Velykodolynske

Grossliebental (today Velykodolynske) was a German colony founded in 1804 on the Baraboi River, 18 km southwest of Odesa, by settlers from Württemberg, Baden, Alsace, Prussian Poland, and Saxony. From 1805 onward, it served as the administrative center of the Liebental District. Today, the area lies within Odesa Region.

The economic base of the colonists consisted of arable farming, livestock breeding, sheep husbandry, market gardening, and viticulture. Grossliebental was known as Odesa’s “milk supplier”: every week, hundreds of buckets of milk were transported from the colony. Attempts to establish silkworm breeding failed. Crafts developed in the colony to meet the needs of the local population, and Grossliebental became one of the district’s centers of pottery and wagon building. Over time, the colony evolved into a significant commercial hub.

By the end of the 19th century, Grossliebental was inhabited not only by Protestants (who formed the majority) but also by Catholics, Jews, and Orthodox Christians.

In 1869, a central school was opened in Grossliebental, where children of Evangelical colonists were trained to work as teachers in village schools.

At the outbreak of the First World War, the men of the village were conscripted. Liquidation laws deprived the German population of their civil rights. The Revolution and the Civil War were accompanied by frequent changes of power and raids by armed bands. On 26 July 1919, Grossliebental became the center of an anti-Bolshevik uprising that spread to other colonies. This uprising significantly weakened Soviet rear support and accelerated the advance of General A. Denikin’s troops in the Black Sea region.

The Soviet regime, finally established in 1920, was not accepted by the colonists. Famine, devastation, and heavy taxation led to increased migration pressures. In an attempt to restore economic initiative to German farmers, the Grossliebental District was established in 1926.

From 1929 onward, the liquidation of private farms and collectivization began. As a result of political repression, 314 residents were executed between 1937 and 1941.

In the summer of 1941, Grossliebental fell within the zone occupied by Romanian troops. The German population was placed under the authority of the SS Special Detachment R. On 25 March 1944, as the Red Army advanced, the inhabitants of Grossliebental were evacuated to the Reich province of Warthegau (Poland). After the war, many of them were repatriated to the USSR—to Komi, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Central Asia, and the northern Urals.

Grossliebental ceased to exist as a German settlement. Farmers from western Ukraine were resettled in the former German homes.