As is well known, at the beginning of the 20th century, there was no television, no radio, and no Internet.
For our ancestors, newspapers and magazines of all kinds were the only source of information about the world around them.
Thanks to catalogs dedicated to periodicals from the 19th and early 20th centuries, we can learn that in 1910, in our beloved city, in addition to the newspapers *Yuzhny Krai* and *Utro*, the following were also published, for example:
— “Latest News of the Season” — a newspaper covering theater, music, sports, and fiction.
— The “Kharkiv Evening Newspaper,” covering social, political, and literary topics.
— “Kharkiv Kopeika”—a widely available, inexpensive newspaper.
— “Voin,” a weekly military magazine.
— “Kharkiv Leaflet”—a daily progressive newspaper.
— “Kharkiv Exchange,” a trade bulletin.
It goes without saying that people back then didn’t get their news or interesting facts solely from local publications. There were quite a few magazines and newspapers of all kinds at the time, covering topics such as fashion, weapons, sports, politics, and architecture. There were even special publications for those looking for a partner. Dating newspapers published ads from people of various social classes on their pages. The most popular among the public was the “Marriage Gazette,” published in Moscow from 1906 to 1916.
Quite a few ads from it have been posted on the “Gazetnye Starosti” website.
However, as the saying goes, “Marriages are made in heaven.” Information about them in Kharkiv could be found not only in marriage announcements but also, as it turns out, in religious publications. Our beloved city has been multiethnic and multiconfessional for centuries.
Much is known about the existence of various Orthodox media outlets in Kharkiv in the early 20th century. However, the question of whether Catholic and Protestant newspapers existed in our city at that time has remained an open one for most researchers to this day. However, not long ago, while working at the Kharkiv Regional Archives in the collection of the Kharkiv governor, I discovered two very interesting documents that shed light on these gaps in our city’s history.
As it turned out, on April 24, 1910, the authorities granted permission to the Kharkiv provincial preacher, Senior Pastor Maximilian Karlovich Stender of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kharkiv, and the assistant pastor, Karl Karlovich Kramer, were granted permission by the authorities to publish a weekly newspaper in German titled “The Kharkiv Evangelical Parish Gazette.”
This issue includes the following sections:
1. Edifying sermons based on well-known passages from Holy Scripture.
2. Articles on religious and moral topics.
3. News about the foreign and domestic missionary activities of the foreign Evangelical church.
4. News from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and abroad.
5. A brief overview of political events.
6. Specific information from the Kharkiv Evangelical Lutheran parish, such as:
a) births, baptisms, catechumens, and deaths;
b) donations to the church and its institutions;
c) the most important resolutions of the representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran community concerning the institutions entrusted to them;
d) the dates and times of worship services.
7. News about local German life.
8. Announcements and notices.
Of considerable interest is the application for permission to publish a newsletter, written on April 10, 1910, by Pastor Maximilian Karlovich Stender and addressed to the governor of Kharkiv.
In our desire to meet the needs and address the life issues of the flock entrusted to us, we, the undersigned pastors, intend to establish—following the example of other Evangelical Lutheran parishes— a periodical that could contribute to the development of the religious and moral life of our congregation, provide timely information about the life of our extensive parish, and stimulate the spiritual interests of parishioners who live far away and are unable to participate in the events of church life…
So the publication contained truly important information about both the religious and national life of our city.
On April 22, 1910, the pastor of the Roman Catholic Church in Kharkiv, Father Ignatius Karlovich Chaevsky, wrote to the governor:
…I would like to publish in Kharkiv, in Polish, with some supplementary information in French and German, a reference sheet titled “Parafia Ckarkowska…”
…This information sheet will be published once a month, on the 1st of each month, and will be printed at the Darre printing house…
As early as June 8, 1910, the pastor of the Catholic church received permission to publish *Parafia Ckarkowska*. The information sheet included the following sections:
1. Calendar.
2. Order of Worship.
3. Explanation of Feasts and Rites.
4. Directives from the Ecclesiastical Authorities.
5. Information on the Condition of the Parish and Its Needs.
6. Weddings in the parish.
7. Obituaries of deceased parishioners.
8. Information about institutions affiliated with the church.
9. Historical notes concerning the Kharkiv parish and its affiliated institutions.
10. Notable figures from other parishes and dioceses in Russia, as well as from other countries.
12. Correspondence.
13. Announcements.
Unfortunately, the State Archives of the Kharkiv Region do not have a separate collection containing documents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. In which libraries are copies of the *Kharkiv Evangelical Parish Gazette* (which, apparently, was the only German-language newspaper in Kharkiv) and *Parafia Charkowska* held? I am, to my great shame, unaware—just as it is unclear whether they have survived at all. It’s a pity, because their potential digitization or reprinting could reveal a great deal of interesting and new information about the life of our beautiful city.
Very soon, many of us will be celebrating the joyous feast of Christ’s Resurrection.
This year, Catholic and Orthodox Easter fall on the same day. Ironically, the Orthodox church, the Roman Catholic church, and the Lutheran church were located very close to one another.
How wonderful it is, after all, to realize that on the day Christ rose from the dead, believers of three different denominations in our beloved city in 1906, 1909, 1912, and 1915 rejoiced together and perhaps even congratulated one another after the service…
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