![Map of Katharinenstadt (1933) [called Marxstadt at the time] Source: Wolgadeutsche.net](/sites/default/files/colony_images/marxstadt_map_1933.jpg "Map of Katharinenstadt (1933) [called Marxstadt at the time] Source: Wolgadeutsche.net")
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.
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.
|
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.
Lutheran
Reformed
Catholic
Greek Orthodox
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.
Katharinenstadt (Wolgadeutsche.net) - in Russian
Marxstadt (Johannes Herber) - in German
Original Inhabitants of Katharinenstadt (in German)
1798 Census for Katharinenstadt (in German)
1870 Family List for Katharinenstadt
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Marx (in Russian)