Schwed was founded as a Lutheran colony on 27 July 1765 by the Government. The 24 founding colonist families came from Sweden, Saxony, Nuremburg, and Danzig. Enough of the original settlers were from Sweden that the colony was named Schwed, but according to a report by Christian August Tornow, it was called Schulz for the first couple of years after it was founded. By decree dated 26 February 1768, Schwed was given the official Russian name of Svonarevka.
Immigration to America began in 1870. During 1877-1878, 61 individuals left the colony for America.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Schwed is known as Leninskoye.
Originally the Lutheran congregation in Schwed was part of the Rosenheim parish which had been established in 1767.
A new wooden church building was completed there in 1872. It was closed by the Soviet government in 1930. The building stood until 1990 when it burned. The stone foundation is all that remains.
The congregation in Schwed was served by the following pastors:
- 1767-1785 Ludwig Helm
- 1777-1787? Daniel Willi
- 1786-1788 Laurentius Ahlbaum
- 1788-1791 Klaus Peter Lundberg
- 1792-1815 Mag. Christian Friedrich Jäger
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
29
|
78
|
|
|
| 1769 |
24
|
80
|
41
|
39
|
| 1773 |
25
|
92
|
47
|
45
|
| 1788 |
24
|
110
|
54
|
56
|
| 1798 |
25
|
156
|
75
|
81
|
| 1816 |
47
|
304
|
154
|
150
|
| 1834 |
62
|
589
|
306
|
283
|
| 1850 |
105
|
1,011
|
509
|
502
|
| 1857 |
111
|
1,243
|
632
|
611
|
| 1859 |
105
|
1,286
|
658
|
628
|
| 1883 |
|
1,634
|
|
|
| 1889 |
|
1,646
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
2,004*
|
1,005
|
999
|
| 1904 |
|
3,343
|
|
|
| 1910 |
286
|
3,412
|
1,711
|
1,701
|
| 1912 |
|
3,755
|
|
|
| 1920 |
288
|
2,098
|
|
|
| 1922 |
|
1,677
|
|
|
| 1923 |
|
1,623
|
|
|
| 1926** |
312
|
1,759
|
837
|
922
|
| 1931 |
|
2,112***
|
|
|
| 1939 |
|
2,550
|
|
|
*Of whom 1,982 were German.
**Of whom 1,754 (834 male & 920 female) were German living in 311 households.
***Of whom 2,082 were German.
Schwed (wolgadeutsche.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): 353.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- 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 4 (Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2008): 11, 139-147.
- 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): 318.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II by Count Orlov, 14 February 1769.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 16.
51.6135, 46.499167
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Map showing the west end of Schwed (1935).
Lutheran Church in Schwed (built in 1872).
Source: Jorge Bohn
This photo was taken in 1930 in Schwed soon after the 1928 collectivization of agriculture. It shows a brigade of farmers ready to work on the spring seeding. In the background we see a farmstead typical for Volga German villages. Shown on the platform is the management of the kolkhoz [collective] along with a portrait of Lenin. The fence is covered with directives and regulations.
Source: David Eurich.