The Mennonite-Polish Friendship Association (MPFA) is celebrating a
decade of its existence. One of the goals of the association is to revive
Polish interest in, and awareness of, the Mennonite story. In the aftermath of
World War II, many Poles who came to live in areas once inhabited by Mennonites
were themselves refugees from once-Polish territory now annexed by the Soviet
Union. Thus, these settlers knew little of the role of Mennonites in this
region. Also, those Poles who had lived in the Vistula Delta and lowlands
during the war had suffered greatly. Germans and Poles shared this territory,
and when war came, they found themselves on opposite sides. The tragic events
associated with war and its aftermath created an atmosphere of hostility toward
Germans, including Mennonites. In the latter stages of the war, and immediately
thereafter, most German-speaking people fled or were expelled. They eventually
found new homes in Germany or in North and South America.
The MPFA, like several other Mennonite organizations, established contact and dialog with a number of Poles who were open to new approaches. These included the pastor and members of the congregation that worshiped in the former Mennonite Church in Gdansk. Anatol Matiaszuk, former pastor of the church, then regional minister for his denomination in Northern Poland enthusiastically welcomed MPFA's overtures. His congregation proved equally inviting. Another important contact person, Dr. Arkadiusz Rybak, director of an agricultural experimental station in Stare Pole (Altfelde), volunteered to establish local contacts and serve as guide for visitors. He proved an invaluable advocate when members of the MPFA approached local historical preservation officials and requested permission to help preserve local sites of significance to Mennonites.
In 1980, the newly-formed MPFA began to make plans to identify and help preserve Mennonite historical sites, and otherwise to create a greater awareness of the Mennonite tradition in Poland. The Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies agreed to sponsor a historical study tour in summer 1991, and so, under the guidance of Paul Toews and Peter Klassen, a group of 40 persons, coming from Canada and the United States, traveled to their ancestral homes in the Vistula Delta and other parts of Poland. In Gdansk they were joined by other invited Mennonites from Germany and the Netherlands.
On June 25, 1991, in a memorable event in the former Mennonite Church in Gdansk, the local pastor and congregation joined with the group of international Mennonite visitors to remember the centuries of Mennonite worship in that city and from 1819-1945, in that church building on ulica Mennonitow. At the same time, the service celebrated the continuing use of this building as a house of worship, formerly for the Mennonites, now for the Polish Pentecostals. The occasion was memorialized as a plaque was unveiled inside the church. The inscription, in Polish, Dutch, German and English, reflected the deeply-felt desire for better understanding and cooperation, now incarnated in a joint worship service:
With thanks to God and in grateful memory of our friends in this area:25 June 1991 The Mennonite-Polish Friendship Association.
- For providing a homeland for Mennonites for more than four centuries
- For granting religious toleration when religious persecution was common
- For restoring this church, built in 1819, but badly damaged in World War II
- For seeking to overcome the tragedies of war, flight and expulsion with love and reconciliation.
On the following day, the group continued its immersion in Mennonite history by visiting the Mennonite cemetery in Heubuden (Stogi). The MPFA had earlier provided Dr. Rybak with funds to set a fence around the cemetery, previously used for grazing cattle from the nearby collective farm (see photo at left). The former Mennonite church at this site was long gone, but many of the grave markers still were there. Also, a new Catholic church, still under construction, adjacent to the cemetery, was made available for the service.
In a litany of dedication and praise, prepared by Alan Peters, Fresno, the group once again remembered the many centuries of Mennonite memory symbolized by the cemetery. Jean Janzen, Fresno, read a poem she had written for the occasion. Poles and North Americans, Catholics and Mennonites, joined in a service of gratitude to God.
Warm words from the local Catholics, including a promise to care for the cemetery, signaled a new beginning, a time of mutual acceptance and support. Today, this cemetery is attractively restored (see photo above right). Broken headstones have been repaired; the fence is painted and maintained. The grounds are neat and clean. Much of the credit for this must go to the Dutch Mennonites, especially the Aalsmeer congregation, which has sent several groups to Poland to carry on the work of restoring the Heubuden cemetery, as well as several others (see photo at left). In summer 1999, the Dutch Mennonites carried out similar restoration work at the cemeteries in Ladekopp (Lubieszewo) and Ellerwald (Wikrowo).