Sumiswald, one of the most beautiful villages (pop. 6,000 in 1958; 5,179 in 2004) of the Emmental
, Swiss canton of Bern (coordinates: 47° 1′ 45″ N, 7° 44′ 40″ E)
. Soon after the beginning of the Reformation
it became an important center of Anabaptism
and added a significant chapter to the story of the martyrdom of the Mennonites of Bern
. In 1529 Moritz Kessler
, of Sumiswald, was a martyr in Bern, and in 1537 and 1538 three women of Sumiswald met the same fate. The last Bernese martyr, Hans Haslibacher
, also came from this region. Melchior Aeberli
, of Sumiswald, was tortured in Bern in 1569; on the rack he declared that Anabaptist teachings were not sectarian but Scriptural; his uncle Lorentz Aeberli
(executed 3 July 1539) had testified to this doctrine with his blood. Even on the rack he refused to betray any of his brethren. Sumiswald remained an Anabaptist center into the 17th century.
Geiser, S. Die Taufgesinnten-Gemeinden. Karlsruhe, 1931.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. IV, 273.
Map:Sumiswald (Bern, Switzerland)
|| Samuel Geiser
| Date Published
 Cite This Article
Geiser, Samuel. "Sumiswald (Bern, Switzerland)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 7 Dec 2016. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sumiswald_(Bern,_Switzerland)&oldid=114178.
Geiser, Samuel. (1959). Sumiswald (Bern, Switzerland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 7 December 2016, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sumiswald_(Bern,_Switzerland)&oldid=114178.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Kitchener, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia
, Vol. 4, p. 654. All rights reserved.
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