Enkenbach (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
Enkenbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany (coordinates: 49° 29′ 26″ N, 7° 54′ 9″ E), a small village about six miles northeast of Kaiserslautern, the location of a Mennonite Home for the Aged, Friedenshort, established in 19501, and a resettlement project for Mennonite refugees from Danzig and West Prussia. The Enkenbach settlement, begun in 1953, was planned to provide for 60 refugee families in apartment houses each containing 4 four-room dwellings. Each refugee family received a government loan for 80 per cent of the cost. Since the refugees did not have any capital at all for the remaining 20 per cent, the Mennonite Central Committee furnishes the equivalent through the free labor of young American Mennonite conscientious objectors, who assisted in building the houses as their alternative service to meet the requirements of the United States law for a two-year term of work (I-W service). The Mennonite Central Committee CC unit which performed this work in Germany is called PAX. Fifteen PAX boys began to work at Enkenbach in the summer of 1953. The PAX service constituted a testimony of Christian love in sacrificial service “in the Name of Christ” and for peace. The administration of the Enkenbach resettlement project was in the hands of a German Mennonite organization setup for this purpose known as Mennonitische Siedlungshilfe e.V., with headquarters at Ludwigshafen, Richard Hertzler, director. It was planned to build a meetinghouse with PAX help and organize a congregation.
In the 1950s numerous large Mennonite meetings with up to 1,000 participants were held in Enkenbach, using the facilities of the Home for the Aged.
In 1969 Enkenbach combined with neighboring village Alsenborn to form Enkenbach-Alsenborn.
Footnotes
1The article on Enkenbach in Mennonite Encyclopedia Vol. II: 222 incorrectly gives the year of founding as 1949. This error was corrected in Vol. IV: 1086 in the article on Friedenshort.
Maps
Map:Enkenbach (Rheinland-Pfalz)
| Author(s) | Harold S Bender |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Bender, Harold S. "Enkenbach (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enkenbach_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany)&oldid=94515.
APA style
Bender, Harold S. (1956). Enkenbach (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Enkenbach_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany)&oldid=94515.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 222-223. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.