GER-VOLGA-L Archives

From: "Horst W. Gutsche" <>
Subject: [GV] Our people in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 07:54:11 -0800

The following article appeared in the Bessarabian German "Mitteilungsblatt"
(Newsletter) on February 7, 2002. It orginally appeared in the periodical
"Fuereinander" (For One Another) - translated by Horst W. Gutsche; February
22, 2002:

Our Evangelical Lutheran St. Catherine's Congregation in the Ukrainian city
of Dnepropetrovsk celebrates its 150th anniversary in the year 2002 and
belongs to the oldest Christian congregations in our city, which is only 225
years old. In past times, either only Germans or people of German origin
belonged to the congregation. Today, however, almost all of them have left
the country. This is the reason behind the fact that today all the worship
services in Dnepropetrovsk are held in Russian and no longer in German.
Russian, the official language of the former USSR, is understood by almost
everyone in Ukraine and now Ukrainians, Russians and even Jews belong to the
congregation.

135 years ago the Lutherans built a church on the main street in
Dnepropetrovsk, formerly called Katharinenheil (Yekaterinoslav - The
Salvation of Catherine or the Healing of Catherine in English). Even today,
this church is the only Lutheran church in Ukraine and the only Christian
church in the city which is situated on main street. St. Catherine
congregation was forcibly dissolved by the communists in the 1930's and the
last pastor, Waldemar Seib, disappeared along with his entire family in the
stone quarries near Tomsk. The congregation was reestablished 10 years ago.

While I was a young student of Germanic languages, I got to know Pastor
Gotthold Kiunke, with whose help I was able to obtain a place to study at
the theological seminary in Oberursel. There, in the lecture and study
halls, and above all in the worship services in St. John congregation, I
learned about our Lutheran faith. For the last five years I have been
serving the congregation in Dnepropetrovsk as their pastor and would like to
express my thanks to all who have helped to extend and to support my service
in Ukraine through their donations and prayers.

I wish God's rich blessing to all the friends of our congregation and his
gracious guidance in everything which you do.

Pastor Igor Taranenko

Some notes regarding the parish:

The above mentioned Pastor Wo(a?)ldemar Seib is mentioned in Schnurr's book.
He was born March 2, 1889 in Cherson and died January 18, 1943; he also
served Kassel near Odessa 1914-1922; Worms-Johannestal near Odessa 1923-1928
and in Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) 1928-1935. He was arrested on
January 5, 1935 and deported to a camp near Marinsk for ten years. He was
condemned to death on April 12, 1935 and then pardoned.

The parish of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) was founded in 1897 and in
1905 consisted of about 1,800 Germans, 150 Latvians and 30 Estonians.

1. 1898(or 97?)-1926 - Eduard Alexander Hesse, born March 8, 1865 in Mustel,
Island of Oesel, Estonia (or Livonia?), Russian Empire, ordained March 31,
1891; died Jan. 21, 1930 in Oederquart on the Niederelbe River, Germany; he
also served Vladimir-Volynsk in Volhynia 1891-1897. He moved to Germany
after 1926

2. 1926-1935 - Woldemar Seib (see other details above)

Prior to the establishment of the Yekaterinoslav parish, the congregation in
Yekaterinoslav belonged to the Yekaterinoslav (Jekaterinoslav) Area parish,
called the Josefstal-Fischerdorf parish which was founded in 1789. After
the founding of the congregation in 1852, it was also served by the
following pastors:

3. 1852-1863 - Laurenz Steinmann, born December 25, 1799 in St. Gall
(German: St. Gallen) Switzerland; died January 3, 1864 in Josefstal; he also
served Odessa 1825-1828; and Hochstaedt in Tauria 1826-1828 as well as the
Josefstal parish 1828-1863

4. 1864-1897 - Woldemar Kaufmann, born July 24, 1835 in Moscow; ordained
December 30, 1862 in St. Gall, Switzerland; he also served Kharkov 1862-1864

To me it is of special interest that Igor Taranenko studied at the Lutheran
Theological Seminary in Oberursel/Taunus near Frankfurt/Main in Germany. I
studied the old languages (Hebrew, Greek and Latin) there, as well as
theology, from 1970-1972. I was a wonderful experience! The pastor at the
St. John congregation in Oberursel, Richard Tepper, has ministered to many
newly resettled Russian Germans over the last 11 years and has also visited
and preached in St. Matthew, Calgary. He has an aunt living in Calgary and
is of Polish German background. I drove him and his wife around Russian
German settlements northeast of Calgary when he visited and we went to a
Hutterite colony and was also amazed to be able to find a restaurant which
served perogies in Drumheller, Alberta!

Horst W. Gutsche

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