Bad Dürkheim is a town in the Palatinate, Germany, and until the French Revolution was the residence of the counts of Leiningen-Hardenburg. Since the end of the Thirty Years' War Mennonites have been living in this region. A report by Michael Frey (Versuch einer geogr.-hist.-stat. Beschreibung des königlichen bayerischen Rheinkreises dermalen Pfalz, Part IV, Speyer, 1837) states that there were in the canton of Dürkheim in 1801, 159 Mennonites; in 1823, 284; and in 1834, 198. They lived in Dürkheim, Dackenheim, Erpolzheim, Freinsheim, Friedelsheim, St. Grethen, Röhrig, Hausen, Seebach, Herxheim, Leistadt, Ungstein-PfefEngen, and Wachenheim. Emigration to North America has been the principal cause of the decline in the Mennonite population (1922) to 74 souls: 48 in Friedelsheim, one in Gönnheim, nine in Erpolzheim, two in Freinsheim, 11 in Dackenheim, and three in Dürkheim. All belonged to the Friedelsheim congregation.

On 15 October 1949 the Mennonite Central Committee opened a children's home in the city, to provide relief for 40 undernourished children sent by public welfare organizations of cities of the region. Each group of children stayed for three months to rebuild their health, and was then replaced by another similar group. The home was still operated in 1955, but with some government support.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 110. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

To cite this page: