How the Germans appeared in the Volga region. Who is a Volga German: the history of German settlers. Organization of an autonomous republic

"Where did our land come from?.."

Goal of the work

Learn more about the historical roots of our city

Job Objectives

1) find out how our area was settled;

2) find out what trace the people we call “Volga Germans” left in the history of their native land.

The history of the emergence of German colonies in the Volga region

The first Germans appeared in Russia back in the 10th century, and already in the next century the first German churches began to be built in Russia. In the XIV-XV centuries. The Germans appeared in Moscow. In 1643, 400 families already lived there. A lot of Germans arrived in Russia under Peter I. During this period, a German settlement arose in Moscow - the well-known German Settlement.

Most Germans moved to Russia during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who pursued a policy of foreign colonization of the Russian state. This was caused, on the one hand, by the needs of the state, the need to populate, develop and assign to the royal crown the outlying lands of Russia in the Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus and Southern Russia. The process of internal settlement in Russia at that time was constrained by the dominance of serfdom. On the other hand, densely populated and fragmented Europe could not provide opportunities for exerting strength and making a fortune for everyone. Many left her in search of happiness, going to New World. For others, Russia became such a “New World,” where there were uninhabited spaces and hidden riches. Just a few months after accession to the throne, in the fall of 1762, Catherine II indicated to the Senate: “Since there are many unsettled places in Russia, and many foreigners are asking for permission to settle, ... accept them into Russia without further report...”

The beginning of the colonization of the Volga region by the Germans was laid on December 4, 1762, when the manifesto of Empress Catherine II “On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in the provinces they wish and on the rights granted to them” was published in five languages, which encouraged everyone from Europe to to settle in “the most beneficial places in the empire for settlement and habitation of the human race, which still remain idle.”1

“Somewhat later, on July 22, 1763, another manifesto of Catherine II was published, which was essentially a more detailed edition of the manifesto of December 4, 1762. The Tsar’s manifesto of July 22, 1763 invited foreigners to settle in all provinces of the Russian Empire. The Register of free and convenient lands for settlement, which supplemented this decree, specifically indicated lands in the Tobolsk, Astrakhan, Orenburg and Belgorod provinces. In the end they settled on Saratov - “a noble city in the Astrakhan province”, a famous center of salt and fishing industries and Volga trade.

Already in 1763, a number of German colonies arose. The German colonies reached their maximum development after 1764, when Empress Catherine II issued a personal decree of March 19, 1764 on order in the colonies, which became the basis of the colonial policy of the tsarist government for decades and predetermined the legal structure of the colonies. The decree also precisely defined the area for foreign settlements: the Volga region from Chardym to Tsaritsyn, from here to the Don, then along the border of the Cossack lands to the Khopr, up the left bank of the Khopr to the villages of Znamenskoye and Dolgorukovo, and then near the Penza province to the Saratov district and through it strip to Chardym. All those wishing to settle in the indicated places were allocated plots of 30 dessiatines per family, in addition, numerous benefits were granted: each of the colonists received money from a foreign resident for travel and settlement in Russia, the colonist had the right to choose a place of settlement and type of occupation, he was guaranteed freedom from civil service and from conscription. The greatest benefits were given to settled colonies. “For them, preferential tax years were calculated at 30 years. They received their “internal jurisdiction” and trade benefits - the right to organize trades and fairs without any collection from them. Each German family received for its share 2 horses, 1 cow, seeds for sowing and agricultural tools.”2

On the same day as the release of the manifesto on July 22, 1763, Catherine II created a new central institution for the management of the colonies, the so-called office of guardianship of foreign colonists, which existed until 1782. Count Grigory Grigorievich Orlov was appointed president of the special office of guardianship of foreigners.

In the spring of 1766, the office of the Guardianship Office began operating in Saratov, created due to a sharp increase in the number of immigrants. “The creation of colonies on the Volga was increasing: in 1765 - 12 colonies, in 1766 - 21, in 1767 - 67. According to the census of colonists in 1769, 6.5 thousand families lived in 105 colonies on the Volga , which amounted to 23.2 thousand people.”3

The first batch of migrants who arrived in Saratov were divided into groups and sent down the Volga, placing them for residence on the right bank south of Saratov. The emergence of settlements in our area dates back to this time:

1764: - Anton, today. Garden; -Shilling, today. Sosnovka; - Baydek, today. Lugansk

1765: - Frenchman, today art. Rossosh; - Grimm, today the village. Kmensky; - Kamenka, today. Kamenka; - Naked Karamysh (Balzer), today Krasnoarmeysk

1766: -Messer, today Ust-Zolikha; - Moore, today. Keys; - Bauer, today. Karamyshevka; - Hussars, today. Elshanka;

1767: - Gukk, today the village of Splavnukha; Mink, today the village of Nekrasovo; Cutter.

Culture and life of the colonists

German colonists brought with them from Europe their way of life, their culture and religion. After visiting the local history museum, we learned what the colonists' home looked like, how they dressed, and what they did.

They were very hardworking people who loved order, cleanliness, and valued work. They were engaged in agriculture and founded many crafts and trades. For example, they made beautiful furniture from wood - chests of drawers, sideboards, tables, chairs. One of the leading crafts was weaving furniture from willow vines.

Almost every German house had a loom. and housewives made light cotton fabric - sarpinka. IN late XIX centuries, our city has already been a recognized center for the production of sarpinka. There were 23 industrial sarpinka establishments.

Other industries have also become widespread, such as oil mills for processing sunflowers. Rich deposits of clay made it possible to open a brick factory with manual molding of bricks and firing them in floor kilns. It was a brick of such strength that buildings made from it still stand today, and the peculiar mosaic masonry makes them real architectural monuments.

Another legacy of the colonists’ culture was the appearance of Lutheran and Catholic churches in the Volga region. In our area, a Catholic church has been preserved in the village. Kamenka and the Lutheran Church in the village. Ust-Zolikha.

Very interesting material are photographs of these monuments and exhibits of the local history museum. (Appendix in the form of a computer presentation) Culture and life of the colonists

Mark on history

Conclusion

Through our research, we have learned a lot interesting facts from the history of our native land, we learned about the fate of the Volga Germans:

1. Volga Germans are descendants of Europeans who, at the call of Catherine the Great, moved to Russia in the 60s of the 18th century. and have lived in our region for over 200 years. They left a deep mark on the history and culture of the region.

2.Our city was founded by German colonists. Many cultural and historical monuments have been preserved in the city and region.

3.The stormy events of the 20th century left their mark on the fate of our region and the people, which we call the Volga Germans.

The revolution of 1917 led to the emergence of an autonomous region of the Volga Germans, and the Great Patriotic War swept it off the face of the earth.

Thus, everyone who lived in our region from 1924 to 1941 were citizens of the Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans as part of the RSFSR and, according to the stories of old-timers, the German and Russian population got along well here together.

Therefore, we would like to draw another conclusion from our work from the words of folk wisdom: “Whoever does not know his own people should not judge someone else’s people.” “A divided country will collapse, but a united country will stand.”

It has already been noted that the elimination of special administration of the colonies and their transfer to the subordination of local district and provincial government bodies led to the disunity of the colonists who found themselves in different districts and provinces. In the Volga region, such an administrative-territorial division of the territories where the Germans lived occurred in the 20s extra years earlier. After the separation of the Trans-Volga region from the Saratov province in 1850, only the right-bank German colonies remained in its composition, while the colonies on the left bank of the Volga went to the newly formed Samara province.

The new administrative division did not take into account the existing economic, cultural, and historical ties of the population of both banks, not least the German one. Obvious miscalculations of the administrative reorganization were noted even by the local authorities. 20 years later, the Saratov governor M. N. Galkin-Vrasky, in a report to the emperor for 1871, noted the “inconvenience” of the artificial division of the Saratov and Samara provinces, in which naturally formed economic ties were severed. The governor proposed to resolve the issue of an administrative structure more appropriate to the needs of the Volga region, but the call remained unanswered.

By the end of the 19th century, compared to the middle of the century, the German population of the Volga region almost doubled. According to the 1897 census, about 396 thousand Germans lived here, including 163 thousand on the “mountain” side in the Saratov province, and 233 thousand on the meadow side in the Samara province.

As a result, agricultural overpopulation, which was noticeable in German villages already in the mid-nineteenth century, by the beginning of the twentieth century, became an important factor influencing the socio-economic development of the region. With the increase in the German population of the colonies, with successive redistributions of land, courtyard plots became increasingly fragmented. In addition, the number of workers, livestock, equipment, and property in each farm decreased, which especially affected the situation of poor families.

Land provision of Germans in Novouzensky district in comparison with other national groups

It is also necessary to take into account the environmental factor, which in the 19th century began to have an increasingly negative impact on the economic development of the entire Lower Volga region. Of course, even before, the zone of risky agriculture, where the German colonies were located, made itself felt with little snowy winters, dry winds, and drought. But by the end of the century, wastefulness of natural resources became especially noticeable. Thus, the area of forests not rich in vegetation in the Saratov and Samara provinces decreased by almost 14% in less than twenty years (from 1881 to 1899). As a result, the groundwater level dropped sharply, previously numerous streams disappeared, and even the Volga became shallow. Field crops suffered from dry winds much more than before. As a result of the indiscriminate plowing of land, soil erosion increased, ravines grew rapidly, taking agricultural resources out of use. the most fertile lands. Since the 1880s crop failures in the Saratov Volga region are becoming more frequent and destructive. The following years were poor and hungry for the entire region: 1879-1880, 1891, 1898, 1901, 1905 - 1906, 1911 - 1912.

The vast majority of the Volga Germans remained rural residents.

Less than 2% of them lived in cities. The main occupation of the German colonists of the Volga region remained agricultural production. By the middle of the 19th century. Land relations among the Germans were already built on the traditional communal principle for Russia, with regular redistribution of land according to the number of souls of the male population. The development of arable farming was hampered by the three-field pattern of communal land use without any soil fertilization. Only in the southern volosts of Kamyshinsky district - Ilavlinskaya and Ust-Kulalinskaya - did the three-field system give way to a four-field system.

Thus, there were no significant differences in the cultivation of land among different categories of peasants and colonists of the Saratov province. Both of these groups of the rural population used backward extensive methods. At the same time, the colonists were able to achieve a certain technical superiority over the peasants in the use of agricultural equipment. They used an iron plow, in contrast to the wooden plows of the peasants, and used scythes in the form of a hook, which were more technically efficient, instead of the peasant sickle. High quality their winnowing machines were different. The Volga region colonists were widely known as unsurpassed craftsmen in the manufacture of simple agricultural implements.

Although wheat production was the main agricultural activity, usually occupying about 45% of the cultivated area, the Germans also grew other grain crops. So 25% was occupied for rye and 5% for oats. From the second half of the 19th century. Millet and sunflower became popular among Saratov colonists. The latter was grown in all colonies, but this crop occupied the largest areas among the villagers of the Yagodnopolyanskaya volost of the Saratov district, where it began to be cultivated in the mid-19th century, and by the end of the century a sixth of all land was sown with it.

Vegetables and fruits were grown in the German colonies of the province on personal plots. At this time, preference began to be given to previously rejected potatoes. Apples and cherries were mainly grown in small garden plots, and melons, watermelons and pumpkins were grown in the fields.

A number of factors negatively influenced the economic structure of German agriculture in the Volga region. And yet the main problem was the lack of land in conditions of communal land use. As a result, arrears began to accumulate in German rural societies, which had not happened before. The zemstvo chief of the Ust-Kulalinsk volost, in a report for 1899, reported that until 1880 the population of the volost did not even know the name of arrears, and currently there are more than “hundreds of thousands of them.”

Of course, practical German farmers were looking for a way out of this situation. In particular, in agricultural villages, the Germans, if the opportunity arose, resorted to renting plots from private individuals, although to a lesser extent than Russian and Ukrainian peasants. However, this source of land use also declined significantly by the end of the century. The reasons were different: increased rental payments, the transfer of noble lands to other owners, increased benefits from direct cultivation of the land, rather than leasing it.

Suffering from lack of land and landlessness, German peasants thus had reasons for discontent, nevertheless, they practically did not take part in the agrarian unrest in the Volga region during the years of the first Russian revolution. Unlike the majority of Russian peasants, the Germans demonstrated their loyalty to the authorities by electing volost representatives to the county land management commissions, which were created as part of the Stolypin agrarian reform. Among the third of the volosts that boycotted the elections of the volost assemblies, there was not a single German volost.

Land management commissions were assigned important role in carrying out reform. They were supposed to assist the peasant bank in selling land to peasants, create individual farms by dividing entire villages or societies into farms or cuts, as well as by allocating individual householders, and resolve the issue of loans and benefits to individual owners. The main goal of the reform was to change the form of ownership: instead of communal land ownership in the village, land ownership of peasants was to dominate.

In the first years of the Stolypin reform, the German villagers of the Volga region reacted to it rather inertly. Many rural societies preferred traditional forms of economic management to the new order. Only a few villages risked switching to hereditary ownership of the land, making it the personal property of all householders, but the stripes remained. At the same time, there was no serious agitation against the reform.

In June 1907, the Kamyshin administration addressed the population with a special attitude, asking local gatherings to discuss the possibility of transitioning to a farmstead system. At the same time, the farmstead itself was described in a negative light. In some societies, the struggle between supporters and opponents of the Stolypin reform gradually began to flare up. Thus, in the Neu-Balzer Society at the gathering of 1909, the peasants were unable to decide on future fate communities due to strong disagreements.

The turning point came in 1910, when literally within two years, seven of the eight villages of the Ilavlinsky volost of the Kamyshinsky district completely switched to bran farming (the last village of this volost joined them in 1914). Their example was followed by two more volosts - Ust-Kulalinskaya and Semenovskaya. They switched to bran farming in full force (14 villages). 3 of the 6 villages of Kamenskaya and one village of Sosnovskaya volost did the same. As a result, the community ceased to exist in 32 former German colonies of Kamyshinsky district out of 51. Of the Russian villages of Kamyshinsky district, only 2 parted with the community during this time. Similar processes occurred in other districts of the Saratov and Samara provinces, where Germans lived.

It should be noted that in a number of German villages there was a silent struggle between those who wanted to go to the cutting, on the one hand, and the community members, on the other. Those who transferred to hereditary ownership were also drawn into it, since during the allotments the entire system of land tenure came into motion. There were often cases when land managers, together with those who wanted it, forcibly separated from the community those villagers whose fortified strips were wedged into the newly created cuts. For example, in Yagodnaya Polyana, Saratov district, 140 farms out of a total of 400 were forcibly removed from the community. In most cases, the allocations were carried out against the will of the communities. Another cause of conflict was the desire of rural societies to exclude from their membership those who had gone to America in order to retain the land for the society.

In implementing the reform, the government assigned a certain role to the peasant bank, which was designed to provide financial assistance to land-poor peasants in acquiring land. As evidenced by the practice of the Saratov branch of the bank, German colonists bought land on equal terms with Russian peasants. In particular, the Nork Rural Society purchased 4,926 acres of land from the bank. However, in 1909, by order of the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture, operations with the colonists were suspended. A little later, due to the low demand for bank lands due to their low suitability for cultivation (poor soil quality, lack of water), local branches of banks were allowed to sell land to German villagers, but not more than 250 cuts. In 1913, an additional 39 cuts were allowed to be sold. Ultimately, 302 German villagers were able to buy 364 plots of land with a total area of 8,920 acres of land from the bank during the reform. This was a rather insignificant part of the total sale of land to all peasants in the Saratov and Samara provinces.

The provincial land management commission carefully monitored the correctness of transactions and, in case of violation of the rules, canceled them. So, when one of the villagers of Sosnovka (Shilling), wanting to circumvent the instructions on the ban on the sale of more than one cut per family of up to 5 people of working age, made a fictitious division with his brother and bought two cuts from the bank, the provincial commission forced him to return one to the bank cut

Since 1910, the Peasant Bank began to collect information about the situation of the “singled out” peasants on the bank lands. Surveys showed that the profitability of new farms was relatively low. To a large extent, productivity depended on climatic conditions. So, in Kamyshinsky district of the Saratov region in 1910-1912. Of the 10 farms surveyed, only two made a profit. In the Nikolaevsky district of the Samara region there were no such farms at all. The losses were a direct consequence of the arid climate. A different picture was observed in the Saratov district. Here, most farms experienced difficulties only in 1911, while 1912 was completed with a profit for two-thirds of the farms.

A certain role in the exit of the villagers from the community was played by the financial policy of the land management commissions, which made great efforts to strengthen the cuttings and farmsteads. In particular, much attention was paid to hydraulic engineering work and fire-resistant construction on the cuts. Otrubniks were given loans and benefits for the construction of ponds and wells, residential and outbuildings, as well as for the fight against sand and ravines. Loans were issued for 12 years, and repayment began only after three years. Thus, in 1912, residents of three German settlements in Kamyshinsky district were given from 50 to 300 rubles only for fire-resistant construction on plots of land. The total volume of the loan amounted to 21.7 thousand rubles. Refusals occurred only in cases where the applicant was found to be wealthy.

Since the early 1910s. the opening of rolling stations, the creation of grain cleaning convoys, the organization of demonstration fields and gardens, the distribution of planting material, and the holding of agricultural lectures began. However, this was not enough. By 1914, in the Saratov province, with the assistance of the commission, only 7 rolling stations were opened, 8 grain cleaning convoys, 10 demonstration fields and 107 demonstration sites were created. In the Trans-Volga districts of the Samara province there were even fewer such objects. The assistance to the cut-off workers in the purchase of agricultural implements and livestock was clearly insufficient. Until 1914, loans and benefits were issued to only 50% of those who asked for them, and the allocated amount did not exceed 33% of the originally requested. With the outbreak of the First World War, lending operations were curtailed due to lack of funds.

Thus, the Stolypin agrarian reform in the German settlements of the Volga region had a number of features. Firstly, the wave of exits from the community in them occurred in 1910-1914, while in the Saratov and Samara provinces as a whole - in the first three years. Secondly, in general, more than 70% of householders came from German rural communities, while the average for the two mentioned provinces was 27.9%. Thirdly, in the German volosts, the devastation of entire villages for cuts became widespread, which was not typical for peasants in other volosts. Features of the reform include the exclusion of villagers from the assistance of the Peasant Land Bank.

Handicrafts occupied a significant place in the life of the colonists. During the post-reform period, their active development continued, which was facilitated by the seasonal nature of the occupation. agriculture with a long period of winter inactivity. Gradually they began to take on the character of working for the market. Leather production is gaining significant development in the colonies, especially in the colonies of Goly Karamysh (Baltser), Sevastyanovka (Anton), Karamyshevka (Bauer) and Oleshnya (Dittel). In 1871, 140 tanneries operated in German settlements in the Saratov province alone.

Around the middle of the 19th century, the production of smoking pipes became widespread. In the colony of Lesnoy Karamysh (Grimm), where they were mainly produced, up to 500 thousand pieces of pipes and the same number of pipes of 20 different varieties were produced annually. They were made mainly in winter from the roots and trunks of birch and maple. The craftsmen transported some of the pipes and chibouks to the colonies themselves, but most were handed over to buyers who sold them in Tambov, Samara, Penza and other Russian cities.

In Nizhnyaya Dobrinka, production of threshing stones from local material was practiced.

And yet, the most popular among the colonists was the sarpin fishery. The production of sarpinka became most widespread in the Sosnovskaya volost of the Kamyshinsky district, where the “land hunger” and the low quality of peasant plots among German colonists pushed them to search for other means of subsistence other than agriculture.

Simultaneously with the further expansion of sarpinka production, the Schmidt, Reinecke and Borel families began to invest in flour milling.

In the 1890s, German flour millers took control not only of flour production, but also of its sale in Russia. The first to take action in this direction were the Schmidt brothers, who founded the Trading House in 1888, simultaneously opening a representative office of the company in Moscow. In 1892 the Trading House "Emmanuel Borel and Sons" was established, and in 1899 the Trading House was opened by Konrad Reinecke. At the end of the 90s, representative offices of these companies existed in St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Rybinsk, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities of Russia.

Despite the construction in Saratov railway, the Volga remained the main trade artery. For successful trading operations, they needed their own ships and barges. The company that was most successful in solving this problem was the Schmidt brothers, which created its own shipping company. It consisted of 5 steamships: “Karamysh”, “Iosiop”, “Kolonist”, “Krupchatnik” and “Rusalka”; 32 barges and 2 floating elevators. Borel's company owned 2 steamships "Vanya" and "Emmanuel" and 18 barges, and Reinecke owned 2 steamships "Conrad" and "Elizabeth" and 17 barges.

The successes of Saratov flour millers at the end of the 19th century were highly appreciated at various industrial exhibitions. The first high award - the silver medal of the Imperial Free Economic Society in 1880 was received by Reinecke's company. In 1882, at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition, she received the right to use the state emblem on her products. The companies Schmidt and Borel were also awarded high awards at various Russian exhibitions in the late 1880s.

In the 1890s, recognition of the merits of these firms also came from abroad. Twice, in 1892 and 1900. Reinecke's company received a gold medal at exhibitions in Paris, and in 1897 the same in Stockholm. High awards Schmidt and Borel also received awards at various European exhibitions.

In 1871, in the German villages of the Volga region, there were 175 parochial schools, 220 teachers worked in them, they taught 49.8 thousand students. In the post-reform years, education problems received increasing public attention. Zemstvo bodies took an active position - primarily the district ones. Back in 1869, the Kamyshin district zemstvo assembly, in which more than half of the seats were occupied by German colonists, developed a plan for the introduction of universal public education. The Regulations on Public Schools of May 25, 1874 gave the zemstvo the right to establish schools, allocate funds for their maintenance, recommend teachers and generally monitor the progress of the general education process. At the zemstvo councils, commissions on public education were created, in which plans for the development of school and extracurricular activities were developed. school education.

German representatives in the zemstvos of Novouzensky and Kamyshinsky districts (in these districts the German population ranged from 24% to 42%) constituted a special category. Work in zemstvo bodies required literacy in Russian and the ability to write reports. Therefore, the hardworking, most enlightened colonists who spoke Russian were elected to the zemstvo bodies. Having started in the field of zemstvos, many of them later occupied prominent positions in the provinces. These are people like G.H. Shelgorn, P.E. Lyauk, N.V., Garder, V.V.Kruber, K.N.Grimm et al.

Zemstvos laid the foundation for fundamentally new steps in the field of education: the organization of zemstvo schools (the first zemstvo school opened in 1871 in Verkhnyaya Dobrinka); providing them with Russian language teachers with payment for their labor; financial aid all types of schools (expenses for public education in the Kamyshin district zemstvo in 1900 amounted to 30% of the annual budget), and then the transfer of part of the parochial schools under the wing of the zemstvo; training of teachers, organization of free libraries, provision of scholarships for studying at universities and colleges.

The development of a network of zemstvo schools (in 1903 in Kamyshinsky district there were 213 primary schools, of which 55 were parochial and 52 zemstvo schools) created healthy competition for other types of schools. The zemstvo school teacher became a prominent figure in the village.

The need for knowledge was dictated by life itself. The development of production and the market required more and more literate people.

Private education has risen to a new level. Since the 1870s, fellowship schools (Geselschaftisschulen) began to appear in the German colonies, created by groups of families to better educate their children. In petitions for the opening of such schools, the founders usually indicated what funds the school would have, where it would be located, the expected number of teachers and students, etc.

The first comradely schools were opened in 1870 in the colonies of Goly Karamysh), Ust-Zolikha and Gololobovka. By the end of the 1870s, similar schools were formed in all colonies of Sosnovskaya volost. Classes usually began in mid-August and continued until June 20. Those who entered here were exempted from attending church school. By the late 1880s, the fellowship schools had an excellent reputation and positive reviews from the governor, superintendents, and local residents. At the end of the 1880s, there were 27 such schools in the colonies of Kamyshinsky district alone.

In general, private schools in the colonies covered a small number of children, but they gave rich colonists the right to choose in acquiring a greater amount of knowledge, especially learning the Russian language, which the parochial school did not provide, and allowed them to prepare for entering a Russian gymnasium.

The most far-sighted colonists demanded the study of the Russian language in parochial schools, because its knowledge was necessary for work in government bodies, contacts with the Russian population increased, knowledge of the Russian language made it possible to have a benefit from military service, introduced for the Germans in 1874, and facilitated service in the army. The positions of the colonists and the clergy during this period were divided. Part of the clergy insisted on the introduction of the Russian language and, what is especially important, focused on the training of teachers with knowledge of the Russian language from among the colonists. Another part in every possible way fueled rumors about the impending Russification, citing the abolition of former privileges.

On May 2, 1881, parochial schools were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Education. The clergy retained the right to oversee the religious education of youth in these institutions. The management order changed, the trustees of educational districts were given the right to subordinate schools to the control of the director and inspectors of public schools. The organization and educational structure of schools remained unchanged. The Ministry also did not undertake financial support - the source of support remained the same - rural communities.

An important factor and element of modernization processes was the growth of literacy. Census 1897 gives comparative analysis the level of literacy of the peoples of the empire. In terms of literacy level (78.5%), Germans in Russia occupied third place (after Estonians and Latvians), and the literacy level of German men and women was almost the same (79.7% and 77.3%, respectively), and the number Germans with higher education primary school- almost 3 times more than other nationalities - 6.37%. Census 1897 knowledge of the Russian language was also recorded; for the Germans of the Volga region and the Urals region it amounted to 18.92%. Level primary education The Germans exceeded all other population groups by almost three times and amounted to almost 87%. Indicators of secondary education among Russians in general and Germans of the Volga region were at almost equally low levels, while the level of secondary education of Russians in cities turned out to be much higher. This was due to the lack of secondary educational institutions and the mentality of peasants who did not see the need for secondary education. For the Germans, the main reasons for the low level of secondary education were ignorance of the Russian language, which prevented them from entering Russian gymnasiums, which in turn was a consequence of the low level of teaching the Russian language in central schools that trained teachers for German schools.

The decision taken in 1871 to teach all subjects in Russian, with the exception of the native language and the law of God, was to be introduced gradually and assumed the voluntary nature of studying the Russian language. But in reality, local inspectors often violated the law.

The reassignment of schools to the Ministry of Public Education, and locally to the directors of public schools, the introduction of a corps of inspectors, state control over the activities of the zemstvo in the field of education, the introduction of teaching in Russian - everything indicated that the state was striving to include the German school in the general structure of public life.

This policy generally corresponded to the objective development of society. Inspector reports, exam results, and zemstvo surveys of the state of school education indicated that the introduction of the Russian language was not observed everywhere. It was not possible to transfer a German school quite painlessly to teaching the Russian language on a larger scale than before, since no concrete steps were taken to increase the number of teachers in central schools and Catholic seminaries, a program for providing teachers with manuals and textbooks was not thought out, and the teaching program was not restructured , the material base of the school has not been strengthened. Inconsistent steps by the government and specific actions of the school administration caused protests from the colonists.

Positive changes in social life that accompanied the development of the economy in the country and on the Volga collided with the traditionalism of the bulk of the German population in their attitude to school. On the one hand, there was a large group of urban Germans, concentrated in cities of provincial and district significance and entered the mainstream of capitalist development through their participation in flour milling, trading in grain and flour, etc. On the other hand, the bulk of German peasants in the Volga colonies personified peasant traditionalism, the consciousness that everything in life should remain as it was handed down by parents during the process of education, and this was in objective contradiction with the need for reforms and the rejection of outdated forms of existence .

Objective processes of integration of German colonies into the general society of the Volga region forced the government to organize central schools. (Ekaterinenstadt and Lesno-Karamysh) for training teachers with knowledge of the Russian language - the so-called “Russian schools”. They were supported by the colonists. Only in 1833 did real preparatory work begin on the creation of schools. But the low level of knowledge of students, frequent changes of leadership, a set of disciplines and imperfect educational plans- all these reasons did not allow us to graduate teachers with a sufficient level of knowledge of the Russian language. The training of clergy and teachers at the Roman Catholic seminary in Saratov was more thorough. It was distinguished by a high level of teaching staff, a wide range of general education subjects and gave better knowledge of the Russian language. Only by the end of the 1890s of the 19th century. Schools were replenished with qualified teachers, and their material resources improved. Teachers were also trained by the Volsk Teachers' Seminary and the Russian gymnasiums of Saratov and Samara.

In 1909-1913. The central schools were transformed into city schools with the organization of two-year pedagogical courses. Studied at the Lesno-Karamysh School from 1868 to 1916. 3427 students, of which 368 left with a certificate of completion.

These figures indicate that both schools constantly experienced a shortage of personnel, material support, and most importantly, students with a good knowledge of Russian as the basic language for education. Nevertheless, it was these schools that produced a number of famous representatives of the intelligentsia, who subsequently occupied a prominent place in social and political life, especially after 1917 (I. Schwab, G. Dinges, A. Shenfeld, A. Lane, A. Lonzinger and others).

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the German urban population in the Volga region was growing steadily, primarily due to immigrants from the colonies. Germans could be found in almost all social groups. They were workers and office workers, cab drivers and loaders, artisans and entrepreneurs, teachers and governesses, engineers and architects, doctors and pharmacists, entrepreneurs and representatives of creative professions, clergy and government officials.

The increasingly active participation of urban Germans in socio-economic, socio-political and cultural life indicates the emergence of a new phenomenon in the post-reform period - wide interaction between German and Russian cultures.

The largest German diaspora was in Saratov. And this is no coincidence, since Saratov became the de facto metropolis of the German colonies on the Volga. If in 1860 about 1 thousand Germans lived in Saratov, whose main occupation was crafts and trade, then by the beginning of the twentieth century their number increased more than 5 times.

On the site of the former German Settlement, German Street arose, which became the central, most beautiful and respectable street in Saratov. On this street stood the majestic Catholic Cathedral of St. Clemens. Not far from it, on Nikolskaya Street, the Lutheran Church of St. Maria. Closer to the railway station there are buildings Saratov University. This ensemble of buildings, created in neoclassical style, has become a decoration of the city. It was designed and built by the talented Saratov architect K. L. Muefke.

Saratov. general form St. Clemens' Cathedral St. Mary's Church

Saratov became one of the largest industrial centers in the region, and German entrepreneurs played a significant role in this.

At the turn of the century, to service the local weaving industry, which was greatly developed in the German colonies of the right bank, in the village of Shakhmatovka near Saratov (now the village of Krasny Tekstilshchik), a paper spinning factory was founded by the joint-stock company Saratov Manufactory. One of its directors was E. Borel, representative famous clan sarpinkov and flour-grinding “kings”. Later, another “Sarpinka king”, A. Bender, became one of the main shareholders.

At the beginning of the century, Saratov became the largest flour milling center in the Volga region. Its mills produced 59 thousand pounds of flour every day, while in Samara this figure was 45 thousand, in Nizhny Novgorod - 42 thousand pounds. It has already been noted that almost the entire flour-milling industry of Saratov was concentrated in the hands of the Germans: the Schmidt brothers, K. Reinecke, E. Borel, D. Seifert and others.

The products of the chocolate factory of the Miller Brothers trading house were in great demand.

Famous tobacco factories in the Volga region were also located in Saratov, among them the factory of A. Shtaf. It received its raw materials - high-quality tobacco - from the German colonies on the left bank, located near Ekaterinenstadt.

With the rapid growth of the Russian economy, factories of the metallurgical and metalworking industries appeared in Saratov. At the very end of the 19th century, the mechanical plant of O. Bering, the nail and wire plant of Gantke, the plant for the production of mill equipment of E. Schiller, and others were opened.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Saratov became not only an important industrial city, but also a large cultural center Volga region. In 1909, the 9th Imperial University was opened here - the first higher educational institution. Among the teachers and professors of the university were such world-famous scientists as philosopher S. L. Frank, mathematician V. V. Wagner, philologist Yu. G. Oksman, physicists V. P. Zhuze and E. F. Gross, chemist V. V. Worms, biologist A. A. Richter, geologist A. I. Olli and others.

Speaking about the intelligentsia of Saratov, one cannot fail to mention the name of A.N. Minkha, who worked as a justice of the peace for the Saratov district for more than 20 years, dealt with literary activity, was the founder in 1886 of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission.

The Germans also played a significant role in the socio-political life of Saratov. So, for example, in 1901 - 1903. The governor of Saratov was A.P. Engelhardt. Deputies of the 1st State Duma - J. Dietz and V. Shelgorn.

The Germans left their noticeable mark on the history of Samara. The Lutheran and Catholic churches still adorn Samara.

The first Samara Germans in the second half of the 17th century. became its governors V. Ya. Everlakov, A. D. Fanvisin, A. Shele. Samara governors at different times were K. K. Grot (1853 - 1860), I. L. Blok (1906). The latter’s life was tragically cut short as a result of an assassination attempt by a terrorist.

The rapid economic development of Samara since the second half of the 19th century. predetermined by the fact that in 1851 it became the center of the newly created province of the same name. German entrepreneurs played a significant role in this process. For example, the section of Dvoryanskaya Street from Alekseevskaya to Predtechenskaya was entirely the focus of German entrepreneurship. Large stores were located here. Among them is the “Sareptsky” store of Y. B. Christianzen along with a warehouse. It sold goods from Sarepta: the famous sarpinka and the no less famous mustard oil.

The bookseller P. Grau, the pharmacist L. Greve, the photographer A. Bach, the jeweler F. F. Schwartz and others left good memories of themselves.

Since the end of the 19th century, large German family enterprises have appeared. The Behnke mechanical plant, the brewery of A. von Vacano, the trading houses of the Klodts, Kenitzers and others have already been noted.

The main sphere of activity of the German intelligentsia of Samara were provincial government institutions, where a lot of small and medium-sized officials worked. The first provincial architect was A. Meisner, later this position was occupied by J. Böhm, A. Levenstern, A. Daugel, D. Werner. The last of them made the most significant contribution to shaping the appearance of the central part of the city.

Another city, the appearance of which was largely determined by the Germans, was Kamyshin - a district town in the Saratov province, near which there was a whole group of German colonies. At the beginning of the century, about 1 thousand Germans lived in it. Interestingly, more than half of them were women in service. The outstanding social activities of Kamyshin resident P.E. Lyauk have already been noted. A. Raisikh was a widely known entrepreneur in Russia.

The German diaspora also existed and played a prominent role in such Volga cities as Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Volsk, Syzran, and Simbirsk.

People started talking about Russian Germans with the beginning of perestroika. For many years the truth about this people was kept silent. And then suddenly various articles began to appear on the pages of central newspapers and magazines, raising the problems of recreating the statehood of Russian (or, as we were then called, Soviet) Germans and the emigration of Germans from the USSR to their historical homeland in Germany. For many it was simply a revelation that our country was inhabited by at least about 2 million citizens of German nationality. As a result of the suppression of information about this large national community, many people believed that citizens of German nationality were former prisoners of war or immigrants.

I still happen to talk to such people. Unfortunately, not many Russian Germans themselves are familiar with their history. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to name at least a dozen names of outstanding Germans who left a noticeable mark on Russian culture and history. But even under Peter the Great, Germans served in the Russian army, navy, in colleges, built factories and factories.

The pride of the Fatherland was: writer and educator Denis Fonvizin, poet Afanasy Fet, painter Karl Bryullov, navigator Ivan Krusenstern, Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen, navigator and geographer Fyodor Litke, poet Anton Delvig, physicist and electrical engineer Boris Jacobi, sculptor Pyotr Klodt, lieutenant Black Sea Fleet retired, leader of the uprising on the cruiser "Ochakov" in 1905. Pyotr Schmidt, scientist, one of the founders and editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia Otto Schmidt, world-famous scientists academicians Boris Rauschenbach and Vladimir Engelhardt, one of the pioneers of astronautics Vladimir Tsander, outstanding pianists Svyatoslav Richter and Rudolf Kehrer and many others.

So who are they, Russian Germans? When and how did the Germans appear on the Volga?

The first Germans appeared in Russia back in the 10th century, and already in the next century the first German churches began to be built in Russia. In the XII-XIII centuries. The Germans appeared in Moscow. In 1643, 400 families already lived there. A lot of Germans arrived in Russia under Peter I. During this period, a German settlement arose in Moscow - the well-known German Settlement.

Most of the Germans, whose descendants can be found among those present, moved to Russia during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who pursued a policy of foreign colonization of the Russian state. This was caused, on the one hand, by the needs of the state, the need to populate, develop and assign to the royal crown the outlying lands of Russia in the Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus and Southern Russia. The process of internal settlement at that time in Russia was restrained by the dominance of serfdom, which shackled the mass of the population. On the other hand, densely populated and fragmented Europe could not provide opportunities for exerting strength and making a fortune for everyone. Many left her in search of happiness, going to the New World. For others, Russia became such a “New World,” where there were uninhabited spaces, hidden riches, and people in need of enlightenment. Just a few months after accession to the throne, in the fall of 1762, Catherine II indicated to the Senate: “Since there are many unsettled places in Russia, and many foreigners are asking for permission to settle, ... accept them into Russia without further report...”

The beginning of the colonization of the Volga region by the Germans was laid on December 4, 1762, when the manifesto of Empress Catherine II “On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in the provinces they wish and on the rights granted to them” was published in five languages, which encouraged everyone from Europe to to settle in “the most beneficial places for the settlement and habitation of the human race in the empire, which still remain idle.”

Somewhat later, on July 22, 1763, another manifesto of Catherine II was published, which was essentially a more detailed edition of the manifesto of December 4, 1762. The Tsar’s manifesto of July 22, 1763 invited foreigners to settle in all provinces of the Russian Empire. The Register of free and convenient lands for settlement, which supplemented this decree, specifically indicated lands in the Tobolsk, Astrakhan, Orenburg and Belgorod provinces. In the end they settled on Saratov - “a noble city in the Astrakhan province”, a famous center of salt and fishing industries and Volga trade.

The Saratov region, which was to become the new homeland of foreign settlers, later called “Volga Germans,” being the southeastern outskirts of the Russian state, at the beginning of the 18th century. was still poorly mastered. It was inhabited mainly by various nomadic peoples: Kalmyks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz-Kaisaks and many others, who were mainly engaged in primitive cattle breeding. Frequent raids on the region by various southern hordes (Turkish, Crimean, Nogai) prevented the successful settlement of the region and the development of peaceful economic life in it. Plowing in the region in the first half of the 18th century. almost didn't exist.

But gradually the trade and economic importance of Saratov began to increase. The plowing of fertile lands began. Cattle breeding and fishing actively developed. After the construction of the Syzran-Penza guard line (1680-1685), Petrovskaya (1690) and Tsaritsynskaya (1718-1720) fortified lines, settling in the region, especially in the Right Bank, became safer. Turkish-Tatar raids through the Lower Volga region into Russian lands stopped. In a wide wave, settlers poured here from different places in central Russia. The population was replenished spontaneously at the expense of bankrupt peasants, townspeople, and artisans who fled from the internal provinces. The tsarist government did its best to suppress the unauthorized resettlement of fugitives here. At the same time, the government was interested in settling this region.

In 1747, the development of Lake Elton began (the lake was named after the Englishman Elton, one of the first entrepreneurs in the extraction of salt here) and the population of the region increased due to the so-called Chumaks-salt carriers, Ukrainians, mainly from the Poltava and Kharkov provinces, who were engaged in transportation ( plague) of extracted salt.

The landowners, having received a huge amount of land in the region through grants from the tsar, began to resettle their peasants here from low-yield areas. New villages, settlements, hamlets and small hamlets are appearing in the region. By the middle of the 18th century. The Saratov region was already quite populated and developed. But the settlement of this region and its economic development made significant progress in the second half of the 18th century. as a result of the resettlement of a large number of foreign colonists.

The manifestos of Empress Catherine II of December 4, 1762 and July 22, 1763 were not just the beginning of the resettlement of Germans from different places in Germany to Russia. It was the events that took place during this period in the history of Russian Germans, genetically descended from the German nation, but receiving ethnic design in Russian soil, that were the decisive factor in the acquisition of Russian population ethnic character.

After the publication of the manifestos of Catherine II (1762 and 1763), the first German families flocked to Russia from Germany, devastated by the Seven Years' War. The move was planned like this: groups of recruits flocked from different places to the ports of departure - Worms, Hamburg, from where, as parties were formed, they sailed to St. Petersburg. Then the settlers who were registered and took the oath of allegiance to the Empress and the new fatherland were handed over to specially hired coachmen and sent by convoys “from Ladoga through Tikhvinsky Posad to the Somina River and further to Saratov itself...”

Foreign settlers came to the Volga mainly from the South West Germany(Swabia, Palatinate, Bavaria, Saxony). And, although among the settlers there were not only Germans themselves, but also Swiss, French, Austrians, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Poles, all of them were called German colonists. This happened, apparently, because in Rus' from ancient times all European foreigners were called “Germans,” i.e. not speaking Russian. This same colloquial word later entered literature.

Obviously, the main motive for resettlement for foreigners was the search for land and the opportunity to start their own business.

All those wishing to settle in the indicated places were allocated plots of 30 dessiatines per family, in addition, numerous benefits were granted: each of the colonists received money from a foreign resident for travel and settlement in Russia, the colonist had the right to choose a place of settlement and type of occupation, he was guaranteed freedom from civil service and from conscription. The greatest benefits were given to settled colonies. For them, preferential tax years were calculated at 30 years. They received their “internal jurisdiction” and trade benefits - the right to organize trades and fairs without any collection from them. Each German family received 2 horses, 1 cow, seeds for sowing and agricultural tools.

The energy with which the tsarist government began to pursue the policy of establishing colonies after the promulgation of the manifesto of 1763 is characterized by the attraction of foreigners not only through its agents, but also with the help of “summoners” - individuals who independently organized colonies, but made the colonists dependent on themselves in private law ( tithe payments to "callers", administrative-judicial power). The challenge produced an unexpected result. Already in 1766 the call had to be stopped in order to accommodate all those previously called.

In the spring of 1766, the office of the Guardianship Office began operating in Saratov, created due to a sharp increase in the number of immigrants. The creation of colonies on the Volga was increasing: in 1765 - 12 colonies, in 1766 - 21, in 1767 - 67. According to the census of colonists in 1769, 6.5 thousand families lived in 105 colonies on the Volga, which amounted to 23.2 thousand people.

The German colonies on the Volga enjoyed the patronage of Empress Catherine II. In one of her letters to Voltaire in 1769, she wrote: “... the lovely Saratov colony now reaches 27 thousand souls... the colonists peacefully cultivate their fields and... for 30 years they will not have to pay any taxes or duties.”

This is how the history of the Volga Germans began, in which, unfortunately, there were many tragic pages.

In 1773, Pugachev’s uprising began near Orenburg, which reached the Volga region in 1774. The settlements of the colonists, which had not yet gotten back on their feet, were heavily plundered by Pugachev’s troops.

On June 4, 1871, Emperor Alexander II signed a decree abolishing Russian Empire all the privileges of the colonists, and about their transition under general Russian control. The Volga Germans received the status of villagers with the same rights as Russian peasants. All office work in the colonies began to be translated into Russian. Because of this, the immigration of Volga Germans to North America and Argentina began.

In 1847-1864, some of the colonists were resettled to new allocated lands, resulting in the formation of another 61 new colonies.

In 1907-1914, during the Stolypin agrarian reform, German colonists became private owners of their plots. Landless and land-poor colonists were resettled to Siberia.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were already 190 colonies, the population of which was 407.5 thousand people, predominantly of German nationality. Officially, the population of this entire territory since the end of the 19th century was called “Volga Germans” or “Volga Germans” (die Wolgadeutschen).

On January 6, 1924, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed at the first Congress of the Soviets of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; in September of the same year, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, A.I. Rykov, visited the capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Pokrovsk.

The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic existed until 1941. Because of the attack on the USSR fascist Germany, The Soviet government issued a directive on the resettlement of Volga Germans to other regions, as well as on the disbandment of the Volga German ASSR. The territory of the Republic was divided between the Saratov and Stalingrad regions.

After the war, the charges of “aiding the aggressor” were dropped against the resettled Germans, but the restoration of the autonomous Republic was forever forgotten.

Religious buildings of the Volga Germans

One of the main benefits for the colonists was the opportunity to freely practice religion. At the same time, it was forbidden to infringe on the interests of the Orthodox Church. German colonists came from various areas Germany, in which there were various directions of Catalism, as well as architectural styles of religious buildings. The main groups of colonists were Lutherans and Roman Catholics. Colonists were allowed to build churches only in those settlements where foreigners settled in colonies, that is, predominantly of one faith. On the colonists settled in Russian cities, such privileges were not extended by this rule.

Old buildings of Engels (Pokrovsk)

There are many old brick buildings left in Engels, built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Walking, for example, along Nesterov Street, turning onto Pushkin Street, and then walking along Telegrafnaya Street, you can see houses to the architecture of which the Volga Germans are directly related. People still live in these buildings, perhaps some of them are descendants of German colonists. Many buildings are in very poor, one might even say disrepair, condition. That is, at any moment the residents of Engels can lose part of their architectural heritage.

There are courtyards between the old buildings, accessible through brick arched gates. Similar gates are typical for Volga German buildings.

For many buildings, only memories remain of the arched brick gates.

Similar buildings were built not only in Engels. Below is a photo from the resource wolgadeutsche.ru, which shows the building of the city of Balzer, photo from 1939, during the existence of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans. There is also an arched gate adjacent to the building.

Nursery building (village Baltser), 1939

Looking at some two-story buildings, you immediately notice the brick columns. Various architectural patterns are also made of brick, combined with stucco.

A brick German building in a photo from 1930. (photo from the resource wolgadeutsche.ru).

The German language was allowed for use by the colonists along with the Russian language. Documentation and signs on buildings were printed in two languages.

The history of the monuments at today's boarding school is interesting. A group of sculptures was originally installed in front of the school façade: Lenin, Stalin and pioneers carrying a torch. In the early 60s of the twentieth century, the monument to Stalin was demolished, and subsequently the monument to Lenin suffered the same fate. The monument “Pioneers Carrying a Torch” has survived to this day.

German State Pedagogical Institute in Engels, photo from the times of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Volga Germans

Due to the growth of members of the pioneer organization, in the city center next to the building of the Rodina cinema under construction on the one hand, and the Gorky Children's Park of Culture and Leisure on the other, construction began on the Republican Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren, which was completed in 1940. On the opening day, the Internationale was performed in three languages - Russian, Ukrainian and German.

Center for the Development and Creativity of Children and Youth (formerly the Pioneer House)

Many of Engels' old buildings can be put in order and restored to their historical appearance. If not tourists, then the citizens of the city themselves will be able to walk with pleasure along the streets of the past. And some buildings can be used as museums. For example, the artist Alexey Ilyich Kravchenko was born in this house.

There are a lot of old buildings in Engels, as well as throughout the Saratov region, related to the culture of the Volga Germans. These are old mills, dilapidated catalytic churches, and ordinary residential buildings. Many of them can be lost at any time.

Old brick building

Billustrade on the roof

Gates and doors

Clear the passage

Ring on the gate of the house

Stucco on the building

Stucco above the windows

Buildings are crumbling

Patio

Brick fence

Windows almost to the ground

Arched gate

Memorial plaque

Place of birth of Kravchenko

19th century house

Administrative building

Pioneers carrying a flag

Boarding school

Flowers in an old building

Nursery building

Pokrovsky city military registration and enlistment office

Boarding school

Non-State Pedagogical Institute

From 1764 to 1768, 106 German colonies were formed in the Volga region in the territories of modern Saratov and Volgograd regions, in which 25,600 people settled. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were 190 colonies in the Volga region with a population of 407.5 thousand people of predominantly German nationality, who from the end of the 19th century were officially called “Volga Germans” or “Volga Germans” (die Wolgadeutschen).

During the resettlement of Germans in Russia, there was a period of mass provision of surnames to the population. This process also affected German settlers. And as always happened in Russia, with big mistakes. Therefore, to this day, researchers of the geneaology of the Volga Germans experience great difficulties in finding the sources of the origin of the surnames of their ancestors. After all, information about the Volga Germans is scattered across many sources. In particular, these are the ship lists of Ivan Kulberg of 1766; lists of the first settlers in 1767; family lists of 1798; audits (census) of 1811, 1834, 1850, 1857; family lists of 1874-1884; 1 All-Russian census of 1897 and church books.

Therefore, many researchers argue that the issue of writing German names and surnames must be approached with some caution.

Metrics, censuses and other documents were sometimes kept by illiterate people, only by ear, in the absence of a unified interpretation of the Russian-German translation or its admissibility at all.

In Soviet times, they were also guided by political considerations. So, two brothers Johann and Johannes could be written as Ivans, and the others - Heinrich and Andreas - as Andreys, etc.

To the parents’ request to write down their son as Wilhelm, the commandant replied that there was no such name, it would be Vasily.

Every German family knows examples of this kind. One can imagine the difficulties of reverse translation.

A similar problem exists with the definition of names in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After the introduction of military service, the expansion of contacts with the surrounding Russian-speaking population, it became fashionable among the colonists to flaunt their knowledge of the Russian language and address each other in the Russian manner, Ifan Ifanofich or Antrei Antreefich. Whether it was Andreas or Heinrich we can only guess.

The colonists did not have a wide variety of names, and often a certain set of names can be traced in individual families over many generations. Appeals to children are indicative: Dem Johann sei Johann sei Johannje or Jacob sei Jacob sei Jacobje, etc.

When faced with the problem of writing the surnames of colonists, it is necessary to take into account, on the one hand, the diversity of dialects and pronunciations in the German language, and on the other hand, the subjective perception of foreign sounds by non-native speakers of German.

The well-known metamorphosis of the Molleker surname is indicative in this sense:
Mileker, Milecker (Stumpp), Müllecker (Pleve), Muehlecker (Mai), etc.

Other examples: Feller, Veller, Feller, Föller, etc.

Features of spelling surnames

Their writing depended on how the church minister did it, how literate he was, and from which German lands he came.

For the first time, the names of the colonists were recorded by assistants of Russian diplomats or summoners (agitators) when they recruited colonists. They did this not for history, but for reporting documents for the money given for the trip to Lubeck. These documents with surnames written very close to those they had in their homeland have not survived.

Next, the lists of colonists were compiled by forstegers (headmen) of groups of colonists. The recording of surnames was not based on the documents of the colonists, which were confiscated by the recruiters, but by ear. But taking into account that the lists were compiled by literate Germans, there were distortions, but not great ones.

Upon arrival in Oranienbaum, new lists for issuing feed money were compiled by Russian officials. A leapfrog began in the spelling of surnames.

During the journey from St. Petersburg to Saratov, the Russian officers accompanying the colonists, who knew German, made their own records of names for the same financial reports. And the surname Meier was written as Maier, Meyer, Diel as Diehl, Tiehl, etc. Not to mention direct distortions.

For example. Anderson was detected during loading in Lübeck. In Oranienbaum he became Anderson, in Saratov he was written down as Endersen, and when the colony was founded, it was named after the surname of the first foreman, apparently in the German manner Enders.

The well-known Catholic surname Kloberdanz was written as Klopertanz back in the late 18th century.

Colonists with the surname Tietel over time forgot that they were relatives of the Dietel colonists. It’s just that when moving to another colony, the clerk made an inaccuracy.

Regarding double German names

It is known that in some combinations of double names both were used, especially female ones. In shortened form, these two names formed a stable form, for example, Anna Maria - Annamri, Anna Elisabeth - Annabeth, Luisa Elisabeth - Lisbeth, etc.

Until 1874, patronymics were not used in writing German first and last names. After the colonists received the status of village-owners in documents, starting with village administrations and higher, the Russian version with patronymics began to be used.

From 1880-90 In a number of official documents, the practice of replacing German names with Russian ones began. This was not the case everywhere or in all local authorities. Wilhelm became Vasily, Friedrich - Fedor, Georg - Egor, Gottlieb - Thomas Conrad - Kondrat, Heinrich - Andrey (by the way, this combination is found in earlier documents of the 50-60s of the 19th century), etc.

But in church records the German names were preserved. A number of family lists combined German and Russian spellings of the name. By the way, with women's German names this didn't happen. The abbreviation of double female names is a popular diminutive method, but in a German way.

Many German colonists had double names, which were used only in official situations, such as baptism, marriage, registering death, or drawing up any official documents. In everyday life, everyone was called only by their middle name, both boys and girls. These provisions were confirmed in archival documents.

If, for example, a person indicated his relative by some name preserved in the family, then in the found archival documents this name inevitably ended up in second place.

Guided by this provision, you can understand why none of your relatives knows that your grandfather or great-grandfather’s name was, for example, Johann Tobias. It’s just that everyone called him Tobias at home.

It is also a known fact that in each clan names were repeated from generation to generation. This, of course, is not because the German colonists did not know other names.

The fact is that when naming a newborn, parents were guided not by personal sympathies and interests, but by strict rules.

Firstly, the Germans often gave children the names of saints. That’s why you can so often find, for example, the name Anna Elizabeth.

Secondly, names were given in honor of grandparents. And here everything was clearly regulated - the serial number of the child in the family was taken into account and whether the grandmother or grandfather were alive or not.

Chronicle of the most important events in the history of the Volga Germans

December 4
"On allowing foreigners to settle in Russia and the free return of Russian people who fled abroad."

July 22
The publication by Catherine II of the manifesto “On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in the provinces they wish and on the rights granted to them.” Education in St. Petersburg of the Office of Guardianship of Foreigners.

1763-1766

Mass resettlement of colonists to Russia and the Saratov Volga region.

1764-1773

In the Saratov Volga region, 106 colonies are formed, including a German settlement in Saratov.

March 19
Empress Catherine II approved the report of the Governing Senate “On the delimitation of lands allocated for the settlement of foreign colonists,” known as the colonial law of 1764 and subsequently called the agrarian law.

At a distance from the main group of colonies, twenty-eight versts south of the city of Tsaritsyn at the confluence of the Sarpa River with the Volga, on the border of the Kalmyk nomadic camp, the colony of Sarepta was founded by the evangelical brothers.

April 30
Institution in Saratov "Office of the Office of Guardianship of Foreigners".

August 27
Baron Beauregard founded the colony of Ekaterinenstadt, the main German colony in the Volga region.

The first German churches were built and parishes were established: Protestant - in Talovka, Lesnoy Karamysh, Podstepnaya, Sevastyanovka, and Catholic - in Tonkoshurovka and Kozitskaya.

February 26
A decree was issued by the Office of the Office of the Guardianship of Foreigners official names colonies.

25 February
The Office of the Guardianship of Foreigners puts into effect the Instructions for Internal Regulations and Administration in the Colonies.

August
Visited the Volga colonies famous traveler and naturalist academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences P. S. Pallas during an expedition to the Caucasus and the Trans-Caspian region, the results of which were published in the book “Travel through various provinces of the Russian state” (Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs in den Jahren 1768-73).

1774-1776

The colonies on the left bank are repeatedly plundered by nomads. Some colonies, due to severe destruction, cease to exist or are transferred to new places.

There was a terrible crop failure in the Volga region, as a result of which thousands of people died of starvation.

Spring Summer
In the German colonies of the Volga region, for the first time in Russia, they began to sow tobacco and potatoes.

The 4th of October
A monument to Empress Catherine II, made by sculptor P. Klodt, was erected in Catherinenstadt.

1853-1862
1871-1874

Resettlement of Mennonites in the Saratov Trans-Volga region. Formation of the Malyshkinskaya volost as part of 10 Mennonite colonies.

June 4
The decree of Emperor Alexander II abolishes in the Russian Empire all the privileges of colonists granted to settlers by the Manifesto of Catherine II. The colonists come under general Russian control and receive the status of peasants with the same rights as Russian peasants. All office work in the colonies is translated into Russian.

November December
In Saratov, other cities of the Saratov Volga region, in the German colonies, enterprises of the German bourgeoisie are nationalized, large private property of the colonists is expropriated and confiscated. The persecution of the leaders of the organization "Germans of the Volga Region" begins, the newspaper "Saratower deutsche Volkszeitung" is closed.

March, 3rd
A peace treaty with Germany was signed in Brest-Litovsk. Based on Articles 21 and 22 of the Addendum to the Treaty, Russian Germans were allowed to emigrate to Germany for 10 years while simultaneously transferring their capital there.

October 19
The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR approves the decree "On the creation of the Region of the Volga Germans."

1919-1920

The implementation of surplus appropriation in the Volga German region led to the complete withdrawal of food from German villages and famine.

Autumn - autumn 1922
Mass famine in the Volga German region, which claimed tens of thousands of human lives.

March, April
Powerful peasant revolt in the Volga German Region, brutally suppressed by the authorities.

22nd of June
Publication by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR of a decree on the “rounding up” of the Volga German Region.

August 20
An archival bureau of the Volga German Region was created in the city of Pokrovsk, which was later reorganized into the Central Archive Directorate of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

December 13th
By the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Volga German Region was transformed into an Autonomous Soviet Region Socialist Republic Germans of the Volga region.

6th January
Proclamation of the ASSR Volga Germans at the first Congress of Soviets of the ASSR NP.

1924-1926

In Marxstadt, the Vozrozhdenie plant produces the "Karlik" tractor - the first tractor in the Soviet Union.

August 27
The adoption by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, at the request of the ASSR NP, of a special closed resolution to provide the republic with a number of benefits designed to promote the development of economic and cultural ties with Germany and strengthen the “political significance” of the ASSR NP abroad.

1925-1928

Based on Novaya economic policy successful restoration of all sectors of the economy of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic affected by civil war and hunger.

26 April
The Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decides to include the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans in the Lower Volga region.

September
Opening of an NP in the capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Pokrovsk.

September - June 1931
Carrying out “complete collectivization” in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, liquidation of individual peasant farms.

December 24
In Ekaterinenstadt, a palace of culture named after Karl Marx was opened in a former Lutheran church.

December - January 1930
Mass protests by peasants of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic against forced collectivization. Uprising in the village of Marienfeld.

February
A massive campaign to “dekulakize” peasants in German villages in the Volga region.

Spring
The NP was formed in the ASSR.

Autumn - autumn 1933
Due to the complete withdrawal of food, mass starvation of the population of the ASSR NP. Over 50 thousand people died from hunger.

March
In accordance with the resolution of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, all Estonian, Tatar, Mordovian and Kazakh schools in the ASSR NP are closed.

July 25-27
First session of the Supreme Council of the ASSR NP. Election of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the ASSR NP, headed by Chairman K. Hoffman. Approval of the government of the republic headed by A. Gekman.

January 17-24
The All-Union Population Census was conducted on the territory of the Non-Republic. According to the census results, the population of the ASSR NP was 606,532 people.

September 1
By decree of the Council of People's Commissars and the bureau of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) ASSR NP, universal compulsory seven-year education was introduced in the Republic of Volga Germans.

April 10th
The Council of People's Commissars and the bureau of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of the ASSR NP adopted a resolution “On the construction of the first stage of the Engels irrigation system using the high-speed method.”

Aug. Sept
The largest grain harvest in the entire history of its existence has been harvested in the Volga German Republic - 1186891 t. Average yield - 10.8 c per hectare.

July August
Creation of NP detachments on the territory of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic people's militia with wide participation of the German population. People, enterprises, and institutions evacuated from the front line arrive and are housed in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

August, 26th
The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopt a resolution "On the resettlement of Germans from the Republic of Volga Germans, Saratov and Stalingrad regions."

August 28
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree “On the resettlement of Germans living in the Volga region,” officially accusing the Volga Germans of aiding the aggressor.

December 13th
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts a decree “On the removal of restrictions in the legal status of Germans and members of their families located in special settlements.”

An all-Union newspaper of Soviet Germans, Neues Leben, was created.

August 29
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On amendments to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 28, 1941 "On the resettlement of Germans living in the Volga region" the Volga Germans are cleared of "sweeping accusations" of aiding the aggressor, but their return to the Volga and the restoration of autonomy not provided.

the 3rd of November
The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On the removal of restrictions on the choice of place of residence, provided in the past for individual categories citizens." The Germans receive the legal right to return to the Volga region.

January 12
According to the All-Union Population Census, 17 thousand Germans live in the Saratov region and 26 thousand Germans live in the Volgograd region. In total there are 2.1 million people in the USSR. 474 thousand people live on the territory of the former ASSR NP, of which 12.9 thousand are Germans.

End of March
The Renaissance Society was created. His the main objective restoration of the republic on the Volga.

December - early 1990s
In the Volga region, a German movement is developing for the restoration of the ASSR NP, supported by the majority of Soviet Germans, and a campaign against the restoration German statehood. The political confrontation became most acute in 1990-1992.

The beginning of the rapid development of the process of emigration of Germans from the former USSR (including Germans from the Volga region) to Germany. The process continues to this day.

February 21
A decree was signed on the formation of a German region and district in the Saratov and Volgograd regions. At the same time, the President Russian Federation B. Yeltsin, with his speech in the Saratov region, practically refused to restore German autonomy on the Volga.

July 10
An agreement was signed between Germany and Russia on the gradual (4-5 years) restoration of the Republic of the Volga Germans.

August
According to the survey results, the majority of the population of the Saratov region was against the creation of German autonomy (in rural areas up to 80% of the population was against it). In Saratov, the central street has returned to its historical name - "German".

February 4-6
The first congress of Volga Germans. The formation of the Volga German Community, the beginning of the reorientation of the main efforts of the German national movement on the Volga from a purely political struggle to solving the problems of the economic, social and cultural life of the Volga Germans.

February 26-28
The III Congress of Germans of the former USSR makes a decision: to form the Interstate Council of Russian Germans, to hold a national referendum (elections of the People's Council (Volkstag) of Russian Germans).

The beginning of the implementation in the Volga region of the Presidential Federal Target Program for the development of the socio-economic and cultural base for the revival of Russian Germans for 1997-2006.

In the 60s of the 18th century, widespread resettlement of Germans to Russia began and they colonized, mainly, lands in the Lower Volga region. Up to the present day, the descendants of the German colonists of the Volga region constitute a special ethnographic group.

Short story

Catherine II, having published the manifesto “On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in different provinces of their choice” in 1763, did not mean to attract only Germans to Russia. Activities for the recruitment of colonists and the benefits provided to them were designed for any cultural Europeans. But it so happened that the majority of the immigrants were residents of different German states. The Germans were encouraged to do this by the growing shortage of land in their homeland.

The conditions for the settlers gave an advantage to those who decided to devote themselves to agriculture. Farmers were exempt from all taxes for 30 years, while the terms of benefits for people of other occupations were much shorter. In addition, future farmers could count on lifts and transportation to the place of settlement. Virgin lands were provided for the settlement of colonists, mainly in New Russia and the Lower Volga region.

Foreigners who settled in entire agricultural colonies received the right of self-government. They were under the special jurisdiction of the “Office of Guardianship of Foreigners” in St. Petersburg. In 1833 the chancellery was abolished and the German colonies were included in general to existing provinces and districts.

The preferential regime for immigrants to Russia was in effect until 1819. After this, the Russian government reserved it only for the Protestant Mennonite community. They came to Russia until 1874. That year, universal conscription was introduced in Russia. Most of the Mennonites who had already moved to Russia, being pacifists, then left for America.

For self-preservation in the events of the October Revolution, the Volga Germans declared themselves loyal Soviet power and in 1918 they created the Labor Commune of the Volga Germans (since 1923 - the ASSR of the Volga Germans). This allowed them to avoid many negative consequences Bolshevik experiments. The Germans of the Volga region themselves carried out collectivization. But in 1941 they were unable to avoid widespread forced eviction to Kazakhstan. The Volga German Republic was abolished.

A special nation

By the beginning of the twentieth century, about 400 thousand Germans lived in the Volga region. Their ancestors came to Russia from different states long before the Germans began to feel like a single nation. Thanks to this, the inhabitants of the colonies retained the dialects of the regions of Germany from which they came for a very long time. For a long time they called themselves not Germans (Deutschen), but Swabians, Hessians, Silesians, etc. The awareness of being one people came mainly through communication with surrounding Russians. However, until the end of the 19th century it was very limited. Each German rural district was a self-sufficient, semi-closed little world.

Saratov attorney-at-law from the Volga Germans Justus wrote in 1914 that “the German colonist of the Volga region is not a type of the German nation, the descendants of the ancient Teutons. This is a new people, even a new race, created under special living conditions. The word “German”, by which the colonists are called, is a form devoid of any content. With this word one should imagine a Western European German-German: the colonist is not German in this sense, but not Russian either. The colonists are a new, original, self-sufficient nation, absolutely nothing like the Germans.”

The special mindset of the Volga Germans was developed in the struggle against unusual nature, in the absence of many cultural means that they had in their historical homeland. “The colonists are indeed uncultured,” noted the same publicist, comparing them with the Germans of Germany, “their morals are rude and harsh.”

However, the difference between the Volga Germans and the Germans of Germany did not mean their rapprochement with the Russians. Until 1871, the Russian language was not even taught in schools in the German colonies of the Volga region, and all attempts by the authorities to introduce it in parochial schools at churches and churches were met with organized sabotage by the local clergy. In practice, this led to the fact that in 1897 only 18% of Volga Germans knew Russian.

Rural community

Many colonists were attracted to the Volga region not by the desire to create a prosperous colony, but by the preferential treatment provided for farmers. As a result, among the first settlers there were up to 40% of people who were not involved in agriculture. The harsh local climate also created serious difficulties. The average January temperature in the Volga steppes reaches minus 15 degrees (zero in most of Germany), and forty-degree frosts are not uncommon; In summer, it’s common to experience heat above 40 degrees, droughts, and hot winds.

Traditional farming skills were not suitable in such conditions. Much had to be borrowed from the surrounding Russian population. The most basic such borrowing was the rural community. Most German colonists in their new homeland were forced to renounce private ownership of land and introduced periodic equalization of land redistributions. When in 1906-1907. Since the tsarist government began to destroy the community everywhere and introduce private peasant ownership of land, this reform took place in the German colonies with the same difficulties as in most Great Russian villages.

Strange customs

While in Germany during the late XVIII - XIX centuries. There was an evolution of morals and family; the Volga Germans at the beginning of the twentieth century maintained a very patriarchal way of life. Ethnographers noted that in the families of the colonists the power of the head of the family, the obedience of the younger to the elders, and very strict morals were very developed. This was noticeable when compared not only with the Germans of Germany, but also with the Russian peasantry of the post-reform era.

Contemporaries also observed greater religiosity of the Volga Germans. At the same time, the religious composition of the colonists differed little from that in Germany, with the exception that among them there was a higher proportion of Protestants - up to three quarters, of which more than half were Lutherans. About a quarter were Catholics.

Notable were some of the customs and habits acquired by the Germans in their new homeland. The main holidays fell on Sundays in the fall, when field work ended. These holidays (“kirmes” in local) were planned so that residents of neighboring villages could visit each other several times during the fall. Kirmes was celebrated like Maslenitsa among Russians - with an abundance of food and drink. Moreover, the Volga Germans relied mainly on vodka, and they drank little beer here, so beloved in their homeland.

Among the Volga Germans, until the mid-twentieth century, a custom persisted that had long disappeared in Germany itself - “the wedding of the dead” (Totenhochzeit). Its essence was that any deceased person who was not married during his lifetime was buried in a wedding dress (for women - in a wedding dress). This custom, unlike in Germany, was observed regardless of the age of the deceased, even in relation to young children.

Work completed:

student of 11th grade

Passport details:

series18 04 No. 000

issued by the Kamyshin Internal Affairs Directorate and

Kamyshinsky district of Volgograd

area of the year

Home address:

Mira street, building 18, apartment 9

Scientific adviser:

a history teacher

Kamyshin - 2009

Introduction 3

ChapterI. The reasons and history of the resettlement of Germans in the Volga region in 3

ChapterII. Life arrangement of German settlers of Kamyshinsky district and 6 the city of Kamyshin from the mid-18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries.

2.1. Life's difficulties settlers of the Volga region in the 1770s - 1880s 6

2.2. Life of German colonists at the end of the 18th century - beginning 7

XX centuries.

ChapterIII. The role of German colonists in the economic, 10

political, social life of Kamyshinsky district and

pre-revolutionary Kamyshin.

Conclusion 12

List of sources used 13

References 14

List of applications 15

Introduction.

Since childhood, I got used to the fact that in my city, Kamyshin, there are a lot of people with German surnames. And this did not surprise me. But later I thought: what is the connection between distant Germany and a small Russian town?

Several times I heard the phrase “Germans of the Volga region.” People who mentioned this in passing seemed to understand perfectly well what they were talking about, but for me it was a mystery how the Germans could be Volga region? I was told that the Germans once upon a time came to Russia and settled on the Volga. But then a new question arose: “Why did they do it?” I didn't receive an answer.

And just recently, walking along one of the streets, I saw a temple that was completely different from the usual Orthodox churches. (Application). Having learned that this is a Catholic church, I finally decided on the topic of my future research work, deciding that I would write about the history of the Volga Germans.

The purpose of writing my research work: to summarize and systematize information about the main spheres of life of German colonists in Kamyshinsky district and Kamyshin from the mid-18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries.

To achieve my goal, I had to solve the following tasks:

1. Learn about the reasons and history of the resettlement of Germans to the Volga region in the years.

2. Consider the life arrangement of German settlers of the Kamyshin district and the city of Kamyshin from the mid-18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries.

3. Find out what role German colonists played in the life of pre-revolutionary Kamyshin.

The main sources and literature used in the work are:

– “The City of Our Destiny” by Vasily Mamontov and Viktor Fedorkov. The article “Immortalized by Dahl’s Dictionary” became important for the research work.

- “Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province”. In the process of writing the work, the 3rd edition of the dictionary was used.

– “Kamyshin Distant and Close” by Evgeny Khoroshunov. The article “The first translator of Faust” is significant for the study.

– Memories of pre-revolutionary Kamyshin.

– Memories of the life of German colonists in the 60s. XIX century.

The official website of the Volga Germans “DIE GESCHICHTE DER WOLGADEUTSCHEN” can also be considered an important source of information.

1. The reasons and history of the resettlement of Germans in the Volga region in years.

In 1552 Russian troops Kazan was taken, and in 1566 the Astrakhan Khanate also became part of Russian territory. But these huge spaces Trans-Volga steppes for a long time were empty.

At the beginning of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II, born German Princess Sophia Friederike Augusta of Anhalt-Zerb, in Russia there was an urgent need to colonize the sparsely populated outskirts of the country - the territories of the Volga region and Siberia. But, as the historian Velitsin wrote: “The state economy did not have enough strength or means to cultivate these lands...”

Catherine II tried to solve this problem through internal colonization, but this was impossible under the conditions of serfdom and the attachment of peasants to the land. Russian landowners were in no hurry to move to the poor, backward and restless Volga region. Traveling along the Volga from the 16th to the middle of the 18th century was indeed very unsafe - the Cossacks often attacked trade caravans. Confirmation of this can be found in the Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province: “The gangs of Volga robbers were populous, their field was mainly the Volga River.” . 1 In addition, the southwestern border of Russia was often attacked by nomadic peoples - Karakalpaks, Kyrgyz-Kaisaks, Kuban Tatars.

With a manifesto of December 4, 1762, Catherine II called on everyone from Europe to freely settle in the steppe possessions of Russia. (Application). Catherine hoped not only to populate the outskirts, but also to bring the prudent, competent, sober mind of these countries to these areas. But the manifesto did not guarantee a secure and prosperous life for the settlers, and the empress’s call was not heard in the west.

The errors were taken into account, and the second manifesto dated January 1, 2001 (Appendix) spoke of the free distribution of 30 acres of land per family and the payment of travel expenses. They promised interest-free loans for 10 years for building houses and equipping equipment, tax exemption for 30 years, freedom from recruitment taxes and billets, religious tolerance, and broad local self-government on a national basis.

At this time, the Seven Years' War had just ended in Europe. German counties and duchies were devastated. The peasants of Germany, who lived in conditions of severe exploitation and extreme fragmentation of peasant land ownership, which was also devastated by the war, began to emigrate from their homeland to other countries.

The invitation of the Russian Empress came at just the right time.

The beginning of the summer of 1764 was the time when the first batch of settlers arrived in the city of Oranienbaum, St. Petersburg province - 349 people from

________________

1 . Southern counties: Kamyshinsky and Tsaritsynsky. - Saratov: Printing house of the Provincial Zemstvo, 1901. Volume 1, issue. 3, ss. .

Hesse is a state in Western Germany. 2

The road to Russia was difficult, so the colonists were accompanied by Russian mounted soldiers led by captain Boris Paikul and cornet Robinder.

An excerpt from Paikul’s diary has been preserved:

“On July 3, 1764, we arrived in Shlisselburg. July 7 – arrived in Ladoga, from here we continued on carts. July 9 – we went to Tikhvinsky Posad.”

Paikul did not interfere in the internal affairs of the colonists; all issues were resolved at the discretion of the elders. One of the elders' means of education was a stick.

On September 20, 1764, a ship with colonists moored at the pier in Saratov. There were 103 German families on the ship. They were divided into three groups and sent down the Volga for resettlement.

The period of mass resettlement of Germans to the Volga region began in 1764. At this time, 106 colonies were formed on the Volga, in which over 8,000 families lived, a total of about 27,000 people.

In the northern and middle parts of Kamyshinsky district there were exclusively German settlements. Basically, the colonists occupied the Karamysh River with its tributaries and the Ilovlya River. The largest colonies of Kamyshinsky district were:

1. Dobrinka (Lower Dobrinka) - one of the first German colonies in the Volga region. Created July 29, 1764. Population: German Lutherans, Baptists.

2. Kraft (Upper Gryaznukha). Lutheran Germans settled here.

3. Leichtling. Residents are immigrants from Saxony.

4. Holstein (Upper Kulamenka) – colonists from France, Sweden, Switzerland.

5. Stephan (Water Gully) - Germans who came from Hesse, Darmstadt.

6. Pfeifer (Rotten). Catholic Germans from Württemberg and Baden lived in this colony. (Application).

At first, the responsibilities of local management of settlers were assigned to special commissars, and in 1766 a special local office for colonists called the “Office of the Office of the Guardianship of Foreigners” was opened in Saratov.

Due to Turkish and Polish wars the call and reception of immigrants from abroad was temporarily suspended in 1770, and after some time the influx of colonists to the Saratov Volga region completely ceased.

________________

2 "Lenin's Banner" No. 8.

2. Life arrangement of German settlers of Kamyshinsky district and the city of Kamyshin from the middle XVIII before the beginning XX centuries .

Life difficulties of the Volga region settlers in the 1770s – 1880s

The hopes of German settlers for a quick and easy establishment of life in a foreign country were not destined to come true. Some of Catherine II's promises, set out in the manifesto, remained only promises.

There was no housing for the colonists on site. Tsarist officials from the Guardian Chancellery oppressed the German settlers in every possible way and introduced a strict regime for them. The government abolished the exemption for military service.

The settlers had to build their own houses and stock up on fuel. In addition, they were all forced to prepare the land for crops, despite the fact that some of the Germans who came to the Volga were engaged in trade or craft in their homeland, and, therefore, were not associated with agriculture. But the peasant settlers also had difficulties: they had a hard time getting used to the Russian plow: in Germany, the Germans cultivated the fields with an iron plow.

It was an unpleasant surprise for the colonists and natural conditions Volga region. Here's how these conditions are characterized:

“The climate of Kamyshinsky district is characterized by a rather harsh winter, although relatively short-lived, and a long, hot and dry summer. common feature all seasons - frequent and sudden changes in temperature and other meteorological phenomena; spring is short-lived and suddenly gives way to intense heat; Long droughts are not uncommon here.” 3

Soon the overpopulation of the rapidly growing colonies was added to the already difficult life of the German settlers.

As an example, we can consider one of the first colonies of Kamyshinsky district - Nizhnyaya Dobrinka. Analyzing the number of men and women, according to audits of different years, we can conclude that in less than 100 years, the number of the adult population of the colony alone increased by more than 7 times. (Application).

In 1859, there were 5 German districts in Kamyshinsky district: Norksky with 10 colonies, Sosnovsky - with 13, Kamensky - with 11, Ust-Kulalinsky - with 9 and Ilovlinsky - with 8.4

According to the 10th revision of 1857, there were 51 German colonies. There were 102,251 men and women.

We find: “In 1860, in Kamyshinsky district there were inhabitants...a total of 203,788 souls of both sexes. By nationality, German colonists and Little Russians prevailed over the Russian population, making up

3 Minkh - geographical dictionary of the Saratov province . Southern counties: Kamyshinsky and Tsaritsynsky. - Saratov: Printing house of the Provincial Zemstvo, 1901. Volume 1, issue. 3, ss. .

4 Smelov L. Kamyshin. From century to century. - Kamyshin. 2008. Pp. 123.

2/3 of the total.”

Thus, if we assume that the number of German colonists changed slightly in three years, from 1857 to 1860, then we can conclude: by 1860, German colonists made up about half of the total population of Kamyshinsky district.

This confirms that the population of the German colonies increased quite quickly.

Unable to withstand all the difficulties of life in the Volga region, the colonists began to leave for other provinces of the country and beyond. Since March 1887, 350 families left for the USA, Argentina and Brazil.

2.2. Life of German colonists at the end XVIII -early 20th century.

Only towards the end of the 19th century did the population of the German colonies stabilize. Having overcome all disasters, the colonists through hard work ensured that the previously lifeless Volga lands below Saratov gradually became a prosperous region.

According to the testimony of the first settlers, where colonies were founded near a few Russian settlements, the Russians willingly helped the colonists in arranging their lives.

It would be necessary to assume that such relations existed only during the formation of the colonies, judging by an excerpt from the book “Guide to the Volga River and its Tributaries”: “German colonists live a secluded life, strictly adhering to their religion, customs and morals of their country, keeping native language. There are no marriages with Russians; in the whole way of life and mental outlook one can see an attraction to one’s native.”5

But, on the other hand, this statement is contradicted by the entry in the “Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province” about the German colonists: “They live in abundance. They get along with the Russians."

Most likely, while preserving their customs and culture, the Germans gradually mastered the Russian language and established connections with the local population.

The individual colonies were separated from each other, as the Germans arrived from different places in fragmented feudal Germany. In the colonies, settlers settled strictly according to their confessions (Catholics, Lutherans).

The Volga colonies had a block layout. The settlement plans were developed by the board of trustees.

In Kamyshin, the houses of German colonists were mainly located in the territory from the current Oktyabrskaya to Bazarov streets, from Krasnaya to Peschany ravine.

The houses of the colonists were different from the Russians. Prosperous German peasants in Kamyshinsky district built houses from wooden beams. The building, as a rule, faced the street with its long side, the entrance was from the courtyard, on the side opposite the street. What gave German houses a special character was their appearance and interior.

Inside, the house was divided by a transverse wall into 2 rooms, the first - living, the second - an entrance hall, also known as a kitchen. In the kitchen, a shelf for dishes was usually attached to the wall next to the chimney. In the front corner, where the Russian has ________________

5Guide to the Volga River and its tributaries. – Odessa, 1907. P. 122.

The population had an icon case with icons; the wealthy colonists had a closet with festive dishes: two or three painted porcelain plates, several cups, glasses, teaspoons.

Near the free wall there was always a cleanly washed table with benches, which in wealthy families was painted. Further, against the walls, there were chests with dresses, linen and other things.

Particularly interesting are the memories of the wife’s dowry chest and the colonists’ beds.

Haller says that the chest was always locked, and when the lock was unlocked, it made very loud musical sounds so that you could hear that someone was opening the chest.

He calls the bed “the pride of the colonist,” as they tried to paint the beds as beautifully and brightly as possible. In the morning, the housewife knocked down the feather bed and, bending it in half, placed it on the front edge of the bed, covering everything with a sheet with stitching on the lower edge. On the feather bed there were fluffed pillows in sarpin or even white pillowcases. The legs of the bed did not end at the level of the bed, but reached almost to the ceiling. Since the bed was placed in the corner of the room, there were two open sides, which were covered with curtains that were drawn apart during the day and closed at night.

In his memoirs about the life of the Volga German colonists in the village, Eckheim says:

“This bed is called “Himmelbett”, either because it is very high, or because it is so good to sleep in that you feel like you are in heaven.” 6

In the dialects of the Volga Germans the words Bett mit Himmel are found. Himmel – translated from German, in addition to meaning “sky,” it can also mean “canopy.” 7 Perhaps "Himmelbett" is a four-poster bed.

The colonists poured their own candles and made wooden candlesticks. If for some reason there were no candles, then some kind of fat or lard was poured into a clay cup with a spout, a thread wick was placed in the spout and lit. This lighting was extremely scarce, but no more than one such night light was placed on the table; everyone was content with this light.

As for the costumes of the colonists of the 18th – 19th centuries, they were based on the traditions of the national German costume.

In the summer, men wore short trousers and white or colored shirts with a string through the collar. Sometimes, on especially important or special occasions, a single-breasted or double-breasted short vest “Weste” (in some colonies it was called “Brustche”) was “laid” over the shirt. (Appendix A). The colonists wore a cloth cap on their heads for going out and straw caps and hats for field work. In warm weather on weekdays, the colonists walked barefoot.

6Haller about the life of German colonists in the 60s.XIX century – Saratov, 1927.

7German-Russian dictionary.Ed. K. Lane– Moscow, Russian language, 1996. P. 117.

In the cold season, trousers made of homemade cloth were worn; A part of the suit was sewn from the same material, resembling a long vest, but with sleeves - “Wams”. In winter, a short fur coat was worn over the vest. In the cold, damp season they wore oiled boots, and in winter, when there was snow, they wore felt boots. When setting off on the road, the colonist also put on a sheepskin sheepskin coat in addition to his sheepskin coat. German winter hats are cloth, cotton-lined, caps with a lapel, hats with earflaps.

Women's clothing in summer is a woolen skirt made of homemade fabric and a shirt. On holidays, in addition to this, they wore shoes and white paper stockings, and over the shirt - a bra-corsage made of colorful fabric for young women and dark for old women. German women's headdresses were caps, which were secured with ribbons or braids and tied under the chin or under the hairstyle. (Appendix, B).

In winter, the colonists wore woolen stockings of dark colors, felted high shoes with a garus border, quilted cotton bodices, short insulated coats with cotton wool, and two or three skirts. The head was covered with a warm shawl, mostly blue or black.

Over the long years of living in the Volga region, the Germans managed to preserve their identity. Perhaps due to the fact that the culture of the Russian German colonists is closely connected with religion and the church.

There is very little literature about how the Volga Germans celebrated their main holidays.8 This can only be judged from the memoirs of the German colonists themselves. (Application). The most important celebrations in the life of any German are birth, first communion, marriage, as well as Christmas, Easter, Trinity. And each of these holidays, in one way or another, is connected with the church.

The history of the church of the colonists, inseparable from the history of the Volga Germans, dates back to 1760–1770.

Church wardens, priests or pastors were elected by the parishioners and appointed by the office. Their transitions from parish to parish were regulated by the Saratov colonial administration.

The main figure of the parish was the pastor or priest. The clergy of the German colonies initially consisted of clergymen who came from Catholic countries. Later, their ranks were supplemented by priests invited by the Russian government. But despite this, until the 1790s there was a catastrophic shortage of clergy.

There was another serious problem in the church sphere of the German colonies. This is an insufficient number of temples, churches, houses of worship.

In Kamyshinsky district, one of the first, in 1855, was built a wooden Catholic church in the colony of Röthling (now the village of Semyonovka, Kamyshinsky district) (Appendix, A). After the Great Patriotic War Semyonovskaya Church was dismantled. The church fence was dismantled. There is an opinion that it was installed around the building of the State Bank and the Park of Culture and Recreation in the city of Kamyshin. (Appendix, B).

8 Old city, new city, issue No. 2. / Edited by G. Shendakov and T. Kandaurova. – Kamyshin, 1997. P.29.

It was only in the middle of the 19th century that a Catholic cathedral was built in Kamyshin on the corner of Krasnaya and Peschanaya streets (Appendix A), and a Lutheran church was opened on Saratovskaya Street. (Appendix, A, B).

At these churches there were schools for the children of German colonists - Catholic and Lutheran. The school of the Volga Germans was confessional (church). This, in essence, subordinated it to the church. The main attention was paid to memorizing prayers, church hymns, and texts from the Bible.

The Lutheran school existed in Kamyshin from 1863 to 1941.

Now in the city there is an active Catholic church on Lazarev Street, 46 - Parish of the Entry into the Temple of the Mother of God. (Application).

3 . The role of German colonists in the political, social and economic life of Kamyshinsky district and pre-revolutionary Kamyshin.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, social stratification occurred in the German colonies, and even the big bourgeoisie appeared. But the Germans did not have a serious development of class struggle. A communal consciousness dominated in the minds of the colonists, which was supported and developed with the help of religion. The German colonies in the pre-revolutionary years were characterized by an almost complete absence of political life.9

As for the economic and social spheres of life in the county, settlers became more and more active in them, contributing to the development of crafts and trade.

More than 10% of the German population was employed in the handicraft industry of the county. The sarpin weaving industry flourished, employing 50 thousand handicraft weavers. “Kamyshinskaya Sarpinka” has gained fame not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Kamyshinsky district also became famous for the production of “winnowing colonists”. 30,000 of these machines were produced annually.

In addition, German artisans were engaged in straw weaving, woodworking, pottery, as well as blacksmithing and mechanical work.

The reason for this development of handicrafts was the agricultural nature of the main occupation of the German settlers. The colonists had enough time to engage in crafts, which required only the availability of natural materials: clay, stones, sand.

In addition, there was a great demand for relatively cheap products. The traditional national traits of the Germans - hard work, sobriety, practicality and a special penchant for crafts - also contributed to the development of crafts. The high percentage of literacy of the population in the German colonies played a significant role.

The household census of 1886 noted in Kamyshinsky district: 42,425 literate men of all ages (more than 32% of the total male population) and 31,177 literate women (more than 26% of the total female _______________

9 “German autonomy on the Volga”, partI, monograph. – Saratov, 1992. P. 12.

population). Kamyshinsky district, in terms of literacy, was an advanced district in comparison with all others in the Saratov province. Such a high percentage of literacy in Kamyshinsky district was precisely explained by the large German population, for which compulsory study of the German language was introduced.

It was the district Kamyshin that became for the colonists the place where they sent their children to study, where they opened their enterprises and shops. One of the city streets even received the name German. (Now the street is called Spartakovskaya).

In the memories of the pre-revolutionary, who came from German settlers, here and there we see German surnames:

"Mill Borenya- somewhere outside the city.

Raisikh mill - left bank of Kamyshinka, near the bridge.

Miller's Bakery - on Gorokhovskaya Street.

From Nikolskaya to Nemetskaya streets, on the right is the Droffert pharmacy, the only one in the city.”10

Thus, German pharmacists, bakers, mill and hotel owners appeared among the population of Kamyshin. There were also merchants, bankers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers. In Kamyshin in those years such names as Raisich, Gorst, Lichtenwald, Borel, Schneider, Droffert, Bezel, Lotz and many others thundered. These were all respected people.

10 Golman about pre-revolutionary Kamyshin. 1981.

Conclusion.

When writing a research paper, I tried to combine information about the Volga Germans found in different sources. The materials were analyzed and compared. During the research, some inaccuracies were discovered in the names of the German colonies, and inconsistencies in the materials about the relations between the Russian population of Kamyshinsky district and the German colonists. I also found out the reasons for certain events, for example the arrival of the Germans in the Volga region.

Consequently, the work contains elements of the following research methods: synthesis, analysis, reflection.

In the process of research, it was possible to summarize and systematize the information found about the history of the Volga Germans in the period of the 18th – early 20th centuries and, on the basis of this, draw conclusions about the significance of the settlers’ activities for Kamyshin and Kamyshinsky district, about the main spheres of life of the colonists.

Despite the fact that by the beginning of the 20th century, German colonists made up almost a third of the population of the district Kamyshin, they did not mix with the local population and did not lose their own identity. Jacob Dietz says about the Volga Germans: “They are a new people, even a new race, created under special living conditions. The Germans no longer looked like Germans, but they also did not become Russian.”11

Quite a few names famous people can be found among the Volga Germans. The first translator of Faust into Russian was a native of Kamyshinsky district, the German Eduard Ivanovich Guber. In 1835, he completed the translation of the poem "Faust" into Russian. And, of course, I was looking forward to the decision of the St. Petersburg censorship. But she prohibited the publication of the translation. And Guber destroyed the manuscript. However, I found out about this by accident. He found Eduard Ivanovich and persuaded him to restore the translation of Faust.

Deputy of the first State Duma of Russia, lawyer Yakov Dietz was not only a famous rebel in the Tauride Palace, but also a favorite of the people in his native Kamyshin. In addition, he is one of the most prominent researchers and compilers of the history of Russian Germans.

The German colonists endured a lot, but did not give in, did not give up. Difficulties and obstacles only made them stronger. The German colonies entered the 20th century stronger, ready to declare their rights to independence and autonomy.

11 Dietz J. History of the Volga German colonists. – Moscow, 1997. P. 378

List of used sources and literature.

Periodicals

1. "Lenin's Banner". No. September 1988.

2. "Moscow German Newspaper". No. September 2004.

Official website of the Volga Germans “DIE GESCHICHTE DER WOLGADEUTSCHEN”. (Email address: http://).

1. Memoirs (Life of German colonists in the 60s of the XIX century). – Saratov, 1927

3. Some images related to the topic of the research work - a copy of a map of German settlements in Kamyshinsky district and a copy of a photograph of the building of a wooden Catholic church in the German colony of Röthling (Semyonovka).

Russian state archive ancient acts (RGADA)

1. Manifesto of Empress Catherine II of December 4, 1762 on allowing foreigners to settle in Russia and the free return of Russian people who fled abroad. F. 248 "The Senate and its institutions." Book 3398. L. 67-67 vol.; PSZ. T. XVI. No. 000.

2. Manifesto of Empress Catherine II dated January 1, 2001 on allowing all foreigners entering Russia
settle in different provinces according to their choice, their rights and benefits. F. 248 "The Senate and its institutions." Book 3398. L. 238-243 vol.; PSZ. T. XVI. No. 000.

Kamyshinsky Museum of History and Local Lore

1. Memories of pre-revolutionary Kamyshin by Golman, 1981.

Literature:

Monographs and articles:

1. German autonomy on the Volga, part I, monograph. – Saratov, 1992.

2. Old city, new city, issue No. 2. / Edited by G. Shendakov and T. Kandaurova. – Kamyshin, 1997.

3. The city of our destiny. / Vasily Mamontov, Viktor Fedorkov. – Kamyshin, 2006.

4. Smelov L. Kamyshin. From century to century. – Kamyshin, 2008.

5. Chetvertnova T. Old city, new city. Issue No. 1. – Kamyshin, 1996.

6. History of Kamyshin. Volga trade in the XVI – 19th centuries. Documentary historical research. / , . – Moscow, 1999.

7. Minkh - geographical dictionary of the Saratov province. Southern counties: Kamyshinsky and Tsaritsynsky. – Saratov, 1899.

8. Dietz J. History of the Volga German colonists. – Moscow, 1997.

9. Arndt costume of the Volga Germans. ( Late XVIII– beginning of the 20th century) – Perm, 2000.

10. Guide to the Volga River and its tributaries. – Odessa, 1907.

11. Pleve colony on the Volga in the second half of the 18th century. – Moscow, 1998.

12. Khoroshunov E. Kamyshin distant and close. – Kamyshin, 2000.

References:

1. German-Russian dictionary./Edited by K. Lane - Moscow, Russian language, 1996.

List of applications:

1. Copy of Kamyshinsky’s photograph catholic church. 16

3. Copy of the first page and text of the manifesto of Empress Catherine 18

II dated 01/01/01.

4. A copy of the map of German settlements in Kamyshinsky district. 19

5. Diagram showing the population of the German colony 20

Nizhnyaya Dobrinka of Kamyshinsky district in years.

6. Copies of images of variants of costumes of German colonists. 21

7. Excerpts dedicated to the holidays of German settlers, from a copy 22 memories of the life of German colonists in the 60s of the XIX century.

8. A copy of a photograph of the building of a wooden Catholic church in 23

German colony Röthling (Semyonovka).

9. Copies of the Kamyshin city plan and photographs of the Lutheran Church 24

on Saratovskaya street.

Application.

A copy of a photograph of the Kamyshin Catholic Church on Lazarev Street, 46 - Parish of the Entry into the Temple of the Mother of God. The photo was taken on November 22, 2008.

Application.

Text of the Empress's manifesto Catherine II of December 4, 1762 on allowing foreigners to settle in Russia and the free return of Russian people who fled abroad.

B by our grace We, Catherine the Second, Empress and Autocrat of All Russia and so on, and so on, and so on.

P On Our accession to the All-Russian Imperial Throne, the main rule We have decided for ourselves is to forever have Our Mother’s care and work for the silence and prosperity of the entire vast Empire entrusted to Us by God and for the multiplication of its inhabitants. And as many foreigners, as well as Our subjects who have left Russia, beg Us with their brows so that We allow them to settle in Our Empire: then We most mercifully declare that not only foreign nations of various nations, except the Jews, are favorably with Our usual Imperial mercy on settlement in Russia is acceptable and we most solemnly affirm that our Royal mercy and favor will be shown to all who come to settle in Russia, but we also allow the subjects who have fled from their fatherland to return, with the hope that they, even if according to the laws, should have been punished , but nevertheless

We forgive all of them up to this crime, hoping that they, having felt for them this Our maternal generosity, will settle in Russia, live calmly and in prosperity, for the benefit of themselves and the whole society. Where and in which places are the villages mentioned going out in Our vast Empire, and in other respects everything that belongs to that before the order, about this we show Our Maternity of generosity, endeavoring, having settled in Russia, to live calmly and in prosperity, for our benefit and the whole society. Where and in which places the villages mentioned coming out in Our vast Empire, and in other respects everything that belongs to that before the order, we ordered Our Senate, having made a decent determination, to publish.

D an in Moscow, December "" day 1762.

P The long one is signed by Her Imperial Majesty's own hand: Catherine.

Application.

A. Copy of the first page of Empress Catherine's manifesto II from 01/01/01.

B. Text of the Empress's manifesto Catherine II dated January 1, 2001 on allowing all foreigners , entering Russia,
settle in different provinces according to their choice, their rights and benefits.

1763, July 22.
Manifesto of Empress Catherine II
on the permission of all foreigners entering Russia,
settle in different provinces according to their choice, their rights and benefits.

By God's Assisting Grace We, Catherine the Second, Empress and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Queen of Kazan, Queen of Astrakhan, Queen of Siberia, Empress of Pskov and Grand Duchess of Smolensk, Princess of Estland, Livonia, Karelian, Tver, Ugra, Pere Moscow, Vyatka, Bulgarian and other empress, and Grand Duchess Nova of the city of Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersk, Udora, Obdorsk, Kondiya and all northern countries, ruler and empress of the Iveron lands, Kartalin and Georgian kings and Kabardian lands, Cherkassy and mountain princes, and others, the hereditary empress and owner.

We, knowing the expanse of the lands of Our Empire, among other things, see the most useful places for settlement and habitation of the human race, which still remain idle in large numbers, many of which in their depths hide an inexhaustible wealth of various metals; and how about forests, rivers, lakes

and the seas are sufficient for commerce, then the ability to reproduce many manufactories, factories and other plants is great. This gave Us a reason in favor of all Our loyal subjects to issue Manifesto, last December 1762, 4th day. But as in this, We briefly announced Our permission about foreigners wishing to settle in Our Empire; then, in addition to this, we command everyone to announce the following institution, which We most solemnly establish and command to be carried out:

We allow all foreigners to enter Our Empire and settle wherever they wish, in all Our Provinces.

Such foreigners can come and appear not only at Our residence in the Office of Guardianship of Foreigners established for that purpose, but also in other border cities of Our Empire, where those who are more capable, with governors, and where there are none, then with the main city leaders.

Among the foreigners who want to settle in Russia, there will be those who will not have enough income to travel, then they can

to appear before Our Ministers and Residents who are at foreign courts, from whom they will not only be immediately sent to Russia at Our expense, but will also be satisfied with travel money.

As soon as foreigners arrive at Our residence and appear at the Office of Guardianship, or in some other border city of Ours, they will declare their decisive intention, what their desire is, to enroll in the merchant class or in the guilds, and to be a tradesman, and in which city , or settle in colonies and towns on free and profitable lands for arable farming and many other benefits, then all such, according to their desires, will immediately receive a definition about themselves; where and in which places in our Empire the free and convenient lands for population are located, from the following register, apparently, although there are also incomparably more than the declared number of spacious lands and all kinds of land, on which we also allow people to settle, who only and where of them for he will choose his own benefit.

How soon will any of the foreigners arrive in Our Empire to settle and appear in the Office of Guardianship established for them or in Our other

border cities: first, having declared, as above in paragraph 4, about his desire, everyone then has to take the usual oath of allegiance to Us according to his faith and rituals.

But so that all foreigners who wish to settle in Our Empire can see how great Our favor is for their benefit and benefit; then We deign: 1f. All those who arrived in Our Empire to settle have the free practice of faith according to their statutes and rituals without hindrance; and those who wish, not in cities, but on separate lands, to settle in colonies and towns, to build churches and bell towers, having the required number of pastors and other clergy, excluding one building of monasteries; reminding, however, that from those living in Russia in the Christian laws, no one should in any way persuade or attract anyone into the agreement of their faith or community, under pain of all the severity of Our laws, removing from this different title those in the Mohammedan law , the peoples adjacent to the borders of Our Empire, whom we not only in a decent manner persuade into Christian laws, but also allow ourselves to become serfs to everyone. 2e. Those who arrived from foreign countries to settle in Russia should not pay any taxes to the treasury of Ours and serve no ordinary, below extraordinary, services, equally support them, and in a word, they are free from all taxes and burdens in the following way, namely: those who settled with many surnames and entire colonies in idle places for 30 years, and those who wish to live in cities, or enroll in guilds and merchants, at Our residence in St. Petersburg or nearby places in Livonia and Estonia, Ingermanland, Korel and Finland cities, as well as in the capital city of Moscow for five years, in other Gubernias, provincial and other cities ten years, but in addition to that, for everyone who arrived in Russia not for a temporary stay, but for settlement, a free apartment for six months. 3e. All foreigners who have arrived to settle in Russia will be provided with all kinds of assistance and pleasure, those who are inclined towards arable farming or other handicrafts and the establishment of manufactories, factories and factories, not only will a sufficient number of land capable of and profitable for this be allocated, but all necessary assistance will be provided as each state, seeing especially the need and benefit of newly established factories and factories, and especially those that have not yet been established in Russia.

4e. For the construction of houses, for raising various livestock, for all kinds of tools, supplies and materials needed for arable farming and handicrafts, the required amount of money will be issued from Our treasury without any interest, but with a single payment, and then after ten years in three years in equal parts. 5e. To those who have settled in special colonies and towns, we leave their internal jurisdiction to their welfare, with the understanding that Our leaders will not have any participation in their internal affairs, and otherwise they are obliged to obey Our civil law. If sometimes they themselves wish from Us to have a special person for guardianship, or for their own safety and security, while they are identified with neighboring residents, with the good discipline of the military salvoguard, then it will be given to them, 6e. We allow every foreigner who wishes to settle in Russia to import his property, whatever it consists of, without any payment of duties, provided, however, that for his own use he brings with him something in goods and for sale, then no more We allow duty-free entry for up to 300 rubles per family name, provided they have been in Russia for at least 10 years; otherwise, for those during the return journey to collect

import and export duties. 7th. Foreigners who have settled in Russia throughout their stay, either in the military or in the civil service against their will, will not be assigned, except for the ordinary zemstvo, and then after the prescribed grace years have passed. And if anyone wishes to voluntarily enter military service as a soldier, upon assignment to the regiment he will be given 30 rubles as an award in addition to his usual salary. 8th Foreigners who appear in the Guardianship Office established for them, or in other Our border cities, as soon as they declare their desire to go to settle inside Russia, they will be given both food money and carts without money to their intended destination. 9e. Whoever of the foreigners who have settled in Russia will start such factories, manufactories or factories and begin to make goods from them that have not been seen in Russia before, then we allow them to be sold and released from Our Empire for 10 years without any payment of internal port and border duties. 10th If any of the foreign capitalists, at their own expense, start factories, manufactories and factories in Russia, we allow him to buy the appropriate amount for those manufactories, factories and factories of serfs and peasants.

11th. We allow those who have settled in Our Empire as foreign colonies or towns to establish auctions and fairs at their own discretion, without any extortion or payment of duties to Our treasury.

Not only those who came to Our Empire to settle, but also their remaining children and their descendants, even though they were born in Russia, can enjoy all the prescribed benefits and institutions, counting the number of years from the date of their ancestors’ arrival in Russia.

After the above grace years have passed, all foreigners who have settled in Russia will be obliged to pay ordinary taxes and carry out zemstvo service without any burden, just like our other subjects.

Finally, if any of the foreigners who settled and entered into Our citizenship wished to leave Our Empire, we always give them freedom, with the same explanation that they are guilty of giving away everything well-off in Our Empire to Our treasury, namely: living from one year to five years, a fifth, and from five to ten and beyond, a tenth, and then everyone can go wherever they want, without hindrance.

If some of the foreigners who want to settle in Russia, for some special reasons, demand other conditions and privileges beyond those prescribed, then they can write about this to our established Office of the Guardianship of Foreigners in writing or personally, from which we will contact you about everything. the details will be conveyed, and then We, as circumstances change, will be more likely to make the decision that they can hope from Our justice.

Given in Peterhof, July 1763, on the 22nd day of Our reign in the second summer.

The original one is signed by Her Imperial Majesty's own hand: Catherine.

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Diagram showing the increase in population of the German colony of Nizhnyaya Dobrinka in the period from 1788 to 1862.

Application.

Copies of images of variants of costumes of German colonists.

A. Costume of a Volga German colonist. B. Variants of Volga costumes

The end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. German women Beginning of the 19th century.

Reconstruction. Reconstruction.

Application.

Excerpts about the main holidays of the German colonists of the Volga region from a copy of the memories

Holidays of the colonists.

1. Birth.

The birth of a colonist constitutes an event in the family.

Baptism is always postponed among the colonists for several weeks before the pastor arrives in the village, by which time there are usually several children. If baptism takes place in a place of worship, that is, in a schoolhouse, then the child is carried there by a dressed godfather. If the family is wealthy, then the pastor is usually invited to the house, along with the Schulmeister. After the end of the ceremony, coffee and sweets are served, but no alcoholic drinks are allowed, unless they give a glass of church wine or very light grape wine. By evening, the guests leave, and everyday life immediately takes over.

2. First Communion .

The second holiday of the colonist - confirmation , i.e. first communion. Among Lutherans, children up to the age of 15 attend school and by the age of 15 they receive first communion, which is very solemnly celebrated.

6 weeks before communion (mostly on Palm Sunday), children from all the villages that make up the pastoral district gather in the village where the pastor lives, where they attend the pastor’s lessons daily and repeat everything they have learned at school. On the eve of communion, everyone gathers in the church, and here, in the presence of parents, a public examination is carried out, followed by public confession. The next day, the communicants gather in the church long before the start of the service; According to custom, they do not take any food before communion. After the service - solemn and lengthy - they receive communion and at the same time, in memory of the communion, a piece of paper, usually with drawings from the life of Christ and with corresponding texts; by the hand of the pastor it is ascribed that such and such, born at that time, on such and such a day and year, was confirmed by him, the pastor, such and such. The colonist usually frames this piece of paper and hangs it on the wall.

3. Marriage.

The third triumph of the colonist is marriage. When young people reach 18 years of age, they get married; It rarely happens that this matter is handled by the parents; most often the young people themselves come together and then inform the parents. If there are no obstacles, then matchmakers are sent and the matter is considered completed. The pastor announces such an engagement in the church within 3 Sundays and only after that the wedding day is set. When the wedding day is set, the matchmakers, dressed in a festive dress, go around to relatives and friends inviting them to the wedding. Matchmakers sew a rosette of multi-colored ribbons onto their chests, the long ends of which flutter freely; in their hands they have sticks, which are also decorated with ribbons.

The celebration begins, in fact, even on the eve of the wedding: the groom’s entire house is filled with women helping to bake, cook and fry for the guests of future days. After lunch, the matchmakers on a ceremonial wagon drawn by horses decorated with ribbons go to the bride’s house, loading the dowry and noisily taking it in full quarry to the groom’s house, where the dowry is inspected by all the women, but not for the sake of control, but rather out of curiosity.

Weddings for the most part take place on Sundays, after church services, and usually several couples are married at the same time.

Before the wedding, the groom with his retinue enters the bride's house and, taking the bride, accompanied by an even larger retinue, decorously and silently goes to church. After the wedding, the newlyweds are taken home on horses decorated with ribbons. The guests, with the exception of the closest people themselves, also go home, since it is necessary to give the young people time to have dinner, and only after about an hour is dinner over, then the guests appear. By this time, the beds have already been removed from the room, only the table remains, at which the musicians sit, and benches and chests along the walls.

The musicians do not receive payment from the groom; they are obliged to play for 3 days, receive food, and even the menu is set, and everyone dancing pays for the music, and the money is thrown directly onto the cymbals. The more lively the music, the more and more often the dancers pay and the more profitable it is for the musicians.

The first day young people dance, that is, girls and boys, music plays until 9-10 o’clock, and then everyone leaves.

On the second day the celebration begins at about 10 o'clock. in the morning and continues with an hour break for lunch again until 9-10 pm. On this day, only married people dance, who are obliged to pay the newlywed for every dance they dance with her. On the third day, old people dance, that is, people over 40 years old. They are called old people because many already have grandchildren by this age.

Since old people don’t go out for a long time, on the third day the music ended around 6 pm. The owners managed to quickly put the room in order and from the next day normal everyday life began, as if the wedding had never happened.

Only the closest invitees took part in the dinner, that is, persons of more honor or closely related to the young couple; The dinner continued until the hostess or her closest assistant announced that all the prepared geese, ducks, and piglets had been eaten and that there would be nothing more today. During lunch, men were served 2-3 times with vodka, and women with sweet red wine. There were usually no drunks, except perhaps some young guy who still didn’t know his limits.

The wedding days - the second and third - are accompanied by riding around the village on horses decorated with multi-colored ribbons. The horses always start galloping; more than 2 and rarely 3 trucks do not participate in this race. It goes without saying that only fairly tipsy people ride, and they ride the young woman and her friends.

Bridesmaids and groomsmen do not play any special role in the wedding, as far as I remember; it was only an honor for the friends of the young couple.

4. Christmas .

Christmas celebrations begin as early as 5 pm on Christmas Eve. Many people on this day do not eat anything until the star or, more correctly, until darkness; others eat only fish, but since there is little fish in the steppe rivers, this custom gradually died out. From 5 o'clock In the evening on Christmas Eve, the service begins and everyone goes to church; only one adult remains at home, who prepares the festive table.

By 6 pm everyone comes home and each family member receives a gift; Children are given primarily homemade honey gingerbread, nuts and a few sweets. In addition, everyone received several white mint gingerbread cookies.

Adults received the same plates of sweets, but in addition, someone also came across a pipe, or a tobacco pouch, or a penknife, cloth for a dress, a headscarf, etc.

The distribution of gifts was accompanied by a special ceremony. Children and adults gathered around a table on which gifts were displayed. The children had to sing a special hymn set for Christmas. At the end of the hymn, the door opened and a kind fairy, dressed all in white, appeared, who declared that, while passing by, she heard the singing of good children and therefore came to caress them, and the children had to take turns saying a memorized rhyme. Then the fairy disappeared through the same door and was replaced by an evil spirit, rattling with chains and roaring like a lion, dressed in a fur coat turned inside out, who demanded to be presented to him for punishment or devouring the lazy.

Everyone, with fear and crying, rushed to the mother’s skirt, which calmed the evil spirit until it moved away, rattling its chain. Only after this did our paradise open, and a full plate of the aforementioned sweets came into the uncontrolled possession of each of us.

In addition to sweets, there were also toys: a lamb, a horse on wheels, a stick with a horse's head and a bridle; for girls, dolls dressed in multi-colored dresses, or only doll heads or an undressed doll, etc.

Half an hour or an hour later, after the distribution of gifts, a dinner of festive dishes appeared on the table: roast goose, duck, stuffed pig, etc.

On the first day of the holiday, children usually visit their godparents and receive candy or gingerbread. For adults, worship service in the morning; after the end of the sermon, the hostess runs from the church to prepare everything for dinner, which was being prepared in her absence; after the ringing of one bell, which continues the entire time the pastor reads “Our Father,” the hostess hurries to prepare everything for serving; ten minutes later both bells begin to ring; this means that the service is over and everyone is going home. The entire meal is immediately placed on the table and those who come can immediately sit down at the table.

Christmas is celebrated for three days. There are no Christmastides, there are no mummers, and only girls and boys mill about on the street until nightfall.

5. New Year .

New Year is not held in special esteem. This is a civil holiday. However, one day is celebrated. Children come from a neighboring Russian village with sacks and, under the leadership of an elder, sing some kind of verse and, all the while singing, shower those present in the room with a mixture of wheat, peas, and barley. They are rewarded with sweets and pennies and go to another hut. This, by the way, is the only day of the year when our Orthodox neighbors, who live across the river 100 fathoms from our village, visit us.

6. Maslenitsa.

Maslenitsa is not celebrated among the Lutheran population, unless the wealthier people drink coffee with “brushwood” cookies on this day. The day is considered a weekday.

7. Easter.

Easter, on the contrary, is considered the most solemn holiday. From the very beginning of Holy Week, a festive mood begins; Thursday (Grundonnerstag) and Friday (Charfreitag) are especially honored; on these days the entire village receives communion, if it did not already receive communion with the confirmants on Palm Sunday. On Saturday they begin to paint eggs, bake kitchens, brushwood, and baked rolls, and prepare geese, ducks, and chickens for the holiday. The eggs are colored. Everyone spends Saturday in work and bustle; Not everyone gathers for the evening service, and it is not solemn.

To celebrate Easter, not only the rooms and the yard, but also the street are cleaned and put in order.

Children, going to bed, place their hats under the bed or in certain favorite places, into which the bunny should lay eggs at night; many strive not to oversleep the sunrise, because at this time you can see Christ’s lamb in the rising sun. Lutherans always depict Christ with a shepherd's crook and a lamb at his feet.

The next morning it turns out that the bunny actually brought everyone two dozen colored eggs, one or two sugar eggs with a lamb (there were no chocolate ones yet), and sometimes also several toys. The bunnies apparently do not have gingerbread and sweets at their disposal, since only the mother distributes them in moderate quantities on the first day of the holiday.

All three days are celebrated the same way. In the morning - church, after lunch - walks in the field for tulips..

Easter lunch is different. The starter is chicken noodle soup. Noodles are only good when the dough is rolled out thinly and then cut into very thin threads. Few housewives were proud of this art. The dough was prepared in the evening, rolled out in the morning and thin sheets of dough were laid out on pillows on the bed to dry; cutting begins even before the end of the sermon and continues, as it requires a lot of attention, for a long time, about an hour, the chopped noodles are put into the soup only after the ringing of the Lord's Prayer.

The second dish is goose with stuffing. Turkeys were rare among the colonists at that time, but they did exist.

Noodles are served not only in the form of soup, certainly chicken, but also in the form of milk soup, that is, boiled with milk. Or boiled noodles are served directly without any liquid, but then they are poured with melted butter, in which small pieces of kalach, no larger than a nut, were fried in a frying pan. Our children really liked this noodle maker, and especially the crunchy pieces of white bread on their teeth.

Easter is celebrated for only three days; at the end of the third day, life already takes on its everyday appearance and the peasants leave for the field, if Easter is not too early, so that on Wednesday from early morning they can begin or continue the hard peasant work - arable land and sowing.

8. Trinity.

The days are long, the nights are short, and yet on Trinity Sunday the whole village buzzes like a beehive all night. On the night of Trinity, the guys, who have already made an agreement with the chosen one of their hearts, place a high pole with a bush of greenery tied at the top at her gate; in rare cases it is birch, since this tree is completely absent in the steppe. On the night after Spiritual Day, the pole disappears again. This pole is equivalent to an engagement, the girl is considered engaged, but to whom? This is a secret, albeit an open secret. Trinity is celebrated for two days. The days are too good for field work to celebrate for a long time.

Application.

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B. A copy of a photograph of a fragment of the fence of the Kamyshinsky Park of Culture and Recreation.

Application.

A. A copy of the plan of the city of Kamyshin. The plan is dated 1894.

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