Return to Wiesenmuller                                                                                                    Return to Jeruslan Home Page

 

Wiesenmuller - A Contemporary History Report

by Lyudmila Lishcheryakova

[While in Wiesenmuller in July, 1995, Bill WIEST heard a verbal report by Lyudmila Lishcheryakova, a student at the Saratov State University. Bill obtained a written copy of her comments and permission to share them with us.]
 
The village of Lugovskoye, Rovensk region, Saratov oblast, is located on the banks of the small Yersulan river. Excavations conducted by the Saratov State University have indicated that the location of our village has been inhabited since the distant past but unfortunately, information about the previous inhabitants of the village have not been preserved. It is known only that the inhabitants were of German nationality, and the village was called Wiesenmuller.

Before 1941, the village was part of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Germans on the Volga, Seelman Kanton (now Rovensk region).

The population was engaged in raising livestock and producing grain. Until the Great Patriotic War, Lugovskoye was quite large: there was a church made of wood (it was tom down in 1930 and the Lugovskoye regional constructed on the site). There were two schools, the buildings of which have been preserved. The first is on Lenin Street, and it is more than 100 years old. The second was constructed between 1934 and 1936. It was constructed by everyone in the village in their spare time The village levied a special tax of 200 eggs from each home. The eggs were added to concrete mix, to strengthen it. After the move to the new school in 1936, the old school was turned into a tractor shop. The new school served until 1980, when a new building was constructed and is currently still in use.

There were two working mills in the village One was outside the village itself. and has not been preserved. The same is true for the granaries which stood near the mills, and in which was stored an enormous quantity of grain and flour. The second mill was opposite the cream and cheese factory. The cream and cheese factory was constructed in 1934. Ali the buildings and basements were made of brick and concrete, and the factory is still functioning. Milk and cream are brought in from all the villages in the region: Krivoyar, Kamenka, Kopenka, and others.

Before the Great Patriotic War, Lugovskoye was the largest and richest village in the region. There was a year-round bazaar. Once a year, usually in autumn, there was a great trade fair, which usually lasted two weeks All along the banks of the Yeruslan River there were great orchards, part of which are still preserved. All the homes were of wood, but one of them on Lenin Street has been in existence since 1910. This building with a brick basement has been preserved and is currently used as a grocery store. It still looks like a private home! When the store was founded, but it was before the Revolution in this same building, and it has never moved.

By 1941, on the territory of Wiesenmuller. the kolkhoz [collective farm] "Honor to Lenin" was founded, and other collectives were founded in surrounding villages. In August 1941, all the German families were immediately evacuated to the distant regions of the country, and the village came to be inhabited by people from Ukraine. Belarus, Volgograd, and other regions of the country. After the war, several families returned to their homeland, and many have settled here.

In May of 1942, the Seelman Kanton was changed to the Rovensk region. And according to documents from 1945, the sovkhoz [state farm] was named "Lugovskoye." The date of the founding of the the state farm is unknown