Dannenberg (Lithuania)
Dannenberg, a former Mennonite congregation in Lithuania. There are a number of documents and letters pertaining to the Dannenberg congregation in the [[Amsterdam Mennonite Library (Bibliotheek en Archief van de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam)|Archives of the Amsterdam Mennonite Church]]. These letters show that this congregation in Prussian Lithuania belonged to the United High German, Frisian and Flemish Mennonites. In May 1724 they were obliged to leave the country, but soon returned. In 1731 they numbered 47 families and asked the Amsterdam congregation for financial help, which was given. Their ministers were Hans Jantzen and Thies Ewerdt. Elder Jakob Dennerof Altona arrived in November 1731 to spend the winter with the church at Dannenberg. On 22 February 1732, by order of King Frederick William I of Prussia, they were expelled again. They had to leave Dannenberg before 8 June of this year. Most of them (with some other Mennonites) emigrated by ship, via Königsberg to Amsterdam, 110 souls in all. They were supplied with houses and land at Wageningen and on the island of Walcheren near Middelburg by the Dutch Mennonite Committee of Foreign Needs. This colonization proved to be a failure. Beginning in September 1736 they gradually returned and settled in the environs of Danzig and Elbing. The exact relation of this congregation to the other Mennonite settlement (begun in 1714) and congregations is not clear. In any case it had only a short existence under the name Dannenberg.
Bibliography
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1905): 112-168; (1906): 93-138.
Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam. 2 v. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: I, Nos. 1074-79, 1085,1582-93; II, 2 Nos. 743, 755, 784.
| Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1955 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
van der Zijpp, Nanne. "Dannenberg (Lithuania)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1955. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dannenberg_(Lithuania)&oldid=87019.
APA style
van der Zijpp, Nanne. (1955). Dannenberg (Lithuania). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dannenberg_(Lithuania)&oldid=87019.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 6. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.