“You’d better post about the Nickelstein,” Andrew said.
“I will!” I promised. “But also… why?”
“Because! It’s the only monument Mennonites have put up in Poland.”
Huh. You know, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Good thing I asked “why”.
…
So. Resuming our story. This past July, Andrew and I (together with his parents) criss-crossed Poland, tracing the path of the Mennonites. We had just been in the cemetery at Schoensee. Now we were on our way to find the Nickelstein. (Am I even writing that properly??)
It was Friday, July 5th, 11:12 AM, when we arrived at Szynych.
Our paper says, “Just outside the Baroque Church of Saint Nicholas, there stands a granite obelisk with German inscriptions.”
FOUND IT!
Our paper continues, “It was erected in 1911 to commemorate Abraham Nickel, Deacon of the Mennonite Community in Sosnowka. At a time when the Napoleanic wars thrust the Kingdom of Prussia into crisis, Nickel promised the Prussian King, on behalf of all Eastern and Western Prussian Mennonites, to provide the ruler with a whopping sum of 30,000 thalers.”
Okay, so why would he do that? I don’t know the value of a thaler, but this sounds significant.
The point of this huge gift was to demonstrate the Mennonites’ willingness to make a massive sacrifice for Prussia, even though they refused to go to war. They would make a financial sacrifice.
The page continues, “Abraham and his spouse presented the declaration to King Frederick William III during the monarch’s stay in Grudziadz on November 8, 1806. At the meeting, Nickel’s wife gave Queen of Prussia Louise a basket full of butter. The royal consort responded by spontaneously gifting her own shawl.”
(At the time of writing, apparently this shawl was still in the Nickel family. Hopefully it still is, in 2024.)
Over 100 years later, Mennonites of Western Prussia put up this monument to commemorate the event, and to underscore their continued loyalty to the Prussian state.
The obelisk first stood in front of the Mennonite church in Sosnowka, but the church was destroyed in the 1980s, so the monument was moved here.
While we were there, we peeked inside the church:
And then hit the road once more, this time on our way to Stogi.
