Pfeifer Village Website 

Also know as "Gnilushka"

Pfeifer was founded June 15, 1767 by German emigrants from Baden, Wuerttemberg and other provinces in Germany.

Pfeifer is situated on the West side of the Volga River. On what is called the "Bergseite" (hilly side). It is on the west side of the Ilavlya River.

117 versts from the provincial capital, Saratov, 65 versts from the district capital, Kamyshin, and 6 versts from the volost centre, Kamenka. The general Russian census of 1788, Pfeifer had 89 families, with 270 males and 237 females. Since the founding, the following have left the colony: in the years 1860-1864, 23 families migrated to the province of Samara (probably Steckerau); in the years 1877-1886, 64 families went to South America; in the years 1868-1876 six persons were expelled from the community for immoral behavior and were banished to Siberia. There are also 90 families, still belonging to this community, who now have their homes elsewhere.

PFEIFER has been an independent Catholic parish since 1871. In the 1798 census the parishioners belonged to St. Mary's Catholic Church in Kamenka where there was a priest as well as a church for worship. The parish church was built of wood in 1846. There is a parochial school where small children are taught reading, writing, and religion by a schoolmaster under the supervision of a priest. Since 1888 there was also a government-supported Russian school. 618 adult males and 524 adult females are able to read and write. Church of St. Francis is no longer standing.

The first priest serving St. Francis of Assisi at Pfeifer was Philipp Dorzweiler. He was followed by Michael Haag 1869 -1877, Sebastian Wolf 1877-1878, [again] Philipp Dorzweiler 1878-1880, Johannes Burgardt 1880 -1894, Peter Mueller in 1887, Josef Paul 1897?-1898, [in 1897 Josef Hein from Koehler attended to the needs of the parish at Pfeifer], in 1904 Alexander Staub of Kamenka served Pfeifer, Joseph Guetlein in 1905, Johannes Fix 1905 -1909/1910, Johannes v. Pauer 1890 -1905?, Joseph Beilmann 1911-1913, Nikolaus Maier 1914 -1918, Emanuel Simon ?-1921, and Leo Weinmayer 192l -1928.

The colony has the following artisans: 27 shoemakers, 4 cabinetmakers, 5 wheeelwrights, 2 weavers, 7 carpenters, 4 tailors, 2 oven-builders, 8 blacksmiths and l musician. It also has an oil-mill, 2 wind-driven flour mills, 21 establishments dealing in manfactured goods, 4 small shops and 3 liquor stores.

The land owned by the community has an area of 11,979 dessiatines, of which 8,195 are under cultivation, 150 hayland, 245 are wooded, 265 are pasture, 6 are seeded to hemp, 37 are potato field, 6 are cabbage field, 126 are occupied as village lots and vegetable gardens and 45 are used for threshing-floors. The surface of the land is mostly hilly. Of the total area, 450 dessiatines have good black soil, the rest is mainly clay with sandy subsoil. On the land are seven dams for the watering of livestock. The land is divided among the families according to the number of males.

The colonists sell their produce mainly in Nishnaja-Panovka [Hildman] on the Volga, less frequently in the district capital, Kamyshin.

1 verst = 2/3 mile. 1 dessiatine = 2.7 acres

Today the village of Pfeifer is an unpopulated city of ruins, except for a small store.

Source:
AHSGR Work Paper #16 (December 1974)
1798 Revision List (Census)
DIE KIRCHE AND DAS RELIGIOSE LEBEN DER RUSSLANDDEUTSCHEN by Joseph Schnurr 

Built of wood in a neoclassic style, the church contained a high altar, side altars and organ that came  from the South Tyrol. The upper half  of the interior walls were whitewashed whereas the lower half were finished in light blue.

The ornate wood carvings of the high altar and side altars were finished in white, heavenly blue and gold. The statues were highlighted in gold.

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Darryl boyd