The Teutonic Knights of Bohemia, Silesia and Poland had nothing in common with the French-Dutch Teutonic Knights or the German Teutonic Knights. The difference between the former and the latter lay in the different way in which the order was founded, the separate statutes and the different training of the members, who were entrusted with different tasks. From the outset, the main tasks of the Crusaders in the West included the Crusade to the Holy Land, pastoral care and missionary work, while the activities of the Crusaders in the East were initially limited to the care of the sick. This article outlines the origins of the lay hospital congregation in Silesia. Over time, this congregation was transformed into the Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries and into a knightly order in the 17th century. The article also presents the internal relations of the Order and its material situation in the 18th century, as well as the secularisation of the Order, which took place in 1810.