The Wends

Part I
I am a guest in the home of a well known Swiss educator in the town of Brügg. He is showing me around his ancient village pointing out all the columns, arches and friezes which clearly point to the ancient Roman origins of his town.

Then he tells me there’s a smaller village not far away with definitive Roman markings. The little community is called “Windish”. My interest skyrockets. I consider my ethnic heritage to be Wendish. I am a Wend. My Wendish ancestors emigrated to the Serbin, Texas area a century and a half ago leaving behind many of their Wendish relatives in southeastern Germany. Could this “Windish” be a connection?

So my friend and I head for Windish. Outside this small town we stop to look at the remains of an ancient arena, like a small Roman coliseum. “Oh yes,” my friend explains, “There was a Roman garrison here. One of the Caesars even paid a visit to this place. This arena was built for his entertainment. It seems the locals (Wends) were stubborn Christians and in this arena they were put to the test, ‘Give up your Christian faith or face the consequences.’ We’re not sure if the consequences meant fighting animals, gladiators or just fighting naked against armed Romans.”

He went on, “A recent excavation here found some previously undiscovered human remains, probably from those first Christians. They were a stubborn lot!”

I listened in stunned silence, moved to reflection. I sensed that I was standing on personal holy ground. I let my mind wander through the centuries, priests baptizing infants, parents teaching children from generation to generation, from Windish in Switzerland to Germany to Texas to Zion Lutheran Church, Walburg,Texas. to my family and my Wendish father, Oscar Henry Kieschnick.

Part II
I am the designated Protestant lecturer at a religious retreat in Berchtesgaden, Germany sponsored by the religious education department of the U.S. Armed Forces - Europe. My designated Roman Catholic colleague is Msgr. Al McBride. It is Sunday morning and we’ve led our respective worship services concurrently in two different locations. In my message I had urged my listeners to pass on their teaching from generation to generation. I told them the story of Windish, Switzerland and the Wends.

Shortly after the service Father McBride excitedly came to see me. “I’ve just heard from someone in your “congregation” that you told a Wendish story and that you’re a Wend. Let me tell you something. My religious order of priests was founded back in the 11th century. The original documents declare that one of the goals of the order was 'to convert to the faith the strong-willed heathen nomadic ethnic group called the Wends.' You are the first Wend I’ve ever actually met.”

Part III
My cousin John is interested in genealogy, including the family histories of Wends. He has discovered a little noted book entitled "The Christianization of the Nomadic Tribes of Central Europe.”

From it I learn that the flow of Christianity from Roman times to the 20th Century was not so uninterrupted as I had first surmised. Until at least the 9th century that geographical area now called Germany, Austria and Switzerland was occupied by a whole host of tribes, each independent, each with its own language and system of social organization. One of the toughest, most stubborn and least successful was the Wendish tribe. They fought a lot and they lost a lot. This merely intensified their resolve to keep their own identity, to resist being assimilated. They would keep their own language, customs and gods! Christianity was not their traditional religion nor was it something to be adopted easily. They were the last of the Slavonic tribes to become Christian.

MY PERPLEXITY

As I read of the Wends’ determination to keep their own ways, including their ways of worship, I found one piece of myself rooting for them to resist. A part of my gut was almost hoping they would not convert to Christianity. Two sets of questions: 1. Which kind of Wendish blood still flows in my veins? Am I stubborn and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written or am I a person with strongly held religious convictions, convictions worthy of praise? 2. Why was a piece of my awareness hoping my ancestors would resist the evangelization efforts of early missionaries? What implications are there in this for me as I act on what I perceive as a mandate to “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?”