katharinental

QUEST FOR ANCESTORS

A Digital History and Photo Archive for the Beresan District, Odessa, Russia

Typical street in Katharinental, Beresan District, Ukraine 9/2003

Today, Katharinental is called Katerinovka. The Catholic village of Katharinental was founded in 1817 by a group of 17 settlers. When they arrived at the settlement there was nothing there but the desolate prairie....no homes or buildings of any sort. Because of this, the first settlers were wintered with other families in the nearby village of Karlsruhe. The village was laid out in the shape of a "cross" with the two main streets intersecting each other. The longest street in Katharinental is only about 2km (or 1-1/4 miles) long. The village was named by General Inzov and was confirmed by the authorities on December 13, 1819.

The Catholic church used to stand in the center of these two intersecting streets. It was built in 1826 and was taken down in 1970. The stones from the old church were used to build today's Katharinental museum, the "House of Culture".

This picture depicts where the church once stood, and the bush in the foreground marks where the front door was located. 9/2003

The village was built on fairly level ground, and trees line the street wherever you go. Each lot is surrounded by a stone or cement wall, or wooden fence, and the majority of the old German-built houses are still standing and in use.


These are all former BERNHARDT family lots	&	houses with their various fences. 9/2003

The first school in Katharinental was built in 1929. In 1999 it was torn down and a new school was built in another location. The pile of large rocks in the picture designates where the old school once stood.

Next to the spot where the old school once stood, you'll find this statue, which is a WWII Memorial for all of those men from Katharinental that fought and died in the war.

There is a large collective farm by Katharinental, called the "Stars of Kremlin". All over Ukraine you'll find reminders of the days of collective farming with empty abandoned buildings that once contained cattle, horses, livestock, farming equipment and machinery.

Katharinental House of Culture

Katharinental's HOUSE OF CULTURE museum is built on the old Flink property, and made from the stones salvaged from the ruins of their Catholic Church building.

Nina Ovsyanizkaya is the director/owner of this museum, and although she is not German, she preserves the history of her beloved village using her own funds. The museum is not yet recognized by the Ukrainian government...

***Nina asks that anyone who has family roots in the village of Katharinental, please share their family history, pictures, whatever you have to share...with the museum. If you send it to her, she will put it on display so that when others come, they will see who else from their family lines is researching in this village. Also, because the museum is funded solely by her, any monetary donations you make would be very greatly appreciated!!

The address is:

Ovsyanizkaya, Nina
ul.Lugovaya 7
s. Katerinental
Veselinovskiy r-n
Nikolaevskaya

Ukraine 57060

IF you would like to make a donation to the Katharinental Museum, there ARE some problems in getting money sent. They cannot cash checks! It is unwise to send cash through the mail! To wire the money, it will cost both the sender AND the receiver a fee so it is not a feasible solution. If you would like to donate, I am willing to collect the funds and make sure they are delivered in your name to the museum. In this way, the museum would get the most out of your contributions!

If you are researching any of the Beresan villages of South Russia and would like to join the BDO listserve (Beresan District of Odessa) which is a private listserve, please contact me for a special invitation or for more information. On this listserve, you'll meet many other members that are researching the same family names as YOURS!!