History
Mennonites - the Beginning
Martin Luther’s thesis permanently divided Christianity in the West. Soon, new denominations began to appear alongside Lutheranism. They called for changes not only in the religious, but also in the social sphere. Anabaptism was one of them. It was born in Switzerland and can be traced back to Konrad Grebel, Felix Manz and Jörg Blaurock. Anabaptists advocated not only for the New Testament to serve as the standard of practice, but also, first and foremost, postulated ‘believer's baptism’, i.e. baptism for adults. They believed that only by consciously joining the community could one lead a good life in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. On 21 January 1525, the three men baptised one another, which is considered as the birth of Anabaptism.
Menno Simons, portrait from 1683, author Jacob Burghart. Source: public domain.
Anabaptist meeting on the boat. Source: Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College.
Over time, differences began to emerge within this denomination as well. Some of the movement’s leaders believed that changes in life and religious organisation should come about through radical, sometimes even forceful transformations. Mennon Simons from Frisia held the exact opposite view. Similarly to most Anabaptists, he advocated for believer’s baptism and felt that truly Christian communities should be built in isolation from the ‘corrupt’ world. However, contrary to most currents in the Anabaptist movement, he believed this needed to be done peacefully. Menno Simons wrote down his views in Dat Fundament des Christelycken leers published in 1539. His proposals included those typical of Anabaptism, but also some completely novel. The latter included complete pacifism, the prohibition of swearing oaths and, above all, the removal of the clergy as a separate social class. Furthermore, he called for the poor and the weak to be provided with care.
The ideas of Mennon Simons were mainly heeded by peasants and urban commoners, small craftsmen and traders, living in the Netherlands and the Northern Reich. Increasingly, they came to be referred to as the Mennonites, after their founder’s name, in order to distinguish them from other Anabaptist groups.
From the Netherlands to Poland
The siege of Münster in 1534. Source: Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster.
The early history of the Mennonites in the Netherlands and the Northern Reich coincided with a period of on-going political and religious conflicts. The Netherlands, at that point owned by the Habsburgs, were in the throes of the war of independence, whose many aspects also took on a religious dimension. The Reich, on the other hand, was plagued by reoccurring small- and big-scale conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. Both of those groups still held vivid memories of the commune of Münster formed by the radical faction of the Anabaptists in the years 1534–1535.
Execution of Hendrik Eemkens in 1562 in Utrecht. Source: Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College.
Title page of „Martyr’s Mirror”, edition from 1886. Source: Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College
This was the beginning of the time when Anabaptists of the Western Europe were persecuted for their religious beliefs. Although they kept to the side-lines and avoided the great politics, the Mennonites did not escape oppression. It is estimated that the religious persecution of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century could have taken the lives of as many as 2,000 to 2,500 Anabaptists, including Mennonites. The history of their oppression and suffering was described in detail in Martyr's Mirror, a book published in 1660. Faced with the hostile attitude of the state and Catholic authorities, the leading representatives of the movement faced a difficult choice between conversion and emigration. Most chose the latter option. They found a safe place to live in Poland.
Why Poland?
The act of Warsaw Confederation from 1573. Source: The Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw.
How did it happen that Poland, and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, became the new home for the Mennonite immigrants from Western Europe? There were several reasons explaining this choice. One of them was the religious tolerance for which Poland was well-know at that time across the continent. The country of the Jagiellonians was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious mosaic long before the arrival of proponents of adult baptism (antipedobaptism). Poles, Jews, Ruthenians, Germans, Catholics, Protestants, as well as followers of Judaism, Orthodoxy and Islam, all lived together in harmony. Poland was one of the precious few countries where religious wars did not happen. The act of the Warsaw Confederation signed by the nobility in 1573 constituted the peak expression of this tolerant sentiment. The document stated that no members of nobility would go to war for religious reasons. The Warsaw Confederation was the first document that introduced the principles of religious tolerance in Europe. It is no wonder, then, that most Protestants who were persecuted in many countries of Western Europe, including Mennonites, perceived Poland as something akin to the Promised Land.
Map of Żuławy Wiślane from 1680, author: Olof Hansson Örnehufvud. Source: National Library of Poland in Warsaw.
Economic and social factors also contributed to the Mennonites choosing the territory located on the Vistula River for settlement. There had been strong trade ties between the Netherlands and Gdańsk since the Middle Ages. The trade relations deepened further in the mid-sixteenth century when Poland became a distant resource base for Dutch towns. The already well-established land and sea routes and contacts made the journey easier for the followers of Menno Simons’ teachings. The Vistula Delta was an attractive place for settlement also owing to the character of local villages whose socio-economic conditions resembled those of the Netherlands and northern Germany long before any Dutch or German settlers arrived there. As a result, the newcomers were able to get quickly used to the conditions of Żuławy.
There are also other factors worth mentioning. Undoubtedly, the Mennonites were valued as specialists in drainage and management of depression areas, which was very important in the context of the fact that the Vistula Delta, the main site of Mennonite settlement in the sixteenth century, was located significantly below sea level. The specific legal system of Poland, and Royal Prussia itself, also affected the development of Mennonite settlement. Mennonites participated in the process of wetlands development in the delta and valley of the Vistula River and lived in areas ruled by different owners (king, bishops, town councils, nobility) who often competed against each other. This complicated system of overlapping territorial competences and conflicting economic interests resulted in decentralisation which, in turn, had a positive effect on the legal position of the newcomers and helped them preserve their identity and religious traditions.
Mennonites in the Vistula Delta
Map of Żuławy Wiślane from ca. 1700. Source: National Library of Poland in Warsaw.
The Vistula Delta, called Żuławy Wiślane in Polish and Werder in German, were the area where Mennonites first began to settle in Poland. Unfortunately, we are not able to say exactly when the first communities arrived in the region. Most likely, it happened after the wave of great floods which took place in 1540 and 1543. The Gdańsk Town Council sent its representatives to the Netherlands to find settlers who could revive villages which had been damaged by water. Soon, Mennonites appeared on the left bank of the Vistula (Żuławy Gdańskie, part of Żuławy Wiślane), and not only drained and developed the areas belonging to Gdańsk, but also brought sizeable income to the town in taxes. Other owners of lands located in the Vistula Delta followed Gdańsk’s example. In the second half of the sixteenth century, Mennonites arrived in the Nowy Dwór lease, which belonged to the wealthy banker and merchant family of Loitz, the villages of the Malbork supply estates owned by the king (it included both Wielkie Żuławy and Małe Żuławy) and in the area of Żuławy Elbląskie, governed by the town of Elbląg.
Title page of Chronic of mennonite community from Orłowskie Pole (germ. Orlofferfelde), written by Heinrich Donner. Source: State Archives in Gdańsk. Photograph by Ł. Kępski.
The villages where Mennonites settled usually constituted renewed foundations or were established on undeveloped pastures and floodplain meadows. Sometimes Mennonite settlements were built in the vicinity of earlier foundations. New settlers entered into contracts with landowners for long-term lease of the land (for 30 or 40 years). At the same time, they maintained personal freedom. Unlike the typical villages of the Vistula Delta, the Mennonite settlements were not compact. They were single farms separated from one another with fields and meadows.
The daily life of Mennonites focused primarily on the commune. Unlike the Catholic or Lutheran Church, Mennonites did not create a parish network in Żuławy in the Old Polish period. The Mennonite communes were limited to an autonomous community of 500 to about 1,500 believers living in various villages. At the end of the eighteenth century, the most important Mennonite communes included the communities in Orłowskie Pole, Cyganek near Żelichowo, Stogi Malborskie, Niedźwiedzica-Żuławki and Porendów in Wielkie Żuławy Malborskie. In the subarea of Małe Żuławy, there were also communes located in Markusy, Jezioro, and Rozgart. On the other hand, in Żuławy Elbląskie, there were active communities in Różew, as well as in Elerwald and Tryft. In the case of Żuławy Gdańskie, initially, Mennonites belonged to communities located on the outskirts of Gdańsk, and, from 1844, also to the commune in Dziewięć Włók.
Population of Żuławy districts in 1818. Source: E. Kazik, Mennonici w Gdańsku, Elblągu i na Żuławach Wiślanych …, s.61.
Contrary to popular opinion, Mennonites did not constitute the majority of the inhabitants in Żuławy Wiślane. Although in some villages they were a significant percentage of all residents, in the entire region they were a minority, both in relation to Lutherans and Catholics. According to the eighteenth-century estimates, Mennonites constituted 16.5% of all inhabitants of Żuławy Malborskie and approx. 10% in the case of Żuławy Elbląskie.
Etching of Adam Wybe's cable car in Gdańsk (germ. Danzig), by Willem Hondius. Source: public domain .
Mennonites did not limit their settlements to the rural areas of Żuławy, but also tried to settle in the nearby towns: Gdańsk and Elbląg. However, the Protestant town authorities effectively hindered their attempts. It was especially noticeable in the case of Gdańsk, which did not only refuse to grant Mennonites burgher rights or admission to guilds, but also forbade them to live within its walls. As a result, they settled on the lands belonging to church estates in Stare Szkoty and Chełm, located on the outskirts of the town. The policy of the Gdańsk authorities was more lenient only in relation to the Mennonites who seemed to be particularly important for economic and craftsmanship-related reasons. The situation was slightly different in the case of Elbląg, whose authorities incorporated two Mennonites into the town law as early as in the 1580s. However, it is estimated that the Mennonite population of the town never exceeded a dozen or so families, i.e. around 100–200 people.
View of the Tuga River (germ. Tiege) and the former Mennonite church in Cyganek /Żelichowo (germ. Tiegenhagen).
Most of the Mennonites living in the Vistula Delta were farmers who contributed greatly to this aspect of the overall economy of the region. They became famous not only as specialists in drainage and development of wetlands, but, above all, as modern farmers. They brought technological solutions related to cultivation and animal husbandry from the Netherlands. Houses erected on terps and fields cut by canals, characteristic of old Mennonite settlements, can be still seen to this day in many places in Żuławy.
Songbook of Gdańsk Mennonites from 1780. Source: PAN Gdańsk Library.
The Mennonites of the Vistula Delta also had numerous ideas on how to effectively deal with the dangers that threatened their lives and livelihoods. In 1623, one of the first insurance companies in the world was established in response to the initiative of the Mennonite community in Cyganek near Żelichowo. Its goal was to help the inhabitants of local communities who suffered from fires.
The legal situation of the Mennonites in Żuławy was determined by contracts concluded with the landowners. These agreements were sometimes questioned, and Mennonite settlement itself was often perceived negatively, especially by the representatives of the Catholic Church and the nobility from other parts of Royal Prussia gathering for the Prussian dietine. However, in most cases, such accusations were quickly withdrawn, and both the Protestant councils of Gdańsk and Elbląg, as well as the leaseholders of Nowy Dwór and the starostas of Malbork, assigned great value to the economic benefits associated with the Mennonite settlement when considering such disputes. The Mennonites themselves also made sure that their rights were respected. In 1642, they managed to have their existing privileges confirmed by Władysław IV Vasa, with each subsequent ruler of Poland confirming the document.
Mennonite Stobbe family from Nowy Dwór Gdański (germ. Tiegenhof), second half of nineteenth century. Source: Archiv of the Klub Nowodworski.
The year 1772 was the turning point for the Mennonites living in Żuławy. Following the First Partition of Poland, the Vistula Delta became part of Prussia. The new state authorities were not willing to make as far-reaching concessions as the previous ones. They required the Mennonite inhabitants to not only pay taxes, but also participate in the country’s defence effort. If the latter condition was not met, the Mennonite communes were obliged to pay a special tax for the cadet school in Chełmno. Prussia introduced also numerous restrictions on the acquisition of land. Some of the Żuławy Mennonites decided to emigrate deep into the Russian Empire. Those who decided to stay in Prussia slowly began to assimilate with the German culture. They also agreed to the state’s increasing interference in religious life. The issue of Mennonite participation in the army was relegated to the background. Increasingly often, the communes would leave the decision concerning the military up to individual community members and their consciences. Representatives of this religion could be found among the members of the German army both during the Franco-Prussian War and World War I.
The Prussian period also coincided with the unification of the Mennonite communities, which previously functioned independently. In the early nineteenth century, the two previously rival factions of Mennonites, the Flemings and the Frisians, were united. This joining resulted in the construction of a common church in Gdańsk in 1819. In the following years, the cooperation between Żuławy Mennonites bore many other fruits. The Mennonites established associations and societies which were to represent the interests of the Żuławy Mennonites in the Prussian state. There were also scientific organisations promoting the knowledge about the history of the community in the Vistula Delta. The same goal was promoted by Mennonitische Blätter, a Gdańsk magazine founded by Jacob Mannerhardt in 1854 which acted as an intermediary between all the Mennonite churches in Prussia, and later also in the united Germany.
Representatives of the Mennonite community in Gdańsk (germ. Danzig) in front of the church, 1929. Source: Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College.
Title page of „Mennonitische Blätter”, 1929. Source: Elblag Digital Library - dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl.
Most Mennonites reacted with some bitterness to the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I. The Mennonites of Żuławy, who had previously lived in one country, suddenly found themselves divided between two territories: the Free City of Gdańsk, which was governed by the League of Nations, and East Prussia, which belonged to Germany. This caused numerous organisational problems for individual communities and social initiatives. However, despite these inconveniences, in 1930, Gdańsk hosted the World Mennonite Conference.
As the economic crisis deepened and the idea of Germany annexing Gdańsk became popular among the German inhabitants of the Free City of Gdańsk, some of the Mennonites began to succumb to the populist slogans propagated by Adolf Hitler. This sentiment was reflected in the 1930s, when more than half of the Mennonites voted for National Socialists. However, there were also Mennonite communities that remained faithful to Menno Simons’ doctrine to the very end and rejected the hatred and violence of the Nazis. Ultimately, World War II put an end to the nearly 400-year presence of Mennonites in Żuławy Wiślane. Recognised as Germans, they had to leave the Vistula Delta.
In the Vistula Valley
The history of the Mennonites on the borderlands of Kociewie, Powiśle, Cuyavia, and Chełmno Land
The Vistula Valley between Chełmno (germ. Kulm) and Grudziądz (germ. Graudenz) on a map from the early nineteenth century Source: Cuyavian-Pomeranian Digital Library – kpbc.umk.pl.
Practically from the moment they arrived in Poland, Mennonites began to settle also in areas outside the delta of the Vistula River called Żuławy or Werder. They had already started to appear around 1565 among the first Dutch settlers (Olenders) brought to the Vistula valley and settled near Grudziądz, i.a. in the villages of Michale, Mątawy, and Wielkie Zajączkowo. Over the next four decades, they settled in the Vistula lowlands in the area of Chełmno, Świecie, and Toruń, as well as in the wetlands near Radzyń Chełmiński. As they were excellent farmers, who fared excellently with reclaiming wetlands and floodplains, they came to these areas at the invitation of the local landowners. As they loved and worked in the close vicinity of the River Vistula, they frequently struggled with floods and had to constantly care for reinforced embankments and the developed drainage systems.
Privilege of King Sigismund III Vasa confirming the 1592 contract for the tenure of Mątawy (germ. Montau), a village inhabited by Mennonites. Source: State Archives in Gdańsk.
The key Vistula Mennonite population centres were the surroundings of towns or villages with the earliest established Mennonite houses of prayer. These were Mątawy near Grudziądz, Przechówko near Świecie, Sosnówka near Chełmno, and Mała Nieszawka near Toruń. Despite their great contribution to the region’s economic development, the Mennonites faced growing hostility from people of other faiths from the very beginning. No later than in the end of the sixteenth century did the Lutheran rulers of Toruń expel them from town-held villages situated on the banks of the Vistula, such as Stary Toruń and Górska, which had been leased out in 1574. With the seventeenth century came further persecution, this time from the Catholic clergy and officials forcing Mennonites to bear extraordinary levies. In such a precarious atmosphere, the Vistula Mennonites managed to obtain the same privileges from Polish kings that protected their brothers in Żuławy. Growing religious restrictions and an economic crisis in the first half of the eighteenth century forced many Mennonite families from the vicinity of Chełmno, Świecie, Grudziądz, and Toruń to emigrate. They established new Mennonite colonies on Nemen River near Tylża, on the lower Noteć (Głęboczek and Błotnica), in Jeziorki near Tuchola, as well as in Mazovia (Kazuń), and Powiśle (near Ryjewo).
The first and second partition of Poland (1772, 1793) meant that the increasingly less numerous Mennonites from the lower Vistula became the subjects of the Kingdom of Prussia. The new rulers agreed to make them exempt from military service in exchange for a high annual contribution to the cadet school in Chełmno and a ban on acquiring new farms from members of other religions. These difficulties led to another mass emigration of Mennonites–this time to the Russian Empire, where they settled on the Dnieper and the Volga Rivers. All of the region’s Mennonite communities were systematically shrinking. Some, such as those in Przechówka and Jeziorki, disappeared before the mid-nineteenth century.
Wilhelm Ewert (1829–1887) – elder of the community in Mała Nieszawka (germ. Klein Nessau), one of the Mennonite leaders who migrated to the USA in the nineteenth century. Source: Mennonite Library and Archives Bethel College
Edict of King Frederick II of Prussia from 1789 on the rights of the Mennonites. Source: The Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw.
For the lower Vistula Mennonites, the year 1867 marked a turning point, as they were then subjected to universal military duty. This triggered another wave of migration, this time to the United States of America. Wilhelm Ewert, the elder of the communities in Mała Nieszawka, played a key role in its preparation, but just a few families from the region embarked on the path leading to the prairies of Kansas and Nebraska that Ewert set out for Mennonite migrants. Most stayed and became increasingly assimilated into the German-speaking environment.
Defunct Mennonite church in Grupa near Grudziądz (germ. Gruppa), built in 1879. Source: Copernican Library in Toruń.
In 1920 the areas near Grudziądz, Chełmno, and Toruń became part of the reborn Republic of Poland. This was a bitter change for the Mennonites living there. Seen as representatives of the German minority, they were treated by the Polish authorities and society with growing suspicion and aversion. For example, land acquisition was made more difficult for them, and the German-speaking schools they attended were being closed down. At the outbreak of World War II, Mennonites from the areas surrounding Grudziądz and Chełmno were among the reserves mobilised by the Polish command, but also among imprisoned Germans, and in some cases they were even murdered for fear of the side they might choose during the Polish-German conflict.
At the beginning of 1945, most of the Vistula Mennonites fled westwards from the advancing Red Army, under dramatic circumstances and with no possibility of return. The few who remained faced repressions at the hands of Soviet soldiers, and were later ordered to leave Poland. Following the war, emigrants from the lower Vistula settled in Germany, Uruguay, and Canada.
Olender cottage in Chrystkowo (germ. Christfelde). Photograph by M. Targowski.
Despite the passage of time, traces of the Mennonites are rather plentiful in the lower Vistula. The drainage systems they created, the sections of flood embankments, as well as the ancient willows planted to drain wetlands, have all survived. The Mennonite churches built at the end of the nineteenth century in Mątawy and Mała Nieszawka, as well as rural cemeteries, e.g. in Barcice, Sosnówka, Przechówka and Dolna Grupa, are all precious monuments. The ‘Nickelstein’ memorial obelisk located in Szynych, originally erected by the Mennonites in 1911 in front of a now defunct church in Sosnówka, is another structure of unique nature. The characteristic farm buildings constructed by the Mennonites in the Vistula lowlands are deteriorating increasingly quickly, so be quick to visit the Olender Ethnographic Park in Wielka Nieszawka and see them for yourself. Another Dutch-type farm still stands in Chrystków.
The history of Mennonites in Mazovia
Stamp of the Monnite church from Nowe Wymyśle (germ. Deutsch Wymysle), 1836. Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
In the wake of the subsequent partitions of Poland and the change of law in Prussia, Mennonites came to Mazovia in the second half of the eighteenth century. Alongside other colonists, they were settled in private and royal estates. When discussing Mennonites in Mazovia, three main locations are usually mentioned where Mennonites lived and founded churches: Kazuń Nowy, Olędry Czermińskie (which later became Wymyśle), and Wola Wodzyńska. The largest group of Mennonites arrived in Mazovia in the late eighteenth century, as part of the colonisation implemented by the Prussian authorities from the vicinity of Drezdenko nad Wartą, Przechowo, and Nieszawka. Individual families were settled in the villages of: Wonsosz, Leonów, Zyck Niemiecki, Łady, Sady, Piaski, Strzemeszna, Wiączemin, Alfonsów, Drwały, Świnary, Arciechów, Olszyna, Śladów, Piotrkówek, Osiek, Korzyków, Kępa Wyszogrodzka, Bieniew, and Rumunki Troszyńskie. The largest group of Mennonites came after the Napoleonic Wars, in the 1820s and 1830s. The Kazuń Mennonite community settled in Wymyśl in the 1880s. In 1798 they resided in Markowszczyzna, from where they went on to found the village of Czosnów, and from 1803 they were present in Cząstkowo. Kępa Nowodworska was another population centre. The early nineteenth century saw the establishment of the Mennonite settlement of Wola Wodzyńska near Płońsk. In 1842, a local landowner founded a forest settlement near Wola Wodzyńska, which he named Kicin, after his surname, to where he brought Lutherans and Mennonites.
Mennonite orchestra from the village Kazuń Nowy (germ. Deutsch Kazun). Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
Mennonites tried to gain independence by obtaining the right to keep civil status records. The church in Wymyśl Nowy was opened in 1818. The congregation's elder requested such a right in 1835. The Wymyśl parish was to cover the area of the Czermno, Świniary, Iłowo, and Sanniki communes. The Mennonites failed to obtain the said right and still had to go to Roman Catholic or Evangelical-Augsburg parishes to register their births, weddings, and deaths.
Mennonite family Wohlgemuth. Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
The missionary activities of Baptists in the mid-nineteenth century led to a split of the Mennonite community into two factions. Many perceived the Mennonite religion as a relic of the past limiting the possibilities for a modern and lavish life. In response to the threat posed by the Baptists, a more liberal Mennonite Brotherhood Church was established. Still, a small group of Mennonites decided to forego joining the new church and remained in the old structure. Seeing no other options, they emigrated to Canada and the United States of America.
Students of the school from Nowe Wymyśle (germ. Deutsch Wymysle). Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
After World War I, Mennonites became citizens of the Second Polish Republic. It was estimated that 705 of them lived in Mazovia in 1919. In the 1920s and in the early 1930s, two parties representing this minority were active in Mennonite villages–the German People’s Union (DVV) and the Young German Party (JDP). At the end of the 1930s Mennonites, whom the authorities perceived as an ‘uncertain’ group, became more radical in their political activities. In September 1939, some of the most active people were arrested and imprisoned in Bereza Kartuska. Those who remained in the villages fell victim to numerous lynchings, because their Polish neighbours considered them to be Germans. It should be mentioned here that the Mennonite villages in Mazovia were the theatre for the Battle of the Bzura. The German occupation brought about a significant change in the situation of the Mennonites, with some becoming members of the local authorities and others taking high positions in the Gestapo and SA. In anticipation of the planned attack on the Soviet Union, most men between the ages of 17 and 60 were drafted into the Wehrmacht and sent to the Eastern Front. Only women, children and the elderly remained in the villages.
Mennonite woman from Kazuń Nowy in Polish folk costumes. Source: Wojciech Marchlewski's private collection.
Mennonite family Ratzlaff. Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
Mennonite wedding in Nowe Wymyśle (germ. Deutsch Wymysle), Source: Privat collection of Wojciech Marchlewski.
Mennonites in the Polish army, 1930s. Source: Wojciech Marchlewski's private collection.
The end of the war brought with it a dramatic turn for the Mennonite community. In January, the occupation authorities suspended evacuation efforts, and did not grant permission to leave until 16 January 1945. The harsh winter conditions rendered it impossible to escape far. Most of those heading to the West were turned back home and robbed by Red Army soldiers. Those who had tried to flee had nothing to go back to, as their houses were already occupied by their neighbours. The Mennonites, considered as traitors to the nation, were sent to work for Polish farmers. Some applied for rehabilitation, as they had helped Poles during the war or even played a part in the resistance movement. After 1946, the evacuation process of the Mennonites to the West began. The last Mennonites left Mazovia in March 1948.