Stepove ( uk, Степове) is a village in

Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast Mykolaiv Raion ( uk, Миколаївський район) is located in Mykolaiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Mykolaiv. Population: History In the 19th century, the area belonged to Kherson Governorate. In Decemb ...

in Southern Ukraine. Its population was 1869 in the

2001 Ukrainian Census The Ukrainian Census of 2001 is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.

. Along with another village of Zelenyi Hai, it forms a rural community: ''Stepivska Silska Rada''. Stepove hosts the administration of Stepove rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.

History

The village was founded as Karlsruhe (after

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, Germany) in 1809 by

Catholic Germans , native_name_lang = de , image = Hohe_Domkirche_St._Petrus.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cologne Cathedral, Cologne , abbreviation = , type = Nati ...

. The settlement was part of the Beresan Colonial District of Odessa region,

Kherson Governorate The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...

. In 1886, the population of the German colony of Karlsruhe was 2,132 people; at which time it was part of the Landau parish, Odessa district, Kherson Governorate. There were 190

farmsteads A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

, a

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and a high school. The Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul was built from 1881 to 1885. In 1925–1939, the Karlsruhe colony was part of Karl-Liebknechtovsky's German National District of Mykolaiv region (from

Odessa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administ ...

since 1932). Today, the ruins of the 19th-century neo-gothic style Roman Catholic church still remain. It is somewhat bricked up and its wooden roof and original steeple are gone. Several pictures of The church dated from the 1930s and 40s were published in a German language book called “Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutsche”. Pictures from 1942 and 1943 show the steeple missing the peak and cross but still with the stone base. The steeple was destroyed by the Soviets as they removed crosses from churches all over Ukraine. It is reported that the steeple was destroyed in 1934. It was rebuilt during the German occupation and destroyed yet again when Soviet forces advanced in mid-1944. Today, the main stone body of the steeple is completely gone. The church could have been battle damaged during the Nazi's advance through the area in 1941 or their retreat a few years later. Battle damage is present on its exterior from small-arms fire and shrapnel from undated events.

References

{{Mykolaiv Oblast Kherson Governorate Former German settlements in Mykolaiv Oblast Villages in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast Populated places established in 1811

History

See also

References