ, an unusually noble and profound confession to the principles of Anabaptism, above all to that of Gelassenheit. It is found in only one Hutterite codex.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 626. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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