Mennonites in Early Modern Poland and Prussia

CHAPTER 9. A Changing Vision

N chapter 9 M A Changing Vision T his volume has primarily been devoted to the time when Mennonites lived in Royal Prussia. From the early sixteenth until the end of the eighteenth centuries, Mennonites were able to practice their beliefs under a Polish crown. With the end of Poland as a state and the emergence of Prussia, however, Mennonites faced intensified challenges of acculturation. It was a difficult struggle that lasted a century, and for some, at least, it never reached a satisfying conclusion. The nineteenth century was a time of soul-searching for Mennonites in the new Prussia. The Poland to which their ancestors had come in the early part of the sixteenth century was now a memory. The ambitions and imperial designs of Austria, Prussia, and Russia had created some very differentpolitical,economic,andreligiousrealities.Thegreatestchallenge that Mennonites faced from the new order was the question of how longheld religious beliefs and practices would fare under the new regime. For Mennonites now living under a dynamic, progressive, and largely authoritarian state, the question of reconciling a refusal to bear arms with citizenship soon became acute. For a full century, Mennonites wrestled with this dilemma. The Royal Prussia to which Mennonites emigrated in the sixteenth century had become part of a very different entity by the time of the NapoleonicWars .Prussia,orBrandenburg-Prussia,nowtookitsplaceamong the major nations of Europe. Then, with the formation of the German Em- 176 N mennonites in early modern poland and prussia M pire in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Germany ranked as a great power. Through a series of swift, successful military actions, Prussia had emerged as a powerful state in the heart of Europe. Throughout the nineteenth century, Mennonites tried to find a way to be loyal both to their country and to their faith. It was not an easy task. National Loyalties and Personal Beliefs Duringmuchofthenineteenthcentury,manyEuropeancountriescentralized and consolidated their political and economic powers as they created national states. Failure to do so might, as in the case of Poland, prove fatal to the state. As national ambitions, expressed in part through unified and expanded military power, led to the consolidation of the Prussian state, then the formation of the German state, traditional Mennonite adherence to pacifism found itself challenged and undermined. Frederick William II’s seizure of Danzig in 1793 during the second partition of Poland illustrates the spirit of the times. The city had desperately tried to maintain its virtual free-city existence, but efforts to find strong allies were unsuccessful. Gradually, Prussia’s economic pressure on the city forced the proud “Queen of the Baltic” to capitulate. Johanna Schopenhauer, mother of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, expressed the sentiments of at least a segment of the Danzig population when she wrote of the “stranglehold of the Prussians.” As she observed the restrictions imposed on the city, she angrily denounced the humiliating searches to which people leaving or entering the city were subjected.1 Finally, she herself left the city of her birth. For Mennonites of the city, the seizure of Danzig meant that they too would have to come to terms with the new Prussian state. They had already been paying a military assessment; now the new government re-examined the situation and decreed that Mennonites in Danzig would pay 600 thalers to be exempt from military service. The combined dues imposed on the Mennonites in this region thus totaled 5,600 thalers; Mennonite leaders were responsible for collection of the assessment.2 With the accession of Frederick William III in 1797, pressure on Mennonites was intensified. In 1799, Mennonite young men were summoned to a local review board, first to be asked if their parents and grandparents were Mennonites, then to present statements from a local Mennonite el- N a changing vision M 177 der as well as the court verifying that they were members of a Mennonite church.3 In response to this unusual procedure as well as a growing uneasiness about possible changes being considered by the government, Mennonites leaders decided to contact the authorities to see if the great “Charter of Liberties” was still in effect.4 The authorities assured them that it was and that the whole matter would be carefully examined. Elder Donner made a specific petition on behalf of nine young men whom he had baptized but who came from mixed marriages, and his request to allow them to...