Alpachiri, Departamento Guatraché, La Pampa Province
The group of Volga Germans that founded Alpachiri had originally settled in Villa Alba when they immigrated from Russia in 1906. In 1920, the lease on the land they were renting there expired, and the group (29 families including 149 children) moved to Alpachiri. Alpachiri had been officially founded on 1 May 1910.
Due to drought and poverty, 16 families left in 1929 and moved to Stroeder, Villalonga, Patagones in Buenos Aires Province.
Following their arrival from Villa Alba, the settlers, all of the Lutheran faith, built a chapel on the land of Gotlieb Knödel (now owned by the Brethauer family). Daniel Gast served as the lead carpenter. In 1951 a new adobe church building was dedicated on land donated by Christian Weber.
The congregation in Alpachiri was served by the following pastors:
Pastor Franschtat
Pastor Krauce
Arthur Eich
Pastor Schulz
Pastor Hagedorn
Walter Zimmermann
Wilhelm Mirus
The following Volga German families are known to have settled in Alpachiri:
Albrecht
Bensack from Semenovka
Blumenahagen
Brethauer
Faas
Kloster from Semenovka
Knödel
Lambrecht from Pfeifer
Pfeifer
Rath
Ruff
Rupel
Rust
Schmidt
Schumacher
Schmidt
Schneider
Stieben from Bauer
Wagner
Weber
Wertz
Yurck
- Obituaries published in Argentinisches Volksfreund
- Nuestra historia como Congregación de Alpachiri (Lidia Magdalena Ramírez de Mitzig)
Alpachiri (wikipedia - in Spanish)
Lutheran Church in Alpachiri (1923).
Source: Lidia Magdalena Ramírez de Mitzig.
Lutheran Church in Alpachiri (1951).
Source: Lidia Magdalena Ramírez de Mitzig.
Confirmation class (4 June 1944).
Left to right: Arturo Rath, Luisa Blumenhagen, Catalina Brethauer, Magdalena Schumacher, Elsa Rath, Ana Bohnet, and Pastor Wilhelm Mirus.
Source: Lidia Magdalena Ramírez de Mitzig.
Volga German Cultural Center in Alpachiri (2002).