Gnadenfeld was founded in 1909 by German settlers from the Volga Region, mainly from the Samara and Saratov Provinces. The Russian name for the village was Dolinka. The name of the area was originally Gnadenfeld, but the name of Gnadenreich was used with reference to those coming from the daughter colonies of Gnadentau and Franchreich.
By the end of 1909, there were 1,634 people living in Dolinka (812 female & 822 male in 280 families). By mid-1921, the population had grown to 2,466 people (in 282 households).
The village of Dolinka was also the administrative headquarters of the KarLAG, one of the largest forced labor camps of the Gulag System in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. It operated from 1930 to 1959. Today, there is a memorial to all those who were held captive and died there.
In Dolinka there were two steam mills owned by Heinrich Kerber and M. Borgard, two oil presses owned by G. Reich.
There was a Bethaus (combination church & school building) located in Gnadenfeld.
The village of Gnadenfeld was served by the following pastors:
Pastor Ellenberg
- Долинка (Карагандинская область) (Russian Wikipedia)