Plautdietsch-Freunde is a

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

-based non-profit organization with the goal of documenting, nurturing, and promoting the

Plautdietsch Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "fl ...

language. Mennonite speakers of Plautdietsch who emigrated from

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

through Southern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(present-day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), and who now live in Germany,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and other parts of the world, are also known as

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites ( it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about ...

s and have been united by religious practices. Through its web resources and its journal ''Plautdietsch FRIND'', Plautdietsch-Freunde offers an international forum for all those who speak, read, write, or simply have an interest in the language. The organization was founded by Peter Wiens in 1999, acting president is Heinrich Siemens.

External links

Plautdietsch-Freunde e. V.
(web site in German and Plautdietsch)
Russian German Mennonites Around the World Join Efforts in the Web to Save their Mother Tongue
(by Peter Wiens)
Institut für niederdeutsche Sprache
(INS, organization for Low German languages)
European Charter for Regional or Minority Language
Language advocacy organizations Mennonitism in Germany Non-profit organisations based in North Rhine-Westphalia Plautdietsch language {{Menno-stub