Josefstal – Skripalovo Russia

A German Village on the Volga

Margareta Stremel

| December 13, 2011

This photograph was taken in Josefstal, probably around 1920.  On the left is Margareta (Stremel) Gerk, wife of Michael Gerk.  The girl on the right is unknown.

Family Gerk: circa 1917

| December 5, 2011

This photograph was taken circa 1917 in the Volga German village of Josefstal.  The family consists of the Johan Georg Gerk family. Standing in the upper right hand side is Paul Gerk, who would escape from Russia and travel to Canada in 1924.

Josefstal: 2011

| June 21, 2011

Vladimir Kakorin has done a great job of documenting through photography, scores of Volga German villages. He travels out on a regular basis, taking great photographs of history. His complete archive of photo shoots can be found here. In June of this year he documented the remains of Josefstal. The photographs are wonderful!  On my [...]

The Church Choir in Josefstal

| December 9, 2007

Barbara Schaab in Germany sent me this photo, which is a real treasure.  Taken around 1927, it appears to be taken at the side door of the Catholic Church in Josefstal, and is of the Church choir.  We’ll post more documents about the Church, but this one was built in 1904 and was closed around [...]