Kamenka

Kamenka (also: Bähr). 50º42' N 45º06' E.

Founded: 6 July 1765 by the Government.

Denomination: Roman Catholic.

Population: 329 (1767), 378 (1769), 448 (1773), 535 (1788), 625 (1798), 5289 (1897), 3342 (1912), 3052 (1926).

St. Mary's Catholic Church, built by the colonists in 1907, was the pride of the community. Reflecting the influence of neogothic architecture, the red brick house of worship included a choir loft and an organ. Murals painted on the walls were said to have been the work of Italian craftsmen. The church was gutted during the Stalinist era. The carved oak door and ornate railings were removed and it was converted into a warehouse and tractor garage.

Peter Simon Pallas in his travels through the Volga region in 1793 and 1794 for Catherine the Great writes, "Kamenka is one of the most flourishing and opulent among the Catholic colonies; it possesses upwards of sixty fire-places; and has, besides the brook, excellent water in wells, sunk through loam and other strata, about nine feet deep. We reposed here during the night, having suffered much inconvenience the preceding day, from the intensity of the heat, occasioned by the reflection of the sun-beams from the snow, accompanied with a keen north-west, wind, which continued during the whole of our journey from Saratof. The Volga is no more than fifteen versts distant, in a straight line from this place."

Read more about Kamenka's history

The following priests have served the St. Mary's parish in Kamenka:

• Johannes Müller 1765-1774
• Melchior Trenker 1774-1778
• Johannes Dedukla 1778-1785
• Thomas Majewski 1785-1788
• Sebastiani 1788-1792
• Thaddaeus 1792-1795
• Valerianus 1795-1797
• Thaddeus 1797-1802
• Anton Postoll 1803-1807
• Franziskus Cornet 1807-1810
• Peter Jacobs 1810-1819
• Franz Xavier Asum 1819-1820
• Kyrillus Mieluzki 1820-1823
• Vincent Szrednizki 1823-1826
• Thomas Konzewitsch 1826-1827
• Romuald Woitkewitsch 1827-1828
• Georg Nakutowitsch 1828-1868
• Kaspar Batschewski 1868-1872
• Joseph Baranowski 1872
• Andreas Brungardt 1872-1873
• Nikolaus Mitzig 1876-1881
• Johannes Beilmann 1885
• August Gabel 1885-1894
• Johannes Schönfeld 1894-1898
• Alexander Staub 1898-1906
• Peter Glassmann 1906-1912
• Leonhard Eberle 1912-1928

Source: Joseph Schnurr, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen, Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart, 1980), p. 248.

Kamenka Catholic Church in 2006. Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.

Angels painted on the interior wall of the Kamenka Church (2006). Photo courtesy of Steve Schreiber.

Kamenka church