THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

ments commemorate him: one in his birthplace, Witmarsum, and the so-called “Mennostone” where he died.] In August, 1906, the Hamburg-Altona congregation, with the grateful approbation of the Vereinigung der Mennonitengemeinden in the German Empire, decorated the “Menno- stone” with a bronze engraving of Menno’s likeness (done by Prof. P. Dueyffke). The earlier Wuestenfelde now belongs to the entailed property of Blumendorf-Fresenburg. The Vereinigung der Mennoniten- gemeinden in the German Empire has a 99 year lease on an appropriate plot for the memorial from the owner of the enfeoffed (inalienable and indivisible family inheritance) property, Baron von Jenisch. The area around the marker is beautifully landscaped. “It is located in an open field which, to this day, is still referred to in the vernacular as the Mennostueck, and the place where the meadow dips slightly was formerly called the Mennoberg. In 1654 Anabaptists settled over the entire district which is still known as Wuestenfelde. According to the report of Geert Roosen, there were “many skilled as well as unskilled artisans among them, such as had never been seen in Holstein before. The Thirty Years’ War brought an end to this thriving community. A linden tree near the Fresenburg mill is called the Mennolinde. ” (Taken from the Mennonitische Blaetter, no. 8, 1906). We owe this work of loving piety to the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite congregation, above all to its pastor, Brother H. van der Smissen, and his untiring efforts on behalf of Mennonite history, the revival and unification of Mennonitism. e) Thus the work of the Reformation, writes Deknatel, begun in the Netherlands through Menno’s writings, was dramatically strengthened through the collaboration of Dirk Philips 23 and Menno’s other co-workers. Not only did Menno establish his congregations in Friesland, Groningen, East Friesland, Holland, Brabant and on the shores of the Baltic [up to Riga], but also in many parts of [upper and lower] Germany. 2 * Thus we find many old Anabaptist congregations, descend- ed from the ancient Waldensians, which grew noticeably with the coming of the Reformation through the work of men like Felix Manz, Michael Sattler, Leonhard Kaiser and others— many of whom [numbering in the thousands] suffered a martyr’s death between 1525 and 1530— in the Palatinate, Alsace, Bavaria, Swabia [Wuerttemberg und Baden], Switzer- land, Austria and Moravia. 25 According to the Martyrs Mirror of Thieleman van Braght, one finds different traces of Waldensian influence * Ed. note: Historians generally agree that he died in 1561. Menno Simons 15 in the above-mentioned regions as well as that these congregations fellowshipped with one another and were “churches under the cross.” f) Through Menno’s reformation, these congregations gradually acquired the name of "Mennonite”— just as we are called Mennonites by our government— instead of the hated term “Anabaptist.” 26