Skip to main content

Swiss and Palatinate Connections

Sometime after 1850 Andreas Plennert and his family immigrated to South Russia from the Culm Region of West Prussia. Though there was at least one Mennonite “Plehnert” who had already immigrated to Russia in 1793, it is not a very common Prussian-Russian Mennonite name. As such, however, it is easier to trace than many and offers a minority narrative and identity within the longer and broader Russian Mennonite story.

The account below is adapted largely from information in Horst Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten, vol. 1, though I have expanded upon his work to offer a slightly different narrative.

In 1724 there was a group of Mennonites forced out of the Memel region in East Prussia for political and religious reasons and were given assistance to resettle back to West Prussia in areas populated by Mennonites. Among the 23 households that went to the Stuhm region there is one Plenert listed, namely Christian Plenert.


We know that Mennonites entered the Memel region in the years 1711/12. Between 1709 and 1711, forty-percent of the Memel region of East Prussia died from the plague / pandemic, and approximately 11,000 farms were left without people to work the land (note 1).

In this context the Prussian King Friedrich I tried to entice Mennonites among others to settle in East Prussia. This offer attracted some Mennonites who had to flee Switzerland in 1710, but above all attracted Mennonites already in Polish Prussia.

In 1713, 42 Mennonite families took a boat along the Nogat River through the Wislaney Lagoon to Königsberg and then north to the Memel and Gilge Rivers region in Prussian Lithuania. Around the area stretching from Kukerneese to Tilsit along the Memel River they were given a number of farmsteads. The low-land was suitable for the cattle raising they were used to in Polish-Prussia. The number of Mennonite immigrants increased, so that by 1724 there were 105 families possessing 88 farmsteads.

Here the Mennonites were allowed the religions freedom to worship in their tradition, as well as the freedom to organize their life and their larger tract of land according to their own ways.

These Mennonites brought with them techniques for raising cattle and for the production of butter and cheese (some of them were Swiss!) which gave certain advantages over their neighbours in the Memel region. In 1723 Mennonites were supplying 3,700 Zentner (1,850 kilos!) of so-called “Mennonite cheese” to the market in Königsberg, which became known throughout the region as Tilsiter cheese (note 2).

The provincial officials had great praise for the quiet and industrious Mennonites and suggested to King Friedrich Wilhelm I that they allow more Mennonites to settle in East Prussia. The King however replied:

“That would be alright for a nobleman, but a King of Prussia must have revenue, must have income, and a strong army which can incite fear in order to protect the land; for an army there must be people. Since Mennonites will not become soldiers, therefore they shall not be tolerated in my land, special remonstration, without exception.” (Note 3)

Background: In 1717 word came to the West Prussian Mennonites that a religious awakening was occurring in Prussian Lithuania, and a number of Lutherans had decided to join the Mennonites. Prussian officials saw the change of faith communities among some as an attempt to avoid being drafted into the King’s army. Moreover, the Mennonites—fearing that they would lose their right to military exemption altogether—sent a letter to the King telling them they would terminate their lease if they were to lose their promised rights. The King did not react as they had hoped; instead he ordered the whole region to be cleared of Mennonites. “I do not want a nation of rogues of the sort that do not want to become soldiers” (note 4).

In May and June of 1724, most of the Mennonites in the Memel region were forced to leave their homes and return to West Prussia. Fifteen farmsteads were bought for the refugees in and around Tragheimerweide in the Stuhm region. In the next year a further fourteen farmsteads were bought for refugees coming from Tilsit. More land was acquired, making this the beginning of the last larger Mennonite settlement in West Prussia.


In the census taken in 1776, there are two Plenert families listed in this region, namely Cornelius Plenert in Schöneich—a married cobbler with one daughter. The other Plenert in the area is the farmer Dirk Plenert of Klein Lunau who is married with two sons and one daughter. Members of this community later immigrated to Russia.

The longer “Plennert” story is also significantly different than the majority Prussian Mennonite Dutch or Flemish story, and shows a few ways in which groups of Mennonites in Europe connected with a shared identity. Horst Penner (note 5) suggests that the Mennonite Plennert name originates from the Strasbourg area. Peters and Thiessen “write that it is most likely that the name Plenert has an occupational origin, probably derived from "Blenner(t)", "one who blends", that is, one who mixes, mingles, and blends, particularly in the manufacturing and colouring of fabrics. In 1350 there is a "Plener" recorded in the city of Breslau.

But Penner as well as Peters and Thiessen agree that Prussian / Russian Mennonites with the name Plenert are probably descended from Philip Plener (also called Blauarmel [blue arm] or Weber [weaver]). Plener was a successful Anabaptist evangelist / missionary who operated primarily in the area of Bruchsal in what is today south-western Germany, but also in the Heidelberg area as well (note 6).

Because of severe persecution in southern Germany, Philipp Plener led a group of Hessian and Palatinate converts (called Philippites) to the land near Auspitz in Moravia opened up to him by the abbess of Maria Saal. 300 to 400 Philippite brethren lived in three large communitarian colonies in close fellowship with the Hutterites (followers of Jacob Hutter) until the group split in 1533 over issues of authority (note 7). At the Moravian Diet in Znaim in 1535, the Moravian magnates were forced to comply with King Ferdinand's demand that all Anabaptists and Jews be expelled from the margraviate, fearing a violent Anabaptist uprising similar to the one happening in Muenster. As a result all the Anabaptists who had sought asylum in Moravia were driven from their homes by Easter 1535. Smith offers a useful summary:

“The nobles, no matter how highly they might prize the economic worth of their industrious tenants, no had no recourse but to enforce the order of the king. The households consequently were broken up, and their occupants were driven out into the open fields and under the open sky to seek a living as best they could. The inhabitants everywhere were forbidden under pain of heavy punishment to give these exiles shelter, food, or drink. The object evidently was to harry them out of the land as rapidly as possible.

All factions and parties had to go--the Schwertler of Nikolsburg, as well as the Stabler of Austerlitz, the Philipists, who left with "songs on their lips," the Gabrielists, and the Hutterisch. At first the large company tried to keep together, but finding this impossible, they formed into small groups of eight or ten to seek as best they could their sustenance among an unfriendly people.” (Note 8)

Philipp Plener promised his followers to find a land in which they could settle. After Moravia, the only possible place of refuge for Anabaptists was Polish-Prussia, where the imperial death sentence against Anabaptists (1529) was not in effect. In 1535 a group of 200 Anabaptists from Moravia arrived in Polish Prussia settling in Thorn, Culm and Graudenz, and into the Vistula Delta and Danzig.

According to Penner, it is likely that Philipp Plener was part of this group, since there are no records of Philipp Plener in Moravia or southern Germany after this date. As a weaver, it is likely that Philipp did not move to a farming village, but that he settled in Schottland near the city of Danzig, where Flemish Anabaptists fleeing persecution in the Low Countries had begun to settle. It was typical for the Flemish to add a "t" to the pronunciation of names ending in -er (like Kröcker, Buler, Mayer, and Plener), and so it is in Danzig that the name "Plener" is changed to "Plenert" (note 9).

When war broke out between Poland and Sweden in 1656, Danzig set fire to the villages on its outskirts (including Schottland) to deprive the approaching Swedish army material resources. Some Mennonites were allowed to move inside the Danzig city walls, while others left the Danzig area for the Culm region (note 10). Some ancestors of Russian Mennonite Plenerts were likely part of this movement south or else they had already been part of the original settlement of Schönsee, Culm in the 1540s (note 11). Later in 1711/12 another group of Mennonites left the Danzig area for the Memel region (as outlined above), which included some Plennerts.

Stories from this minority experience are part of the larger Russian Mennonite identity—traceable through one of the more unique names.

Other typical Russian Mennonite names that betray a Swiss or Palatinate connection include Balzer, Barg, Berg, Boldt, Born, Buller, [D]Riedeger, Engbrecht, Funk, Kröker, Löpp, Nachtigals, Penner (mixed), Schellenberg, Voth, Wedel, Wiehler and Wohlgemut.

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: On the 1709 plague in Danzig, see previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/plague-and-pestilence-in-danzig-1709.html.

Note 2: Horst Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten in ihrem religiösen und sozialen Leben in ihren kulturellen und wirtschaftlichen Leistungen, vol. 1,1526–1772, 2nd edition (Weierhof: Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein, 1994), 218.

Note 3: Cited in Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten I, 218.

Note 4: Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten I, 220.

Note 5: Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten I, 318f. See Victor Peters and Jack Thiessen, Mennonite Names (Marburg: N. G. Elwert, 1987), 102.

Note 6: Cf. Robert Friedmann, “Plener, Philipp (16th century),” GAMEO, https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Plener,_Philipp_(16th_century).

Note 7: See G. H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), 420-423, https://archive.org/details/radicalreformati0000will.

Note 8: C. Henry Smith, Story of the Mennonites, 5th ed., edited by Cornelius Krahn (Newton, KS: Faith and Life, 1981), 40, https://archive.org/details/smithsstoryofmen00unse.

Note 9: Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten.

Note 10: Cf. Peter J. Klassen, A Homeland for Strangers: An Introduction to Mennonites in Poland and Prussia, rev’d ed. (Fresno, CA: Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies, 1989), https://archive.org/details/ahomeland-for-strangers-an-introduction-to-mennonites-in-poland-and-prussia-revised-ocr; also Herbert Wiebe, Das Siedlungswerk niederländischer Mennoniten im Weichseltal zwischen Fordon und Weissenberg bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts (Marburg a.d. Lahn: Herder-Institut, 1952), 94, http://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV005090375/ft/bsb00096789?page=1.

Note 11: Cf. P. Klassen, Homeland for Strangers, 33.

Map of East Prussia from: http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/maps/eastprus.gif.

Print Friendly and PDF

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fraktur (or Gothic) font and Kurrent- (or Sütterlin) handwriting: Nazi ban, 1941

In the middle of the war on January 1, 1942, the Winnipeg-based Mennonitische Rundschau published a new issue without the familiar Fraktur script masthead ( note 1 ). One might speculate on the reasons, but a year earlier Hitler banned the use of the font in the Reich . The Rundschau did not exactly follow all orders from Berlin—the rest of the paper was in Fraktur (sometimes referred to as "Gothic"); when the war ended in 1945, the Rundschau reintroduced the Fraktur font for its masthead. It wasn’t until the 1960s that an issue might have a page or title here or there with the “normal” or Latin font, even though post-war Germany was no longer using Fraktur . By 1973 only the Rundschau masthead is left in Fraktur , and that is only removed in December 1992. Attached is a copy of Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann's official letter dated January 3, 1941, which prohibited the use of Fraktur fonts "by order of the Führer. " Why? It was a Jewish invention, apparent...
1 comment
Read more

The Jewish Colony (Judenplan) and its Mennonite Agriculturalists

Both Jews and Mennonites in Russia were dependent on separation, distinct external appearance, unique dialect, inner group cohesion, international familial networks, self-governing institutions, a sojourner mentality, sense of divine mission, and a view of the other as unclean or dangerous. Each had its distinct legal privileges, restrictions, and duties under the Tsar, and each looked out for their own. For both, moderation, spiritual values, family, learning and success were important, and their related dialects made communication possible. But the traditional occupation of eastern European Jews was as “middlemen” between the “overwhelmingly agricultural Christian population and various urban markets,” as peddlers, shopkeepers and suppliers of goods ( note 1 ). Jews were forbidden to stay for longer periods in German colonies or to erect houses or shops there. “If they try to stay, they are to be reported immediately. If they are not, the German mayor will be held responsible” ( no...
Post a Comment
Read more

1929 Flight of Mennonites to Moscow and Reception in Germany

At the core of the attached video are some thirty photos of Mennonite refugees arriving from Moscow in 1929 which are new archival finds. While some 13,000 had gathered in outskirts of Moscow, with many more attempting the same journey, the Soviet Union only released 3,885 Mennonite "German farmers," together with 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists, and 7 Adventists. Some of new photographs are from the first group of 323 refugees who left Moscow on October 29, arriving in Kiel on November 3, 1929. A second group of photos are from the so-called “Swinemünde group,” which left Moscow only a day later. This group however could not be accommodated in the first transport and departed from a different station on October 31. They were however held up in Leningrad for one month as intense diplomatic negotiations between the Soviet Union, Germany and also Canada took place. This second group arrived at the Prussian sea port of Swinemünde on December 2. In the next ten ...
1 comment
Read more

Shaky Beginings as a Faith Community

With basic physical needs addressed, in 1805 Chortitza pioneers were ready to recover their religious roots and to pass on a faith identity. They requested a copy of Menno Simons’ writings from the Danzig mother-church especially for the young adults, “who know only what they hear,” and because “occasionally we are asked about the founder whose name our religion bears” ( note 1 ). The Anabaptist identity of this generation—despite the strong Mennonite publications in Prussia in the late eighteenth century—was uninformed and very thin. Settlers first arrived in Russia 1788-89 without ministers or elders. Settlers had to be content with sharing Bible reflections in Low German dialect or a “service that consisted of singing one song and a sermon that was read from a book of sermons” written by the recently deceased East Prussian Mennonite elder Isaac Kroeker ( note 2 ). In the first months of settlement, Chortitza Mennonites wrote church leaders in Prussia:  “We cordially plead ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catherine the Great’s 1763 Manifesto

“We must swarm our vast wastelands with people. I do not think that in order to achieve this it would be useful to compel our non-Christians to accept our faith--polygamy for example, is even more useful for the multiplication of the population. … "Russia does not have enough inhabitants, …but still possesses a large expanse of land, which is neither inhabited nor cultivated. … The fields that could nourish the whole nation, barely feeds one family..." – Catherine II (Note 1 ) “We perceive, among other things, that a considerable number of regions are still uncultivated which could easily and advantageously be made available for productive use of population and settlement. Most of the lands hold hidden in their depth an inexhaustible wealth of all kinds of precious ores and metals, and because they are well provided with forests, rivers and lakes, and located close to the sea for purpose of trade, they are also most convenient for the development and growth of many kinds ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mennonite-Designed Mosque on the Molotschna

The “Peter J. Braun Archive" is a mammoth 78 reel microfilm collection of Russian Mennonite materials from 1803 to 1920 -- and largely still untapped by researchers ( note 1 ). In the files of Philipp Wiebe, son-in-law and heir to Johann Cornies, is a blueprint for a mosque ( pic ) as well as another file entitled “Akkerman Mosque Construction Accounts, 1850-1859” ( note 2 ). The Molotschna Mennonites were settlers on traditional Nogai lands; their Nogai neighbours were a nomadic, Muslim Tartar group. In 1825, Cornies wrote a significant anthropological report on the Nogai at the request of the Guardianship Committee, based largely on his engagements with these neighbours on Molotschna’s southern border ( note 3 ). Building upon these experiences and relationships, in 1835 Cornies founded the Nogai agricultural colony “Akkerman” outside the southern border of the Molotschna Colony. Akkerman was a projection of Cornies’ ideal Mennonite village outlined in exacting detail, with un...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beginnings: Some Basics

The sixteenth-century ancestors of Russian Mennonites were largely Anabaptists from the Low Countries. Because their new vision of church called for voluntary membership marked by adult baptism upon confession of faith, they became one of the most persecuted groups of the Protestant Reformation ( note 1 ). For a millennium re-baptism ( a na -baptism) had been considered a heresy punishable by death ( note 2 ), and again in 1529 the Imperial Diet of Speyer called for the “brutal” punishment for those who did not recognize infant baptism. Many of the earliest Anabaptist cells were found in Belgium and The Netherlands--part of the larger Habsburg Empire ruled after 1555 by “the Most Catholic of Kings,” Philip II of Spain. The North Sea port cities of the Low Countries had some limited freedoms and were places for both commercial and cultural exchange; ships arrived daily not only from other Hanseatic League like Danzig, but also from Florence, Venice and Genoa, the Americas and the Far Ea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Formidable Fräulein Marga Bräul (1919–2011)

Fräulein Bräul left an indelible mark on two generations of high school students in the Mennonite Colony of Fernheim, Paraguay. Former students and acquaintances recall that Marga Bräul demanded the highest effort and achievements of her students, colleagues and of herself—the kind of teacher you either love or hate but will never forget! In March 1947, Marga was offered a position at the Fernheim Secondary School ( Zentralschule ). A recent refugee to Paraguay from war-torn Europe, she taught mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In 1952, she was the only female faculty member ( note 1 ). Marga wedded a strong commitment to academics with a passion for quality arts and crafts. She provided extensive extra-curricular instruction to students in handiwork and was especially renowned for her artwork—which included painting and woodworking— end of year art exhibits with students, theatre sets, and festival decorations. Marga’s pedagogical philosophy was holistic; she told Mennonite ed...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ukraine Independence--Russian Aggression--German Interests (1918)

The semi-autonomous Ukrainian People's Republic was established shortly after Russia's February Revolution in 1917. Much was still fluid, however. After the October Bolshevik Revolution the Central Rada of Ukraine in Kyiv declared full state independence from the Russian Republic on January 22, 1918. The Ukrainian People's Republic negotiated an end to its participation in Great War, and on February 9, 1918 signed a protectorate treaty in Brest-Litovsk. On February 17, Ukraine appealed to Germany and Austria-Hungary for assistance to repel Russian Bolshevik “invaders,” to detach Ukraine from Russia, and to establish conditions of stability. The World War had not yet ended. Imperialist Germany was desperate for grain and natural resources from Ukraine, eager to end the war in the east while containing Russia, and determined to establish post-war markets for German goods, technologies and influence ( note 1 ). For its part the Russian Bolshevik regime was eager to save ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why study and write about Russian Mennonite history?

David G. Rempel’s credentials as an historian of the Russian Mennonite story are impeccable—he was a mentor to James Urry in the 1980s, for example, which says it all. In 1974 Rempel wrote an article on Mennonite historical work for an issue of the Mennonite Quarterly Review commemorating the arrival of Russian Mennonites to North America 100 years earlier ( note 1). In one section of the essay Rempel reflected on Mennonites’ general “lack of interest in their history,” and why they were so “exceedingly slow” in reflecting on their historic development in Russia with so little scholarly rigour. Rempel noted that he was not alone in this observation; some prominent Mennonites of his generation who had noted the same pointed an “extreme spirit of individualism” among Mennonites in Russia; the absence of Mennonite “authoritative voices,” both in and outside the church; the “relative indifference” of Mennonites to the past; “intellectual laziness” among many who do not wish to be distu...
Post a Comment
Read more