Yagodnaya Polyana was founded on 16 September 1767 by colonists who had been recruited by the Government. Its name means "berry meadow" in Russian.
Deportation of the Volga German population of Yagodnaya Polyana (which was almost 100% of the population) began on 5 September 1941. The families were taken to a nearby train station by truck and departed on Trains No. 785 & 786 (and perhaps others) on September 7th & 8th. These two trains arrived in the village of Pavlodar in Kazakhstan on 18 September 1941. From there they were transported to nearby villages.
Ruins of a flour mill built in 1912 are still visible in Yagodnaya Polyana today.
At various times during its history, the settlement was known by the German names of Beerenfeld or Baum, but most descendants call it Yagoda.
Today, what remains of the former colony of Yagodnaya Polyana is still known by its Russian name of Yagodnaya Polyana.
The Lutheran parish in Yagodnaya Polyana was founded in 1785 as an independent parish with a resident pastor.
In 1858, a new church was built in the Kontor style. Religious services were discontinued in the 1930s. The steeple was removed during the Soviet era and the building currently serves as a community center for the village.
The congregation in Yagodnaya Polyana was served by the following pastors:
- 1804-1820 Karl Heinrich Rambach
- 1820-1821 Martin Gottfried Hermann
- 1824-1826 Johann Michael Allendorf
- 1827-1832 Christian Gottlieb Flittner
- 1833-1835 Ernst Theodor Hellmann
- 1836-1840 Ernst Wilhelm David
- 1841-1849 Olivier Christoph Holm
- 1850-1864 Christian Gottlieb Hegele
- 1864-1873 Christian David Dsirne
- 1874-1881 Eugen Friedrich Benjamin Kahn
- 1882-1906 Julius August Schilling
- 1906-1908 Felix Coulin
- 1909-1912 Arthur Woitkus
- 1912-1917 Rudolf Wold. Dalton
- 1919-1924 Wilhelm Feldbach
- 1929-1934 Arthur Pfeiffer
Yagodnaya Polyana was also served by the following vicar:
- 1896-1897 Albert Lesta
|
Year
|
Households
|
Population
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
||
| 1767 |
80
|
269
|
|
|
| 1769 |
83
|
312
|
167
|
145
|
| 1773 |
85
|
402
|
206
|
196
|
| 1788 |
|
592
|
|
|
| 1798 |
|
822
|
|
|
| 1816 |
|
1,596
|
|
|
| 1834 |
286
|
2,922
|
|
|
| 1850 |
|
4,505
|
|
|
| 1857 |
|
|
|
|
| 1859 |
522
|
5,520
|
2,830
|
2,690
|
| 1883 |
|
6,030
|
|
|
| 1891 |
|
|
|
|
| 1894 |
|
|
|
|
| 1897 |
|
6,459*
|
3,213
|
3,246
|
| 1905 |
|
9,351
|
|
|
| 1910 |
|
|
|
|
| 1911 |
1,079
|
9,061 |
4,664
|
4,397
|
| 1912 |
|
8,845
|
|
|
| 1926 |
|
6,597
|
|
|
*Of whom 6,427 were German.
- Berry Meadow Archive (Richard Scheuerman)
- Eichelsdorfer Auswanderer an der Wolga (in German)
- Yagodnaya Polyana Site (Kris Ball)
- Photos of Yagodnaya Polyana (2005) (Cindy)
- Amburger, Erik. Die Pastoren der evangelischen Kirchen Rußlands (Lüneburg, Germany: Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, 1998): 137-138.
- 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): 350.
- Erbes, Johannes. Deutsche Volkszeitung (23 August 1906).
- Flegel, Arthur & Cleora. "Research in Hesse." AHSGR Work Paper XIII (December 1973): 21-37.
- Orlov, Gregorii. Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II, 14 February 1769.
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1972): 193.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 19.
- List of founders of Yagodnaya Polyana (GERUS Ahnenforschung)
51.970333, 45.604
Migrated From
Immigration Locations
Yagodnaya Polyana (1914).
Yagodnaya Polyana Lutheran Church.
Source: Eichelsdorf Chronik.
Yagodnaya Polyana Lutheran Church.
Source: Volksfreund Kalender, 1911.
Ruins of the mill in Yagodnaya Polyana.
Panorama of Yagodnaya Polyana.
Map of Yagodnaya Polyana (circa 1900).
Source: YP Facebook
Legend to the map of Yagodnaya Polyana (circa 1900).
Source: YP Facebook
Hand-drawn map of Yagodnaya Polyana (1888).
Source: Vladimir Kakorin
Fragment of a 1798 map showing Yagodnaya Polyana.
Source: Tatiskray.ru
1872 map showing Yagodnaya Polyana.
Source: Tatiskray.ru
1923 map showing Yagodnaya Polyana.
Source: Tatiskray.ru
1941 map showing Yagodnaya Polyana.
Source: Tatiskray.ru
2003 map showing Yagodnaya Polyana.
Source: Tatiskray.ru