Brandenburg Emigration and Immigration

Immigrants from Switzerland

In 1683 the Elector of Brandenburg offered to take in a few families from the Kanton of Bern. In 1695 fourteen families from Bern with their priest made the way to Brandenburg. They settled around Golmerbruch by Potsdam. A few years later when Switzerland experienced some crop failures, another invitation brought 200 families, mostly people from Bern, into the Havel region close to their compatriots. The settlers formed 6 parishes. Three were lead by priests from Bern and three from Zürich.

Source: Feller, Richard. Geschichte Berns, Bd. III. Verlag Herbert Lang, Bern und Frankfurt/Main, 1974.

Swiss colonists in Mark Brandenburg A treatise of Swiss colonists in Mark Brandenburg was also rendered by Erich Wentscher in Archiv für Sippenforschung (7. Jahrgang, Heft 7, Juli 1930). The newcomers were very welcomed craftsmen who were given citizenship, land and tax breaks to settle in. Their names, family connections and whereabouts were very well documented. The author starts with 14 families departing from Basel in 1685, arriving in Golm where 4 families settled. Further 4 families settle in Nattwerder and the remaining 6 in Neu-Töplitz. Later settlements were in Ruppin and Lindow. Swiss immigrants are also found in Eberswalde. Over the decades and centuries the Swiss infiltrated other settlements, formerly Dutch, such as Neu-Holland, Hohenbruch and Oranienburg.

The above mentioned periodical can be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake Citý, Utah on the International floor, call number 943. B2as yr. 7

Huguenots in Prussia

here is a link to an article explaining in a timeline the migration patterns of Huguenots

http://www.familie-greve.de/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&amp;file=viewtopic&amp;t=7292&amp;view=previous