Anabaptist heritage tour

Long before your family name was written into the land records of Lancaster County or the church registers of Ontario, it was spoken here – in the farmhouses of the Emmental, in the villages of the Simmental, and within the walls of Thun Castle.

If your family tree carries names such as Brenneman (Brennemann), Eymann, Eshleman (Aeschlimann), Stoner (Steiner), Shenk (Schenk), Yoder (Joder) or Amman(n), your story leads back to this very landscape between Lake Thun and the green hills of the Emmental. Here your ancestors farmed, worshipped in secret – and paid a high price for their faith.

For more than two centuries, the Bernese authorities pursued the Anabaptists – the forebears of today’s Mennonite, Amish and Brethren communities. Thun Castle, the mighty twelfth-century keep that still towers over the old town, was the seat of the Bernese governor: the place where Anabaptist men and women were interrogated and locked away in the tower prison, high under its roof. On this tour, you will stand in that very tower. Few places bring you closer to what your ancestors endured – or to the quiet courage with which they endured it.

But this is also a story of extraordinary landscapes and living memory. In Steffisburg, at the gates of Thun, the Joder (Yoder) family had its home. In Erlenbach in the Simmental, Jakob Ammann was born in 1644 – the man whose name the Amish carry to this day; he later lived in Oberhofen on the shores of Lake Thun. And in the Emmental, the heartland of Swiss Anabaptism, remote farms, hidden caves and the prison cells of Trachselwald Castle tell of faith lived in secrecy – until thousands set out, via the Palatinate and Alsace, for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.

Guided in English, this tour brings the Anabaptist story to life where it happened: in the castle and museum of Thun, with its tower prison and original objects – and with the breathtaking scenery of the Bernese Oberland all around, the mountains and lakes your ancestors saw as they said farewell.

Come and find the beginning of your own story. We look forward to welcoming you home.

Dig deeper: our archival research

Our team actively researches the Anabaptist records of the region and helps families trace their roots. Read our findings, ask your questions and support the work: Schloss Thun and its Archival Studies – Your Way to Anabaptist History.