German Tour
Dear guests! We represent a unique tour "On the footsteps of German settlers in PMR" (Transnistria). We would like to explain why this tour is unique: in Soviet time was the issue of German colonies because of clear reasons not popular. After breakdown of USSR the region was from the point of view of tourism development in hibernation.
Since 2012 the tourism develops in PMR (Transnistria) in a more active way. We are trying to contribute our modest mite to this process.
PMR-TOURS (Tours in Transnistria) offers you the itinerary “On the footsteps of German settlers” in PMR (Transnistria) which is being organized only by our tourism project.
Brief history reference:
German settlements appeared in Pridnestrovian (Transnistrian) region in 1808 (at that time it was a part of Ukraine inside of Russian Empire) in 1808.
The Germans from Baden and Alsace founded here 3 settlements: Glückstal, Neudorf and Bergdorf. German settlers´ main activities were growing grain crops, because it was very profitable to sell grain through the port of Odessa till 1859. Then the taxes were brought in.
German was the language of communication in colonies Glückstal, Neudorf and Bergdorf during the whole period of colonies´ existence till 1944. The church contributed to the preservation of German language, because the entire cultural life of settlers was connected with the church. In 1871 German settlers were equated in rights with all the citizens of Russian Empire. The introduction of compulsory 6-year-duty in Russian army led to immigration of 131 thousand settlers from 1871 to 1915. Germans moved to USA, Canada, Argentina and Brazil.
After the Nazis took the power in Germany, the settlers were suspected of espionage and counterrevolutionary complot.
A lot of German families were arrested and exiled. In 1936 all German schools were closed in Ukraine, part of which was Pridnestrovie (Transnistria). According to census of MASSR (the policitcal predecessor of Pridnestrovie(Transnistria)) from 1939 the percentage of ethnical Germans was 2% or 12 thousand people. After the Second World War the majority of German settlers were exiled to Kazakhstan, from where they returned in 1980-ies. After the collapse of USSR the most of them moved to Germany and North America.
The memory about life of German settlers in colonies Glückstal, Neudorf and Bergdorf is preserved by Pridnestrovian (Transnistrian) authorities. During the tour we try to show and tell you about this intricate history.
Tour program:
- We leave Tiraspol and visit 2 former German settlements in the Pridnestrovian (Transnistrian) district of Grigoriopol: Glinoe (Glückstal), Carmanovo (Neudorf)
- We take a look at the architecture of village Glinoe and the house, which was built 200 years ago according to German technologies
- We visit the place where the church of German settlers in the village Glinoe (Glückstal) was. Nowadays it is the house of culture
- We visit the monument erected for memory of German settlers in the school yard in the village Glinoe (Glückstal). Then we visit school museum, where you learn about the household of German settlers via showpieces
- We visit the village Carmanovo (Neudorf).
- Return to Tiraspol
Tour costs:
- For 1 person: 90 Euro
- For 2 person: 120 Euro
- For 3 person: 140 Euro
- For 4 person: 150 Euro
- For 5 and more persons: 40 Euro for 1 person
Tour duration:
- 3,5-4 hours
Booking tour & transfer Chisinau-Tiraspol:
transnistria.tour@yahoo.com and smolenskij.sa@google.com
