DISTRICT / AIMAG
German National District
REGION
Altai Krai
Orlovo
The village of Orlovo in the German National District of Altai Krai was founded in 1910 (according to other sources — in 1908) by German Mennonite settlers.
A historical photograph, village view, landscape, or related heritage object will be displayed here at a later date.
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EN Village in the Atlas
German National District
Altai Krai
Historical background
The village was founded by Mennonite settlers who arrived in the Kulunda steppe thanks to the agrarian reform, led by the first settler, preacher, and teacher Pyotr Yakovlevich Wiebe. By 1917, a hospital, post office, school, brick factory, and credit partnership were built in the village. In 1923, a famine relief committee was created here with the participation of the American Mennonite community, during the repressions of 1936–1938, 22 residents died, and from 1942 local residents were sent to the labor army. In 1950, the collective farm named after Clara Zetkin was headed by Genrikh Bekker, and after the mass emigration of native Germans in the late 1980s, settlers from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan arrived in the village; in 2025, the opening of the new building of the Orlovo secondary school, whose history dates back to 1911, took place.
Place, memory, heritage
Historical and cultural legacy
Orlovo has the largest number of monuments in the district, including a 1912 granite obelisk in honor of the visit of P.A. Stolypin and A.V. Krivoshein, the Memorial of Military Glory, a monument to V.I. Lenin, the Stele "Guardian Angel", and a monument to border guards opened in 2024. The village is home to a House of Culture (founded in 1971), a rural library, a new school building, and the Orthodox Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and a Baptist prayer house is also mentioned.
Natural surroundings
The village is located on the slightly undulating, treeless Kulunda Plain with elevations of 120–160 meters above sea level. There are no rivers on the territory, however, the Bolshoye Krivoye and Kamyshi lakes are mentioned, and the natural landscape is represented by forest shelterbelts and dry steppe meadows; the village has a recreation park "Strana Detstva" (Country of Childhood).
Historical and cultural legacy
Orlovo has the largest number of monuments in the district, including a 1912 granite obelisk in honor of the visit of P.A. Stolypin and A.V. Krivoshein, the Memorial of Military Glory, a monument to V.I. Lenin, the Stele "Guardian Angel", and a monument to border guards opened in 2024. The village is home to a House of Culture (founded in 1971), a rural library, a new school building, and the Orthodox Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and a Baptist prayer house is also mentioned.
Living culture and memory
The village celebrates traditional German holidays (Erntedankfest, Oktoberfest, Pfingsten), the festival "We are all neighbors!", and the family ritual pig-slaughtering holiday "SchweinSchlachte", where the coffee drink "Prips", pies "Ribelplatz", and kissel "Uftmuss" are prepared. Historically, embroidered pictures with sayings (Spruchs) were kept in houses. The local collective participates in the German Cuisine Marathon, and a cafe with national cuisine, Grillhaus, operates in the village itself.
