Mennonite Sites in Poland

We can say, generally, that the Low German Mennonite movement can trace its origins to the Dutch Lowlands in the first quarter of the 16th century.  Certainly, by mid-century some of these were already moving into the Vistula River lowlands - specifically the areas in and around Gdańsk (Danzig) and Elbląg (Elbing).  By the early 17th century, they had spread all along the approximately lower 100 miles of the Vistula River valley from the Baltic Sea coast, all the way south to Toruń.  And in the very last decades of the 18th century, they began moving into lands held by the Empire of Russia.  

Very often, these people are called Russian Mennonites.  I don't particularly like this term.  It's not exactly a misnomer in my mind, but I don't feel it's the best term we can use.  Alternately, these people are called Dutch Mennonites, Vistula Mennonites, Prussian Mennonites, or Low German Mennonites.  These people lived in "Poland" for much longer than they lived in "Russia".  Many of them can trace ancestors living in Poland for more than 200 years while the time in Russia may have only amounted to about 75 years.  In my opinion, Low German Mennonites is the best term to use.

Of course, the term "Poland" is just a little problematic too.  Poland proper is actually the land to the south of the Baltic coast.  Greater Poland is the area surrounding Poznań and lesser Poland is the area surrounding Kraków.  These Vistula River areas where most of the Mennonites lived have actually been called Pomerania or Kashubia or Prussia (and just a little later, Masovia too), but they've been dominated since at least the 13th century by the Poles.  Certainly by the time the Mennonites came to live there, Pomerania was controlled by the Poles and I feel the best way to describe this region, during the Mennonite Era, is Polish Prussia.  Today, the area is controlled by Poland.  And now that we have all these messy definitions out of the way, I'll simply use the terms "Poland" and "Low German Mennonite".

Obviously, Poland is a very important place for Low German Mennonites.  Poland is where their culture grew and flourished and today, in order to understand your Low German Mennonite ancestors, it's crucial that you learn about the areas where they lived in Poland.  The very best way to do that is to travel to Poland.

I've been asked many times to compile a list of Mennonites sites in Poland.  I've resisted doing that until now in the fear that I'll leave an important site out.  However, I will put together the following list because I cannot find an alternate comparable list anywhere on the internet.  For instance, you can find biking trails or "Mennonite Trails" online (see: https://polskanarowerze.pl/szlak-mennonitow/) but 1) I'm not into bicycling, and 2) these trails don't ever stretch far enough south for my purposes.  The following list will include sites from the Baltic coast all the way to Warsaw.  This is not something a person would probably tour with a bicycle.  But certainly a visitor from North America could easily tour these sites with a car.  But word of advice: before you travel to Poland to visit your ancestral sites, make sure you know where your ancestors lived.  If you consider yourself a "Russian Mennonite", your ancestors did indeed live in these Vistula areas.  Don't just visit sites I list here.  Do the research and get yourself to the proper places.

Here's my list.  This is not a ranking of "best" or "most important" or anything like that, it's just simply a list.  We'll call it the Rod Ratzlaff Low German Mennonite Heritage Path and divide it into two sections; Delta and Valley/Masovia (although Tragheimerweide will be included with the Delta to make it into a tidy two section list).

Delta:

1. Gdańsk

2. Danziger Kopf, Żuławki (Fürstenwerder); 54°17'07.0"N 18°58'20.2"E

3. Palschau (Palczewo) windmill; 54°10′06.2″N 18°52′21.9″E

4. Orłowo (Orloff) Arcaded Werder house; 54°12'05.4"N 19°03'40.4"E

5. Zulawy Historical Musuem, Nowy Dwór Gdański (Tiegenhof); https://zph.org.pl/

6. Mały Holender restaurant, Żelichowo (Petershagen); https://www.malyholender.pl/

7. Rosenort Cemetery, Różewo (Rosenort); 54°11'33.0"N 19°10'38.4"E

8. Elbląg 

9. Heubuden Cemetery, Stogi (Heubuden); 54°04'15.1"N 18°58'49.6"E

10. Tragheimerweide Cemetery, Barcice (Tragheimerweide); 53°52'01.3"N 18°56'37.8"E

Valley/Masovia

11. Montau Church, Mątawy (Montau); 53°34'32.0"N 18°44'58.2"E

12. Montau-Klein/Gross Sanskau-Gross/Klein Lubin-Dragass villages (Mątawy-Wielkie Zajączkowo-Wielki Lubień-Dragacz); Vistula River Dike: 53°29'51.8"N 18°44'15.5"E; Vistula River access point: 53°29'34.2"N 18°44'26.7"E

13. Przechówko Cemetery, Przechówko; 53°23'26.2"N 18°23'17.7"E

14. 1791 Mennonite Cottage, Chrystkowo (Christfelde); 53°19'15.8"N 18°19'01.2"E

15. Schönsee Cemetery, Sosnówka (Schönsee); 53°24'45.4"N 18°37'12.5"E

16. The Nickelstein, Szynych (Schöneich); 53°25'20.3"N 18°39'50.6"E

17. Hollender Ethnographic Museum, Wielka Nieszawka (Obernessau), outside of Toruń; https://etnomuzeum.pl/o-muzeum/dla-zwiedzajacych/lets-visit-the-ethnographic-museum/

18. Vistula Settlement Open-Air Museum, Wiączemin Polski; https://muzeumplock.eu/pd-21-maja-wstep-do-skansenu-jest-platny/

19. Deutsch Wymyśle Church, Nowe Wymyśle (Deutsch Wymyśle); 52°25'36.3"N 19°50'20.2"E

20. Warsaw Market; 52°14'59.7"N 21°00'42.9"E

Deutsch Kazun Church

Vistula River

Vistula River dike