“Trucks are waiting! Everybody welcome. Thank you!” The crisp message rings from the public address system, inviting colony members to a shift of picking weeds and lumps of dirt out of newly-harvested potatoes, traveling by conveyor into the shed.

 “This is a recorded announcement!” One young woman deadpans. Grabbing gloves and a jacket she heads for the potato shed.

Every autumn brings the exciting racket of tractors, trucks and potato diggers rattling and rumbling their way to t....

We are deeply disappointed with the National Geographic Channel’s depiction of the Hutterite people in their so called reality series, American Family: Meet The Hutterites, filmed at the King Ranch Hutterite Colony in Montana. It’s unfortunate that Jeff Collin’s and his production team chose to come through the back door rather than the proper channels to receive permission to film our people.

What was promised by the producers to be a “factual documentary” is in fact a distorted and exploitative version of Hutterite Life that pain....

August 7, 2012       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HUTTERITES DEFY GAG ORDER AND DEMAND JUSTICE FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The Hutterites of King Ranch Colony in Montana, who were featured in the National Geographic Channel’s recent series, Meet The Hutterites, are speaking publicly for the first time despite a legal attempt by the show’s producer to prevent them from talking openly about the controversial television production.

Jeff Collins, the execut....

Als Teilnehmer in einem Kurs am Goethe Institut hatten wir am Samstag frei. Ich beschloss, Rottenburg am Neckar zu besuchen, wo ein Denkmal für den Märtyrer Michael Sattler, einen Täufer aus dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert, steht. Rottenburg am Neckar liegt 130 km südöstlich von Schwäbisch Hall.

Ich bin um viertel vor 9 Uhr morgens von zu Hause losgefahren, leider ein bisschen zu spät, weil der Zug um 9:00 Uhr abfuhr. Johannes Brolich, mein Gastgeber, fuhr mich mit dem Kleinauto zu dem Bahnhof in Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental. Wir kamen zwe....

Last week, alerted by both Mennonite and Hutterite friends, I viewed two episodes of National Geographic’s currently running television series on the Hutterites.  While finding it humorously entertaining, I didn't know whether to laugh or scoff.

I understand this is in the recently evolved mode of  "reality TV," a genre of entertainment.  But what kind of “reality” can be expected from producers choosing a dysfunctional colony by which to present what they call "the very first glimpse inside" Hutterite life?

Actually, an hour-lon....