Pewsum is a village in the municipality of

Krummhörn Krummhörn is a municipality in the Aurich (district), district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Ems (river), Ems estuary, approximately 15 km southwest of Norden, Lower Saxony, Norden, and 10 km northwest of ...

in the west of

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Pewsum is both the administrative seat as well as the trade and craft centre of the municipality. The number of inhabitants was 3,352 in 2006 and the village lies at a height of .

History

Pewsum was first mentioned in 945 as the castle of the Manninga family of chieftains. From 1565, Pewsum belonged to the

Cirksena The House of Cirksena was the ruling family of East Frisia (). They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of Emden was first ...

dynasty. Well-known people who resided in Pewsum included the Swedish marshall,

Dodo von Knyphausen Dodo von Knyphausen (1641–1698) was a German nobleman from the Duchy of Prussia in the service of Brandenburg-Prussia during the reigns of Electors Frederick William and Frederick III. A government office to collect revenues in Brandenburg ...

, General Peter Ernst II von Mansfeld and the Great Elector. The castle fell into ruins in the 18th century and was partly demolished and sold. The remaining buildings have since been restored and form part of the East Frisian Open Air Museum (). In 1972, Pewsum lost its independence and became part of the newly founded parish of Krummhörn, albeit retaining the administrative headquarters.

Religion

Pewsum is one of the ''

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

islands'' in the municipality of Krummhörn which is otherwise dominated by the Evangelical Reformed Church. Its place of worship is the St. Nicholas Church (''St. Nikolai-Kirche'') dating from the 14th century, which was given a new brick façade during a major renovation in 1862. The

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

chapel of St. Hedwig dates to the 1950s. It was built in 1959 on a private plot of land by refugees from Germany's former eastern territories. The congregation is looked after by the Catholic parish of Emden. The Pewsum Brethren have their place of meeting in a former kindergarten, which they have rebuilt into a community centre. Originally they were based at

Hamswehrum Hamswehrum is a village in the region of East Frisia, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is part of the municipality of Krummhörn. The village is located between Upleward Upleward () is a village in the region of East Frisia, in Lower Saxony, Germany ...

. The Pewsum

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

have their centre in Jennelt, but meet in Pewsum as a

cell group The cell group is a form of church organization that is used in many Christian churches. Cell groups are generally intended to teach the Bible and personalize Christian fellowship. They are always used in cell churches, but also occur in para ...

Transport

Pewsum is linked by the L 2 and 3 state roads. These connect Pewsum and other villages in the parish of Krummhörn with Emden and thence the A 31 motorway. The Emden-Pewsum-Greetsiel Light Railway used to link Pewsum and Greetsiel to Emden. This

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

line was closed in 1963 and passenger services switched over to

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es. Today Pewsum is linked by bus with the former county town of

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vill ...

and with Emden.

Places of interest

The was built in 1458 and is the emblem of Pewsum. In a three-storey

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

(of the ''Galerieholländer'' type) is the Pewsum Mill Museum.

Sport

TuS Pewsum is the largest sports club in the village. The men's football team played until the end of the 2008/2009 season in the Oberliga Niedersachsen West (fifth league) and since then in the sixth-class Bezirksoberliga Weser-Ems.

Notable people

* Pewsum was the seat of the Manninga chieftains from around 1400. The last male descendant of this line, Hoyko Manninga, resided at the Manningaburg, and sold the castle in 1565 to Count

Edzard II of East Frisia Edzard II (24 June 1532 – 1 March 1599) was Count of East Frisia from 1561 to 1599. He was the son of Enno II of East Frisia and Anna of Oldenburg. During his reign, Edzard came into conflict with the city of Emden. Edzard was a staunch ...

and his wife, Katharina of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. * (1872–1955), first registered female doctor in Germany

References

Sources

*Lampe, Regine (1989). ''Das Burgmuseum in Pewsum'' (Ostfriesischer Kunstführer, Heft 13). Aurich.

External links

Official internet site for the municipality of Krummhörn

Information page for Pewsum
{{Authority control Villages in Lower Saxony Towns and villages in East Frisia Krummhörn