June 30 โ July 8, 2023
(With an optional Krakoฬ w extension July 8-12)
Sponsored by the Mennonite-Polish Studies Association
mla.bethelks.edu/information/mpsa.php
Tour Leaders: Mark Jantzen, John D. Thiesen, and Richard Thiessen
Arrangements in Poland: Travpol Travel Agency, Warsaw
Tour Overview
Poland was the refuge and homeland for generations of Mennonites during years of
intolerance after the Protestant Reformation. As a result, the history of Poland is part
of the history of many Mennonites around the world. As early as the 1530s, Anabaptists
from Holland and the lowlands of the Rhine and North Germany found a sanctuary in
the Polish Commonwealth. Unlike Switzerland and the Holy Roman Empire, Poland rejected the brutal religious persecutions plaguing Western Europe. As a result, along with others seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity, many Dutch and German Mennonites settled in Poland, and remained there until later migrations took some to South Russia and others to the American Midwest and southern Manitoba. A large number of Mennonites remained along the Vistula River until the end of the Second World War. Surprisingly, most Mennonites have overlooked these centuries in their own history, despite the fact that the years of refuge in Poland constituted a much longer stay than the later years of residence in South Russia and Ukraine.
This tour is designed to reacquaint persons of Mennonite descent, and other interested
persons, with the country that provided their ancestors a safe and secure homeland for
so many years from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. We will visit the significant sites of both Polish and Mennonite history, discovering the quintessential beauty of Poland as seen through the lens of Anabaptist/Mennonite history and learning how the sojourn in Poland shaped Mennonites in North America. Get ready to experience the amazing beauty and the astonishing significance of Poland as the homeland of our Mennonite ancestors.
A special feature of the tour this year will be joining a German Mennonite tour group for two short chapel services in former Mennonite church buildings as well as for one meal hosted by a Polish group interested in preserving their local history.
For the itinerary and more details, click on the link below:
