The Lutheran parish of Iłów

Name:

Iłów / Ilow

Location:

32 km southeast of Płock

Established:

1775

Pastors:

Heinrich Gottlob Seifert (1775-1778),

Daniel Bleibtreu G. Wille (1779-1785),

Johann Christian Heinrich Bücher (1785-1793),

Benjamin Gottlieb Witthold (1794-1807),

Gottlob Haak (1820-1821),

Karl Gerbling (1824-1833),

David Jeute (1835-1853),

Peter Beczkowski (1857-1889),

Ernst Behse (1890),

Rudolf Schmidt (1891-1896),

Johann Buse (1900-1904),

Albert Ludwig Wannagat (1907-1913),

Johann Buse (1914-1931),

Siegmund Gutsch (1931-1939),

Paul Sikora der Jüngere (1941-1945)

History:

Iłów has been the parent parish of all the other Lutheran parishes in the Vistula valley.

The pastors of the Iłów church had been famous for  their extensive travel activities. They provided the most urgent religious support in times when most of the German settlements did not have their own church.

The parish was founded in 1775 by the castle warden Adam von Losocki.

Already before 1775 there had been a plain wooden church which had to be pulled down in 1860 because of its ramshackle condition.

In 1861 a brick church was consecrated, which had been built in the Gothic style.

In 1855 the government donated the former manor house of Adam von Losocki to the parish for use as a parsonage.

In the time before 1914 members of the Iłów parish emigrated to America.

Between 1888 and 1938 the farmers from Łęg-Suchodól, Pieczyska and Januszew lost a huge amount of land to the Vistula (more than 200 Morgen).

During the time of pastor Beczkowski (1857-1889) there were 11 Lutheran schools with 11 teachers and 529 pupils.

Lutheran Cemetery Iłów - Photo by: Jutta Dennerlein, 2005

The Lutheran church building of Iłów does not exist anymore. Hidden among the trees and bushes near the Roman-Catholic Cemetery there are still some graves with German names.

Sources:

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