Norka
The colonists who founded the Volga German colony of Norka were primarily of the Reformed faith along with a handful of Lutherans from what is today the German State of Hessen. They had been recruited by a government agent making Norka a Crown colony. The official founding date is 15 August 1767. Its name was derived from the Norka River along whose banks it was located.
According to Christian August Tornow, the colony was also known as Weigand during the first few years of its existance.
There was a cholera epidemic in Norka in 1848 and 1849. There was a fire in the colony in 1872.
During the era of the Atonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Norka returned to using the German name of Weigand, in honor of its first mayor.
At the time of the deportation in 1941, Norka was one of the largest colonies on the Bergseite.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Norka is called Nekrasovo.
A majority of the 218 families who founded Norka were of the Reformed faith. There were 16 who followed the Lutheran faith practice. The first church building was constructed near the center of the colony, and separate church services were held during the early years. The colony's first organ was purchased in 1791 from a Moravian congregation in Germany. A new church building was constructed in 1822 on the site of the original facility.
Construction of the third church building began in 1880 on 9th street. The cornerstone of the Kontor style building was laid on 24 June 1880 during the pastorate of the Rev. Wilhelm Stärkel. The cross was placed atop the steeple on 6 October 1880. In 1891, a new pipe organ manufactured by E.F. Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Germany, was installed in the balcony of the new church.
The church in Norka was officially closed in 1935 and torn down in 1939.
The Norka congregation was served by the following pastors:
1767-1769 Johann Heinrich Fuchs
1769-1782 Johann Georg Herwig
1784-1831 Johann Baptist Cattaneo
1831-1840 Friedrich Börner
1841-1845 Christian Gottlieb Hegele
1845-1876 Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch
1878-1908 Wilhelm Stärkel
1910-1913 David Weigum
1913-1926 Friedrich Alexander Wacker
1929-1934 Emil Pfeiffer
The following served as an Assistant Pastor in Norka:
1801 Karl Jakob Früauf
1817-1821 Lukas Cattaneo
1875-1877 Gottlieb Nathanael Bonwetsch
1897-1901 Woldemar Emil Arthur Sibbul
1914 Emil Wegener
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
218
|
753
|
|
|
| 1769 |
212
|
772
|
400
|
372
|
| 1773 |
219
|
957
|
501
|
456
|
| 1788 |
206
|
1,358
|
690
|
668
|
| 1798 |
225
|
1,660
|
845
|
815
|
| 1816 |
300
|
2,509
|
1,274
|
1,235
|
| 1834 |
445
|
4,113
|
2,095
|
2,018
|
| 1850 |
465
|
5,951
|
3,081
|
2,870
|
| 1857 |
628
|
6,300
|
3,251
|
3,049
|
| 1860 |
483
|
6,894
|
3,289
|
3,065
|
| 1886 |
877
|
7,641
|
3,898
|
3,743
|
| 1891 |
727
|
10,200
|
5,202
|
4,998
|
| 1894 |
|
10,518
|
5,302
|
5,216
|
| 1897 |
|
6,843*
|
3,381
|
3,462
|
| 1905 |
|
13,500
|
|
|
| 1910 |
|
13,623
|
|
|
| 1911 |
|
14,174
|
|
|
| 1912 |
|
14,236
|
|
|
| 1920 |
954**
|
7,325
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
7,292
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
6,913
|
|
|
| 1926*** |
1,062
|
7,466
|
3,648
|
3,818
|
| 1931 |
|
7,707****
|
|
|
*Of whom 6,815 were German.
**Of which 902 households were German.
***Of whom 7,454 were German (1,057 households: 3,640 male & 3,814 female).
****Of whom 7,693 were German.
- Norka (Steve Schreiber)
- Norka (wolgadeutsche.net) in Russian
- Norka, Russia (FaceBook)
- 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.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- Klaus, A.A. Our Colonies. Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1869.
- List of Populated Places of the Russian Empire, vol. 36 (Samara Province). St. Petersburg, 1864.
- Minkh, A.N. Historical and Georgraphical Dictionary of the Saratov Province (Saratov, 1898): 688-691. Online.
- 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): 622.
- 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): 319.
- Preisendorf, J. Personal manuscript entitled "Out of the Volga Region - Chronicle of the Colony of Norka."
- 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, Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland): 344-345.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
Map showing Norka (1935).
Norka Church built in 1880.
Norka, Russia.
Looking from the north toward the south.
Norka Church in winter.
Source: Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Rußland, 1972.
Norka bell tower located next to the church.
Norka Church interior showing the altar and communion rail. The pulpit is visible on the right.
Norka Church interior showing the organ in the balcony at the back of the sanctuary (1912).
Source: AHSGR Journal (Summer, 1985).
Reformed Church in Norka.
Source: Unknown
Norka parsonage.
Norka Church choir. Pastor Stärkel is seated in middle of the front row.
Norka parishoners with Pastor Stärkel.
Norka parishners gathered in front of the church.
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