New Samara

New Samara was a Mennonite colony on the territory of today 's Orenburg Oblast in Russia , consisting of up to 15 villages on the Tok ( called Tock by the German residents ), a right tributary of the Samara .

history

Establishment of the colony

New Samara was established in 1891-1892 by settlers from the Molotschna mother colony on the Sea of ​​Azov in the Ukraine . At the beginning twelve villages were founded: Kamenets, Pleschanowo, Krassikowo, Kaltan, Lugowsk, Podolsk, Donskoi, Dolinsk, Jugowka, Klinok, Kuterlja and Bogomasowo. The first settlers were around 500 families with 2,600 people.

Later three more villages arose: Annenskoje, Vladimirovka and Ischalka. In the 1950s, Annenskoye, Kamenets and Vladimirovka were dissolved. Bogomasowo was renamed Tokskoje (after the river) in 1968, probably because of the religious connotation (Russian Bog for God ).

Despite initial economic difficulties, the colony achieved some prosperity by the beginning of the First World War . In 1917 there were already 14 villages and 9 large farms with a total of 32,600  hectares and 3,670 inhabitants. In Pleschanowo there had been a church Mennonite congregation since 1891, which had 1034 baptized members in 1905, with the non-baptized relatives that resulted in a total of 2689 people. It was directed by the elder Daniel Boschmann.

There was a Mennonite brotherhood in Lugovsk . In 1901 a meeting house was built, which is now used as an administration building. Abraham Martens was the oldest. An alliance congregation was located in Donskoi, which was later converted into a brother congregation.

Civil War and New Economic Policy

The civil war had relatively little impact on New Samara. Because of the economic policy of the communist government of Soviet Russia, however, like the whole country from 1921-22, it suffered from severe hunger. Under the AMR program, it received food aid from its Mennonite brothers in the United States and Canada. Cornelius F. Klassen, from New Samara, was heavily involved. In the 1920s, after a phase of political and economic relaxation (“ New Economic Policy ”), there was a wave of emigration to Canada and Paraguay . The reason for the emigration of around 700 people was the increasing religious reprisals and economic stagnation.

Religious persecution and collectivization

The religious persecution continued to intensify until all prayer houses were closed in 1931–32. The Germans in New Samara also suffered greatly from collectivization and “ de-kulakization ”. Most of the cattle gathered in a herd died due to insufficient care and feeding; in the spring of 1931 the land had to be worked with cows.

Second World War

The hardest time came with the Second World War . Neu Samara was not dissolved like many other German settlements, but almost the entire adult population was deported to the so-called "Trudarmija" and had to do hard physical labor there. Those who remained in the villages had to replace the lack of workers, including children aged 13-14. After the war, many of the Trud Army did not return.

Kolkhoz and prosperity

The economy of New Samara has been dominated by the collective farms since collectivization . After a few years with only one kolkhoz for the entire settlement, a separate kolkhoz was set up in each village. In the 1950s there was another wave of collective farm enlargements. In the end, all German villages except Ischalka were divided into three collective farms: "Komsomolets" (" Komsomolze "; today an independent settlement) with a center in Bogomasovo, "Karl Marx" with a center in Podolsk and "Sawety Lenina" (" Lenin's legacy ") with Center in Pleschanowo. The villagers earned a high proportion of their income on their 0.25, later 0.5 hectare, small private parcels by selling the surpluses they generated on the market. So many cars and motorcycles could afford.

On January 1, 1967, the Krasnogwardeiski Raion was formed, to which New Samara has belonged since then (previously it belonged to Sorochinsk Raion with administration in Sorochinsk for a while ). The district administrative center was now Pleschanowo. Pleschanowo and the nearby Donskoi (today's official form of name: Donskoje) have grown strongly since then, as many non-Germans have also moved there. But other villages have also expanded. So Podolsk and Lugowsk have practically grown together into one village. Most of the villages have had additional roads.

Up and down religious tolerance

During a short time after the war, religious persecution eased. At that time, many people could be baptized and church services could be organized. Then an atheist campaign began again in the late 1950s. It was not until the 1970s that there was another gradual easing. During this time, church congregations emerged again, mostly registered as Baptists , for example in Donskoi under the leadership of Elder Daniel Janzen.

emigration

From 1988 onwards there was a second major wave of emigration. In 1990 there were still 7,434 people of German origin living in Neu Samara, almost all of whom emigrated to Germany by the end of the 1990s. Today almost no Germans live in the villages of the New Samara colony.

See also: History of the Russian Mennonites

Location and current assignment of the villages

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

German	Russian	coordinate	Rural community
Annenskoye	Анненское	(between Tokskoje (Bogomasowo) and Ischalka on the left bank of the Tok; exact location unknown)	[submerged]
Dolinsk	Долинск	52 ° 51 '47 "  N , 053 ° 25' 03"  E	Toksky selsowet
Donskoye (Donskoi)	Донское ( Донской )	52 ° 50 ′ 59 "  N , 053 ° 27 ′ 58"  E	Pleschanovsky selsovet
Ischalka	Ишалка	52 ° 52 ′ 32 "  N , 053 ° 11 ′ 26"  E	Proletarsky selsovet
Jugowka	Юговка	52 ° 47 ′ 47 "  N , 053 ° 29 ′ 18"  E	Pleschanovsky selsovet
Kaltan	Калтан	52 ° 47 ′ 21 "  N , 053 ° 31 ′ 42"  E	Podolski selsowet
Kamenets	Каменец	52 ° 54 '54 "  N , 053 ° 32' 26"  O (as a single village of the colony on the right of the Tok versus Pleschanowo)	[submerged]
Klinok	Клинок	52 ° 47 ′ 31 ″  N , 053 ° 28 ′ 18 ″  E	Pleschanovsky selsovet
Krassikowo	Красиково	52 ° 49 ′ 02 "  N , 053 ° 38 ′ 35"  E	Podolski selsowet
Kuterlja	Кутерля	52 ° 46 ′ 14 "  N , 053 ° 36 ′ 26"  E	Podolski selsowet
Lugovsk	Луговск	52 ° 50 ′ 11 "  N , 053 ° 33 ′ 09"  E	Podolski selsowet
Pleschanowo	Плешаново	52 ° 51'00 "  N , 053 ° 28'56"  E	Pleschanovsky selsovet
Podolsk	Подольск	52 ° 49 ′ 55 "  N , 053 ° 35 ′ 01"  E	Podolski selsowet
Tokskoje (Bogomasowo)	Токское ( Богомазово )	52 ° 52 ′ 06 ″  N , 053 ° 23 ′ 22 ″  E	Toksky selsowet
Vladimirovka	Владимировка	(unknown)	[submerged]

Note: by bold today's rural community seats are identified; the seat of the rural community Proletarski selsowet, the settlement Proletarka, did not belong to New Samara

All rural communities (selskoje posselenije) include not only the villages that were formerly part of New Samara but also other, not originally Mennonite villages. The most populous municipality is Pleschanowski selsowet; whose administrative seat Pleschanowo is with 3486 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) the largest village of the former New Samara.

literature

• A. J. Klaassen et al. a. (Ed.): Neu Samara am Tock (1890-2003). A Mennonite settlement in Russia east of the Volga . 2nd, edited edition. Neu Samara, Warendorf 2004, ISBN 3-00-012246-X ( neu-samara.de [PDF; 14.5 MB ]).

Web links

• Website about the New Samara settlement

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)

Coordinates: 52 ° 51 '  N , 53 ° 29'  E