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Flatow Branch, Schneidemühl District
Roger P. Minert, In Harm’s Way: East German Latter-day Saints in World War II (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009), 387.
At the far northeast corner of the district, Flatow was a town of about five thousand when World War II approached. Just eighteen miles from Schneidemühl in the former Prussian province of West Prussia, it was also just eight miles from the Polish border. The modern name is Złotow, Poland.
| Flatow Branch[1] | 1939 |
| Elders | 1 |
| Priests | 0 |
| Teachers | 1 |
| Deacons | 0 |
| Other Adult Males | 3 |
| Adult Females | 4 |
| Male Children | 0 |
| Female Children | 1 |
| Total | 10 |
As of this writing, no eyewitnesses or writings of eyewitnesses have been located. There is no mention of the Flatow Branch in the history of the East German Mission for the years 1938 and 1939. With only ten members, this was the smallest official branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all of Germany in 1939.
Given the small number of priesthood holders in Flatow, it is very likely that District President Johannes Kindt visited the branch on numerous occasions (his home being only twenty minutes distant by train) or that he sent his counselors to assist on Sundays and other occasions. His records showed that the Flatow Branch became defunct during the war.
No members of the Flatow Branch are known to have lost their lives in World War II.
Notes
[1] Presiding Bishopric, “Financial, Statistical, and Historical Reports of Wards, Stakes, and Missions, 1884–1955,” CR 4 12, 257.
