Document 64

Excerpt from summary report on religious activity among Germans in Volga Region, 1936

RGASPI, f. 17, op. 120, d. 232, l. 52. Typewritten copy.

In the village of Gnadentau in Zel'man Canton, situated in the Republic of Germans of the Volga Region, the chairman of the church council, a man named Shefer who had formerly been stripped of his voting rights, raised a question at a villagers' meeting: can they now reopen a church that had been closed down for refusing renovations that were needed to preserve state property and for refusing to pay appropriate taxes. Can the church council now assemble church meetings without permission from the village soviet and the KIK [canton executive committee].[sic; no question marks in original]

This same Shefer, a man named Klaub and Karpukha, bookkeeper for the Staraia Poltava Canton Consumers' Union, have been and are agitating to the effect that churches should now be opened without turning in the appropriate taxes and renovating the church; that the pastor (priest) will now come back, regains his voting rights and religious meetings, processions and so forth may be freely organized at any time without permission from the village soviet and the canton executive committee.

The aforementioned Klaub tried to teach kolkhoz farmers to demand for themselves from the kolkhoz board a seven-hour workday and ten to fifteen rubles' pay per day, and at least six kg of bread per work-day.

The above-mentioned Shefer held a gathering of Betbrüder [devotees] in his house without any permission from the village soviet or the canton executive committee.

Betbrüder assembled in the same village of Gnadentau without any permission, and to call the meeting they used a church bell that was in decrepit condition and had not been used for several years.