Zełwągi 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 Mikołajki __NOTOC__ Gmina Mikołajki is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Mrągowo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Mikołajki, which lies approximately east of Mrągowo and east of the regio ...

, within

Mrągowo County __NOTOC__ Mrągowo County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed i ...

, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of

Mikołajki Mikołajki () is a resort town in Mrągowo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in north-eastern Poland, with 3,852 inhabitants as of 2017. The town is located near the Śniardwy, the largest lake of both the Masurian Lake District and Poland. I ...

, south-east of

Mrągowo Mrągowo (until 1947 ; ; Masurian dialects, Masurian: Zondzbork) is a resort town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of northeastern Poland, with 21,889 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Mrągowo County and the seat (though not part of ...

, and east of the regional capital

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

Latter-day Saints in Selbongen

This small village occupies a disproportionately prominent place, compared to its size, in the history of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

in Europe, since it was here that the first meeting-house of the Church in continental Europe was built, in 1929. Selbongen was then part of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in an area known as

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. An inhabitant of Selbongen had been converted to the Church in the early 1920s, and had introduced the Church to his family and neighbours, many of whom later also joined the Church. The branch in Selbongen had several hundred members at its largest: more than half of the inhabitants of the village. When parts of Germany were given to Poland after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, including the area around Selbongen, the local branch there remained active, the only unit of the Church in Poland at the time. Services continued to be held in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

until this practice was forbidden by the Polish government in 1947. After members acquired enough Polish to hold services in that language, meetings were resumed. The Church was officially registered with the Polish authorities in 1961. Most of the members who had not died in the war or were expelled shortly afterwards left in the succeeding years, due to the poor economic conditions in the area. The Zełwągi branch was eventually closed in 1971 due to the declining membership numbers. Subsequently, the Church was put off the register. Some remaining members from Zełwągi contributed to signature drive of the petition to register

in Poland in 1977. The last Mormon families left Zełwągi in early 1980s and there are currently no members of the Church there. Many of the members who left Selbongen proved to be supporters of the wards where they moved to.

References

External links

A map showing Selbongen and the surrounding area, with former German placenamesA photograph of the former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel
page 2, retrieved August 14, 2005

retrieved August 14, 2005

retrieved August 14, 2005 (now at https://web.archive.org/web/20080907132026/http://www.kirche-jesu-christi.org/ueber-die-kirche/kirche-in-deutschland/spaetere-entwicklung.html as of September 25, 2008, and at https://web.archive.org/web/20110810053206/http://www.mormonen.de/ueber-die-kirche/kirche-in-deutschland/spaetere-entwicklung/ as of July 11, 2011) {{Gmina Mikołajki Villages in Mrągowo County History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Poland