The Lutheran parish of Chodecz

Name:

Chodecz

Location:

30 km South of Włocławek

Established:

1800

Pastors:

Kowal:

Praßhardt oder Präßharth (1800-1808)

Chodecz:

Karl Andreas Wilhelm Freymark (1809-1812),

Johann Heinrich Ernst Vockerodt (1813-1815),

Georg Heinrich Ortmann (1817-1849),

Adolf Bernhard Menzmann (1850-1868),

Heinrich Zander (1869-1873),

Julius Kweißer (1873-1874),

Emil August Kliem (1875-1880),

Leopold Müller (1881-1883),

Edmund Paul Holtz (1883-1889),

Oskar Kleindienst (1889-1897),

Friedrich Gustav Armin Paisert (1897-1909),

Alexander Paschke (1911-1925),

Adolf Löffler (1927-1930),

Ernst Ludwig (1930-1945)

History:

In 1779 the Starost of Przedecz, Jakob Sigismund Kretkowski, founded the village of Psary Hollendry.

After 1795 the Prussian administration populated cleared woodlands in the area of Kowal and Przedecz. At this time (3  May 1797) the Count of Lüttichau received the "Grodztwo Kowal" as a present from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III.

Craftsmen from the areas of Posen, West-Prussia, Württemberg, the Rhineland and the Alsace immigrated to the cities of Kowal and Chodecz. Their professions were mainly cloth worker and dyer.

The Lutheran parish of Kowal was founded in 1800. Originally it covered the area that was later split into the parishes of Chodecz and Przedecz.

In the early years there was no church building. The services were held in private houses.

The long discussion what the center of the parish should be (Chodecz, Kowal or Lubień) came to an end in 1816, when the landowner of Chodecz (Colonel von Lipski) started to build a stone church in Chodecz.

The tower of the church at Chodecz had to be pulled down in 1828 because it was unsafe.

1837-1856 Kowal has been a branch (Filial) of the Chodecz parish.

After 1860 former Prussian landowners bought estates in the area of Chodecz and recruited farmhands from the area of Posen.

In 1860 the sugar factory Ostrowy was incorporated.

In 1911 a new church building was consecrated.

Schools were in Chodecz, Kowal, Łanięta, Psary, Augustopol and in the sugar factory Ostrowy.

The members of the parish came from 180 villages.  "Predigtplätze", places where sermons were held, had been in  Józefki, Psary, Durlaty, Gloskie Hol., Łanięta, Gawin, Kowal, Lubraniec and Ostrowy.

Sources:

Eduard Kneifel: Die evangelisch-augsburgischen Gemeinden in Polen 1555-1939

Albert Breyer: Deutsche Gaue in Mittelpolen