The Village of Przechówko, Part 3

 

Przechówko's modern legacy

 

The unique legacy of the village of Przechówko can be defined by discussing four characteristics:

1)      The proclivity of this congregation to spawn filial congregations,

2)      The remarkable consanguinity of the members of the daughter congregations,

3)      The extensive church records of the original congregation and the continuation of those records right into the present day,

4)      The Przechówko village cemetery.

 

Due to various reasons – lack of land, lack of economic opportunities, harassment from landowners or local officials, turmoil after wars, religious oppression, and others – Przechówko congregants very early on began to expand into filial congregations, as discussed above.  Notably, the Przechówko congregation was the only Low German Mennonite congregation to repeatedly spawn filials comprised almost entirely of people with ancestry from the mother congregation. 

Przechówko was established right about the year 1600.  Very soon, it became associated with the Old Flemish congregation located in Schonsee.  The first true filial congregation to Przechówko was Jeziorki, established about 15 miles away in the year 1727.  The next expansion was the Netzebruch churches – Brenkenhofswalde and Franzthal – which were established in 1765.  Under the Polish Kingdom, two more daughter congregations were established – in Masovia at Sady, and in Podolia at Deutsch Michalin – both established very late in the 18^th century.  All these congregations were established by Przechówko congregants and all these congregations continued to commune with the mother church.

Przechówko Congregational Tree

Beginning in the year 1801, the first Przechówko filial congregation established within the borders of the Russian Empire was formed at Karolswalde in Volyn Governorate, and then a second Volhynian colony was established at Antonowka in 1804.  In the same year – 1804 – the Molotschna Colony was established in New Russia and beginning in 1820, the larger group at Przechówko began moving into the Molotschna Colony.  These folks established the villages of Franzthal and Alexanderwohl in 1820 and 1821 respectively.  Congregants from the Netzebruch established the village of Gnadenfeld in 1835 and then some of these Netzebruch-Volhynians moved to the Molotschna Colony in 1836 to form the village of Waldheim.  All these villages in Volhynia and Molotschna, that is: Antonowka and Karolswalde, and then Franzthal and Alexanderwohl and Waldheim and Gnadenfeld were made up of majority Groningen Old Flemish Mennonites and they were likely all in fairly close contact with one another.  Just like a family creates a family tree, the Przechówko congregation created a congregational tree.  Today, congregations in Kansas such as Lone Tree or Alexanderwohl or Hoffnungau are branches of this larger tree. 

This constant spawning of filial congregations means that Przechówko families have a very unique and special genealogy.  There is no other group among the Low German Mennonites which has sustained itself like the Przechówko Old Flemish have.  These filial congregations display a remarkable consanguinity.  That is, a great many of the congregants can still today – more than 400 years after the birth of the congregation – trace their ancestry back to the very first congregants.  This is a second trait that’s unique for this group.

For instance, we can look at the congregants at Alexanderwohl (Goessel, Kansas) in the following way.  Polling 150 individuals from the 1983 Alexanderwohl churchbook (about 20% of the congregation at that time), we find that 34% still had those original Przechówko surnames.  Further, a whopping 87% of those surveyed had ancestors found in the village of Przechówko or at the Przechówko church.  52% had either 3 or 4 grandparents with Przechówko ancestry. 

A very similar study could be done with the congregants at Lone Tree (Canton, Kansas) with even more shocking results.  From the 2020 membership list at Lone Tree, 94% of those surveyed had Przechówko ancestry.  79% had either 3 or 4 grandparents with Przechówko ancestry.  So again, in the year 2020, an estimated 94% of the Lone Tree members could all trace their ancestry back – more than 400 years – to the same place and to the same group of people.

This quality of consanguinity is completely unique among Low German Mennonites.  But it can be found again and again, albeit to slightly lesser degrees, at Hoffnungsau and Henderson Nebraska and Freeman South Dakota and at Tabor and at many other Holdeman congregations or any other church which ultimately derives its origins from Przechowko.  This is incredible evidence of the legacy of the Przechówko church.

The third point which illustrates the legacy of the Przechówko church is the presence of the extensive church record.  These records date all the way back to the 17^th century and in many cases can be corroborated by other documentation.  Only 3 sets of comparable Polish Mennonite church records survive today: those from Danzig, those from Montau, and these from Przechówko.  Neither the Danzig church nor the Montau church formed filial congregations so their records terminated when those churches came to an end.

On the other hand, the Przechówko church records were continued in the Molotschna Colony at Old Alexanderwohl.  And then when that group came to USA in 1874 the record was brought to Kansas and continued.  With this record, an historical document exists spanning three countries, two migrations, and covering almost 400 years of people and history.  Some people in the community can trace as many as 13 continuous generations of ancestors – or even more – through these records.

The Przechówko Village cemetery is something that’s currently coming into focus as we enter the year 2025.  Since there are no Mennonite structures still standing in the village of Przechówko, the cemetery is the only remaining physical remnant from the 200+ years that the Mennonites lived there.

Przechówko Cemetery; 2024

The 20^th century was not kind to Przechówko; the whole area endured two world wars and 40 years of domination by communists.  In 1964 the final village residents were evicted to make way for the Mondi cardboard factory.  These factors greatly obscured the West’s ability to discern what had become of Przechówko; descendants in America had no way of knowing what had happened – or what was happening – to the village.

By the late 1980s communication began to open up and travelers from the west began to go into Poland.  However, the Przechówko cemetery lay, apparently forgotten, hidden away in the weeds and trees south of the cardboard factory.  Rumors abounded that the factory had destroyed the cemetery but seemingly no one in the West knew for sure.

By 2019, when I first went to Poland, most American experts still weren’t entirely sure about the status of the Przechówko cemetery.  But if anything was there at all, it was located off main roads so tour groups could not easily get there.  I was fortunate enough to happen upon a chance encounter with the Polish expert on Mennonite civilization in the Vistula River valley, Dr. Michał Targowski.  After Targowski took me to the cemetery we began a robust discussion for many months regarding how to go about restoring the place.  Our plans finally began to be implemented during the summer of 2023.

The cemetery is located centrally in the land which was Przechówko village, on the south side of the road just west of where the church stood.  It’s about 180 feet (E to W) by about 110 feet (N to S) in size.  According to records, there should be well over 400 burials in the cemetery, both Mennonite and Lutheran, about half of that number being small children.  Workers in the cemetery started the restoration work by clearing weeds and stray trees and undergrowth and then locating all the grave markers.  When they started, it was possible to identify 73 grave markers but by September, 2023, they had discovered almost 50 additional markers.

Przechówko Cemetery gravestones

Quickly we learned a significant characteristic about the Przechówko cemetery that makes it entirely different to other Mennonite cemeteries in Poland: the age of the gravestones.  For instance, Heubuden cemetery near Malbork is probably a typical Mennonite cemetery in Poland.  Mennonites at Heubuden placed in their cemetery very large gravestones which were likely carved by professional masons.  The inscriptions are relatively easy to read and the vast majority of the stones are from the 19^th century.

On the other hand, many Mennonite gravestones still exist in the Przechówko cemetery but they are very different to what’s found at Heubuden.  At Przechówko, the Mennonite gravestones are simple field stones with crude inscriptions, probably carved by the villagers themselves.  These stones represent the 18^th century, in contrast to the 19^th century stones at Heubuden.

And that’s very significant because by today – the 21^st century – it’s very rare in Poland to find 18^th century gravestones still in their original spots – in a cemetery.  Most 18^th century gravestones, or even older ones, have either been removed to museums or destroyed altogether.  For instance, at the large Mennonite cemeteries at Schonsee or Obernessau, there might be only one or two 18^th century gravestones.  But at Przechówko, we don’t have just 1 or 2 or even 5 of these old gravestones – by my count there are 28 gravestones that date from the 1700s representing many lives that easily date even into the 1600s.  This is a totally unique characteristic of this cemetery which really makes it quite an astonishing historical treasure.

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