Mariental was founded on 16 June 1766 by colonists who had been recruited by LeRoi & Pictet. By edict dated 26 February 1768, the colony received its official Russian name of Tonkoshurovka. Christian August Toronow records that Mariental was called Weiler during the first couple of years after it was founded.
In 1773, Mariental was visited by Russian scientist and explorer Pallas. He reported that there was significant production of Swiss cheese in the colony, but that it was all produced for local consumption.
In 1774, the colony was attacked by local nomadic tribes and many of the colonists were killed and taken hostage during these raids.
In 1837, the future emperor Alexander II visited the village.
In March-April 1921, an anti-Bolshevik uprising took place in Mariental. When the rebellion was quelled, those believed responsible were executed by the Bolsheviks.
All ethnic Germans were deported from Mariental in September 1941 and resettled in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Mariental was renamed Sovetskoye, and this is the name used today.
Following the revocation of the Special Settlement Act in 1956, many Volga German families returned to the former colony of Mariental. By the end of the 1980s, approximately 30% of the village inhabitants were ethnic Germans. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, all of the Germans eventually relocated to Germany and today only a handful remain.
Mariental was a Roman Catholic colony. There were four different churches built in Mariental, each one larger than the last because of the increasing number of colonists living there.
Early settlers worshiped in their homes. The first church building was constructed of oak and fir timbers and was consecrated "Maria Himmelfahrt" in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The second church was built in 1800 and was 12.8 meters wide and 25.6 meters long. In 1816, the length of the chancel was increased by 12.8 meters.
Construction of a brick church began in 1830 under the direction of master-builder Ivan Minevich from Saratov. It was 51 meters long, 20 meters wide, with eaves 15 meters high and designed in the Kontor style. It was consecrated in November 1834, however it was not until 1842 that all the interior and exterior details were completed with the interior artwork completed by Pavel Dundukov. The bell tower was 32 meters tall.
In 1860, a vestry structure was added to the church which made it possible to move the altar back into the apse.
During the Soviet era, the steeple was removed and the structure was used as a community center. The structure burned during the night of 14-15 January 2001, and only the ruins are visible today.
The parish of Mariental was served by the following priests:
- Johannes Müller Dedukla (1765-1774, 1778-1785)
- Sebastian Otto (?-1802)
- Onuphrius Aganshanow (?-1802)
- Aloisius Moritz (1803-1805)
- Aloisius Averdonek (1805-1808)
- Franziskus Cornet (1808)
- Raphael Zubowitsch (1808-1809)
- Joseph Steidle (1809-1820)
- Reimund Putiewitsch (1820)
- Johann Baptist Schipta (1833-?)
- Joseph Tulzewitsch (?-1837)
- Peter Jacob Rollewitsch (1834-1836)
- Joseph Jakubovsky (1836-1838)
- Johann Thomas Lopazinsky (1838-1851)
- Antony Rudnitzky (1851-after 1856)
- Johannes Brungardt (1877-1879)
- Joseph Loran (1884-1886)
- Joseph Graf (1892-1897)
- Joseph Kruschinsky (1896-1898)
- Raphael Loran (1898)
- Johannes Bach (1897-1899)
- Jacob Dobrowolsky (1899-1901)
- Johannes Albert (1901-1905)
- Andreas Zimmerman (1903-1904)
- Raphael Ehrhardt (1904-1905)
- Joseph Guetlein (1905-?)
- Nikodemus Ihly (1910)
- Nikolaus Kraft (1910-1921)
- Peter Weigel (1921-1928)
- Emmanuel Bader, deacon (1928-?)
The Mariental parish was also served by the following vicars:
- Jacob Scherr (1888)
- Johannes Kaberlein (1897-1904)
- Michael Brungardt (1898-1901)
- Karl Hopfauf (1905-?)
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
92
|
360
|
|
|
| 1769 |
88
|
358
|
180
|
178
|
| 1773 |
87
|
400
|
190
|
210
|
| 1788 |
82
|
385
|
186
|
199
|
| 1798 |
82
|
527
|
257
|
270
|
| 1816 |
152
|
924
|
498
|
426
|
| 1834 |
242
|
1,777
|
886
|
891
|
| 1850 |
336
|
2,957
|
1,496
|
1,461
|
| 1857 |
397
|
3,500
|
1,768
|
1,732
|
| 1859 |
369
|
3,663
|
1,857
|
1,806
|
| 1886 |
|
|
|
|
| 1891 |
|
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
5,058*
|
2,478
|
2,580
|
| 1904 |
|
|
|
|
| 1910 |
884
|
6,663
|
3,296
|
3,367
|
| 1912 |
|
7,566
|
|
|
| 1920 |
951**
|
7,133
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
4,570
|
|
|
| 1926*** |
893
|
4,883
|
2,350
|
2,533
|
*Of whom 5,052 were German.
**Of which 948 households were German.
***Of whom 884 households with 4,839 individuals (2,328 male & 2,511 female) were German.
Mariental (Tonkoschurovka), Russia (Kevin Rupp)
Mariental (wolgadeutche.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): 352.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- Flegel, Arthur E. "Mariental on the Volga." AHSGR Clues (1982, pt. 2): 14.
- Litzenberger, Olga. "Mariental (Mariental, Tonkoshurovka, Pfannenstiel, Fanenstiel, Mariental-Dobovoy) Today: Sovietskoye, Rayon Sovietskiy, Region Saratov." AHSGR Journal (Spring 2023): 1-19.
- Obholz, Albert. "The Clerics in Mariental on the Volga." Volk auf dem Weg (June 2009): 46.
- Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II, 14 February 1769.
- 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 3 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2005): 95-118.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schneider, Anton (ed. Victor Herdt). Aus der Geschichte der Kolonie Mariental an der Wolga. Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 1999.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.
- Thalheimer, Nicolaus. "The History of Mariental." AHSGR Journal (Spring 2023): 35-42.
51.442, 46.739333
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing Mariental (1935).
Architectural renderings for the church in Mariental.
Source: Wolgadeutsche.net
Mariental church.
Interior of the church in Mariental.
Map of Mariental as of 1941.
Source: Miguel Stetzer.
Mariental church.
Mariental church.
Interior of the ruins of the Mariental church.
Mariental "Main Street" (about 1917).
Mariental, Russia.
Mariental showing the ruins of the church.
Source: Jorge Bohn.
Mariental, Russia (about 1910).