Dieuze, a town in the district of Chateau Salins, France, was once the seat of a fairly large Mennonite congregation, which dissolved about the end of the 19^th century. The congregation was a part of the Welschländer (Lorraine) congregation. When Alsace-Lorraine was annexed to Germany in 1870 the new frontier divided the rather widely scattered congregation, but it continued to meet, using the German language. About 1893 due to border difficulties the congregation was finally officially divided, the French families joining the Nancy congregation, and the German families continuing to meet, sometime later joining the congregation of Morhange or Mörchingen. Emigration to America as well as farther westward in France, and a low birth rate, had already considerably reduced the size of the group. Only the names of a few elders have been preserved: Conrad Schweitzer (d. 1880), Christian Schweitzer (d. 1896), and Joseph Schweitzer (ordained 1891), the last elder, who joined the Morhange congregation.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 60-61. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.