Schöntal

Names: 
Dolina
Schöntal
Schönthal
Шенталь
Долинское
Шенополь
Shenopol
Dolinskoje
Dolskoje
Дольское
Долина
Daughter Colonies: 
History: 

Schöntal means "Pleasant Valley" in German. It was located on the left bank of the Yeruslan River about 60 miles southeast of Saratov. It was founded in 1856 [perhaps 1857] by settlers from Yagodnaya Polyana. An additional 162 colonists from Pobochnaya resettled there in 1857.

Today, little remains of Schöntal. It was administrativesly merged with neighboring Neu-Yagodnaya-Polyana and those living in Neu-Yagodnaya moved to Schöntal. Today, the village is called Dolina a name which it had originally received in 1916 during a time of anti-German sentiment.

In September 1941, all inhabitants were deported from the colony.

Church: 

The Lutheran parish in Schöntal was founded in 1864 as an independent parish with a resident pastor. Schöntal served as the lead parish for four surrounding congregations.

There were also Reformed parishners in Schöntal.

Pastors & Priests: 

The colony of Schöntal was served by the following pastors: Karl Zimmer (1908-1911)
Johann Georg Schwartz (1914-?)

Population: 
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1857
 
 
 
 
1859
 
873
 
 
1883
 
1,453
 
 
1889
 
1,652
 
 
1897
 
2,037*
1,019
1,018
1905
 
2,728
 
 
1910
 
2,897
 
 
1920
385
2,573
 
 
1922
 
1,990
 
 
1923
 
1,708
 
 
1926
366
1,981**
981
1,000
1931
 
2,498***
 
 

*Of whom 1,996 were German.
**Of whom 1,956 were German (355 households: 966 male & 990 female).
***Of whom 2,444 were German.

Sources: 

- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- German Settlements in the Years 1917-1941 [in Russian] (wolgadeutsche.net)
- 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: AER Verlag Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland, 1978): 197.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 17.

Map showing Schöntal (1935).

Photo of the church in Schöntal.
Source: Jorge Bohn.

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