Church of Our Lady of Gietrzwałd (Zelki)

Church of Our Lady of Gietrzwałd in Zelki (Kościół Matki Bożej Gietrzwałdzkiej w Zelkach) Neuhoff Church
Church of Zelki - Neuhoff (2019)
Construction year:	(1843-1844) / 1932 to 1934
Architect :	Mason, Rastenburg
Client:	Evangelical Church Community Selken (Neuhoff) ( Church Province of East Prussia / Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union )
Location:	53 ° 53 '25.7 "  N , 22 ° 6' 4.4"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 53 '25.7 "  N , 22 ° 6' 4.4"  E
Location:	Zelki Warmia-Masuria , Poland
Purpose:	Roman-Catholic , until 1945 Evangelical-Lutheran parish church
Parish:	Zelki, 11-510 Wydminy
Diocese :	Ełk
Website:	starejuchy.pl/parafia/innepar/zelki.html

The Church of Our Lady of Gietrzwałd is a building from the mid-19th century that was rebuilt between 1932 and 1934. Until 1945 it was a Protestant parish church for the East Prussian parish Neuhoff ; Today it is the central place of worship for the Roman Catholic parish of Zelki in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship .

Geographical location

Zelki is located in the eastern center of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Through the village runs the voivodship road DW 656 , which leads from Staświny ( German  Staßwinnen , 1938–1945 Eisermühl ) near Giżycko (Lötzen) to Ełk (Lyck) . There is no train connection.

The location of the church is in the northeast of the village on the side road (1702N) to Krzywe (Krzywen (Sodrest) , 1938-1945 Kriewen) .

Church building

The first church in what was then called Selken was built in 1550 under the baron Wolf von Heydeck. The building fell into such disrepair in the following centuries that it had to be demolished in 1840.

In the years 1843 to 1944, a new building was built according to designs under the influence of Karl Friedrich Schinkel . It was a massive towerless building with a wooden belfry . The interior was flat covered; the altar and pulpit from the beginning of the 17th century were later combined. In 1860 the church received an organ . The bells were dated 1670.

In 1932 the church burned down. It was rebuilt between 1932 and 1934 based on a design by the architect Maurer from Rastenburg ( Kętrzyn in Polish ). The church now also received a tower placed to the west . The artistic painting of the interior - the altar wall was adorned with a large mural painting Fish Catch of Peter - was done by Paul Koralus from the nearby Widminnen (Polish: Wydminy).

In the period after 1945 the church became a Roman Catholic place of worship. It was structurally adapted for the changed liturgical use. The church was named Kościół Matki Bożej Gietrzwałdzkiej ("Church of Our Lady of Gietrzwałd"). A Madonna figure stands in the square in front of the church.

Parish

Evangelical

Church history

(: Then in 1550 was in Neuhoff Selken ) a Protestant church built and built a house of worship.

The Neuhoffer Church was at that time the only aristocratic church in the Oletzko (Polish Olecko) in the Lyck inspection (Polish Ełk). A parish encompassing several places was added to the parish . The pastor's position had been occupied without interruption from 1591 except for a vacancy between 1825 and 1837.

In 1925 the parish Neuhoff had 1,760 parishioners. The church patronage was the responsibility of the Neuhoff pension estate. The parish belonged to the parish of Lötzen in the church province of East Prussia of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union .

The flight and expulsion of the local population put an end to the life of the Protestant parish in Neuhoff after 1945. Today the few Protestant church members belong to the Wydminy parish , a subsidiary of the Giżycko parish in the Masurian diocese of the Evangelical Augsburg Church in Poland .

Parish places

For parish Neuhoff belonged to 1945 next to the vicarage ten villages, towns and residential places:

German name	Polish name		German name	Polish name
Noble Bialla 1938–1945 Bleichenau	Biała Giżycka		* Mallinken 1930–1945 Birkfelde	Malinka
* Adlig Wolla 1938–1945 Freihausen	Pańska Wola		Pammer	Pamry
Berghof	Berkowo		Rants	Ranty
Heybutten	Hejbuty		Rostken	Rostki
Krzywen (Sodrest) 1938–1945 Kriewen	Krzywe		Werder	Ostrów

Pastor

Between 1591 and 1945 the pastors officiated as Protestant clergy at the Neuhof church:

• Johann Tortilowitz, 1591-1612
• Stephan Forlowius, 1612-1648
• Friedrich Meyer, 1661–1671
• Matthias Breuer, 1672–1683
• Friedrich Mietzkovius, 1677–1683
• Johann Albrecht Cibulcovius, 1683–1699
• Albert Stosnowius, 1699-1710
• Michael Skrodzki, 1711-1732
• Christoph Eichel, 1732–1737
• Thomas Dombrowski, 1737-1741
• Solomon Lascowius, 1742-1762
• Michael Schemien, 1762-1764
• Johann Victor Dziobeck, 1764–1772
• Johann Samuel Behn, 1772–1791
• Michael Gregorovius, 1791-1804
• Johann Gottlieb Marcus, 1804-1825
• Julius Karl Heinrich Stechern, 1837–1845
• Ferdinand Eduard Fuchs, 1845–1857
• Gustav Otto Brzoska, 1860–1868
• Berthold Heinrich Schellong, 1868–1874
• Erdmann Gotthold Hermann Treidel, 1874–1884
• Rudolf Carl Rausch, 1885–1897
• Wilhelm Hugo Karl Korn, 1897–1905
• Gustav Hermann Grzybowski, 1906–1936
• Erwin Grzybowski, 1935-1936
• Heinrich Bartholomeyzik, 1937–1945

Roman Catholic

Church history

Until 1945 the Catholic church members in Neuhoff were parish in the parish of Lötzen in the Diocese of Warmia . After 1945 numerous Polish emigrants came to Zelki, most of whom were of the Roman Catholic denomination. A parish gathered here that was initially supplied by Stare Juchy (Jucha , 1938–1945 Fließdorf) until Zelki itself was raised to a parish in 1978 . She belongs to the Deanery Giżycko - św. Krzystofa in the Diocese of Ełk (Lyck) of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland . The parish church is attached to the subsidiary church Kaplica Matki Bożej Częstochowa ("Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa") in Talki (Talken) .

Parish places

The parish of Zelki includes 16 villages, towns and places of residence:

Polish name	German name		Polish name	German name
Berkowo	Berghof		Płowce	Plowczen 1938–1945 Plötzendorf
Biała Giżycka	Noble Bialla 1938–1945 Bleichenau		Radzie	Radzien 1938–1945 Königsfließ
Franciszkowo	Franziskowen 1938–1945 Freihausen		Ranty	Rants
Hejbuty	Heybutten		Rostki	Rostken
Nowe Krzywe	Klein Krzywen 1929–1945 Grünsee		Starlings Krzywe	Alt Krzywen 1936–1945 Alt Kriewen
Okrągłe	Okrongeln 1938–1945 Schwansee		Talki	Talks
Pamry	Pammer		Zelki	Neuhoff
Pańska Wola	Nobleman Wolla 1938–1945 Freihausen		Zudraski

literature

• M. Meyhöfer: The district of Lötzen , Würzburg 1961.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zelki - Neuhoff
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume 2 Pictures of East Prussian Churches. Göttingen 1968, p. 122, fig. 563–564.
3. ^ Picture of the church from 1936
4. ↑ picture of the church today
5. ↑ Gietrzwałd ( German  Dietrichswalde ) is the name of a small village in the Olsztyński powiat ( Allenstein district , East Prussia)
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Walther Hubatsch: History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume 3 documents. Göttingen 1968, p. 492.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Friedwald Moeller: Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945. Hamburg 1968, p. 101.
8. ↑ The * indicates a school location.
9. ↑ Fuchs (1807-1859) was a member of the Corps Masovia .
10. ↑ ^{a b} Parafia Zelki (Polish)
11. ↑ Parafia Zelki in the Diocese of Ełk ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2016 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.