NORKA
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People > Stories > ​Norka, A Large Colony of the Volga

Norka, A Large Colony of the Volga

Now, more than sixty years separate me from my early childhood, but the memories have stayed in my heart:  the difficult years of exile in Siberia, the loss of my parents, the suffering of my sisters and brothers during the terrible years in the labor army. My brother was forced to work the in coal mines, my sisters worked in fishery on icy waters of the Ob River and felling trees in a forest in the Ural Mountains. Closely linked are the good and beautiful memories that can excite a child's heart, with all the misery and pain that our family and the village experienced during the period from 1925 to 1932.

Norka was a large village with very pronounced German traditions, especially religion, and its people spoke their own dialect.

Before my eyes appeared the Volga River, its beautiful beaches, steep and green. I have long held this memory as a six-year old in 1925.

In the fall of 1927, my father became the pastor in the villages Norka, Huck and Beideck. Imprinted in my mind is the picture of our arrival in Norka. Our wagon drove through the village and then turned through an open gate and into a large courtyard filled with people. We heard the people singing and they threw many bouquets of flowers to us. Father spoke and thanked them all for a warm welcome. The residents of Norka were hospitable and friendly people.

The village consisted of ten rows of five houses and a very long street on either side. The houses were made of clay, brick or logs and  the roofs were covered with boards or tin.

Our new home, the parsonage, bordered the old cemetery. Despite the fact that it was more than a hundred years old, this was the first cemetery, and the paths were were well maintained. The grounds were rich with lilacs. rose bushes, white arcacia, birch, oaks, lime trees, aspens and elms, a whole botanical garden. There I could hide with a book and read quietly.

The village of Norka had five schools, but the teachers did not communicate with us, because it was forbidden to them. Our father gave us our lessons. There was also a clinic and a pharmacy where drugs were dispensed free of charge. The doctors were Russian and spoke German poorly, but they performed their work heartily. In the German villages there were also many German doctors.

The people get up in the summer and winter at 4 a.m. The men feed the cattle and clean the stables. Women milked the cows, fed the calves, stoked the oven, took care of the breakfast and the children. When this work was completed, the spinning wheels were buzzing, women knitted, sewed, and did weaving. Families were large, and there were almost always two or three women in each house who divided the work among themselves. Everyone does what she can. The older women made lunch and baked bread. The men brought water from the well on a sled. After dinner, the school children did their homework and then went to bed early.

The village was located on the Steppe. The wind blew constantly, so there were many windmills. Outside the village was a large steam mill. Before the revolution, it was privately owned and later it was transferred to the state.

In the village there were shoemakers, fullers, tailors who made only fur clothing and tailors who made clothes only for women and young girls. There were carpenters, coopers, saddlers, potters, roofers, cartwrights, tanners and beekeepers.

All through the week the residents labored diligently. On Saturday everything was washed clean, the people bathed, and enough bread was baked for the coming week.  There was no work on Sunday, except for looking after the cattle. The Sunday worship service began at 9 o'clock in the morning and the church was always full.

Almost every family had an orchard. Throughout the winter the cellar was stocked with barrels of Mochenov apples, watermelons, pickled tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage. There were also large
bottles of sunflower oil. With the onset of winter, cattle were butchered. In the smokehouse hung sausage, ham and bacon. In winter, the family was well supplied with dried fruits.

The winter of 1932-1933 was very difficult and there was not enough bread to eat. During our last years in Norka there was unrest in the village. Every night the Soviet authorities would come to arrest and expel people. Near our beds we placed a chair. On the chair we layed out our clothes and cooked foods in case we had to flee from the house.

The memories of Norka are an open wound upon my heart and my soul. The memories of the beautiful natural surroundings, the lovely people we knew and respected, the time with our parents, still pulls us back there. I especially remember the spring, from the hills and forests to the gurgling streams with their silvery pastures. There the flowers still bloom for us; lilies, anemones and spring snowflakes.  For us, the lush fragrance of the lilac is there. For us, the white acacia still waves. For us, the flaming tulips of the Steppe still bloom. 

What do these people who tilled every inch of this land by sweat of their brow now feel? These people who with their calloused hands lovingly worked the fields, cradled their childen and were forced to leave their ancestors forever. What did they feel?  Can one answer this question?  Find an answer?  Where have the people of this great and rich village gone? Which steppes do they now till?  Have they kept their strict customs in spite of their fickel fate?  Did they lose faith and trust in God?

Wherever they may be, those who are still alive, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I wish wholeheartedly peace, trust in God, understanding and the hope to see their home village again!

O God! Help them, be merciful to them and keep them safe.

Source

Müthel, Edith. "Das große Dorf Norka an der Wolga." Christlicher Kalender für Frauen in deutscher und russischer Sprache. 2001. Hanna Strack Verlag. www.hanna-strack.de​.

Edith Müthel was born in St. Petersburg in 1919. She was the daughter of Rev. Emil Pfeiffer who ministered as a pastor in the colony of Mühlberg from 1925 to 1927 and in the parish of Norka from 1927 to 1934. In 1925, the large Pfeiffer family which had four children, (Margareth, age 7; Edith, age 6; Friedeborg, age 5; and Emil, age 3) traveled to their father's distant new place of service in Russia.

Edith spent her childhood in the Volga area in the German colonies of Mühlberg and Norka (province of Saratov). The most beautiful memories from this time remain ingrained in Edith's mind.

Today Edith is one of the most respected congregational members of St. Peter Church in St. Petersburg, Russia. She returned to her native city in 1956 and was confirmed in 1997. She had a difficult lot in life but kept her joy of living and the beautiful smile which comes directly from her heart.

Translation by Steven Schreiber, December 2016.
Last updated December 21, 2016.
Copyright © 2002-2025 Steven H. Schreiber
  • Home
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    • Geographical Description
    • Government
    • Social Structure
    • Health
    • Education
    • A Land of Ethnic Diversity
    • Cottage Industries >
      • Sarpinka
      • Mills
    • Language
    • Population
    • Military Service
    • Crime and Punishment
  • History
    • Timeline
    • Origins of the Colonists
    • Catherine's Manifesto 1763
    • Why go to Russia?
    • Recruitment 1766
    • Planning 1764-1766
    • Marriages Prior To Emigration 1766
    • Voyage to Russia 1766 >
      • Ship Transport 1766
    • Journey 1766-1767
    • Founding of Norka 1767
    • Early Years 1767-1769
    • Norka 1769
    • Pallas Report 1773
    • Pugachev Raid 1774
    • Norka 1775
    • Norka 1798
    • Norka 1811
    • Napoleons Soldiers
    • Norka 1834
    • Daughter Colonies 1850s >
      • Neu-Norka
      • Oberdorf
      • Brunnental
      • Rosenfeld (am Jeruslan)
      • Neu Hussenbach (Gaschon)
    • Privileges Lost 1871-1874
    • Immigration 1875-1924 >
      • To the United States >
        • Colorado
        • Ft Collins Colorado
        • Globeville Colorado
        • Mason City, Iowa
        • Culbertson, Nebraska
        • Lincoln, Nebraska
        • Sutton, Nebraska
        • Burlington, Oklahoma
        • Weatherford, Oklahoma
        • Canby, Oregon
        • Portland, Oregon
      • To Canada >
        • Duffield, Alberta
        • Ponoka, Alberta
        • Spruce Grove, Alberta
        • Stony Plain, Alberta
        • Vegreville, Alberta
        • Arcola, Saskatchewan
      • To Germany
      • To South America
    • Famine 1891-1892
    • Norka 1898
    • War & Turnoil 1904-1906
    • World War 1914-1918
    • Revolution & War 1917-1922
    • Soviet Rule 1918-1941
    • Famine 1921-1924
    • Famine 1932-1933
    • The Great Terror 1936-1938
    • Deportation 1941
    • Repression 1941-1956
    • Cultural Loss 1957-2006
    • A Culture in Peril
    • Recent Times
  • Traditions
    • Food and Drink
    • Clothing
    • Holidays >
      • New Year
      • Fastnacht
      • Lent
      • Easter
      • Ascension Day
      • Pentecost
      • Founder's Day
      • Harvest Festival
      • Jahrmarkt
      • Christmas
      • Anniversaries & Birthdays
    • Crafts
    • Games
    • Folk Medicine
    • Superstitions
    • Nicknames
    • Folk Music
    • Church Music
    • Funerals and Burials
  • Religion
    • Planning and History >
      • Norka Reformed Church 1767-1864
      • 1909 Norka Parish Report
    • Pastors >
      • Johann Heinrich Fuchs
      • Johann Georg Herwig
      • Johann Baptist Cattaneo
      • Lukas Cattaneo
      • Emanuel Grunauer
      • Friedrich Börner
      • Christian Gottlieb Hegele
      • Christoph H Bonwetsch
      • Gottlieb N Bonwetsch
      • Wilhelm Staerkel
      • Woldemar Sibbul
      • David Weigum
      • Friedrich Alexander Wacker
      • Emil Pfeiffer
    • Church Practices >
      • Baptism
      • Confirmation
      • Weddings
      • Communion
      • Prayers
      • Parochial Certificates
    • Church Buildings
    • Church Organs
    • Bell Tower
    • Brethren Movement
  • Resources
    • Family Research
    • Research Resources >
      • Arrival Records 1766
      • Descendant Charts
      • German EWZ Records
      • Soviet Gulag Records
    • Maps
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Periodicals >
      • Die Welt-Post Letters
      • Sonntagsblatt der Omaha Tribune
    • Related Links