to go to another web site with more information about Otto Schoerner.
Collection 55
[May 22, 2008]
Schoerner, Otto Frederick; 1906-2008
Papers; ca. 1949, 1978, 1979
Audio tapes, Photograph
Restrictions
There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.
A COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT TO THE INTERVIEWS OF THIS COLLECTION IS AVAILABLE.
Biography
Otto Frederick Schoerner was born to German-American parents in Pennsylvania
in August 1906. After attending Moody Bible Institute, he applied to the China
Inland Mission in 1931 to become a missionary to China. He was accepted and
arrived in that country in 1932 for several months of training at the mission's
language school in Anking. The same year, he and five other young male missionaries
set off with Rev. George Hunter to assist Hunter with his work in Sinkiang Province.
After a trip of two months and almost 1800 miles in Ford trucks, the group reached
Urumchi in Sinkiang. Schoerner, with another missionary, served in the northern
part of the province preaching to Chinese communities. In 1938, he left Sinkiang
to go to Shanghai to marry Katherine Hasting Dodd, also a Moody Bible Institute
alumna. The couple returned to China in 1940 after a furlough in the United
States, and spent a summer in Lin Ming and then moved on to the community of
Hwang-Chaun in the province of Honan where he worked with the Chinese elders
of the local churches. Eventually, the Schoerner family (including the couple's
five children) had to flee from Japanese military advance and were moved to
a new station - Lanchow in the province of Kangsu. Schoerner there became the
business manager of the nearby Borden Memorial Hospital. The family stayed in
Kangsu until 1947 when they again returned to the United States on furlough.
While in the U.S., he studied at Wheaton college. In 1948, the family went back
to China and the Borden Memorial Hospital. Schoerner continued to serve as business
manager, and for a time, as superintendent until 1951 when growing hostility
between the United States and the new Communist regime of the People's Republic
of China caused the China Inland Mission to summon all of its missionaries out
of the country. Schoerner settled near Chicago with his family and joined the
staff of Moody Bible Institute. He continued to live in the Chicago area after
retirement and died May 17, 2008 at Windsor Manor Retirement Center in Carol
Stream, Illinois.
Scope and Content
Otto Schoerner was interviewed by Robert Shuster on December 13, 1978 and January 31, 1979 at his home in Evergreen Park, IL. The dates covered by the interview were ca. 1910-1972. Time elapsed in minutes and seconds is recorded to the left of the topics discussed in the interview. The index is keyed to the cassette copy and not to the reel-to-reel original.
Tape 1 - Side 1 (Click to
link to the transcript of this tape)
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:08 Introduction
00:42 Family background
01:22 Return to Germany
02:15 Return to United States
04:00 Religious background; Charles Troutman, Sr.
04:55 Commitment to Christ
05:35 Lutheran missions
06:10 Moody Bible Institute (MBI)
08:25 Educational background
08:50 Missionary medical courses at MBI
10:26 Business College in Butler, PA
11:07 Met Katherine Dodd
11:20 China Inland Missions' two hundred recruits
12:15 Elisabeth Scott Stam
12:46 Call to China; Charles Troutman, Sr.
13:42 William Whiting Borden; Borden Memorial Hospital
15:36 Joining the China Inland Mission
17:30 Obligation to stay single for two years
19:52 Language school in China
20:30 Crossing the Pacific; the Japanese
21:42 Arriving in Shanghai
22:03 Impressions of Shanghai
22:08 First impressions of China
24:05 Language school
26:00 Assignment to Sinkiang to work with Moslems
26:37 Denominational and territorial divisions with the China Inland mission; Hunan
38:43 Administrative structure in the field in the China Inland Mission
32:39 Isolation of Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan)
33:36 Strategy of the China Inland Mission; medical work and evangelism
37:10 Financial support of the missionaries
39:05 Financial conditions of China; currency fluctuations
40:20 Method of paying missionaries; selling American checks; silver dollars
43:50 Cost of living in China
45:00 End of Side 1
Tape 1 - Side 2
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:05 Overlap from Side 1
00:30 Language exams; requirements for advancement in CIM; the Chinese language
05:30 National language; simplification of the language by the Communists
07:15 Other subjects studied
09:30 Prayer in Chinese
10:45 Chinese slang; use of foreign words
11:45 Translation into Chinese
12:30 Trip to Sinkiang
13:30 Traveling in Ford trucks
14:30 Crossing the Gobi Desert and Mongolia
16:00 Supplies; gasoline problems
19:00 Sights seen along the way; contacts with the Mongols
21:15 Travel of George Hunter to Shanghai
21:45 Outer Mongolia
22:30 Medical aid given during the moslem uprising in Sinkiang
24:30 Deaths of Percy Mather and Emil Fischbacher
26:00 Evangelization among Chinese and Turkish people
26:30 Difficulty preaching to local women
27:15 Pattern of life and work of Mr. Schoerner in Sinkiang
29:15 Back to Jerusalem movement
30:30 Fruits of the work
31:45 Growth of Russian influence
33:00 Trip to Shanghai to be married in 1938
36:45 Furlough and return to China
37:30 Traveling from Occupied China to Free China
38:00 Working with elders of the Chinese Church
38:30 Fleeing from the Japanese and moving to Northwest China
40:00 Furlough and attendance at Wheaton College
40:30 Return to China 1948
41:00 Work at the Borden Memorial Hospital
42:00 Arrival of the Communists in 1949
43:45 Training people with Communist ideas
44:00 The Korean War; attitude toward America; relations with Communists
46:00 End of Side 2
Tape 1 - Side 3
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:05 Overlap from Side 2
00:30 Pressure on the landlords; disappointment of some people's hopes for land
03:15 Isolation from the community and Chinese Communists; trouble within the hospital
03:30 Accused of being a spy for the United States
05:15 Unable to go to Japan
06:30 Adjustment to life in the United States; work at Moody Bible Institute
07:00 End of Tape 1
Tape 2 - Side 1 (Click to
link to the transcript of this tape)
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:43 Introduction
01:22 Arrival in Shanghai in 1931; The Chinese-Japanese War
03:53 Meetings with Owen Lattimore
06:35 Moslem revolt in Sinkiang in 1932
07:43 Government sse of white Russians to put down the revolt
08:42 Common medical problems in Sinkiang; lack of proper facilities
11:38 Relations with the local government in Sinkiang
13:00 Impressions of George Hunter
16:23 Impressions of Percy Mather
17:09 Opposition of Mather to bringing more missionaries into Sinkiang
18:51 Evangelization among Chinese communities and caravans
21:55 Success of the missionary work in Sinkiang; size of the church
24:02 A typical working day in Sinkiang
25:52 Outline of years in service
37:10 Duties in Kangsu Province
38:26 Arrival of Communists; problems under Communism
39:27 The Church in Lanchow
40:11 Evacuation; turning the hospital over to the Chinese staff
40:55 The routine of a day at the hospital
42:37 Desire to stay in China
43:15 Dealings with Communist authorities
44:28 Chinese reactions to the Gospel
45:00 End of Side 1
Tape 2 - Side 2
00:00 Beginning of tape
00:05 Overlap from side 1
00:30 The church in China
01:15 Interest of students in the Gospel
02:00 Ministry among Moslems; among Lepers
02:30 Ways of presenting the Gospel to Chinese
06:00 Difficulties in presenting the Gospel
08:45 The disadvantage of being a foreigner; the "big noses"
10:15 Posters used to present the Gospel; Buddhist reactions
11:30 Contact with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism
12:15 Effect of Buddhism and Confucianism on the Chinese
13:30 Attitude of Nationalist government toward Christianity
14:00 Bowing to Sun Yet Sun
15:00 Impressions of the National government and Chiang Kai Shek
16:30 Failure of Nationalist military effort
17:00 Causes of the Nationalist defeat
18:15 Contacts with Japanese Army; bowing to Japanese guards
22:45 Size of the Borden Memorial Hospital; staff of the hospital
24:30 Appeal of Communism in China; the kind of people to whom it appealed
26:45 Communist land reform methods; taxation of land holders
30:15 Attempts by the Communist government to control the church; Marcus Cheng
30:45 Three Self principles
31:45 Questionings by the Communist of foreign affairs
32:45 Attitudes of Americans toward China; criticism of Nationalist government
35:15 Visit to Taiwan in 1972
35:45 Attitudes of Americans toward China
36:45 Value of missions work in China
40:00 Conclusion of interview.
Also contained in this collection is a photograph of the staff of the Borden Memorial Hospital taken approximately 1949.
Provenance
The materials for this collection were received by the Center in December 1978 and January 1979 from Otto Schoerner.
Acc. # [no accession # for the first interview] 79-14
February 7, 1979
Robert Shuster
M. Schimmels
LOCATION RECORD
Accession # [no accession # for first interview], 79-14
Type of Material: Audio Tapes
The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE FILE:
T1 - Reel-to-reel, 3 3/4 ips, 96 minutes. One side only. Interview with Otto Frederick Schoerner by Robert Shuster. Discussion of Schoerner's childhood, education at Moody Bible Institute, missionary service in China with China Inland Mission and Communism. Recorded December 13, 1978.
T2 - Reel-to-reel, 3 3/4 ips, 85 minutes. One side only. Interview with Otto Frederick Schoerner
by Robert Shuster. Discussion of missionary service in China, Buddhism, Communism, and
the Chinese government. Recorded January 31, 1979.
*****
LOCATION RECORD
Accession # 79-14
Type of Material: Photographs
The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE; request by Folder Titles at the beginning of each entry below:
SCHOERNER, OTTO FREDERICK. Staff of Borden Memorial Hospital in Lanchow, China.
Ca. 1949. 1 b&w.