Evangelical Church (Małga)

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Evangelical Church in Małga
(Kościół ewangelicki w Małdze)
Malga Church
Tower ruins of the Protestant church in Małga (Malga)

Tower ruins of the Protestant church in Małga (Malga)

Construction year: I: late 16th century
II: 1901–1902
Style elements : I: wooden church
II: neo-Gothic brick building
Client: Evangelical parish of Malga ( Church Province of East Prussia , Church of the Old Prussian Union )
Location: 53 ° 27 '11.7 "  N , 20 ° 44' 41.6"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 27 '11.7 "  N , 20 ° 44' 41.6"  E
Location: Małga
Warmia-Masuria , Poland
Purpose: Evangelical Lutheran Parish Church
Parish: no longer available, church destroyed except for the tower ruins

The church in Małga ( German  Malga ) is a no longer existing church. Only the ruins of the church tower have been preserved. Until 1945 it was the parish church of the Protestant parish Malga in the East Prussian district of Neidenburg , today in the powiat Szczycieński (district of Ortelsburg ) of the Polish Warmian-Masurian voivodeship .

Geographical location

The place of Małga is on the west bank of the river Omulew (Omulef) between the towns of Szczytno (Ortelsburg) and Nidzica (Neidenburg) in the south-east of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . Only country roads lead to the barely recognizable place, whose church tower ruin is still a signpost in the former village center.

Church building

16th century church

It is not known whether a church existed in Malga in the pre-Reformation period. It is possible to build a church shortly after the town was founded on June 25, 1403. The first reliable news comes from the year 1574. And on the occasion of a church visit in Malga in 1706 a dilapidated church and the need for an extension was mentioned.

This church was a wooden structure , which in 1722 received a tower also made of wood. Its basic shape was a hexagon with a length of 47 feet (about 15 meters), a width of 27 feet (about 8.5 meters) and a height of 27 feet (about 5 meters). The square tower was built on the west side. A door led through it into the interior of the church, as well as through a second door in a porch on the south side. The ceiling in the nave was kept flat, and round arches were attached over the windows. The altar was on a brick tower, while the wooden pulpit was on the wall opposite the altar.

In 1807 Malga was occupied by French troops. The church served as a horse stable after the inside of the building had been devastated and the pews had been burned. After extensive restoration work, the church could not be consecrated again until January 3, 1819. In 1858 the church in Malga received the old organ from the church in Jedwabno .

Church from 1902

In 1901 and 1902 Malga received a new church. It was a massive neo-Gothic brick building with a tower on the north-west corner of the nave, which is visible from afar due to its elevated position. The construction was carried out by the Doehlert company in Neidenburg ( Nidzica in Polish ). Inside the church, the altar and pulpit formed a whole. The organ builder Carl Novak , who came from Bohemia , built the new organ in Königsberg (Prussia) (Russian: Kaliningrad ). The two bells were from 1637 and 1729.

After the Second World War , the area between Malga, Malgaofen (in Polish Niedźwiedź , no longer existed) as well as Kannwiesen ( Chwalibogi ) and Gartenau (until 1938 Saddek , in Polish Sadek , both no longer existed) and Windau (until 1938 Puchallowen , Polish Puchałowo ) a military training ground. The villages were almost completely devastated, only the church tower in Malga remained as an observation tower for military purposes. In 1993 the military withdrew and the area was declared a nature reserve as "Rezerwat przyrody Małga" , widely recognizable by the ruin of the church tower, which has now fallen into disrepair.

Parish

Church history

It is not known since when there was a parish in Malga, especially since there is also a Protestant parish . For decades Malga was a branch of the parish in Jedwabno (1938 to 1945 Gedwangen ) and until 1945 belonged to the Neidenburg parish in the church province of East Prussia of the Church of the Old Prussian Union . In 1721 Malga became an independent parish , but remained parochial connected with Jedwabno. It was not until 1889 that Malga became independent with its own pastorate. In 1925 there were 1,350 parishioners. The church patronage was incumbent on the state organs.

Flight and expulsion of the local population put an end to the life of the parish in Malga. The church building was destroyed, and the settlement of a military training area took care of the rest. From an ecclesiastical perspective, the region around Malga is today in the Masuria diocese of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland . The next church is in Jedwabno , which is now a branch church of the parish in Pasym (Passenheim) .

Parish places

Until 1945 eight villages, some of which had been re-parished from the Jedwabno church, belonged to the Malga parish :

German name Polish name German name Polish name
* Dembowitz
1935–1945: Eichenau
Dębowiec Malga Mill Przeganisko
Habichtberg Jastrzębiec Omulef mill Przysowy
* Malga Małga * Rekownitza Rekownica
* Malga oven Niedźwiedź Uszannek
1938–1945: Trotha
Uścianek

Pastor

Until 1889 the church in Malga was cared for by pastors from the church in Jedwabno. At the church in Malga, the pastors officiated as Protestant clergy from 1889 to 1945:

  • Friedrich HO Gerß, 1889–1891
  • Aug. Eduard Waklter Dziobeck, 1891–1896
  • Otto Richard Grzybowski, 1896–1904
  • Eduard Bachor, 1904–1911
  • Arthur Brodowski, 1921-1924
  • Egon Bellmann, 1925-1933
  • Walter Jos, 1933
  • Joachim von Malm, 1933–1936
  • Karl Bonacker, 1939–1945

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Church in Malga near the Neidenburg district community
  2. Malga at ostpreussen.net
  3. a b c Walther Hubatsch , History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume 2 Pictures of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen 1968, p. 126
  4. a b c d Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Evangelical Pastors' Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg 1968, p. 90
  5. ^ Church with rectory and school in Malga - photo from the period between 1920 and 1930
  6. Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg 1968, p. 58
  7. a b c d Walther Hubatsch, History of the Evangelical Church of East Prussia , Volume 3 Documents , Göttingen 1968, p. 495
  8. The * indicates a school location