According to the community report of 1848, 133 families with a total of 730 people immigrated to Krasna in 1814. People arrived and departed over the decades. See also: 7.5, Fluctuations among the Krasna Colonies.

From its foundation until the resettlement of October 1940, Krasna people were almost exclusively German and almost all of them were Roman Catholics. Krasna also had very few people of other nationalities. Until the Resettlement these numbered about 1% of the population.

The non-Germans were mostly:

• Russians, Teachers, construction workers, servants
• Ukrainians, Construction workers, servants
• Bulgarians, Herdsmen, vegetable farmers
• Jews, Merchants
• Rumanians/Moldavians, under Russian government Herdsmen, servants. Under Rumanian government teachers, officials

Not all members of these nationalities lived in Krasna, but many of them worked there as servants, construction workers, herdsmen, merchants and teachers.

The development of Krasna’s population

The above listed data came from the following sources

• According to a community report of 1848 133 families moved to Krasna. This equates roughly the numbers in figure 2, the overview of 1818.
• The first report of 1818 mentions 132 families of Krasna with 736 people (State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fond 383, Inventory 29, File 417)
• According to the report of the Bessarabian office for foreign settlers, dated January 29, 1826, Krasna had the following population (reprinted by Rempel, Hans, Deutsche Bauernleistung am Schwarzen Meer: (German farmers’ Achievements on the Black Sea) Bevölkerung und Wirtschaft 1825 (Population and Economy 1825) published in Leipzig by Hirzel 1942 Table 19):
  • Families, 138
  • Male, 270
  • Female, 251
  • Total, 521

• In 1827 the official head count of Krasna was 535 residents, 280 males and 255 females. A total of 136 families lived in the village. (Statistic description of Bessarabia and the so-called Budschak) A division by country of origin follows:

• A list of 1831 (district office of Wittenberg) 124 Families is listed with 293 males and 284 females, a total of 577 persons. (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 383, Inventory 29, File 630)
• A list from 1832 about the parish of Krasna lists 114 families with farms and 10 others with a total of 305 males and 301 females. (State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fond 383, Inventory 29, File 622)
• We have a population list dated January 1, 1834. According to it Krasna had 318 males and 305 females on January1, 1834, for a total of 623 persons. (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 6, Inventory 1, File 3151)
• The tsarist government conducted several censuses in the Black Sea colonies. The Krasna census of 1835/1850 still exists. Therefore on September 15, 1850, there were 209 households with 1019 people, 513 males and 506 females Between 1840 and 1850 26 families moved to neighboring colonies, most of them in 1843. 24 families moved around 1843 (and 3 families followed later) from the colonies of Odessa. See also 7.5, Fluctuations among the Krasna Colonists
• Around 1864 304 families lived in Krasna with a total of 1,488 people.
  (Prochnow, Johann D. Die deutschen Gemeinden in Bessarabien in ihrem sittlichen und religiösen Zustande: nach Berichten eines Au-genzeugen)
  (Prochnow, Johann D. Morals and Religion of the German Communities of Bessarabia from Reports of an Eye Eitness)
• Around 1864 304 families lived in Krasna with 1488 people. (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 6, Inventory 4, File 21 877)
• In 1870, Krasna had 352 men with land and 285 without land. State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fond 1181, Inventory T 15-1870, File 71.
  In 1871 Krasna had 399 men with land and 238 men without land. (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond, Inventory, File not Identified)
• In 1912 Krasna had 1864 souls, all of catholic faith. (Keller, Conrad, Die Kolonie Kraßna (Gouvernement Bessarabien) (The colony of Krasna, Neuer Haus- und Landwirtschafts – Kalender für deutsche Ansiedler im Südlichen Rußland auf das Schaltjahr 1912) (New Home and Farm Calendar for German Settlers in South Russia, leap year 1912)
• In 1913 1,793 residents are listed for Krasna (Description of the German colonies of the Akkerman district, filed under Akkermaner Ipsprawnik (District Police Chief) number 930, dated January 27, 1913. A copy is located in the archive of the Heimatmuseum der Deutschen aus Bessarabien. (Homeland Museum of the Germans from Bessarabia)
  Copied from the Deutscher Volkskalender für Bessarabien (German Peoples’ Calendar for Bessarabia, Tarutino 1920-1939.
• In 1919 1,994 people
• In 1927 2,400, 18 non-Germans
• In 1929 2,479, 5 non-Germans
• The Rumanian census ²⁾) of 1930 gives the following figures for Krasna:

• Ca 1933 2,549 people, 23 non-Germans
• In 1936 2,632 residents
• Eduard Ruscheinsky says (Chronik der Gemeinde Krasna) (Chronicle of the Community of Krasna, published in the Farmers’ Calendar 1939) that in 1939, Krasna had about 512 farms with 2,873 residents of both sexes. They were all Catholics, except for 5 Orthodox families.
• The village report of 1939 (compiled for the Resettlement) notes 600 families with 2,832 persons. The village had 99.5% German residents.)
• Number of people at the time of the resettlement in 1940: E. Ruscheinsky [The Catholic Diaspora Community of Krasna, Bessarabia, Before the Approaching Storm of the Second World War (1939-1940)] mentions that the villagers of Krasna were given 2,852 resettlement numbers and added that the number of residents at the end of their stay on October 13, 1940 amounted to roughly 3000 people ⁴⁾ with ca 610 families.
  The land shortages caused by population increases led to the fact that since the middle of the 19th century many people had to emigrate. See also 7.6, Exodus and Departures from Krasna It put the brakes on population growth in Krasna. During the course of its 125 year history 1,050 people left Krasna, although the population increased strongly between 1910 and 1940.

The numbers were compiled from:

1. Report of the Bessarabian office for foreign settlers, dated 29 January 1826 (printed by Rempel, Table 19). (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 6, Inventory 1, File 5740)
2. List of births, marriages and deaths of the colony of Krasna, 1840 (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 6, Inventory 1, File 5740)
3. List of births, marriages and deaths of the colony of Krasna in 1840 (State Archives of the Odessa Region, Odessa, Fond 6, Inventory 1, File 8841)
4. The figures for 1931 were published in the Staats Anzeiger newspaper on April 29, 1932.
5. Father Schumacher noted the annual numbers of births, marriages and deaths in the final years preceding resettlement (1934-1939).