Huguenots Flee to Brandenburg

1685

Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, issued the Edict of Potsdam inviting French Protestants driven out by Louis XIV to settle in his underpopulated lands. Twenty thousand Huguenots arrived, bringing skills, capital, and Calvinist piety. Berlin's population tripled. The origins of modern Prussian prosperity owed something to French intolerance.