»Wo liegt das Glück?«  Jantzen 107 blätter and performed in the Berlin National Theater for the first time on April 11, 1879, under the direction of students as a charity benefit for the victims of flooding near Schwetz. He did not become well-known until 1881 with his tragedy Der Karolinger. That year Der Menonit was in the Schau­spielhaus in Frankfurt a.M. and in 1883 in the repertoire of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin for the whole season. 62 Quite unlike their positive portrayal in Quitt, Mennonites in Der ­Menonit appear as the vilest villains. Set in a Mennonite village near Dan­zig in 1809 during the French occupation, a farmer named Hennecker from Westphalia arrives as a recruiter for Major von Schill who is planning a raid on Jerome´s Westphalian kingdom. Hennecker turns in first to the household and farm of the Mennonite Elder Waldemar. His foster son, Rein­hold, has recently returned from a year abroad and now plans to mar­ry Maria, Waldemar´s daughter. In his absence, however, she had agreed in line with her father´s wishes to marry Mathias, an important member of the congregation. When a French officer investigates reports about Hen­necker at the farm and threatens Maria, Mathias looks away and Reinhold is the one to spring to her defense. His action brings a challenge to a duel that he accepts. His boldness reawakens Maria´s love for him, but Walde­mar as the Elder can hardly allow the duel to go forward, despite Rein­hold´s efforts to convince him and the congregation to support the national cause. Jealous Mathias successfully gets the congregation to prevent Rein­hold from dueling, resulting in the Frenchman disparaging him as a cow­ard without honor. Maria and Reinhold now decide to flee with Hennecker to Westphalia but Mathias again thwarts their plans and gets the congre­gation and the French officer to help him set a trap for all three. When the trap is sprung, Reinhold shoots Mathias, who with his dying breath impli­cates Maria as an accomplice to Hennecker. She dies on the spot, apparent­ly overcome by excitement, Hennecker escapes in the confusion, and Rein­hold is led away to his execution by the French, expecting that his courage in the face of death with regain his honor for him. Waldemar admits the error of his ways and repents of his personal failure and that of his congre­gation for not supporting the national cause. 63 As far as Wildenbruch was concerned indifference to the nation was the same as treason. Justus, another congregation member, served as the voice of the congregation. He recounted having been in Berlin at the time of the battle of Jena in 1806. To the congregation´s general approbation, he recalled that he had said then,»Was kümmert´s mich, ob der Napoleon mein Herr ist, oder der da in Berlin – der König von Preußen?« As he re­turned home at dawn from Berlin he heard»die Hähne krähen«, an allu­sion to the Apostle Peter´s betrayal of Jesus. To turn one´s back on God or the nation Wildenbruch counted as equivalent deeds of dishonor. He saw Prussian Mennonites as vermin without honor. Perhaps it was for exactly