Yelenendorf is a former German settlement located in modern-day Azerbaijan, founded in the early 19th century by settlers from Swabia, a region in Germany. The town is named after Helena Pavlovna, a Russian-German duchess from Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia.
The establishment of German settlements in the Caucasus was made possible by Russian Emperor Alexander I, who, in the spring of 1817, signed a petition to the authorities of the German Empire for the resettlement of 700 Swabian families to the Russian Empire, specifically to the Elizabethpol Governorate.
To develop new territories, particularly the Caucasus, which had been conquered by the Russian Empire from Persia, the emperor needed farmers and craftsmen. Consequently, the German settlers were promised a range of privileges: private land ownership, tax exemptions for the first ten years, and exemption from military service.
In 1818, on Easter Sunday, the German settlers established the village of Yelenendorf on the site of a former Persian village, which would later gain the status of a small town. Initially, 127 families (approximately 500 people) arrived and were allocated nearly 3,000 hectares of land. Alongside the German newcomers, Armenians, Russians, and Caucasian Tatars (the term used in pre-communist Russia to refer to Azerbaijanis) already inhabited the village. The plots for 135 families were distributed along two streets. There are records of some of the settlers, including Gottlieb Koch, Herzog Shimana, Jakob Krausen, and Johannes Wuchrera, who came from Reutlingen.
The Germans began to actively develop the town in their own style, constructing neat houses with red tiled roofs, a church, lawns, good roads, and a well-planned layout. This was a new experience for the local indigenous people.
The German settlers also introduced various crafts in Yelenendorf, including winemaking, brewing, and pig farming. They taught the Armenians how to smoke pork hams “Bavarian style,” as it is done in their homeland, Germany. A shoe production workshop of German quality was also established. The older generation of Kirovabad Armenians still remembers the names Hummel and Vohrer, as these families were influential in many areas of the town and the governorate as a whole.
Additionally, the Germans constructed a large Lutheran church in Yelenendorf, which served as a place of worship for all the Christians in the town. It was considered the most prominent church in the Caucasus and took several years to build.
During the Russo-Persian Wars, Yelenendorf was burned by the Persians. The residents fled but later returned to rebuild their livelihoods. The Germans established the production of branded and table wines, brandy, and champagne. Companies such as “Brothers Hummel,” “Brothers Vohrer,” and “Concordia” were founded, with products exported to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and even Europe.
Yelenendorf boasted workshops for producing horse-drawn carriages, wine barrels, blacksmithing, and carpentry. The Russian army was a primary customer for the carriages. Before the revolution, the population numbered around 5,000 people. The town had both a boys’ and girls’ gymnasium, with teachers invited from Germany. In 1893, the “German Society” (Deutscher Verein) was established, which included a library, reading room, brass band, and bowling alley, as well as a music school.
According to the 1935 census, Yelenendorf had a population of approximately 10,000 people: over half, around 6,200, were Germans, about 2,000 were Armenians, 500 were Russians (mainly Molokans and Cossacks), and the remaining residents were Azerbaijanis.
The cultural and economic decline of Yelenendorf began with Germany’s invasion of the USSR. Stalin feared that the Germans in the Caucasus, Volga region, and other Soviet areas would become a “fifth column” within the country. Therefore, in the early months after the war began, by order of the Soviet People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs (No. 001487 dated October 11, 1941), the Germans of Yelenendorf were deported to Siberia for compact settlement in a designated area under NKVD control. The authorities renamed the town Khanlar to erase all traces of its German heritage and connections. Thus ended the illustrious history of the German community in Yelenendorf and the Caucasus as a whole.
