VGI Updates

Meier (Katharinenstadt-3)

Jakob Meier and his family are recorded on the 1798 census of Katharinenstadt in Household No. Ka149.

A note on the 1798 census records that Jakob Meier came to Russia by himself from the city of Rostok in the duchy of Mecklenburg. He lived in various Russian cities and finally in 1797 came to Katharinenstadt where he married his current wife. He wishes to stay in the colony of Katharinenstadt. Jakob Meier is a cooper and his stepsons are turners who also wish to remain in Katharinenstadt and continue their profession.

Blumental, Rostov Oblast

This Blumental was located in the Don Region. Its coordinates are estimated and based on where Karl Stumpp placed the colony along the Sukhaya Chuburka River.

Volga German colonists were living there in the mid-1800s.

Today, nothing remains of this village.

Lilienfeld, Krasnodar Krai (North Caucasus)

Lilienfeld was founded by German families from Bessarabian, Tauride, and the Volga Regions in what was known as the Kuban Oblast.

Today, Lilienfeld is known by its Russian name of Lesodacha and is located in the Krasnodar Krai.

Nördlingen, Kr. Donau-Ries, Bayern (Post-1941)

Volga German families settled in Nördlingen following the 1990 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Fischer, Jacob

Jakob Fischer was born 14 August 1955 in Konstantinovka (today, Tobolino) in Kazakhstan. Today he lives in Nördlingen, Germany.

Fischer is an expert on the culture and folk songs of Germans in the former Soviet Union. He is the editor of a songbook of German folk songs from Russia. Together with musicians Vladimir Dederer and Eduard Frikel and singers Katarina Riessling, Maria Penner-Weimer, Lina Neuwirth, and Ida Haag-Depperschmidt, he released three music albums with Russian-German folk songs.

Shubaragash, Bulandinsky District, Akmola Region, Kazakhstan

The village of Karamyshevka was founded by Volga German families in 1906. In 2007, the village was renamed to Shubaragash.

Novo-Dolinka, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan

In 1930-1931, 345 families from Dolinka were relocated to the village of Novo-Dolinka, a few kilometers northeast of Dolinka.

Sarepta, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan

The village of Sarepta was founded by Volga Germans in 1905. By 1909, the population was 216.

Dolinka, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan

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).

Egindy, Nurinsky District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan

The village of Mayorovka (since 2018: Egindy) was founded in 1909 by German settlers from the Volga region. It was called Mayorovka after Karl Andreyevich Major, the leader of the group that arrived in 1909.

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