Ährenfeld
Ährenfeld is a Wiesenseite daughter colony that was established in 1855 by families from Dietel, Kautz, Kratzke, Merkel, Hussenbach, Dönhof, Bauer, and Franzosen.
Ährenfeld was given the Russian name of Kratzke (one of its Mother Colonies) even though the name of Kratzke was the German surname of the original leader of the colonists on their journey from Germany. This double use of the name Kratzke is easily confused in records found in both Russia and the Western Hemisphere.
In 1915, during the anti-German presures of the World War I era, Ährenfeld was given the Russian name of Gradsko.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Ährenfeld is known as Chkalovo.
Most of the colonists who founded Ährenfeld were Lutheran.
In the beginning, the Lutheran congregation in Ährenfeld was served by the pastor from the parish in Warenburg. In 1865, the parish in Eckheim became independent, and Ährenfeld's pastor began to come from there.
A Bethaus (combination school / church facility) was constructed of brick in 1899. The sanctuary was located on the top floor and was designed with seating for 450 parishners. This parish was closed following the decree from Moscow on 20 January 1934. When it was closed, there were still 649 people registered in the church community.
This building still stands. It's steeple was removed during the Soviet era, and today it serves as a community center and houses village administrative offices.
There was also a small Roman Catholic prayer house in Ährenfeld.
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1859 |
|
330
|
|
|
| 1883 |
|
1,103
|
|
|
| 1889 |
161
|
1,138
|
556
|
582
|
| 1897 |
|
1,387*
|
701
|
686
|
| 1905 |
|
2,249
|
|
|
| 1908 |
219
|
2,385
|
1,202
|
1,183
|
| 1910 |
230
|
2,460
|
1,239
|
1,221
|
| 1912 |
|
2,514
|
|
|
| 1920 |
286
|
1,852
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,529
|
|
|
| 1926 |
238
|
1,179
|
572
|
607
|
| 1931 |
|
1,449**
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,385 were German.
**Of whom 1,448 were German.
Ährenfeld: Kratzke’s Daughter Colony
Erenfeld (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
- Beratz, Gottlieb. The German Colonies on the Lower Volga: Their Origin and Early Development. Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Dietz, Jacob E. History of the Volga German Colonists (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2005): 218.
- Koch, Fred C. The Volga Germans: In Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the Present (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977): 311.
- Leibbrandt, Georg. Die deutschen Siedlungen in der Sowjetunion (Teil 5: Deutsche Wolgarepublik). Berlin: E. Meynen, 1941.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Sallet, Richard. Russian-German Settlements in the United States (Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974).
- Schmidt, D. Studien uber die Geschichte der Wolgadeutschen - Erster Teil (1929).
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Map of Ährenfeld and Neu-Ährenfeld (1935)
Ährenfeld Lutheran Church (1926)
Ährenfeld bell tower (April 1925).
Source: "Немцы Поволжья" website.
Former Ährenfeld Lutheran Church (1990).
Source: "Немцы Поволжья" website.
Former Ährenfeld Lutheran Church (2015)
Former Ährenfeld Lutheran Church (2010).
Source: Michael Demyanenko.
Ährenfeld from the air (looking eastward).
Source: wolgadeutsche.net.
Ährenfeld from the air (looking northward).
Source: wolgadeutsche.net.
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