Leichtling was founded on 14 May 1767 by colonists who had been recruited by the Tsarist Government, 120 kilometers from Saratov and 54 versts from Kamyshin. Its 49 founding colonist families came from Mainz, Bamberg, and Bavaria.
The colony took its German name from Michael Leichtling, the first mayor (Vorsteher) of the colony who had come from the German region of Stuttgart.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Leichtling is known as Ilovlinka, but the few building located there apprear to have been constructed after the 1941 Deportation.
Leichtling was first part of the Roman Catholic parish in Semenovka. Later it became part of the Hildmann Parish.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Leichtling became an independent parish with a resident priest.
A wooden church was built in 1850. This parish church was destroyed by fire on 24 August 1897, just after Mass celebrating the feast of St. Bartholomew. Three visiting ministers tried to help save the church, but it was completely destroyed. There was no church building in the colony until a new church was completed in 1919. The colonists worshiped in the school house during this time.
The following priests are known to have served the congregation in Leichtling:
- Alois Ocks
- Johannes Schneider, Sr.
- Florian Schulz (1912-1913)
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
49
|
143
|
67
|
76
|
| 1769 |
34
|
150
|
73
|
77
|
| 1773 |
47
|
188
|
97
|
91
|
| 1788 |
45
|
259
|
133
|
126
|
| 1798 |
46
|
300
|
154
|
146
|
| 1816 |
63
|
398
|
213
|
185
|
| 1834 |
93
|
677
|
342
|
335
|
| 1850 |
105
|
963
|
485
|
478
|
| 1857 |
112
|
940
|
468
|
472
|
| 1859 |
98
|
919
|
470
|
449
|
| 1886 |
185
|
1,359
|
718
|
641
|
| 1891 |
167
|
1,755
|
906
|
849
|
| 1894 |
166
|
1,886
|
983
|
903
|
| 1897 |
|
1,451*
|
726
|
725
|
| 1905 |
|
1,835
|
|
|
| 1910 |
|
2,414
|
|
|
| 1912 |
|
2,535
|
|
|
| 1920 |
308**
|
2,038
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,297
|
|
|
| 1926 |
251
|
1,394
|
694
|
700
|
| 1931 |
|
1,627***
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,440 were German.
**Of which 306 households were German.
***Of whom 1,604 were German.
Leichtling (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
Leichtling Russia (Darryl Boyd)
- 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): 351.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869): 2:13; 4:52-53.
- List of Settlements in the Russian Empire in 1859, vol. 38: Saratov Province (St. Petersburg, 1862): p.59.
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 353-355.
- 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): 623.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schnurr, Joseph, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart: Selbstverlag Joseph Schnurr, 1980): 258.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Censuses of 1834, 1850, & 1857 are available on the Leichtling.com website
50.537, 45.402
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Leichtling (1935).