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.