The Road to Warenburg Interpreting a Village with Maps and Images Created by Richard Kisling in collaboration with Ronald Brott Presented by Richard Kisling American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Virtual Conference, July 13, 2021 Acknowledgements Thanks to the following individuals for their specialized help and support in preparing this presentation. Ronald Brott, Ankeny, Iowa: Warenburg Village Coordinator (history), [email protected] Sharon White, Taylorsville, Utah: Warenburg Village Coordinator (genealogy), [email protected] Natalia Chumakova, Saratov, Russia: information on Warenburg and about her grandmother, Leocadia Yanovna Tokareva (“Leocadia Peterson” in this presentation) Permissions for use of photographs: Aleksandr Bashkatov, Saratov, Russia; Denis Anikin, Saratov, Russia; Historischer Forschungsverein der Deutschen aus Russland, Nuremberg, Germany; Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, Stuttgart, Germany; the online newspaper, “Общественное мнение” [public opinion], Saratov, Russia; Anton and Vitaly Koshkin, Saratov, Russia. Richard Kisling, Petaluma, California, [email protected] This slide deck is available as a PDF on the conference website under the title “The Road to Warenburg Presentation, 2021 Conference.” It will be moved the Warenburg Village File on AHSGR’s new website when the site is launched the fall of 2021. Our Route | Unser Weg Presentation Resources Location Genealogy • On the Tarlyk River • Village Coordinators, Surname Charts, Surroundings Translated Records, Engels Archive • Between the Volga and the Steppe Warenburg in Print Church Topographic Maps and Aerial Photographs Village • Tips for Acquisition/Usage (all regions)* • From the Air • Matrix of Topographic Maps (Volga Region) • From the Ground Supplement The End of Warenburg • Church, Government, and Commerce • Deportation, September 18, 1941 • Insurrection of 1919 • Privolnoye’s (Warenburg’s) Last Germans • 1:200,000 Topographic Map • Leocadia Peterson (1924– ) Endnotes *Preliminary assessment of LOC’s map indices indicates extensive coverage of the Black Sea area, especially 1:50,000 scale maps. This slide deck is available as a PDF on the conference website under the title “The Road to Warenburg Presentation, 2021 Conference.” It will be moved the Warenburg Village File on AHSGR’s new website when the site is launched the fall of 2021. 3 Points of Interest| Sehenswürdigkeiten Along the way … | unterwegs … Interim Destinations | Zwischenziele • Maps—especially 1930s topographic maps from • Learning by all audiences: Warenburgers, AHSGR the USSR: symbols, labels, elevations veterans, newcomers • Historical and contemporary village photos, • Understand something about Warenburg’s newspaper headlines, statistics history, setting, and way of life • German reconnaissance photo from 1942 • Be able to compare Warenburg to other colonies • A few words in the German language you may know • Warenburg Middle School “Class of 1941” • Gain some experience with topographic • Leocadia Peterson maps and aerial photos • Alexander Bier (extensive writing) • Increase your knowledge and empathy • Alexander Schmal (photos, writing based on his regarding the Russian Germans diary) This slide deck is available as a PDF on the conference website under the title “The Road to Warenburg Presentation, 2021 Conference.” It will be moved the Warenburg Village File on AHSGR’s new website when the site is launched the fall of 2021. 4 The Location—on the Tarlyk Die Lage—am Tarlyk Tarlyk Colonies, Population, Land Holdings 5 MAP 1.0 Stumpp Map/Volga Colonies (excerpt) On the Tarlyk—am Tarlyk Warenburg was founded May 12, 1767, one of sixteen colonies established May–August by the recruiters LeRoy and Pictet. • These colonies were successively called LeRoy’s Second District, the Warenburg District, and then “on the Tarlyk” or am Tarlyk. • The Tarlyk River ran about 30 miles off the Steppe, flowed between Laub and Dinkel, joined the Volga River. Warenburg not named for its first Vorsteher, Johann Heiter (Geiter) • Example: the “colony of Vorsteher Straub” (Johann Heinrich Straub) became merely “Straub”—a widespread practice in the Volga colonies. • Warenburg was named by the recruiters, who warehoused goods— Waren—here for distribution, thus the name “Waren-burg.” • The colony was often called “Alt-Warenburg” (Old Warenburg) after it established daughter colonies called Neu-Warenburg (New Warenburg). • The Russian name was—and still is—Privolnoye. Warenburg was 50–50 Lutheran and Reform, unique in the colonies. Note: On this map, (e) indicates evangelisch, Evangelical or more generally, “Protestant”; (k) indicates katholisch, Catholic; (m) indicates mennonitisch, Mennonite; Kukkus and Seelmann are underscored twice, as they headed cantons in the Volga German Republic. This map, Stumpp’s 1:600,000 map from 1954, is available from AHSGR, “Map #06 Volga.” 6 MAP 1.1 Stumpp Map/Volga Colonies (excerpt edited) Tarlyk Neighborhood History Low point for the Tarlyk colonies in 1774 • August: the Pugachev rebels swept through these colonies from the north, stole horses, murdered colonists. • In Warenburg, they killed six, hanged Vorsteher Ihlner. Daughter • October: the Kirghiz-Kaizak attacked Hölzel, Leitsinger, Keller, and Colonies Seelmann; the number of those killed, abducted, missing was 438. • Leitsinger and Keller were destroyed; survivors re-built at Neu-Kolonie, downriver from Seelmann, in 1776. Mennonite colonies were settled 1854–1872 on the Lake Elton Salt Tract (“am Trakt”) mostly east of the Lake Elton Salt Road. Mennonite Colonies “am Trakt” • The extension of the salt road to Pokrovsk is not shown on the map. Neu-Warenburg ● Warenburg’s daughter colonies Ansiedlung Priwalnoje • Ansiedlung Priwalnoje and Neu-Warenburg on the Steppe ● • Neu-Warenburg, founded in 1902 just north of Seelmann, appears by its Russian name, Novoprivolnoye, on contemporary maps. Daughter Colonies Note: Added daughter colony names and locations from A. Mergenthaler’s 1:420,000 map, AHSGR ● Leitsinger “Map #04 Volga” ● Keller Tip: Use Google Maps/satellite view or Google Earth to see remnants of the original street grids of the several Tarlyk colonies that have been abandoned or relocated from their inundated original sites to higher ground. ● Neu-Kolonie 7 Population and Land MAP 2 Straub, Warenburg, Preuss | Warenburg’s Land Warenburg’s land encompassed some 48,650 acres (19,688 hectares) and extended Ten Most Populous Volga Colonies in 1912 17.4 miles (28 km) from the Volga River. The average width was 4.4 miles (7 km). This Colony 1772 1912 was about 76 square miles (197 square kilometers). 1. Norka 957 14,236 The three sections of land holdings shown below, from the west: 2. Katharinenstadt 283 11,962 • Holdings identified in the 1798 Census, extending 10.9 mi (17.5 km) from the Volga 3. Grimm 769 11,778 River • Additional lands likely acquired between 1798 and 1840 4. Frank 525 11,557 • Land east of the Lake Elton Salt Road, likely acquired after 1840 5. Balzer 479 11,110 6. Huck 380 9,600 7. Jagodnaja Poljana 402 8,845 8. Dönnhof 470 8,830 Straub 9. Warenburg 579 8,312 10. Seelmann 257 8,089 Of the almost 200 mother and daughter after 1798 Census 1798-1840 colonies in the Volga region, only three of the 1840 Old-Warenburg ten largest colonies were on the Meadow Side: • Katharinenstadt, which became successful with small industry and shipping; • Seelmann, which became large and wealthy because of grain shipping from its docks; • Warenburg, which did not industrialize and Preuss whose docks were impeded by the large sand island, but still remained large and wealthy. Base Map: Soviet 1:100,000 map from 1934, excerpt from Sheet M–38–45 (National Archives) 8 The Surroundings Die Umgebung Between the Volga and the Steppe—Flooding, Meadow, Orchards, Gardens, “Derlick” 9 10 MAP 3.0 Soviet 1:100,000 Map Excerpt from Sheet M–38–45 Primarily Symbols Straub The villages Straub and Old Warenburg Großer Graben | • Mountain Side (Bergseite) hills “Big Gully” • Volga River, sand island, “saton” • Meadow (Wiese), grassland, deciduous trees, many lakes and ponds • Country highway (Landstraße) • new north-south highway farther east • Orchards and cabbages Alt-Warenburg | Old Warenburg • apples and cherries south of Warenburg • cherries northeast of Warenburg • cabbage patches east of Warenburg (described near standing water) Dubovka • The vast steppe (farmland) to the east pitomnik | (plant) nursery Soviet 1:100,000 map from 1934 from Library of Congress (LOC) and AHSGR Tip: Use online Russian keyboard, online translator for short translations. 11 MAP 4.0 Soviet 1:50,000 Map Excerpt from Sheet M–38–45–A 1 Symbols and Labels Straub Grasses, lakes, deciduous trees on meadow ADD LOCATION OF OPENING2 PHOTO • The Tarlyk River labeled by name • joined the Volga seven miles north between 3 Laub and Dinkel 7 • also meandered southward through the 4 meadow past Straub and Warenburg • called the “Derlick” in Warenburg • Footpaths across the Derlick and meadow 5 6 • Buildings and infrastructure 1 pig collective 2 pigs 3 rabbits 4 summer khutors 5 wind/mechanical mills 8 6 standing water (cabbages) 7 orchards 7 Old Warenburg 8 cemetery (кладбище, kladbishche) 9 sheds (сараи, sarai), (plant) nursery (питомник, pitnomnik) (former fairgrounds) Soviet 1:50,000 map from 1932 available from LOC 9 Tip: Consult guides online for abbreviations and symbols. 12 Pre-1961 May–June Flood, Summer Meadow Before 1961, the Volga River at Late-May/early-June, the river The resulting meadow was used