Elenendorf

On May 10, 1817, Russian Emperor Alexander I signed a petition from 700 Swabian families to relocate to the Transcaucasus . The city of Ulm was appointed a collection point, from where the settlers were sent on ships down the Danube to Ishmael . After quarantine, they were settled for wintering in the Black Sea German colonies that existed at that time, Peterstal, Iozefstal, Karlstal and other Swabian villages. In Transcaucasia, accompanied by Cossacks, settlers arrived only in August 1818 . Of the seven hundred families who left Ulm, only about four hundred reached the goal; some of the immigrants died on the way from diseases, others remained in the Black Sea region . At the same time, about a hundred families from the Black Sea colonies joined the immigrants. 6 settlements in Georgia and 2 ( Annenfeld and Elenendorf) in Azerbaijan were founded in the South Caucasus.

The colony received the name Helenendorf in honor of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the daughter of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna (before the marriage of Sofia Dorothea - Princess of Württemberg ).

The colonists arrived at the designated place in the winter of 1818 , so they were forced to spend the winter in Yelizavetpole (now Ganja ) in Armenian families who also professed Christianity , and only in spring 1819 on Easter holidays did government officials determine the exact place of construction of Helendorf - the former “Tatar settlement” Khanakhlar, where "except for the half-filled canal and the pits in the ground, nothing reminded of the former inhabitants." Lots of courtyards were distributed over two streets. The founders of the Yelenendorf colony were Swabian families (according to various sources, from 127 to 135 families), who came mainly from Reutlingen under the leadership of Gottlieb Koch, Herzog Szyman, Jacob Krause and Johannes Wuhrer. Initially, the colonists had to live in dugouts, for several years they lived in very difficult and even dangerous conditions, so in the first winter (1818-1819) only 118 families survived.

During the Russian-Persian war of 1826–28, the Swabians twice had to flee to Elizavetpol and Tiflis , fleeing from the advancing Persians, both times Helenendorf was burned by the Persians. In the years 1829-30, mortality due to diseases (including plague and cholera ) was two times higher than the birth rate. Only in the 30s the colonists managed to gradually improve their lives.

In 1843 the population of Yelendorf was 609 people, in 1926 it was 2157 people (but by this time people from Helenendorf had founded two more subsidiary colonies - Georgsfeld (936 inhabitants) and Traubenfeld (393 inhabitants)). They moved to other subsidiary colonies formed at the beginning of the 20th century. In October 1941 (during the forced eviction of German colonists from Transcaucasia), the number of Germans living in Helendorf and subject to eviction was 2,675.

By 1875, the colonists paid the government loan in full (2000 rubles per family), which they received in 1818 for relocation and improvement of the economy. By this time, the main occupation of the colonists was the cultivation of grapes and the production of alcoholic beverages - various varieties of vintage and table wine, brandy , champagne . The products manufactured in Helenendorf were sold by local firms Brothers Hummel, Brothers Forer and Concordia not only in Russia, particularly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in Europe. Developed and crafts. By 1908, the colony numbered: 8 workshops for the production of horse-drawn carts (also supplied to the Russian army), 6 for the production of barrels, 9 forges, 9 carpentry and 6 joinery workshops, 4 craftsmen, 4 painters and 4 stove makers, 3 locksmith shops, one shoe master. In addition to the Swabians, people of other nationalities also worked in Yelendorf: 60 Armenians and 40 Lezgins (mainly as masons). According to the census of 1908, 3525 “souls” lived in the colony: 2384 - Germans , 400 - Russians (mostly Cossacks ), 366 - Armenians, 300 - Persians (seasonal workers), 40 - Lezghins, 30 - Georgians , 5 people - Tatars ( Azerbaijanis).

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Armenian and Tatar (Azerbaijani) merchants were engaged in trade in Helendorf. And only in 1903, the Yelenendorf colonists organized their own trade cooperative ( Komsum ) with an initial capital of 7,000 rubles, which provided the inhabitants of the colony with almost everything necessary, including equipment for workshops and agricultural implements. Four years later, the cooperative's turnover amounted to 145 thousand rubles, profit - 10 thousand.

Schwabs, who left for the Russian Empire, were Lutherans , but belonged to the Pietist movement, which, in fact, was one of the reasons for their resettlement to the Caucasus. In 1832, a pastor arrived from Hannover to the colony, until the same, since the foundation of Helenendorf, worship , sacraments and ceremonies were held by a local teacher. In 1857, the stone church of St. John was built and consecrated in the village.

Due to the fact that the teacher was among the arrivals, the children of the colonists had the opportunity to learn to read, write and count, later - geography and history. In 1823, the first school was built, in which children studied in two classes. As the population grew, the school expanded, and the list of subjects studied in it expanded. Since the 1890s, the study of the Russian language has become mandatory. In 1907, a boarding school was opened at the Yelenendorf school to accommodate children from other Swabian settlements in the Transcaucasus. In the 1920s, teachers from Germany were invited to work at the school. So, for example, Alois Melichar , future conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Society, taught music lessons at Yelenendorf School.

Among the local teachers was, in particular, Jacob Hummel , known for his scientific work on archeology . In the 1930s, a prominent German writer and poet F. I. Bach worked at the Yelenedorf School.

Social cultural life in Helenendorf began with the formation in 1893 of the “German Society” ( Deutscher Verein ), which was originally a men's club with a library, a reading room and a bowling alley . Later, amateur brass and string orchestras and a theater studio were organized, which held concerts and performances both in the society hall, where up to 400 spectators could be accommodated, and at various festive events, including in Yelenendorf public garden. In 1930, a music school was opened with piano and stringed instrument classes. Various festivals were often held in Helenendorf, which brought together musical groups from all the Transcaucasian colonies (by the 1930s there were 21 colonies).

Yelendorff’s cultural and economic decline (from 1938, Khanlar) began with collectivization in the 1930s. They did not bypass the colony with repressions, in 1933-41 about 190 Yelendorf people were repressed. Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, by order of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR (No. 001487 of October 11, 1941) “On the resettlement of persons of German nationality from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia”, the Germans of Khanlar were expelled to Central Asia , Kazakhstan and Siberia .

• Russian Germans
• Germans of Azerbaijan

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• Dr. G. Leibbrandt "Die Auswanderung aus Schwaben nach Russland 1816-1823". Stuttgart. 1928 (German)
• Dr. K. Stumpp "Die Auswanderung aus Deutschland nach Russland in den Jahren 1763 bis 1862". Tübingen. 1974 (him)
• Encyclopedia "Germans of Russia". T. 2. - Moscow, 2004
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• Dr. M. Dschafarli Deportation der deutschen Bevölkerung aus dem Südkaukasus im Herbst 1941 (him)
• Hummel Ya. I. Archaeological essays. - Baku, 1940
• Ibragimov N. А. German pages of the history of Azerbaijan. - Baku, 1995
• Jafarli M. Sh. Political Terror and the Fates of Azerbaijani Germans. - Baku, 1998
• State Historical Archive of the Republic of Azerbaijan, State Archive of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Institute for German and East European Studies, Gottingen (Germany). Elenendorf in Azerbaijan. - Odessa, 2001
• State Archive of the Newest History of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Baku), Institute of German and East European Studies, Gottingen (Germany) . CONCORDIA. Production cooperative of winegrowers and winemakers of Ganja district. - Odessa, 2001
• Gumbatova Tamara. The life of the German colonists behind the Caucasus. - Baku, 2005
• Khanlar - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Helenendorf // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.