Dutch

Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups
DUTCH, an ethnic community within the St. Petersburg population. The Dutch language is related to the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. They are Protestant and Catholic (those living in St. Petersburg are mostly Protestant). Tsar Peter I invited a many Dutch people to work in Russia as specialists and in 1697-98 Vice Admiral C. Cruys went to Holland to recruit sailors for the Russian Navy. The Dutch settled in St. Petersburg from its very foundation, and in 1717 the Dutch Reform Society was founded. Church services took place in a chapel in C. Cruys' Garden (between the Neva Embankment and Millionnaya Street) from 1730 - in homes belonging to the community (in 1831-34 a Dutch Church was built, connected to it was a school and Dutch club). Burials took place at the Smolenskoe and Volkovskoe Lutheran Cemeteries. From the 1740s the Dutch population in St. Petersburg grew, primarily on account of immigrants from the province Overijssel (according to traditional accounts, the trader Yan Smelt first arrived from Overijssel in St. Petersburg at around 1740). The Dutch were mainly involved in trading cloth, textiles and tobacco goods. Members of the Dutch community included General P.K. Suchtelen, Admiral L.P. Heiden, and Professor of the Conservatory K.K. Fan-Arc. In 1912 the community consisted of approximately 300 people. Following October 1917 almost all returned to their historic homeland.

Reference: Мейусе К. Русские голландцы: Начало и конец фризенфейнской колонии в С.-Петербурге, 1720-1920 гг. СПб., 1998; Голландская реформатская церковь в Санкт-Петербурге (1717-1927). СПб., 2001.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Cruys Cornely (Cornelius) Ivanovich
Fan-Ark K.K.
Heiden Loggin Petrovich, Count
Peter I, Emperor
Smelt Yan
Suchtelen Peter Kornilovich (Jan Piter)
Millionnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Мейусе К. Русские голландцы: Начало и конец фризенфейнской колонии в С.-Петербурге, 1720-1920 гг. СПб., 1998
Голландская реформатская церковь в Санкт-Петербурге (1717-1927). СПб., 2001 Dutch Reformed Church