Germau Church
The church in Germau ( Russian Кирха Гермау ) was a field stone and brick building from the time of the Teutonic Order. The chapel of the Deutschordensburg was integrated and expanded. Only sparse ruins remain of the church, which has been evangelical since the Reformation . The small East Prussian village of Germau is now called Russkoje and is located in the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation .
location
The until 1946 Germau called present village Russkoye belonged until 1945 to Samland district Fischhausen (1939 to 1945 County Samland ) and is today a settlement within the Krasnotorowskoje selskoje posselenije (Town Krasnotorowka (Holy Kreutz) ) in Zelenogradsky District (District Cranz ). The place is on the Russian trunk road A 192 , 15 kilometers north of Primorsk (Fischhausen) and five kilometers southeast of the Baltic city of Jantarny (Palmnicken) . Russkoye is a train station on the no longer regularly used railway line from Primorsk via Donskoye (Groß Dirschkeim) to Lesnoje (Warnicken) , the terminus of the former Samland Railway .
The location of the Germau Church is southeast of the A 192 highway in the south of the site of the German war cemetery .
Church building
The parish church in Germau was part of a Teutonic Order castle built around 1270. The castle chapel, which was later redesigned to become the church's choir, was the original room for worship, extended by the remter , which led to the windows being laid out irregularly. A battlement has been preserved around the choir and nave . Field stone was used as building material up to the level of the battlements , above it brick under thick plaster.
The tower was built in 1565, and after it was struck by lightning in 1596, the chapel and the remter were combined to form the church building, which was used until 1945.
The nave was covered with a three-bay wooden cross vault. In 1919 the arches were painted with scenes from the passion of Jesus . During this time there was hardly anything left of the castle apart from the south wing, which had been converted into a church, after it had previously been used as the seat of the amber master.
In 1832 a sacristy was added to the church , and in 1888 the exterior of the entire building was stripped of plaster. In the years 1936 to 1942 the church underwent a complete renovation. In the process, wall paintings were discovered in 1939 , the date of which could be set between 1340 and 1360, as well as paintings of a second layer from the end of the 16th century.
The altar from 1610 showed an image of the crucifixion in its center , and the four evangelists could be seen on the open side wings . With the wings closed, pictures from the story of suffering were found. The baptistery was also built in 1610 , while the granite baptismal font dates back to the 14th century. An old confessional and the stalls in the nave and choir were works from the 17th century. In 1673 the manor gallery on the triumphal arch was painted .
The organ was made by Adam Gottlob Casparini in 1767, and the three church bells were made in 1751, 1847 and 1854.
The Second World War severely damaged the Germau Church. During the war, the church was used as a field hospital. Up until 1988, bullets and grenades could still be seen on the remaining walls of the choir. The part of the wall of the apse that is still preserved is the oldest component. The cellar vaults under the nave and tower (they probably served as a burial place for the lords of Kirpehnen , today in Russian: Powarowka) were filled in. In 1993 and 1994, conservation work was carried out on the remains of the wall.
Parish
Already in the 13th century the Germau population used the castle chapel as a parish church. The Reformation doctrine held relatively early this collection, and until 1945 the church was an evangelical church. The church, with its wide-area parish , was formerly the church district Fischhausen (now Russian: Primorsk) within the ecclesiastical province of East Prussia the Prussian Union of churches . In the 1925 census, the parish had a total of 2,735 parishioners. A clergyman was officiating here, which Germau initially had to share with Kumehnen (now Russian: Kumatschowo).
Due to flight and displacement of the population as a result of the war, church life in the Germau parish came to a standstill. In 1995, the Memorial Association set up an ensemble with a black cross in the middle of the wall of the church ruin - matching the war cemetery - with the dedication: " In memory of the deceased of the parish of Germau ".
Today Russkoye is in the catchment area of the Evangelical Lutheran Resurrection Church community in Kaliningrad (Königsberg) , which was newly established in the 1990s . It belongs to the Kaliningrad provost of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia .
Parish places
Until 1945 the parish of the Germau parish church belonged to 28 places:
| German name | Russian name |
|---|---|
| Bohnau | Semlyanichnoye |
| Annchenthal | |
| Ellerhaus | |
| Gauts | Putilovo |
| Germau | Russkoye |
| God nod | Chekhovo |
| Grebieten | |
| Groß Hausenberg | |
| (Big) Powayen | Blisnezowo |
| Jouglauken | Grushino |
| Cherries | Powarowka |
| Little Powayen | Isobilnoye |
| Korjeiten | Putilovo |
| Krattlau | Sychovo |
| Lenght rivets | Shchorsovo |
| Nod | Rakushino |
| Linkau | Tichorechenskoye |
| Mellies | |
| Nodems | Okunjowo |
| Nöpkeim | |
| Panjes | Ossokino |
| Polish races | Kruglowo |
| Rothenen | Rakitino |
| Sacherau | Morosowka |
| Salt nod | Parashyutnoye |
| Nut house | |
| Trick | |
| Willkau | Yenisevo |
Pastor
From the Reformation to 1945 there were 25 Protestant clergymen in Germau:
- NN., Until 1549
- Udalricus Fischer, 1549-1565
- Urban alarm clock, from 1565
- N. Schütz, from 1570
- Conrad Schwanenmeusel, 1579/1598
- Michael Hogendorphius, 1594-1630
- Friedrich Grünenberg the Elder Ä., 1630-1674
- Friedrich Grünenberg the Elder J., 1674-1691
- Christian Fahrenholtz, 1691–1710
- Ernst Friedrich Kesselring, 1710–1763
- Benjamin Friedrich Decker, 1751–1761
- Georg Ludwig Tydäus, 1761–1803
- August Heinrich Bretschneider, 1803–1820
- Friedrich Wilhelm Lange, 1820–1828
- Friedrich Ferdinand Schultz, 1828–1831
- August Wilhelm Wachhausen, 1831-1853
- Johann Gottfried W. Woysch, 1853–1874
- August Theodor Kaminski, 1873–1874
- Jacob Em. P. Steinwender, 1875–1920
- Paul Friedrich Ferdinand Hafke, 1892–1896
- Ferdinand Walter Carl Lubenau, 1902
- Paul Kaschade, from 1903
- Arthur Bruno Pokern, 1920–1927
- Bruno Franz, 1928–1934
- Joachim Lange, 1934–1945
- Georg artist , from 1941 as a 77-year-old emeritus
Church records
Many documents have survived from the church registers of the parish of Germau. Today they are kept in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin-Kreuzberg :
- Baptisms: 1667, 1674 to 1944
- Weddings: 1691 to 1944
- Burials: 1691 to 1944
- Confirmations: 1854 to 1944
- Communicants: 1903 to 1944
partly provided with lists of names.
literature
- Karl Emil Gebauer : About the church in Germau in Samlande . In: Prussian provincial sheets . Volume 17, Königsberg 1837, pp. 517-525.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patrick Plew, The churches in Samland: Germau
- ↑ Walther Hubatsch , History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume II: Pictures of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen, 1968, page 33, Figure 33
- ^ The church in Germau at ostpreussen.net
- ↑ Evangelical Lutheran Provosty Kaliningrad ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church of East Prussia , Vol. III: Documents , Göttingen, 1968, p. 454
- ↑ Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg, 1968, page 42
- ↑ Christa Stache, Directory of the Church Books in the Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin , Part I: The Eastern Church Provinces of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union , Berlin, 1992³, page 44
Coordinates: 54 ° 50 ′ 24 ″ N , 20 ° 0 ′ 40 ″ E