Olenders


Olenders were people, often of Dutch or Frisian ancestry, who lived in settlements in Poland organized under a particular type of law.
The term Olender has been used to describe two related, but slightly different, groups of settlers. First, it describes settlers in Poland from Frisia and the rest of the Netherlands, most often of the Mennonite faith, who in the 16th and 17th centuries founded villages in Royal Prussia, along the Vistula River and its tributaries, in Kuyavia, Mazovia and Greater Poland. They settled in great numbers in Gdańsk. They possessed knowledge of flood control, and a well-developed agrarian culture. At that time, they were the wealthiest group of peasants. They maintained personal freedom, and their own religion and beliefs. After the First Partition of Poland, some of them emigrated to southern Ukraine.
Second, in a later period, the term Olędrzy was used to describe settlers of different ethnicities, who benefited from certain privileges resulting from the law established by the Frisian and Dutch peasants. The most important characteristic, however, was collective responsibility of the entire Olęder community for its obligations toward the land owner and the specific character of the community's self-government. Thus, the distinguishing characteristics of an Olęder settlement are legal, and not ethnic, religious or economic. Consequently, the word Olęder is not synonymous with "Dutch settler."
According to studies conducted so far, from 1527/1547 to 1864 on the terrain of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, later divided into three parts in the Partitions of Poland, at least 1700 Olęder settlements were established. Of those, in at least 300 settlements, the settlers were ethnic Dutch. Traces of these settlements are still visible in village architecture, the physical layout of villages, and in the names of villages

Terminology

Polish sources use a variety of terms for olęder settlers: Hollendrzy, Holędrzy, Holendrzy, Olędrzy, and Olendrzy. These are interchangeable, and derive from the first settlers from the Netherlands, who moved into Ducal Prussia and Royal Prussia beginning in the 16th century. It is important, however, to recognize that over time the term lost its ethnic meaning, and therefore Olendrzy refers to all settlers living under the legal regime introduced by the Dutch colonists, including most notably the Vistula Germans and Vistula delta Mennonites.
It is also important to underline, that not all settlements carrying the name Olędry were in fact settled by Olęders. Rusiński gives examples of such instances in Greater Poland: Wymysłowo or Burzykowo in the parish of Oborniki. Rusiński argues that although though those villages had the name Olędry, that is not a basis for calling them genuine olędry settlements, because in their cases one does not find the legal arrangements typical of such colonization.
A separate problem is the question of the German words that function as two alternatives: Holländer and Hauländer. According to earlier German historical writings, they had two distinct meanings, reflecting a difference in the type of settlement. After all, Olędry were settled chiefly on difficult terrain, which required proper preparation to plant or raise livestock. The referenced historians argued that on low, wet terrain subject to flooding, settlers were called Holländer, while those colonists who settled in thick forests requiring clearing were called Hauländer. However, that viewpoint has been recognized as inaccurate, as evidenced by those settlements on flood plains called Hauland and villages that appeared on the road to clearings in the forest called Holland. Most likely, the word Hauländer started as a variant of Holländer, and appeared through blending the names of settlements with the name for woodcutters.

Reasons for colonization

The beginnings of Olęder colonization must be sought in the Middle Ages in the area where Germans lived. The first records come from the area of Bremen in the year 1106. At that time, settlement was closely linked to the territorial expansion of the German rulers into Slavic territory. Southern Holstein was colonized by Duke Adolf II of Holstein, while Albert "the Bear" and Henry "the Lion" installed settlers from the Netherlands in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg.
The beginning of the second wave of settlement from the Netherlands, this time directly to Polish soil, occurred in the 16th century. Three chief causes of that colonization can be distinguished:
  • Religious persecution in the Netherlands
  • The Economic situation in the Netherlands
  • '''Depopulation of Prussia after the Polish–Teutonic War and the Desire of Landowners for Greater Profits'''

    Course of colonization

Before Olęder settlers arrived on the soil of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Dutch were already present in Ducal Prussia, a vassal duchy of Poland. The first settlement in that region appeared in the area of modern-day Pasłęk. There is a claim that they were participants in the killing of Floris V, Count of Holland in 1296, who then fled east, which is alluded to by Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel in his work Gijsbrecht van Aemstel. However, conflicts frequently arose between the Dutch and Germans regarding property, religion and customary law. Before long, those first settlers began looking for a new home. The first Polish terrain colonized by newcomers from the Netherlands was in the province of Royal Prussia. In the middle of the 16th century, the government of Gdańsk, led by Mayor Ferber, decided to populate Żuławy Gdańskie, which had been given the city by King Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1454. The effort to settle locals there failed, because the peasants could not cope with flooding. Consequently, the people of Gdańsk agreed to an attempt to settle Netherlanders in the deserted village of Laudan. The newcomers from the Netherlands easily mastered the unfavorable conditions, and soon thereafter additional Olęder settlements appeared in Pomerania. Among others, these included Nowy Dwór, Orłowo, Żelichowo, Markusy and Jurandowo. Soon colonization spread to the Starostwo of Puck, and – even more importantly – began to progress up the Vistula River.
Settlements appeared in the starostwas of Gniew and Sztum. Olęder settlements were also located in the Osiek and Międzyłęż starostwas. The area around Nowe, Grudziądz and Świecie were also thickly settled. In 1597, Olęder settlement reached Greater Poland. A settlement appeared in Ługi Ujskie, near Ujście. Four years later another appeared in Nowe Dwory, on the Wieleński family's estate. In that instance, the colonization was directly linked to Pomerania, since the Wieleński lord's wife was the widow of the Starosta of Świecie. In 1624 the Dutch reached as far as Warsaw, where they settled, among other places, on Saska Kępa. Earlier, they were already in the area of Lublin. Olęder settlement continued to spread up to the times of the Partitions of Poland, and even reached Volhynia in present-day Ukraine.
With the passage of time the national character of the settlers changed. While at the beginning they were almost entirely of Dutch origin, later, with increasing frequency, they were descendants of the original Dutch, born on Polish soil, and subsequently from a completely different ethnic group—most often German, sometimes Polish, and occasionally representatives of other groups. For example, in reference to Greater Poland, Rusiński wrote "of the Dutch nation... it is generally difficult to speak." Chodyła gives a precise figure: descendants of the Dutch in Pomerania accounted for 0.8% of settlers; Evangelical Germans, for 54%; and Polish Catholics, 38%. A further 7.2% were of mixed ethnicity and faith.
Most studies agree that the Partitions of Poland and subsequent period was a turning point signalling the end of Olęder settlement. For example, many Mennonites abandoned the lands they had occupied in Prussia, because their religious beliefs did not allow them to perform military service, which conflicted with the ethos of such a heavily militaristic state. In addition, administrative reforms carried out by the partitioning powers eliminated the legal arrangements that constituted the distinguishing characteristic of Olęder settlements.

Settlement characteristics

Types

Considering the large differences in Olęder colonization in different regions and at different times, it is hard to speak of a single type of village or economic activity. Everything depended on local conditions, and the background of the settlers.
In the case of villages on terrain that had been drained, most often one finds buildings constructed in a straight line, with farms located between the river and a road running parallel. Each settler received a thin strip of land located at a right angle to the river or other body of water. If the chief task of the colonists was clearing forest lands, the land owner would designate a specified area, and the settler would choose himself the best place to make a clearing and would situate his farmstead there. This led to the appearance of so-called "zabudowa kolonijna", and in effect the village had a dispersed character.
In the earliest period of settlement, on the fertile soil of Prussia, large and wealthy farms prevailed. In a later period, especially in the valley of the Vistula River, there appeared ever more frequently small, poor and more dispersed farms. As regards the type of buildings, that depended strongly on the ethnicity of the colonists. Szałygin distinguished three types:
  • Frisian – farm buildings located under a shared roof, with the residential part set at an angle
  • German – similar to the case of Frisian farms, the residence and the farm buildings were located under one roof, but in a straight line
  • Polish – separated residence and farm buildings, scattered around the farm, most often in a quadrilateral.
Górak points out the pros and cons of the Frisian and German types of farm. On the one hand, such placement of the buildings facilitated work and communication, especially in the rainy season or winter, when it was possible to maintain the farm without going outdoors. On the other hand, there is no way to ignore the terrible sanitary conditions and discomfort resulting from having livestock living so close by.
If the settlers came from the Netherlands, and their task was flood control and draining flooded terrain, they applied certain typical methods of protecting their farms against high water. Buildings were located on an elevated platform, raised using dirt from excavating canals and drainage ponds. In the vicinity, they planted poplars and willows, whose purpose was to stop ice floes in the river during melts. The residential portion of the building was always close to the river, or pointed upstream, so that in case of flood the water would flow first through the residential portion, then through the rest of the farm buildings, and finally spill out onto the fields, which helped to keep the building clean.
In discussing characteristic buildings of the Olęder settlement, one must also mention houses with open passageways on the groundfloor, and windmills – the distinguishing contribution of the Dutch and Frisian immigrants to the Polish rural landscape.