Bärwalde, a village in the district of Marienburg, West Prussia (now Niedźwiedzica, Poland), in which Mennonites lived from about 1570 to 1945. Bärwalde was originally an estate of the King of Poland, as was also Tiegenhof and its vicinity. The Mennonites living in Bärwalde belonged to the Mennonite congregation of the Grossen Werder which had its center in Tiegenhagen. This church was Flemish, whereas all the Frisian Mennonites in the community were garnered into the Orlofferfeld congregation.

The larger Flemish congregation was supervised by the elder of the Danzig church from 1570 to 1639; from that time on they chose their own elder, who also served the Elbing church. In 1726 Elbing became independent and in 1728 Heubuden also separated as an independent Flemish congregation from the church in the Grossen Werder.

As the latter was still too large, it was divided into four parts about 1740, namely, Rosenort, Tiegenhagen, Ladekopp, and Bärwalde, each of which controlled its own congregational affairs, even though for 20 years they were under one elder. Bärwalde was the first to acquire its own elder in 1809. But because the church built in 1768 stood on Fürstenwerder land, the congregation took the name Fürstenwerder about 1830. The villages of Bärwalde and Fürstenwerder were located close together.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 240-241. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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