Andrew and I went to Poland earlier this month, and I’m going to do my best to only tell you about the Mennonite-related stuff we did, at least initially. Because that is the focus of this blog, and that was the main point of our trip.
It took a few days of travel before we picked up the rented Opel and hit the Polish road, and then another day or so before our Mennonite Tour (planned by Andrew exclusively for the benefit of us and his parents who were traveling with us) began.
And so I’ll jump directly into the morning of Thursday, July 4th, 2024:
There are no pictures of this morning. We were hungry and so was the vehicle so we stopped at a gas station just outside Poznan (where we had spent the night at Hotel Vivaldi). Andrew filled the tank and the rest of us ran inside to grab sustenance for the road. I purchased what I thought was an egg breakfast sandwich but was actually haloumi and arugula (pretty nice fare for a gas station, eh? Poland has good eating everywhere!) and Andrew was happy to share it with me. I have no idea what time we were on the road but I think it was pretty early.
We were striving to find the former Mennonite Church in Mala Nieszawka (formerly Obernessau) because we had seen its photo in the permanent exhibit at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. (We have seen that exhibit many times, but I feel like as I learn and grow, I discover new things when I visit the exhibit – in this case, we were looking for anything to do with Poland or Prussia, and we certainly found a lot!)
And so, on this day, our Mennonite search began. Off the highway, the roads became very interesting. They are small, well paved, and lined with trees. Andrew wanted me to take pictures. I am not convinced my pictures of the dashboard and windshield wipers really does it justice but…
Here is another one. I tried to clean it up for you:
Anyway, the point I want to express here is that Poland is a wonderful country to drive around in!
At about 1:00 we found the church! (I say “we” but really Andrew found it.) So let’s take a look!
The congregation was founded in the middle of the 16th century but obviously this building is not from then. According to GAMEO (which was a massive help in this research) this was a Frisian congregation, and most of our ancestors (as far as we can figure with Grandma Online genealogical help) were of the Flemish variety, so as far as we know (I keep saying those words, “as far as we know” — you’ll hear it a lot more yet in the upcoming weeks) our ancestors did not worship here. Probably.
I’m not sure how connected all the Mennonite congregations were, but this was still a ways away from where most of our ancestors had lived. Nevertheless, a Mennonite church stands here in Mala Nieszawka but this is not the original. The Obernessau congregation built a church here in 1778 but it burned down in 1889 (lightening strike). The church we see here was built in 1890.
Names associated with this church include: Bartel, Flaming, Nikkel, Adrian, Eck, Dirks, Foth, and Baltzer.
The church was not open, but we walked around the outside of it, in awe. We were only there for about seven minutes since the church is small and we couldn’t go inside.
Mennonites left Poland in 1945. Like, all of them left, pretty sure.
Today, a Roman Catholic congregation meets here.
After walking around its exterior and taking a ton of pictures (because, EXCITEMENT and DISCOVERY), we hopped back into the Opel for the short drive to a Mennonite museum and cemetery ahhhhhhhhh so exciting!!!! (Next post!)
