Fischer was founded on 25 July 1765 by colonists who had been recruited by the Tsarist Government. It was located along the banks of the Malii Karaman River (Little Karaman River).
It is believed that the colony was named after Johann Christoph Fischer, one of its original settlers. According to Christian August Tornow, the colony was actually called Weinert for the first couple of years after its founding.
Originally, the Lutheran congregation in Fischer was part of the Rosenheim parish which had been established in 1767.
There was a Bethaus (prayer house) located in Fischer. Its ruins are still visible.
The congregation in Fischer was served by the following pastors:
- 1767-1785 Ludwig Helm
- 1777-1787? Daniel Willi
- 1786-1788 Laurentius Ahlbaum
- 1788-1791 Klaus Peter Lundberg
- 1792-1815 Mag. Christian Friedrich Jäger
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
40
|
132
|
|
|
| 1769 |
36
|
132
|
67
|
65
|
| 1773 |
35
|
142
|
73
|
69
|
| 1788 |
40
|
213
|
106
|
107
|
| 1798 |
43
|
220
|
108
|
112
|
| 1816 |
55
|
354
|
164
|
190
|
| 1834 |
76
|
656
|
341
|
315
|
| 1850 |
109
|
993
|
501
|
492
|
| 1857 |
123
|
1,305
|
634
|
671
|
| 1859 |
|
1,298
|
|
|
| 1889 |
|
1,781
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
1,921*
|
962
|
959
|
| 1904 |
|
2,631
|
|
|
| 1910 |
250
|
2,853
|
1,496
|
1,357
|
| 1912 |
|
2,987
|
|
|
| 1920 |
352**
|
2,626
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
2,055
|
|
|
| 1926*** |
316
|
1,803
|
840
|
963
|
| 1931 |
|
2,353****
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,915 were German.
**Of which 351 households were German.
***Of whom 1,798 (836 male & 962 female) were German living in 314 households.
****Of whom 2,352 were German.
Fischer (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
- Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 349.
- 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.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869): 2:14; 4:56-57.
- List of the Populated Places of the Samara Province (Samara, Russia, 1910): 325.
- Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 612.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 1 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999): 407-418.
- Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, translated by Richard Rye (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 318.
- Preliminary Totals of the All-Union Population Census of 1926 for the Volga German ASSR (Pokrovsk, Russia, 1927): 28-83.
- Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II by Count Orlov, 14 February 1769.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.
51.682333, 46.606
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Fischer (1935).
Former Bethaus (prayer house) in Fischer (2001).
Source: Tim Weeder.
Former school in Fischer (2001).
Source: Tim Weeder.
Former Volga German house in Fischer (2012).
Source: Irma Merkel.
Former Volga German house in Fischer (2012).
Source: Irma Merkel.