Gustav Reimer, a Mennonite leader of West Prussia and Uruguay, was born 17 October 1884 at Heubuden, West Prussia, Germany. In 1919 he was chosen as deacon by his home congregation. He was commissioned by the Mennonites of West Prussia to bring suit against the Protestant churches for requiring Mennonite landowners to pay them taxes. This task Gustav Reimer carried through successfully all the way to the imperial court in Leipzig. He saved many a church record from destruction and established a card index of the West Prussian Mennonites and their forebears. After the flight from the East in 1945 he began to look after the religious and material needs of the Mennonites in Jeetzel, Hannover, where he was temporarily quartered, and promoted immigration to Uruguay. In World War II he lost three of his five sons; in 1948 his wife, Frieda Reimer, also died. He therefore left without hesitation, settling in Montevideo, where he had a fruit farm and where he again served his brethren as deacon. He died there on 19 July 1955.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 277. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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