Lauwe A German Village on the Volga River
Lauwe / Laube, Samara, Volga, Russia
Map 6, Quadrant D-4, 51 04 N 46 01 E
Lauwe, Russian name
Jablonovka, on the East or Wiesenseite of the Volga River, was founded in 1767
by German colonists. The colonists
answered to the call of recruiters who traveled throughout Germany, enlisting
able farmers and craftsman to come to Russia, touting the Second Manifesto of
Catherine the Great:
Free transportation and
money to supplement them on the trip.
Freedom
to settle wherever they wanted.
Freedom
to practice their trade.
Freedom
from taxes for 30 years
Interest
free loans for 10 years.
Freedom
to practice their Religion.
Freedom
from Military service, forever.
Freedom
to return to their homelands, whenever they wanted, but at their own expense.
The
colonists had a rough life in the beginning. The government was not prepared to receive the colonists and
they had to live in make-shift quarters for several years. The Russian government, although
well-intentioned, implemented the manifesto using meddlesome bureaucrats who
frequently interfered in the affairs of the colonists as well as restricting
their freedoms .
The
citizens were Lutheran by faith and farmers by occupation but possessed other
skills such as blacksmithing, tailoring, bootmaking and others, which enabled
them to survive the harsh climate.
The farmlands were located at some distances from the village and
sometimes in separate locations requiring the males to often spend the weekdays
away from the village but they always returned on Sunday for church
services. As was the custom in all
the German villages along the Volga, the farm lands were portioned out to the
males only, so those families with a lot of male offspring were land
"wealthy" and those with female offspring had a much harder
time. This was offset by the
periodic reapportioning of land among the sons. Thus the amount of land per farmer became smaller with each
succeeding generation.
The
village grew and prospered until political unrest and revocation of the rights
and privileges granted by Catherine's second Manifesto caused the colonists to
seek religious and political freedom elsewhere. Many families emigrated to the USA, Canada and South America
in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as can be seen by population statistics
decline. The seizure of power by
the Bolsheviks in 1917 eventually led to the establishment of Communism and the
death and relocation of the majority if not all of the German citizens. The village itself still exists today,
unlike many along the Volga which were destroyed, but few if any descendants of
the original colonists live there.
Description
of the Lauwe village in 1798.
Who were the original settlers of
Lauwe?
Babiere, Baude, Bauer, Baute,
Benekenstein, Benz, Biegert, Bitter, Boos, Botanye, Busch
Dernier, Drexler, Eckart, Ening,
Essig, Fuchs, Förster, Gering, Göringer, Gerlach, Gorkh
Grasmück, Greifenstein, Grol, Grossman,
Gubart, Gohring, Haupt, Heid, Heil, Heimbuch
Heit, Henning, Kenning, Horch,
Hubert, Jäkel, Keck, Keil, Kermer, Kerner, Kleim, Kletter
Kreiter, Krempel, Krotter, Kunkel,
Kühn, Körner, Lampel, Laub, Lauber, Lehman, Maiwald
Markus, Martin, Marx, Mauck, Meisner,
Holkof, Morasch, Müller, Nikolaus, Pents, Preis
Prinz, Rein, Rotenhauer, Rotenheiser,
Rothgang, ScheiI, Schleicher, Schleiger, Schleiger,
Schlichting, Schmidt, Schreier,
Schrefer, Schräder, Schulep, Schutz, Sitzenstock, Steinmeier
Stieglitz, Tresch, Triol, Ute, Vogt,
Wagner, Weigand, Weiss, Werner, Winter, Witt
The Censuses of Lauwe
There are Russian government censuses available for
the years 1798, 1816, 1834, 1850 and 1859. These are available from Brent Mai at the Center for Volga
German Studies
. A pdf file of the heads of
household in Lauwe from the 1850 census may be downloaded by clicking here.
Dedication
I dedicate this
website to my predecessor Village Coordinator, friend, cousin, and mentor, Bernice Madden.
Die Lauwe Lampe Was a
newsletter published by Bernice.
Issues 1-8 are presented with this link. These were the only issues published.
Related Web Pages
1.
American
Historical Society of Germans from Russia an
organization dedicated to the preservation of the culture and history of the
German-Russian people. (emphasis on the Volga region)
2. Center for Volga
German Studies An organization to support research into
and preservation of the heritage, history, traditions, and accomplishments of
the Volga Germans.
3. German Russian
Heritage Society
an organization dedicated to the preservation of the culture and history of the
German-Russian people. (emphasis on the Black Sea region)
4. Germans from
Russia Heritage Collection NDSU-sponsored site has many
German-Russian Publications for sale.
5. Odessa Library A
digital, searchable library of various German-Russian facts.
6. http://www.volgagermans.net An excellent source for
information on the Volga German colonies.
For more information--references.
Karl Stumpp, The Emigration from Germany to Russia
in the Years 1763 to 1862,
American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, NE, 1993.
Adam Geisinger, From Catherine to Khruschchev American
Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, NE, 1974.
Gottlieb Beratz, The German Colonies on the Lower
Volga, American
Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, NE, 1991.
Need more information? Contact the Village Coordinator
for Lauwe: Ray Heinle
lauwe@cox.net
Webmaster: Ray Heinle
Updated 10/21/2009