Tiegenhagen (now Tujec - coordinates: 54° 15' N, 19° 07' E), a village in the northern part of the lowlands of the Vistula Delta, below sea level, protected from the sea by dikes. The village was founded ca. 1350 by Teutonic knights. When their rule decayed, the village was overtaken by marsh and alders. Not until 1550 were attempts made to resettle the area. By 1640 Tiegenhagen was the Mennonite center of the Tiegenhof Lowlands, where the Mennonites owned over 200 hides of land. Tiegenhagen was also the seat of the Mennonite mutual fire insurance, which was founded in 1623 and covered all the farms and other buildings owned by Mennonites in the Grosswerder. About 1620 Claass Kreker possessed the three "Freihufen" of the village, which his descendants still held in 1750.

The Tiegenhagen Mennonite church belonged to the Flemish branch; until 1639 it was served by the elder of Danzig, but then chose Hans Siemens as its elder and thus became an independent congregation (see West Prussia for a list of the elders of the congregation). As this Grosswerder congregation continued to grow, it was decided in 1735 to establish four quarters: Elbing Quarter (Rosenort congregation), Tiegenhagen Quarter, Orloff Quarter (Ladekopp congregation), and Bärwalde Quarter (Fürstenwerder congregation). All four quarters were to have a single elder, but each was to have its own preachers. Gradually the daughter congregations of the Grosswerder congregation became independent and in the first half of the 19th century chose their own elders, Fürstenwerder being the first to do so in 1809. In 1814 Abraham Wiebe of Tiegenhagen was chosen as elder of the other three quarters. When Wiebe died in 1833, the Tiegenhagen congregation became independent and chose Peter Reimer of Tiegenhagen as its elder. The Ladekopp congregation thereupon chose Jacob Wiebe in the same year, while Rosenort continued to be served by the elder of Tiegenhagen. Finally in 1857 Rosenort chose Nicolaus Fast as its elder.

A special grant by the Bishop of Culm permitted the Mennonites of Tiegenhagen to build a frame church "40 ells long, 22 ells wide, 7 ells high along the walls, with ordinary doors and windows, thatch roof, a chimney extending above the church and an apartment for residence in it" (Driedger). Until 1892 this frame church was in use. In that year the old church was torn down and a new brick church erected on the same site on the bank of the Tiege. The congregation was incorporated in 1882. Between the two World Wars a monthly meeting was held in the northern part of the congregational area in Steegen in the home of Jacob Hamm. The congregation was served by an elder, five preachers, and two deacons. The membership remained rather constant throughout the last century. In 1852 the congregation numbered 591 baptized members. In 1858 there were 754 Mennonites including children, who owned 168 hides of land. In 1887 the baptized membership was 433, with 229 children. In 1940 there were some 800 Mennonites who belonged to the Tiegenhagen congregation and lived in the north of the Grosswerder area and in the Danzig Lowlands.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 721-722. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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