Krasnoarmeysk, Saratov Oblast

Krasnoarmeisk (Russian Красноармейск, formerly Balzer ) is a town in Saratov Oblast (Russia) with 24,364 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010 ).

Geography

The city is located about 75 km south of the Oblasthauptstadt Saratov near the source of the river Goly Karamysch in the river system of the Don, about 20 kilometers away from the right bank of the Volga.

Krasnoarmeisk the Oblast is administratively subordinated directly and as the administrative center of the homonymous Rajons.

The city's nearest railway station is Bobrówka, 15 kilometers away on the route Saratov Ilowlja ( -Volgograd ). The road leads Saratov -Volgograd far west of the town over.

History

Krasnoarmeisk was 1764-1766 as a colony of German settlers under the name Balzer, according to a family name. An alternative name of the colony was Goly Karamysch, after the river that Russian- turksprachig for literally naked, black river, so turbid river at Bald ( unbewaldeter ) steppe landscape.

The official name since the mid-19th century was Goly Karamysch ( Balzer ). Until the beginning of the 20th century, the town became a center of cloth weaving, it emerged a brickyard and other small factories.

With the beginning of World War II, the German addition of the city's name was deleted, and the town charter in 1918 lent only by the name Goly Karamysch. 1927, now located on the territory of the Volga German Republic, the city was returned to the German name Balzer.

As part of the deportation of the German population to Siberia under Stalin was 1942, the re-naming; it received its current name, derived from the Russian Krasnaya Armia for Red Army.

Demographics

Note: Census data ( rounded to 1939 )

Culture and sights

Krasnoarmeisk has since 1987 a local museum. A part of the exposition is devoted to the history of the Volga German population.

Office building in Balzer ( Russia) built in the late 19th century.

Textile factory in Balzer ( Russia) built in the late 19th century.

Economy

Krasnoarmeisk is the center of an agricultural region. In the city there are several companies in the textile industry, for agricultural equipment and Lenbensmittelindustrie.