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The earliest known Kroeker ancestor, for which we have a record, is likely Hans or Johann Greicker . He was a leader of an Anabaptist congregation in Heppenheim, then in the Palatinate, today in Hesse, Germany A central part of the argument put forward by Greicker in 1571, as recorded in the record of this disputation, was the peace position. Die andern mein ich wie Paulus sagt: So aber jemands zancket haben wir dieselb weiß nit auch die Gemein Gottes nit/ 1.Corint.11. Er ist nit ein Gott des zanck’s sonder ein Gott des friedens wie inn allen Gemeinen der Heiligen/1.Corinth.14. Glaub sey nit not vis wieter darzuzureden.
The importance of this disputation is supported by the length of it, 23 days, and the fact that a detailed record of it is extant, hundreds of printed pages in Gothic script. Also there were representatives of the brethren there from Switzerland and various parts of southern Germany. Hutterites were also represented. The central issues of Anabaptism were discussed during this lengthy disputation including the peace position. Greicker was therefore a person of note in the Anabaptist world of southern Germany. He would have known about the Anabaptist groups in Switzerland where the movement had begun a the beginning of the 16th century through contacts made at various occasions including the Frankenthal disputation. His family ancestors might well have come from there. The evangelizing work of the Swiss brethren certainly influenced the Anabaptists in central and southern Germany. At the time of the Frankenthal disputation, the Palatinate ruler, Frederich, was a Calvinist adherent, which put him at odds with the Catholic and Lutheran authorities in most of the other German jurisdictions. It was a haven for many who were persecuted by Catholics or Lutherans. So this territory probably continued to attract persecuted peoples including Swiss Anabaptists. However the tensions continued and it became increasingly difficult for the Anabaptist in the Palatinate. Nearly all had left before the end of the 16th century for Moravia, directly to the east. During the next 30 years, beginning around the turn of the century, these Anabaptists in Moravia moved north to join their co-religionists from the northern parts of Europe in the Vistula delta between the Vistula and Nogat Rivers. At the beginning of the 17th century, this was part of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1627 we find a Klaas Kröcke r listed in Tiegenhagen. It is possible that he was the son of Hans Greicker in which the last name changed to reflect the local conventions. Other variant spellings are Klaas Kreker or Klaas Kröker. Horst Penner concludes this when he states: Hans Grecker verlaßt, um seines Glaubens leben zu können, die sonnige Pfalz, um im fernen Weichseldelta - er ist ziemlich sicher mit dem dortigen Hans Krecker identisch - das Dorf Tiegenhagen in ein Zentrum des Mennonitentums und eine fruchtschwere Niederung zu verwandeln.2 The connection between the Anabaptists of Switzerland and southern Germany with the Vistula delta is tenuous, but nevertheless, the possibility is there. Persecuted peoples moved to wherever they could find refuge and have a relatively tranquil existence. Therefore, when opportunities presented themselves, they moved from south-western Europe to north-eastern Europe to begin a sojourn that lasted nigh 200 years. Endnotes 1. This was first stated in the Mennonitische Lexicon and quoted by Horst Penner, Die ost-und westpreußischen Mennoniten, p.22. Bert Friesen is a member of the MMHS Membership and Publicity Committee.
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