Rybalśke (Kandel)

Kandel (today Lymanske) was a German colony founded in 1808 by Roman Catholic settlers from Alsace, the Palatinate, Bavaria, Prussia, and Austria. Initially, it formed part of the Kuchurgan Colonists’ District of Odesa Uyezd in the Kherson Governorate (1808–1871). Today, the territory of the former colony belongs to Rozdilna District of Odesa Region.

Kandel was the birthplace of the German public figure and historian Anton Bosch.

The colonists’ economic activity was based primarily on agriculture and livestock breeding. Attempts to develop fine-wool sheep breeding proved unsuccessful. Viticulture, fruit growing, vegetable gardening, oil pressing, and milling played an important role. Alongside farmers, various craftsmen settled in Kandel. The colonists produced textiles themselves and made their own clothing.

The introduction of universal military service in 1874 prompted several families from Kandel to emigrate to North and South America.

In 1892, the parish Church of St Michael was built in the Neo-Romanesque style and consecrated by Bishop Anton Zerr. An independent parish was established in 1896.

At the outbreak of the First World War, mobilization laws curtailed the civil rights of the German population, including the right to education in their native language. The school in Kandel was closed. The Revolution and the Civil War, as well as armed raids, destroyed the colonists’ farms. Frequent changes of political power were accompanied by confiscations and requisitions. In the summer of 1919, the inhabitants of Kandel took part in the anti-Bolshevik Grossliebental Uprising.

The colonists generally reacted negatively to Soviet transformations. The policy of grain requisitions, combined with drought, caused mass famine in 1921–1922, claiming the lives of about 450 people. In 1929, a campaign of dekulakization and collectivization began in Kandel. About 300 residents died during the famine of 1932–1933. During the Great Terror of 1937–1938, 98 people were executed.

In the summer of 1941, Kandel fell within the zone occupied by Romanian troops. The German population was placed under the administration of the SS Special Detachment R (Sonderkommando R). On 19 March 1944, as the Red Army approached, the inhabitants of Kandel were evacuated to the Reich province of Warthegau (Poland). After the war, they were repatriated to the USSR.

Kandel ceased to exist as a German settlement. Today, only the preserved ruins of the church recall its former inhabitants.