Katharinenstadt

Alternate Names
Baronsk,
Jekaterinenstadt,
Jekaterinograd,
Katharinenstadt,
Marks,
Markstadt,
Marx,
Marxstadt
Church

Katharinenstadt was a large colony with colonists from a variety of faith backgrounds. Soon after the founding of Katharinenstadt, a Reformed parish was established in north Katharinenstadt and a Lutheran Parish in south Katharinenstadt. There was also a Catholic parish and a large Russian Orthodox Church.

Katharinenstadt was the largest of the Volga German colonies on the Wiesenseite, and a commercial hub for much of the industry that developed among the Volga German colonies.

Type of Settlement
History

Katharinenstadt was founded by Protestant (both Lutheran and Reformed) and Roman Catholic colonists on 27 June 1766 by Baron Caneau de Beauregard.

Following the 1917 Revolution, Katharinenstadt became known as Marxstadt, or simply Marx.

Population
Population Table
Year
Households
Population
Total
Male
Female
1766
83
283
160
123
1767
 
606
 
 
1769
220
812
431
381
1773
163
615
336
279
1776
 
716
 
 
1788
141
636
326
310
1798*
142
720
355
365
1816
230
1,441
743
698
1834
382
2,468
1,286
1,182
1850
491
3,669
1,862
1,807
1857
423
4,354
2,185
2,169
1859
427
4,654
2,334
2,230
1886
 
 
 
 
1891
 
 
 
 
1894
 
 
 
 
1897
 
10,331**
5,148
5,183
1904
 
 
 
 
1910
1,306
15,370
7,737
7,633
1912
 
11,962
 
 
1920
 
15,435
 
 
1926
 
11,461***
 
 

*The description accompanying the 1798 census enumerates 153 households with a total of 779 inhabitants, of which 389 are male and 390 female. They are divided among the denominations as follows: 86 families are Lutheran, 30 are Roman Catholic, and 37 are Reformed.
**Of whom 9,393 were German (7,686 Protestant & 1,707 Roman Catholic).
***Of whom 11,260 were German.

Priests or pastors
Religion

Lutheran

Reformed

Catholic

Greek Orthodox

Sources

Amburger, Erik. Die Pastoren der evangelischen Kirchen Rußlands (Lüneburg, Germany: Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, 1998): 141

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.

Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Rußland, 1972.

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): 613.

Report of Conditions of Settlements on the Volga to Catherine II by Count Orlov, 14 February 1769.

Schnurr, Joseph, Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutschen - Evangelischer Teil (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1972): 195-196.

"Settlements in the 1897 Census." Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Winter, 1990): 16.

Surnames with Confirmed Pre-Volga Origins