Pfeifer

Names

Faifer, Fajfer, Feifer, Gnilushka, Gniluschka, Gnilyshka, Gvardeiskoye, Gvardeyskoye, Pfeifer, Pfeiffer

Location

50º39' N 45º24' E

History

      Pfeifer was founded on the right bank of the Ilava Rover on 15 June 1767 by the Government as a Roman Catholic colony. Pfeifer is 117 versts from the provincial capital of Saratov, 65 versts from the district capital of Kamyshin, and 6 versts from the local administrative center of Kamenka.
      From the beginning of the colony, there was parochial education available in Pfeifer. The students were taught reading, writing, and religion by a local schoolmaster under the supervision of the parish priest. In 1888, a government school was constructed in the colony.
      From 1860-1864, 23 families resettled to daughter colonies in the Samara Province. Between 1877 and 1886, 64 families immigrated to South America.

Church

      In 1846, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Pfeifer was built of wood in a neoclassic style. The building contained a high altar, side altars and an organ that came from the South Tyrol. The upper half of the interior walls was whitewashed whereas the lower half was finished in light blue.
      Pfeifer became an independent Catholic parish in 1871.
      The Church of St. Francis of Assisi is no longer standing.

Priests

The parish of Pfeifer was served by the following priests:

Population

Population Table

Year	Households	Population
		Total	Male	Female
1767	104	328	179	149
1769		312
1772		393
1788	89	507	270	237
1798	94	591	297	294
1816	123	825	427	398
1834	193	1,518	799	719
1850	229	2,250	1,134	1,116
1857	230	2,322	1,179	1,143
1859	230	2,345	1,199	1,146
1886	357	2,617	1,265	1,352
1891	348	3,566	1,781	1,785
1894	349	3,785	1,913	1,872
1897		2,847*
1904
1911		3,104
1912		4,870?
1920		3,422
1922		1,904
1926		2,437**
1931		2,821

*Of whom 2,841 were German.
**Of whom 2,434 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): 352.
- Mink, A.N. Historical and Geographical Dictionary of the Saratov Province [in Russian] (Saratov, Russia, 1898): 156-158.
- Pfeifer Village History (Rosemary Larson)
- Schnurr, Joseph, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Katholischer Teil (Stuttgart: Selbstverlag Joseph Schnurr, 1980): 251.
- Work Paper of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, No. 16 (December 1974).

External Links

Pfeifer (wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russia
Pfeifer: A Volga Colony (Rosemary Larson)

Church of St. Francis of Assisi
Pfeifer, Russia.