ANGERN: A BRIEF HISTORY
The Church in Angern on Alte Dorfstrasse in 1986
LOCATION - GEOGRAPHY
Angern is a town with 2,100 inhabitants (2009), 43 metres above sea level, situated 25km north of Magdeburg on the west side of the Elbe River in the state [Bundesland] Sachsen-Anhalt. Annual rainfall is 500mm with February the driest month and June the wettest.
EARLY HISTORY
The name "Angern" may derive from "Anger" which refers to pasture, meadow or the village green. The area was already inhabited in Neolithic times (the late Stone Age) over 3000 years ago. The first settlements, however, were established by the Angles, a Germanic people from the Baltic coast. At that time the area consisted of dense forest and swamps inhabited by bears, eurochs, wolves and other wild animals.
Roman trade and influence reached the Elbe River in 19-13 BC when the Lombards (or Longobards) lived there. These were a Germanic people who came from Scandinavia and settled in central Europe. In 9 AD Rome tried to add Germany up to the Elbe to the Roman Empire but was defeated by a confederation of German tribes under Arminius.
The Angern region was affected by the wars, plunder and migrations that followed the arrival of the Huns in Europe in 375 AD until their defeat almost a century later. In 531 the Franks and Saxons pushed eastwards and gradually displaced the Lombards (who moved away and in 568 invaded Italy). By 600 AD these conflicts were over and new settlers in the Angern region worked the land, commenced agriculture, and raised livestock.
Charles the Great (742-814), king of the Franks, conquered the Saxons, turned them to Christianity, and established a number of bishoprics. The Angern region belonged to the Bishopric of Halberstadt.
The Saxons fought repeated wars with the Wends, a Slav people who arrived from the east after the Huns left and occupied the region between the Elbe and the Oder. In the early 10th century the Wends advanced over the Elbe into the Angern region, and the Hungarians from the south-east also encroached. Heinrich I, king of the Franks, crossed the Elbe and defeated the Wends in 929 AD. In 933 he also defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Meseburg. His son Otto I extended the frontiers further east, subjugated the Wends, built castles and churches, and founded the Archbishopric of Magdeburg.
There is no written record of when Angern as a town was founded. It's possible a village existed there in Roman times and was abandoned and reestablished a number of times as invaders came and went.
Apparently the region was already named "Angern" in the 12th century since there are references to people who derived their name from Angern. After 1160 there was was a "Theoderich von Angern"; and in 1217 a "Heinrich von Angern" appears in the written records of the Hillersleben monastery.
Control of the Angern area was for a long time a source of conflict between the Margrave of Brandenburg and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. In 1336 Margrave Ludwig I of Brandenburg relinquished several towns and the area thereupon belonged to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. In 1449 the Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg and the Archbishop von Magdeburg confirmed the borders of 1336.
ANGERN CASTLE
The earliest historical references to Angern, from the 14th century until the 1550s, are in connection with the Castle of Angern.
The Archbishop of Magdeburg had the castle with its mote built in 1341. Ownership changed in 1343, 1363, 1370, 1373. The Feudal Lord of the castle in the 1370s, the knight Gebhard von Alvensleben, committed robberies against merchants of Magdeburg. In 1382 the citizens of Magdeburg besieged the castle until he handed it over to them for 400 Mark. In 1384 the City of Magdeburg sold the castle to Archbishop Albrecht IV.
After that the castle was repeatedly used as a guarantee and its occupiers changed in 1391, 1392, 1403, 1411, 1424. From 1448 until the present Angern Castle was owned by the same family except from 1949-1990 when used as an agricultural college.
The Black Death entered Germany from the south in 1348 but there's no record of its effect around Angern.
ANGERN TOWN and THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
Historical references to Angern as a town commence in 1558 when Angern had 56 families. Around 1560 an Alexander von Angern travelled to Egypt, Sinai and Palestine including Jericho, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. His adventures are described in the book Angern und Wenddorf (pp 27-28).
The Reformation reached Angern in 1520-1524. Religious strife during the next century resulted in people leaving Angern and moving to Magdeburg and other towns. This was especially so in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) which destroyed towns, villages and agriculture throughout Germany and set German culture back by a century. The German encyclopedia Der Volks-Brockhaus (1955) says: "Germany was terribly desolated, impoverished... The population had been reduced by one third."
The Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia says:
So great was the devastation brought about by the war that estimates put the reduction of population in the German states at about 25% to 40%. Some regions were affected much more than others. For example, Württemberg lost three-quarters of its population during the war. In the territory of Brandenburg, the losses had amounted to half, while in some areas an estimated two-thirds of the population died. The male population of the German states was reduced by almost half. The population of the Czech lands declined by a third due to war, disease, famine and the expulsion of Protestant Czechs. Much of the destruction of civilian lives and property was caused by the cruelty and greed of mercenary soldiers, many of whom were rich commanders and poor soldiers. Villages were especially easy prey to the marauding armies. Those that survived, like the small village of Drais near Mainz, would take almost a hundred years to recover. The Swedish armies alone may have destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany, one-third of all German towns... Pestilence of several kinds raged among combatants and civilians in Germany and surrounding lands from 1618 to 1648. Many features of the war spread disease. These included troop movements, the influx of soldiers from foreign countries, and the shifting locations of battle fronts. In addition, the displacement of civilian populations and the overcrowding of refugees into cities led to both disease and famine...
Hortus Bellicus Der Dreissigjaehrige Krieg (1978, Edition Leipzig) says:
Die Gesamtverluste, die der Dreissigjährige Krieg und seine apokalyptischen Begleiterscheinungen — Teuerung, Hunger, Seuchen, Krankheiten — verschuldet haben, kӧnnen wegen der Ungenauigkeit der Ueberlieferung nur grob angegeben werden. Sie bewegten sich um ein Viertel der Bevӧlkerung, also etwa vier bis fünf Millionen. In den dreissiger Jahren hielt die Pest ihre reichste Ernte, sie fordete in vielen Gegenden des Reiches mehr als die Hälfte der Bewohner. Die Einbussen an Productionsmitteln und Wohnstätten sowie an materiellen Kulturgütern sind selbst mit Wahrscheinlichkeitsgrӧssen nicht mehr erfassbar. Staatsmänner und Diplomaten der kaiserlichen Seite rechneten den schwedischen Militärs auf, etwas 2000 Schlosser, 18000 Dӧrfer und 1500 Städte zerstӧrt oder schwer beschädigt zu haben. — Eine wahrhaft grausige Bilanz, denn das entsprach etwa einem Drittel dessen, was in Deutschland an Wohnbauten stand. Noch etwa ein halbes Jahrhundert lang dauerte es, ehe die sichtbaren Schäden in Stadt und Land und auch im Landschaftsbild behoben waren. Am hӧchsten lagen die Verluste bei bäuerlichen oder vorstädtischen Wohn- und Wohnschaftsgebäuden, bei Acklerland — "Kriegswüstungen" genannt —, Zug- und Schlachtvieh. (page 8)Angern was plundered and destroyed repeatedly in the Thirty Years War by troops moving through. During quiet periods survivors would start to rebuild but new regiments would move through and again destroy everything. In 1626 the Church records also were destroyed.
The free city of Magdeburg had for 300 years been one of the greatest commercial centres of Germany and, with the Reformation, became a stronghold of Protestantism. It successfully resisted a siege by imperial forces led by Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1629, but was besieged again in 1631 by 80-year-old Count Johann von Tilly the general of the Catholic League. Magdeburg was stormed and burned; 25,000 of its 30,000 inhabitants died by sword, plague and famine; and Magdeburg was almost obliterated. These events must have directly affected Angern situated less than 30km to the north.
In 1635 the harvest in Angern failed and brought famine followed by disease epidemics. Even the pastor left that year and never returned.
Church records in Angern were re-started in 1646 and state that four children were baptized that year, and two children died including, "Mathies Mittelstedt's 2-year old son". In 1647 five children were baptized including "a son of Mathies Mittelstedt."
Thus the "Mittelstedt" name already appears when records in Angern re-commenced but it's unknown whether these Mittelstedts were new arrivals or survivors of the Thirty Years War who lived there previously.
Agricultural land had reverted to wilderness and to make it profitable again was slow and hard work. There were also many disputes over land ownership since all boundary indicators were gone. In 1655 the reconstruction of the Church began but proceded slowly. The roof was finished in 1662, the tower in 1663, and the altar in 1664. By 1666 there was some recovery in population as indicated by 18 baptisms that year in Angern and Wenddorf.
As the 17th century drew to its end, Angern still had elderly inhabitants who had lived through the Thirty Years War. Andreas Luehdiger died in 1694 aged 99; Nikolaus Heynemann a pig farmer died in 1695 aged also 99; Dietrich Leuning died in 1700 aged 97; and Bernd Becker died in 1716 aged 100.
18th CENTURY
In the 18th century Angern and its population expanded and this attacted skilled workers from as far as Italy.
However, most inhabitants remained poor, houses and stables still had straw roofs, and the streets were muddy. In the middle of some streets were stones on which pedestrians walked to avoid the dirt but had to tread carefully to avoid falling and breaking their necks. Sheep and pigs were kept on the commons and would stay there until late autumn. Angern escaped direct involvement in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1753). In 1791 the Back Death killed at least 56 children, and later that decade the scarlet fever killed 12 children.
Frederick II the Great (1712-1786), king of Prussia, introduced improved agricultural methods to Germany during his reign, promoted potatoes as a major food, and imported sheep from Spain to improve the breeding stock in Germany. The economic benefits from these initatives flowed through to Angern.
19th CENTURY
In the war with France in 1806 Angern was occupied first by Prussian troops and subsequently by the French. Three men from Angern were in Napoleon's army that invaded Russia in 1812; two of them including a Mittelstedt did not return.
With the Treaty of Tilsit (Frieden von Tilsit) in 1807 all towns west of the Elbe River were in the Kingdom of Westphalia (Königreich Westfalen) under an administration on the French model. Reforms under the Napoleonic Code led to freedom of trade, sharing of power, and lifted the bondage of the peasants. With Napoleon's defeat Westphalia became a province of Prussia.
In 1820 Angern had 997 inhabitants.
Twenty seven young men of Angern served in the Prussian infantry in the war with Austria in 1866. And 52 took part in the war with France in 1870-1871 of whom three did not return. A Wilhelm Tempelhoff was awarded the Iron Cross.
Reference is made above to people leaving Angern during the Reformation and the Thirty Years War. Further loss of population coincided with the 19th century industrialisation of Germany when people increasingly left Angern to seek employment elsewhere.
An Internet posting tells about Christian Carl Hemstedt from Angern who was born 1780 and had four children all born in Angern. The fourth child was: "Caroline born 1822 who married Johann Carl Lange 1846 in Angern & emigrated to US 1868."
Another Internet page cites Compendium of History Reminiscence & Biography of Western Nebraska (p. 572) which gives the story of "Wilhelm Martens":
Wilhelm Martens was born in the town of Angern, Germany, in 1852... During his boyhood days he also learned the machinist's trade, and worked in machine shops in different large cities there. He...was married...in 1877 to Miss Anna Fehler...
In...1881, Mr. Martens...came to America with his family, locating in...Indiana...then...Chicago...for two years. He next went to Denison, Iowa, and bought an unimproved farm, all wild prairie land, and began farming, continuing on this place for four years, then traded the farm for a wagon shop and blacksmith shop in Denison...
In 1888 he came to Dawes county, Nebraska... He settled on...a tract of wild prairie...together with his wife and five small children...and started to build up a home. He did well at fist but the dry years soon struck them and they were unable to raise any crops, and his wife sickened and died...
Mr. Martens now owns a fine ranch of twenty-five hundred acres, with one hundred acres under cultivation and forty acres of fine alfalfa, the balance being in grass and pasture land. He has built about sixteen miles of fence, and has a good substantial house, built in 1897. This house is built of mud and stone for the walls, with sides and roof of tin cans which our subject picked up in the vicinity of his home... Mr. Martens was married again in 1907 to Mrs. Elizabeth Strigl, of German stock...coming to America in 1883.
Angern's population remained static into the early 20th century. The town experienced a major fire in September 1855 which destroyed the north side, another major fire in 1868, as well as several cholera epidemics. Forty two died from cholera in 1850 and 14 in 1855. However, the number of houses increased as did standards in cleanliness and flea infestations declined. School children infected with lice used to sit on a separate bench in classrooms but as 1900 AD approached few families in Angern had lice.
During the 19th century Angern experienced many of the modernisations that Germany underwent. Workers obtained sicknes and accident insurance and old people the pension; a highway that went through Angern was completed in 1869; a post office established in 1881; a resident doctor arrived in 1885; connection to Germany's railway network achieved in 1887; a pharmacy opened in 1894; a highway from Angern to Wenddorf completed in 1898; and all the streets officially named in 1907.
