Gross Engelau Church

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The church in Groß Engelau was a brick building without a choir from the end of the 14th century. Until 1945 it served as a Protestant church in Groß Engelau in East Prussia . A rear corner of the ruins of the 15th century tower, which can be seen from afar in the middle of a military training area , has been preserved.

Geographical location

The location of the now submerged village of Groß Engelau , called "Demjanowka" in Russian from 1947, is now in the area of ​​the municipality of Prawdinsk ( Friedland (East Prussia) ), from whose center it is ten kilometers to the northeast. Until 1945, the United Engelau belonged to the circle Wehlau in the administrative district of Konigsberg the Prussian province of East Prussia , which is now Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast (region Königsberg (Prussia) ).

The village of Groß Engelau was on the side road that now runs through a restricted military area, which connects Druzhba (Allenburg) on the Russian trunk road R 514 (former German Reichsstraße 142 ) with Klein Engelau (Russian: Pawenkowo) and Friedrichsdorf (Salskoje, both places are extinct) . Before 1945, Allenburg was the nearest train station on the railway line from Wehlau (Snamensk) to Friedland (Prawdinsk) and on to Heilsberg (now in Polish: Lidzbark Warmiński).

The church tower ruin is the only remaining building in Groß Engelau and is visible from afar in the area of ​​a military area. Nothing can be seen of the area around the original location on the eastern village green.

Church building

The brick church was built in the late 14th century and had no choir . The western tower, which was built in the 15th century, had - like the eastern end of the nave - considerable stepped gables . The entire old church furnishings with its remarkable pulpit altar and the organ built by Georg Sigismund Caspari in 1730 were lost when the church was destroyed to the ground in the war year 1914. After the First World War , the building was restored at great expense . In the fighting of the Second World War there was again massive damage. The tower ruin with its remarkable pointed arch portal is now in a military area and was secured in the 1990s. However, these measures could not prevent bricks from being broken out of the walls - leaving clear traces behind. After being shot at, the tower ruin collapsed, in August 2014 only one rear corner sticks out.

Parish

Groß Engelau was already a church village in the pre-Reformation period. Before 1612 and between 1808 and 1908, Groß Engelau was connected to the church of Klein Schönau (now in Russian: Oktjabrskoje). After that she was integrated into the church district Wehlau (Snamensk) in the church province of East Prussia of the Church of the Old Prussian Union until 1945 .

The parish of Groß Engelau, which has been evangelical since the Reformation , included an extensive area with 18 towns and villages. In the 1925 census , the parish had 2,022 parishioners.

Parish places

The 18 parish locations included (* = school locations):

Surname Russian name Surname Russian name Surname Russian name
Albrechtshausen * Hanswalde Alexeyevka * Klein Engelau Pavenkovo
Angel height Ilyichyovo Hanswalderthal Small six-hats
* Friedrichsdorf Salskoye Idashof Klein Steinwalde
* Groß Engelau Demyanovka Jägersdorf Belaya Polyana Kühnbruch
Large six-hatches Kampenbruch Luxhausen Serowo
* Gundau Ossipenko Kipitten Cholmogorje Steinwalde

Of the parish places, only Kipitten (Cholmogorje) still exists today.

Pastor (until 1945)

The pastor of Klein Schönau looked after the church in Groß Engelau until 1612, and also between 1808 and 1908. Incidentally, until 1945 the following were Protestant clergymen:

  • Conrad Tilemann, 1612-1625
  • Johann Thomä, 1625–1637
  • Michael Reimann, 1637-1641
  • Georg Nebius, 1641–1683
  • Georg Bliesner, 1683–1739
  • Matthias Tobias Montanus, 1739–1763
  • Christian Meiser, 1756-1804
  • Carl Gottlieb Huwe, 1805–1807
  • Georg Bork, 1908–1937
  • Gerhard Plehn, 1937–1945

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Demjanowka - Groß Engelau at ostpreussen.net (with pictures of the tower ruins)
  2. ↑ Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia . Volume II, Portraits of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen, 1968, p. 83, illustrations 320 and 321
  3. ↑ Two photos from 2011 and from April 29, 2015 by Sergei Mesenow (?) And by Dmitri Passeka from the ruin on https://fotki.yandex.ru/  : [1] and [2] and an article from February 27 2015 on http://www.koenigsberger-express.com/
  4. ^ Walther Hubatsch, History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume III: Documents , Göttingen, 1968, page 475
  5. ↑ Walther Hubatsch, History of the Evangelical Church of East Prussia , Volume III: Documents (as above), page 475
  6. ↑ Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg, 1968, page 45

Web links

Coordinates: 54 ° 31 '  N , 21 ° 7'  E