"From the history of the German
Reformed Congregation," which is not the complete history of the community, here
is one version to fill in the missing space and time. In my work I strived
to describe in detail the incidents from earlier times. I have taken care
to weigh all the information to show the community as it was in reality (I say:
in reality!) through my searching and prying, through weaknesses and missing
information, through troubles from inside and outside they would keep the
sermons and instructions of the word of God. So one can learn nearly
everything, but especially about the origin and the life of the branch
community, and afterwards the independent church community is written under the
control of the word from the Heidelberg or Pfalz catechism in question 103:"What
does God want in the fourth commandment?" Answer: "First God wants the office of
the preacher and the schools to be kept." This main theme I always
followed in historical order wherever possible. For the description of the
history of other congregations I would like to be correct. From the
beginning to the present questions are separately portrayed. For example:
church, school, church service, administration, etc. However this
community has a very peculiar history because there is hardly anyone who has
had to fight for their existence who has not had a history full of change, who
had to build quite a lot, who seized on so many plans in the case of community
life, then dropped, but also many have been realized as in this small community.
At least something of the events of the community history to guide the reader's
eyes, I chose this way of interpretation. The attentive reader may also be
able to make something out of the "raw data."
I could have told much more valuable
and remarkable things about life in the school, especially about the original
work of the first two teachers, Schenkenberger and Knittel, about the church
service, about the work of the elders and the community assemblies, about the
church taxes, about the religious instruction, community singing, bell ringers,
present state of the community, etc. etc. but for the reasons already given
above it was not done. Then because of the events of their history one
could write much more about this community. "So the gentleman wants and we
live"
but this absence is to be found to be a
characteristic in many and in another was are not found and the descendants have
kept the least in writing. From it only the old traditions were continued.
As the writer of the history I have
had three predecessors whose work in handwriting does exist making my work much
easier. The first was Eduard Schenkenberger who in 1875, before leaving
for Torscha, he wrote down the history of the community up to 1875 on 10 pages
in the first record book of the community. I have transferred almost all
of it to my work word for word. - After him Rev. Janos Szilady wrote down the
history of the Hungarian parent community and the German branch community in
1885 which he presented to the bishop when he came to see this community on the
8th of September 1885. - Finally in our own time the local physician, Dr. Viktor
Pratscher, wrote a valuable foundation of the history of this community and
collected valuable material. To him we owe our sincere thanks!
As further sources the minutes and
register books of this community served me, as well as the Hungarian Reformed
community and the writings and documents from the former Seniorats but now the
state church archives. The sources of the Hungarian Reformed community and
the state church archives were gratefully provided at the time by the pastor of
the Hungarian community and also the bishop of our state church, Alexander
Agoston. He also had an old photograph of the first schoolhouse of this
community (it was his place of birth), a copy left by an artist, and photographs
provided of the church and the new buildings for this community history.
For all of this I am very thankful. Then I have been given several
valuable enlightening things from the community members Karl Eng, Martin Gðttel,
Jakob Weißmann Sr., Heinrich Dinges, church elder Friedrich Rðhrich, and above
all others I owe Johann Weißmann thanks. Finally the essential servants of
the community have informed us of their curriculum vitae. They are all
sincerely thanked.
I hope to God that this is not written in vain and
not read in vain, for the descendants of the elders to ask requests to know God
in everything they do, and that the sermons and instructions of the word of God
be kept in the denomination of the elders of the community in their German
mother tongue.
Feketitsch, June 1936 Ludwig Poth
