German National District of the Altai Territory: administration, villages

The German national district of the Altai Territory became the birthplace of the Mennonites at the beginning of the 18th century. Members of this religious community were often forced to leave their homes in search of a place where they would not be persecuted. Nowadays, in a small part of the district, the descendants of the first settlers of the Mennonite Germans live.

Mennonites

This is a religious Protestant community, formed in the Netherlands at the beginning of the XVI century. It is based on non-resistance, which manifests itself in the refusal to take up arms, let alone use it against other people.

It would seem that Simons Menno, the founder of the current, should have many followers, or at least they should be respected for refusing to fight, but in reality everything was different. The working and peaceful Mennonites refused to go into the army, which irritated the authorities, and when it was impossible to avoid military service, they simply gathered in the whole community and moved to another country.

The first wave of immigrants occurred in the fifties of the XVI century, when they had to flee from the persecution of the Inquisition. Mennonites came to Russia at the invitation of Catherine II at the end of the 18th century. They were 228 families, who were released from both military and civil service, providing more than 60 acres of land each.

The first was inhabited by the Khortitskaya volost, then by the Melitopol district, and at the beginning of the 19th century a number of families, which by that time had become quite numerous, went to Siberia, where the German national district of the Altai Territory was later formed.

District Formation

When in 1907 3 representatives from 180 families went to talk to Stolypin to discuss the possibility of moving more than 800 people to Siberia, no one would have thought that this would lead to the growth of the autonomous district in the future.

Nicholas II himself allocated 60,000 acres of land to the Mennonite Germans on the condition that they would process and care for her, after which the settlement of the allocated territory occurred during 1908-1910.

In 1927 the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was organized by the German national district of the Altai Territory with an administrative center in the village of. Halbstadt (1908). In 1938 it was disbanded, but it was rebuilt by decree of the Supreme Council of Russia in 1991 in the same borders as it was.

Indigenous Germans, descendants of the first Mennonites, left these places in the 90s, and today more than 50% of Russians live here, up to 40% of Russified Germans and 10% are of other nationalities.

The villages of the German national district of the Altai Territory together comprise just over 17 thousand people.

County Economy

Most of the population is engaged in agriculture and livestock raising. The county has the largest indicator of sown land: at 1432 km² arable land is 1243 km ². Due to its special status, the German National District of the Altai Territory receives funding from Germany and the regional administration. For example, with their help over the past 20 years, new houses with a total of 168 apartments, a meat processing plant, a dairy and a mill have been built here.

The main crops grown on the territory of the region are wheat and sunflower, vegetables and fodder. The district has its own oil mill, a brewery, a sausage shop and 3 dairies.

Population

The villages of the region are well-groomed, well designed, with lots of greenery and beautiful front gardens. For example, Podsosnovo (Altai Territory, the German national district) is the most active settlement. Founded in 1894, the village became the place of resettlement of the Germans from the Volga region, where there was not enough land for all comers.

Unfortunately, the events taking place in Russia since the beginning of the revolutionary upheaval and until 1991 led to the fact that from the people living in these parts until 1917, 70,000 Germans have now virtually no one left. Mass exodus began in the 90s, when the majority of the indigenous population left for their historical homeland, and the national composition of the region was drastically changed.

The same applies to the village of Polevoe (Altai Territory, German National District). It was founded by representatives of the Mennonite community in 1908. At that time, its population was only 119 people and was constantly growing in numbers right up to the beginning of the 1990s. Since 1999, the number of people is constantly falling, which is due to their emigration to Germany.

To date, the administration of the German National District of the Altai Territory, located in the village of Galbstadt, offers for sale homes for immigrants. The average cost of a private house in such large villages as Polevoye, Podsosnovo, in the administrative center and others costs from 300 000 rubles. This price is due to the fact that the settlements are equipped with central sewerage and heating, have schools, kindergartens, cultural and financial institutions.

Infrastructure of the region

The village of the German district of Altai can be called a stretch. They are so well-equipped that they are more like European small towns. Almost every village has a club and school, a hospital in the village of Kusak, and a district clinic in Galbstadt.

Before the wave of emigration in the 90s, German culture and customs flourished in the province, the newspaper was published in German. At present, it is published in Russian, since the Germans who moved here from Kazakhstan are Russian-speaking.

In the village of Polevoe there is a German center, in which festivals are held, with frequent guests being artists from Germany.

Settlers

Currently, those who want to obtain a special status of their resident with the possibility of further emigration to Germany are moving to the German land, although those who want to return from Europe come.

The second is especially welcome guests, since their connection with Germany, where they have children and grandchildren, will help to revive the old customs of the native Germans in the local villages.