Willuhnen Church

Willuhnen Church
Construction year:	1893-1895
Inauguration:	1895
Style elements :	Brick church
Client:	Evangelical parish of Willuhnen ( church province of East Prussia , Church of the Old Prussian Union )
Location:	54 ° 48 '2.7 "  N , 22 ° 39' 23.4"  E Coordinates: 54 ° 48 '2.7 "  N , 22 ° 39' 23.4"  E
Location:	Willuhnen Kaliningrad , Russia
Purpose:	Evangelical Lutheran Parish Church
Local community:	Not available anymore. The church building is destroyed.

The church in Willuhnen (the place was briefly called in Russian after 1946: Ismailowo) was a brick church built in the 1890s . Until 1945 it was the Protestant parish church for the population in the Willuhnen parish in the East Prussian district of Pillkallen (1939 to 1945 district of Schloßberg (East Prussia)). Today only a remnant of the foundation wall can be seen of the building.

Geographical location

The place Willuhnen or Ismailowo no longer exists today. Its local office is located in the area of ​​a military training area in the east of today's Russian Kaliningrad Oblast ( Koenigsberg area (Prussia) ). The Russian R 509 (27A-013), which connects Dobrowolsk (Pillkallen , 1938 to 1946 Schloßberg) with the Lithuanian state border (EU external border) at Kudirkos Naumiestis (Neustadt) , runs through the local area .

The former location of the church is north of the main street not far from the former station of the Pillkaller Kleinbahn .

Church building

A church was built in Willuhnen in the 17th century. It was twice severely damaged by lightning strikes and was so dilapidated that it was decided at the end of the 19th century to build a new one.

In the years from 1893 to 1895 a brick church was built with a tall tower in front of it. The pointed tower was equipped with four corner turrets and a sign of the place that was visible from afar. The church was considered one of the most beautiful places of worship in the Pillkallen district.

The church building showed neo-Romanesque style elements. The interior was provided with drawn-in galleries . The organ stood on the west gallery . In the choir room there was a simple altar with a large cross as an altar "wall" and a small crucifix placed in front of it , each flanked by candlesticks.

The church did not survive the war in 1944/45. Today only a few remains of the foundation wall tell of this church.

Parish

A Protestant parish was founded in Willuhnen a hundred years after the introduction of the Reformation in East Prussia : in 1621 a large parish was established which was initially still part of the Ragnit parish . The rectory was established in 1624.

The parish, which in 1925 counted 4417 parishioners in 39 villages, towns and places of residence, belonged to the parish of Pillkallen (Schloßberg) within the church province of East Prussia of the Church of the Old Prussian Union until 1945 . The effects of the Second World War destroyed the village and church of Willuhnen.

Parish places

In addition to the parish, there were 38 places in the extensive parish of the Willuhnen Church:

Parish Willuhnen (1930–40)

Surname	Change name from 1938 to 1946	Russian name		Surname	Change name from 1938 to 1946	Russian name
Scrape off	Schruten			Kissing	Cross height
Bauszen 1936–38: Baußen	Bulging			Laugall	Kleinjägerswalde
Form		Filonowo		Lengschen	Bog meadow
Bühlen				Lindicken
Dörschkehmen	Derschau (East Pr.)			Dairy stall		Arkhangelskoye
Final rest	Fracture position			Naujehnen	Rothfelde (East Pr.)
Erubishks	from 1929: Hopfendorf	Kamenskoye		Paplips	Forest village
Eszeruppen 1928–36: Eßeruppen	from 1936: Escheruppen			Patilszen 1931-38: Patilßen	Insterwalde	Otradnoye
Girrehlischken	from 1928: Jägerswalde	Svobodnoye		Paulicken
Grumbles	from 1928: Grumbkowsfelde	Pravdino		Pawidlaugken	Bruchdorf (East Pr.)
Jägerswalde				Pötschlauken	Peterort
Jodeglien	Moosheim			Radszen 1936–38: Radschen	Trench bridge
Jodzsen 1936–38: Jodschen	Kleinhildesheim			Scribble	Ambruch
Jogging	Seehuben			Stumble
Kailen				Szieden	from 1936: divorces	Mirny
Kewing	Wetterau	Lossewo		Uszalxnen 1936–38: Uschalxnen	Small show
Kötschen	Köschen	Serkalnoye		Warnakallen	Crows Mountains
Kruschinehlen	Frankenreuth			Wensken
Krusen		Kubanka		Wingern		Pravdino

Pastor

Between 1624 and 1945, 15 clergymen officiated as Protestant pastors in the Willuhnen church:

• Johann Löbel, 1624–1666
• Christian Sperber, 1689/1691
• Heinrich Sperber, 1689–1691
• Heinrich Pusch, 1697–1699
• Johann Donalitius, 1699-1704
• Georg Friedrich Dresler, 1710–1741
• Georg Ernst Klemm, 1741–1774
• Johann Sigismund Fleischmann, 1772–1810
• Karl Hammer, 1810-1826
• Johann Friedrich Marks, 1826–1831
• Ludwig Wilhelm Moeller,
  1831–1862
• Gustav Adolf L. Hecht, 1863–1877
• Eduard Rudolf Reimann, 1877–1899
• Leopold KF Friedrich, 1899–1926
• Eberhard Steinhausen, 1926–1945

Church records

The church records have been preserved, they are kept in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin-Kreuzberg :

• Funerals from 1815 to 1827
• Communicants 1859 to 1864
• Name register of baptisms 1798 to 1914 and burials 1800 to 1914.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Walther Hubatsch : History of the Protestant Church of East Prussia , Volume 2: Pictures of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen 1968, p. 111, Fig. 490
2. ↑ Historical photo of the Willuhnen Church
3. ^ Willuhnen at GenWiki
4. ↑ Willuhnen at ostpreussen.net
5. ↑ Photo of the remains of the foundation wall of the Willuhner Church
6. ^ ^{A b} Walther Hubatsch: History of the Protestant Church in East Prussia , Volume 3: Documents , Göttingen 1968, p. 486
7. ↑ Friedwald Moeller: Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg 1968, p. 151
8. ↑ ^{a b} Eduard Reimann († 1869) and Adolf Hecht († 1883) were members of the Corps Littuania .
9. ↑ Christa Stache: Directory of the church records in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin , Part I: The Eastern Church Provinces of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union , Berlin 1992³, p. 117