Köppental (Mennonite)

Names: 
Köppental (Mennonite)
Keppenthal
Kirovo
Koeppental (Mennonite)
Surki
Кеппенталь
Кирово
Сурки
History: 

Köppental was founded by Mennonite colonists from West Prussia in 1855. It was named in honor of academician Peter Ivanovich Köppen. Lutherans also settled in the colony.

Köppental was one of a group of Mennonite Colonies known as the Am Trakt Settlement. In 1881, some of the settlers joined Pastor Claus Epp Jr. and his group and moved to Turkestan.

During the 1914-1916 anti-German renaming period, Köppental was given the name Surki which means marmots.

Today, what remains of Köppental is known as Kirovo.

Church: 

A church building was constructed in the colony in 1866.

Pastors & Priests: 

The congregation in Köppental was lead by the following elders:

Johann Wall (1853-1858)
David Hamm (1858-1884)
Johannes Quiring (1884-1912)

Notable Individuals: 
Population: 
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1857
27
117
61
56
1859
 
54
 
 
1865
 
101
 
 
1889
 
153
 
 
1897
36
211
103
98
1905
 
182
 
 
1910
75
311
151
160
1912
 
270
 
 
1920
81*
422
 
 
1922
 
304
 
 
1926**
93
396
180
216
1931
 
763***
 
 

*Of which 75 households were German.
**Of whom 386 (175 male & 211 female) were German living in 87 households.
***Of whom 693 were German.

Sources: 

- 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): 402.
- Dyck, Johannes J. Am Trakt: A Mennonite Settlement in the Central Volga Region. Winnipeg, MB: CMBC Publications, 1995.
- Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies. Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869 (Appendix II, p.16).
- Koch, Fred C. The Volga Germans: In Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the Present (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977): 312.
- Krahn, Cornelius and Victor Wiebe. "Köppental (Am Trakt Settlement, Samara Oblast, Russia)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. [Online].
- List of the Populated Places of the Samara Province (Samara, Russia, 1910): 333-334.
- Preliminary Totals of the All-Union Population Census of 1926 for the Volga German ASSR (Pokrovsk, Russia, 1927): pp.28-83.
- Schroeder, William and Helmut Huebert. Mennonite Historical Atlas (Winnipeg, MB: Springfield Publishers, 1996): 133.

Resources: 

1857 Census of Keppenthal (mennonitehistory.org)

Map showing Köppental (1935).

Latitude: 54.209680
Longitude: 18.986360
Latitude: 54.013611
Longitude: 19.064444
Latitude: 54.289400
Longitude: 18.771400
Latitude: 54.284722
Longitude: 18.971389
Latitude: 53.412222
Longitude: 18.616111
Latitude: 54.190000
Longitude: 19.038889