Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany)
Göttingen, a city (1955 pop. ca. 78,000, about one third of whom were refugees; 2006 pop. 129,686) in the former Prussian province of Hanover, after 1945 the seat of the first Mennonite congregation of refugees in West Germany (so named because of the residence of Ernst Crous, its founder-elder, and of Gerhard Hildebrandt, pastor after 1953), after 1948 also the seat of the Mennonite Research Center (Mennonitische Forschungsstelle) whose director was Ernst Crous. In 1947, in the ancient Göttingen town hall, the Mennonite relief organization for the whole of the British Zone of Germany was started, in cooperation with the Mennonite Central Committee. The new Göttingen congregation served 193 locations in an area of ca. 80 miles square, then comprising 1,271 Mennonites (souls), most of them refugees, about two thirds of them baptized members: 675 from Russia, 58 from Poland, 538 from West Prussia. Later most of those from Russia and Poland and some of those from West Prussia left for America. In 1955 the congregation had 325 baptized members with circuit meetings in the following places: Göttingen, Braunschweig, Salzgitter-Bad, Lebenstedt, Bad Hersfeld, Kassel, Hildesheim, Bad Lauterberg.
Bibliography
Crous, Ernst. Mennonitenbrief aus Göttingen (periodical 1947-1950).
Hiebert, Elfrieda Franz. "With the Mennonites in Göttingen." Mennonite Life 11 (1956): 73 f.
Kauenhoven, Kurt. "10 Jahre Mennonitengemeinde Göttingen." Der Mennonit 9 (1956): 60 f.
| Author(s) | Ernst Crous |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1956 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Crous, Ernst. "Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 23 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=G%C3%B6ttingen_(Niedersachsen,_Germany)&oldid=81330.
APA style
Crous, Ernst. (1956). Göttingen (Niedersachsen, Germany). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 23 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=G%C3%B6ttingen_(Niedersachsen,_Germany)&oldid=81330.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 554. All rights reserved.
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