From Brüttisellen to Lushton 7

Deuteronomy 26:5–9, often referred to as Israel’s “Little Credo” because it captures in relatively few words the essence of the Israelite story, begins: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor.…” From what we have learned thus far of our family history, these words seem oddly appropriate for our story as well: A wandering Anabaptist was our ancestor.…

Heinrich Bühler was born and lived the first twenty or so years of his life not far from Zurich, but in 1602 he began a life of wandering: first he migrated 500 miles east to Moravia (the eastern third of today’s Czech Republic); two decades later he moved again, leaving his Hutterite home near Wessely on the Marava River (modern Veselí nad Moravou) for a new residence near another river in a land farther north.

Specifically, Heinrich and family (he had a wife and an unknown number of children) left behind the ashes of Wessely (on the ravages of the Thirty Years’ War, see here) for another Anabaptist enclave to the north, the Vistula River delta.

The Bühlers traveled roughly 400 miles north-northeast to the area of Culm (modern Chełmno), probably to the village of Deutsch Konopat. If that village name sounds familiar, it is because we have already visited there (see here).

Heinrich’s travels from Zurich, Switzerland, to Wessely, Moravia (Veseli nad Moravou, Czech Republic), to the
Culm (Chełmno) area of Poland. The city of Warsaw was southeast of Culm; more important to the Mennonites
of the Culm area was the city of Danzig (modern Gdańsk) to the north

The following map* provides a closer look at the immediate environs of Heinrich’s new home. The arrow in the upper left points to the area between Groß (Greater) Deutsch Konopat on the west and Klein (Lesser) Deutsch Konopat on the east. Culm is clearly visible on the south side of the bend in the river, which on this 1906 map is identified as the Weichsel, the German name for the river we know as the Vistula. In Polish, the river is known as the Wisła.

There does not appear to be a bridge across the river, only a road on each side going up to the river. Presumably a barge provided transport across the Vistula in Heinrich and our family’s time, and it may be that the residents in 1906 relied on a similar arrangement. Today a modern bridge enables cars and pedestrians to cross easily from one side to the other (see the photos at the end of this post).

Before we end this introductory post, let me point out one interesting feature on the map: the close-set parallel lines southeast of Deutsch Konopat, northeast of Culm, and elsewhere. What do you think the lines indicate? Stay tuned for a likely answer in the next installment of From Brüttisellen to Lushton (and I will try to post that installment much sooner than I have been lately).

Bridge over the Vistula River between Przechówko (the Wintersdorf–Konopat area) and Chełmno.
The photograph is looking straight north.

Bridge over the Vistula River between Przechówko (the Wintersdorf–Konopat area) and Chełmno.
The photograph is looking southeast.

* A larger version of the Culm-area map is available here.