Edict of Potsdam

The Edict of Potsdam (German: Edikt von Potsdam) was a proclamation issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, in Potsdam on October 29, 1685, as a response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau. It encouraged Protestants to relocate to Brandenburg.

On 22 October 1685, King Louis XIV of France issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which was part of a program of persecution that closed Huguenot churches and schools. This policy escalated the harassment of religious minorities since the dragonnades created in 1681 in order to intimidate Huguenots into converting to Catholicism. As a result, a large number of Protestants — estimates range from 210,000 to 900,000 — left France over the next two decades.

Across the Rhine it has been estimated that the Holy Roman empire had lost a third of its population through slaughter, famine and plague during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). The western part of Brandenburg-Prussia fell within the empire: badly depopulated, the territory faced a desperate labour shortage during the second half of the seventeenth century.

The novelist Theodor Fontane was descended from French religious refugees who had relocated to Brandenburg-Prussia in response to the Edicts of Fontainbleau and Potsdam. Two hundred years he wrote a lengthy and resounding
"Prologue to the two hundredth anniversary celebration of the French colony":

A shelter found, freedom of [religious] belief,
And refuge from oppression of the conscience.
A courageous prince, free and devout,
Received us here, as he prince of the country
Received us as his own people. No envy was awakened,
No jealousy, - People opened their doors
And welcomed us as Brothers in Christ......

Ein Obdach fanden, Freistatt für den Glauben,
Und Zuflucht vor Bedrängnis der Gewissen.
Ein hochmuther Fürst, so frei wie fromm,
Empfing uns hier, und wie der Fürst des Landes
Empfing uns auch sein Volk. Kein Neid ward wach,
Nicht Eifersucht, - man öffnete die Thür
Und hieß als Glaubensbrüder uns willkommen......

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Wikipedia