Nowe Wymyśle is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Gąbin __NOTOC__ Gmina Gąbin is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. Its seat is the town of Gąbin, which lies approximately south of Płock and west of Warsaw. The gmina cover ...

, within

Płock County __NOTOC__ Płock County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. ...

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately east of

Gąbin Gąbin is a small town in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,065 inhabitants as of December 2021. The Warsaw radio mast, which stood near Gąbin, was the tallest structure in the world until its collapse in 1991. It remained the ...

, south-east of

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

, and west of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

History

The town was once known as "Deutsch Wymyschle" and was predominantly

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

. Deutsch Wymyschle was adjacent to the town of

, half of the population of which was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the Nazis rounded up the Jews of Gąbin and confiscated their property. Eager to profit from the ethnic cleansing of the Jewish population and wanting to comply with Nazi policies of

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people, and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nati ...

, the Mennonites of Deutsch Wymyschle claimed the formerly Jewish homes and businesses as their own. Mennonite women often solidified their loyalty to the Nazis by marrying soldiers of the

German Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

, with many weddings being performed in the Mennonite church of Deutsch Wymyschle involving couples dressed in Nazi uniforms. Erich L. Ratzlaff, a prominent Mennonite Nazi who became Mayor of Gąbin, was known to carry a whip in order to terrorize Jews. Ratzlaff later immigrated to Canada and became an editor of the ''Mennonitische Rundschau'' newspaper from 1967 to 1979.

Notable residents

* Erich L. Ratzlaff, a Mennonite Nazi.

References

Anabaptist–Jewish relations Jewish Polish history Mennonitism in Poland Villages in Płock County {{Menno-stub