Menno Simons

The arrival of the anabaptist movement in Switzerland initially had little or no effect in the canton of Neuchâtel, where the inhabitants who welcomed the Reformation preached by Guillaume Farel joined him in rejecting the “heresies” of the so-called “re-baptisers”.  It was not until the end of the 17th century that a few Mennonites from the canton of Bern settled on both sides of the border between Neuchâtel and France - a region sufficiently remote and inhospitable for their persecutors to leave them in peace.

The first major influx of Mennonites into the canton came after Friederich I, king of Prussia, succeeded Marie de Nemours as ruler of Neuchâtel in 1707.  Aware of the tolerance he had shown their co-religionists in his own country, several Bernese Mennonites seized the opportunity to take up residence in Neuchâtel, mainly in the Val-de-Ruz and around La Chaux-de-Fonds.  The local authorities, however, soon looked askance at these foreigners who were never seen at church, worked on Sundays and refused to join in military exercises or carry arms, and hostility towards them began to rise.

In 1734, the government of Neuchâtel wrote to Friederich I’s successor, Friederich-Wilhelm I, to demand the expulsion of all Mennonites from the territory of Valangin, to which the Val-de-Ruz and La Chaux-de-Fonds belonged.  Like his father, the new ruler was reluctant to do so, calling on his subjects to show “Christian tolerance”, but in the end he was forced to agree that all anabaptists must leave Valangin by the end of 1742.  In fact most of those affected simply moved to another part of the canton where there was less opposition to their presence, while those living in the more remote parts of the Val-de-Ruz remained where they were, tacitly ignored by the authorities.  The ineffectiveness of the expulsion can be seen by the fact that when the decree was issued in 1739 there were 17 Mennonite families in the territory of Valangin: in 1747 there were 22.

From about 1750, Mennonite families started to settle on the isolated plateau of Les Bressels in the parish of La Sagne, and it was here that the first organised Mennonite assembly of the Neuchâtel mountains was created, with services held in the homes of its members - there would be no Mennonite chapel in the canton until 1894.   They maintained links with fellow Mennonites over the border in the Montbéliard region of France, who like themselves came originally from the canton of Bern.

Gradually the growing Mennonite community began to acquire certain rights and a degree of acceptance.  In 1734, La Sagne was the first village to encourage toleration of foreigners and anabaptists “provided they behave themselves”!  The thorny problem of military service was solved temporarily in 1769, with provisional exemption of Mennonites from this obligation, and official confirmation came in 1792.  In 1773, the Mennonite community in Neuchâtel obtained a crucial advantage when the government voted to allow them to purchase land, and guaranteed that they could not be expelled from it because of their religion.  Until now, Mennonites had only been able to rent land, and had no security of tenure.  In 1819, the Neuchâtel authorities again confirmed the Mennonites’ exemption from military service, but stipulated that all able-bodied men aged 18-50 must pay a yearly tax instead.

The revolution of 1848 which made Neuchâtel a republic  brought with it a guarantee of liberty of worship for the Mennonite community.  Ironically, however, it also provoked a dilemma, when in 1852 the new government revoked the law of 1819 and insisted that Mennonites like all other Swiss citizens must perform military service if physically able.  As pacifism was one of the basic tenets of their faith, many refused to comply, preferring to leave in the first wave of Mennonite emigration from  Neuchâtel to the US.  Others remained until the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, when the troops of Neuchâtel were mobilised to defend the border, and real conflict seemed possible.  This produced a second wave of emigration, where entire families left the canton, settling like their predecessors mainly in Illinois, Iowa and Ohio.

A few Mennonites had already led the way from Neuchâtel to America, notably Michael Schlunegger, who settled in Ohio in 1822.  He was soon followed by 2 intrepid widows, his sister Anna and sister-in-law Verena (“Fanny”) Liechti, each accompanied by 7 children!  Like those who remained behind, both earlier and later emigrants were essentially farmers, migrants from Bern and their descendants, who for many years remained faithful to the German dialect of their ancestors.

In the second half of the 19th century, the community at Les Bressels grew, and started to spread more widely in the upper part of the canton.  At the same time, Mennonites from what is now the canton of Jura spread westwards into Neuchâtel.  However, whereas the newcomers were “evolved” Mennonites, those already established in Neuchâtel had maintained the Amish tradition, and this led to a certain amount of tension until the two groups were reconciled and united in one body, still present and active in the canton today.