[Russian name: MAKAROVKA]
Saratov Province: Kamyshin District
MERKEL was an Evangelical Lutheran German colony founded where the Karamysh river converged with the Makarovka brook in the Don and Volga river basins, on August 28, 1766. Established by 36 families, Merkel grew to a town of considerable size by the turn of the twentieth century.1 By 1991 there were barely 20 houses left, of which 19 were occupied. At that time, Jacob and Lydia [Knaub] Rein were the only Merkel born inhabitants, having been exiled to Siberia in the great deportation of German colonists in 1941, returning to their original village in the 1950s. The cemetery consists of windswept mounds of prairie grass overlooking the Karamysh river valley town site.2
I am researching the following surnames from Merkel:3
Adam, Arder, Bauer, Becker, Beckman, Bose, Brandt,
Breziger, Brigemann, Brigan, Briman, Brug, Bruch, Bruntz, Butherus, Elbach,
Flohr, Vorster, Fortner, Gel, Getse, Gieseke/Giske, Gross, Hasselbach, Hauf,
Hossman, von Holstein, Jost, Kaiser, Kastens, Kautz, Klein, Knaub, Knaus,
Krasong, Krieger, Lampe/Lamb, Lebel, Litzau, Lohmann, Margheim/Markheim, Merkel,
Metz/Mertz, Müller, Neuman, Olofson, Petrie/Peters, Pister/Piester, Rein,
Retslev?Ratslaff, Riss/Reiss, Saltau, Schillt/Shild, Schlager, Schmidt, Schredo,
Schumacher, Siegfried, Specht, Stehle, Vigerg/Walger, Vogt, Wegelin, Wert/Wirth.
Two books, "IN THE SHADOW OF A BELL TOWER" is a social history
of the Volga Germans from the former colony of Merkel, Russia. It is a comprehensive story in pictures, maps, and documentary. "BEYOND THE GATES"
is a tribute to those uprooted emigrants from Merkel, Russia and neighboring colonies whose insight sought freedom in foreign lands. It is a memorial to those who stayed
behind. These two volumes represent all that we have learned regarding this colony, and many of its neighboring colonies, except for material in the yet to be published
third volume in which your material may be included. Included are literally hundreds of photographs, maps and documents relevant to the Volga colonies in general, and Merkel colony, specifically, along with it's German origins, daughter colonies and immigrants families to the Americas. Both volumes deal with topics
on the German states from which these colonists migrated, reasons for leaving, mode of travel to arrive at the Volga site, life in the newly formed colonies, and later, in
the established colonies, the two primary migrations to the Americas, areas of relocation in the United States, South American families, and appendix including specific
information pertaining to the 62 known surname families of Merkel. Also covered are brief histories, including photographs and maps of
neighboring villages including
Kautz,
Bauer,
Rothammel,
Kratzke,
Dietel,
Seewald,
Balzer,
Messer,
Grimm,
Dönhof,
Kutter,
Schilling,
Frank,
Hussenbach,
Kolb,
Degott,
Huck,
Moor,
Kamenka,
Anton,
Norka,
Walter,
Seelmann,
Warenburg,
and others, as well as daughter colonies of
Freidenfeld,
Aehrenfeld,
Wiesenmüller,
Neu-Dönhof,
Neu-Messer, and
Neu-Balzer. Other articles include: Catherine's Manifesto (reproduced in two of the five languages issued), Recruiters of the Colonists,
Founding of the Colonies, Life in the Colonies, Those who stayed behind, Pugachev's rebellion, Saratov, Russia, The Volga river, Scenes the colonists might have witnessed,
Places of German origins, Life in Europe before emigration, Stalin's Deportation of 1941, American Volga Relief Society, German ports, Destination America,
De-Mystifying Siberia, Great Western Sugar Company, German Congregational Churches in the United States, Immigrant ships specific to Merkeler, Religious persecution in the
Soviet Union, the Great Famine 1921-1922, and others.
Many Merkel families immigrated to various regions of the United States, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Some of the centers of Merkel migration include the towns of Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska; Windsor and Fort Collins, Colorado; Bazine and LaCrosse, Kansas; Galarza, Argentina and Allmenau, Uruguay.4
CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
(1) a third volume of Merkel History and
(2) a Compilation of Alexander Bauer articles from Die Welt Post and Dakota Freie Presse.