Kratzke Churches and Pastors
Lutheran Church in Kratzke Built ~1899
The steeple was removed and the building was used for machinery and grain storage under the communist regime.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Rodney Fink, Macomb, Ill.
One of the factors influencing many of the colonists to leave Germany in the 1760s was the search for freedom from the seemingly constant religious warfare that plagued Central Europe. Catherine the Great, recognizing this motivating factor, made religious tolerance one of the major components of the Manifestos which were issued to entice foreigners to immigrate to Russia. To enhance the success of her colonizing campaign, efforts were made to establish the colonies along the Volga according to the religious practices of the colonists. This religiously segregated colony structure would offer fewer opportunities for religious fighting among the new settlers.
In this light, Kratzke was founded in 1767 as a Lutheran colony. It was assigned to the parish headquartered in nearby Dietel, which was also the residence of the pastor. The Dietel parish also included the colonies of Merkel, Kautz, and Bauer. Bauer, a predominently Reformed colony, split with the Dietel parish in 1804 to join with the Reformed parish whose headquarters were located in the colony of Grimm.
The fear of religious-based warfare among the colonist subsided during the nineteenth century, and in 1904 two additional colonies were added to the Dietel parish: the predominantly Lutheran colony of Neu-Dönhof and the predominantly Reformed colony of Neu-Balzer. The addition of these two colonies brought the total membership in the Dietel parish to 15,667 with 2,233 of those belonging to the Kratzke church. The 1906-1907 confirmation class numbered 128!
The first known church building to be constructed in Kratzke was dedicated in 1826. It was a wooden building with a wooden roof. A new church, also constructed of wood, was built in 1899. For this construction, the colony received a loan of 3,000 rubles. There is a church building still standing in the former colony of Kratzke, although its steeple and transcepts have been removed. This building is assumed to be the one which was built in 1899. As of 1996, it was in poor repair and being used as a barn for the storage of hay. When it was functioning as a church, sources claim it could seat 600 people. From the looks of the structure that remains today, these 600 would have been closely packed!
It is interesting to note that pastoral acts were a money-making enterprise in the German colonies along the Volga. For example, an amounts assessed by the Kratzke church in 1904 were the following: 15 kopek for a baptism (paid by the sponsors), 30 kopek for a confirmation, 1 ruble for a wedding, and 15 kopek for a burial.
The Dietel parish which included the colony of Kratzke was served by the following pastors:
