Settlements along the Volga > Original Colonies > Kamenka
Kamenka
Names
Bähr, Kamenka
Location
50º42' N 45º06' E
History
Kamenka was a Roman Catholic colony founded on 6 July 1765 by the Government.
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 northwest, wind, which continued during the whole of our journey from Saratov. The Volga is no more than fifteen versts distant, in a straight line from this place."
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 northwest, wind, which continued during the whole of our journey from Saratov. The Volga is no more than fifteen versts distant, in a straight line from this place."
Kamenka's Church
St. Mary's Catholic Church was built in 1906-1907. 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. Until just a few years ago, the steeple was still standing.
*Beratz reports the following numbers for 1773: 42 families; 148 total colonists (73 male & 75 female).
**Of whom 2,964 were German.
***Of which 509 households were German.
****Of whom 2,917 were German (548 households: 1,437 male & 1,480 female).
*****Of whom 3,289 were German.
Priests
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
Thaddaeus 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
Kasper 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
Melchior Trenker 1774-1778
Johannes Dedukla 1778-1785
Thomas Majewski 1785-1788
Sebastiani 1788-1792
Thaddaeus 1792-1795
Valerianus 1795-1797
Thaddaeus 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
Kasper 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
Population
Year |
Households |
Population |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Total |
Male |
Female |
||
| 1767 | 329 |
|||
| 1769 | 69 |
378 |
187 |
191 |
| 1773* | 103 |
453 |
229 |
224 |
| 1788 | 97 |
535 |
268 |
267 |
| 1798 | 99 |
615 |
301 |
314 |
| 1816 | 170 |
897 |
448 |
449 |
| 1834 | 222 |
1,406 |
717 |
689 |
| 1850 | 258 |
2,219 |
1,104 |
1,115 |
| 1857 | 321 |
2,456 |
1,234 |
1,222 |
| 1862 | 205 |
2,508 |
1,274 |
1,234 |
| 1886 | 445 |
3,155 |
1,659 |
1,496 |
| 1891 | 399 |
4,454 |
2,237 |
2,217 |
| 1894 | 391 |
4,318 |
2,268 |
2,050 |
| 1897 | 3,036** |
1,498 |
1,538 |
|
| 1904 | ||||
| 1911 | 399 |
3,098 |
||
| 1912 | 3,342 |
|||
| 1920 | 525*** |
3,197 |
||
| 1922 | 2,454 |
|||
| 1923 | 2,662 |
|||
| 1926**** | 560 |
2,940 |
1,447 |
1,493 |
| 1931 | 3,312***** |
|||
**Of whom 2,964 were German.
***Of which 509 households were German.
****Of whom 2,917 were German (548 households: 1,437 male & 1,480 female).
*****Of whom 3,289 were German.
Sources:
- Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 350.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 623.
- Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 313.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen, Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart, 1980), p. 248.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
- Beratz, Gottieb. The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1991): 350.
- Diesendorf, V.F. Die Deutschen Russlands : Siedlungen und Siedlungsgebiete : Lexicon. Moscow, 2006.
- Pallas, P.S. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Theil 3,2, Reise aus Sibirien zurueck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr (St. Petersburg: Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschaften, 1776): 623.
- Pleve, Igor R. The German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 2001): 313.
- Preliminary Results of the Soviet Census of 1926 on the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Pokrovsk, 1927): 28-83.
- Schnurr, Joseph. Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen, Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart, 1980), p. 248.
- "Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 18.
External Links
Last updated 21 May 2013.
Map showing Kamenka (1935).
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Kamenka, Russia (1979)
Source: Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Russland, 1996.
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Kamenka, Russia
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Kamenka, Russia
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Kamenka, Russia (2006)
Source: Alexander Bashkatov - originally posted to wolgadeutsche.net.
Remains of religious mural.
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Kamenka, Russia
Kamenka Catholic Church
Photo courtesy of Ted Gerk.