| Stepove | |
| Native Name: | Степове |
| Native Name Lang: | uk |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | Ukraine Mykolaiv Oblast#Ukraine |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Stepove in Mykolaiv Oblast |
| Coordinates: | 47.1844°N 31.52°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Mykolaiv Raion |
| Subdivision Type3: | Community |
| Subdivision Name3: | Stepove rural council |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Established Date: | 1809 |
| Established Title1: | Former name |
| Established Date1: | Karlsruhe (1809—1944) |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 85.116 |
| Population Total: | 1869 |
| Population As Of: | 2001 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | EET |
| Utc Offset: | +2 |
| Timezone Dst: | EEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +3 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 57107 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | +380 512 |
| Blank Name: | Climate |
| Website: | http://rada.gov.ua/ |
Stepove (Ukrainian: Степове) is a village in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast in Southern Ukraine. Its population was 1869 in the 2001 Ukrainian Census.[1] Along with another village of Zelenyi Hai, it forms a rural community: Stepivska Silska Rada. Stepove hosts the administration of Stepove rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[2]
The village was founded as Karlsruhe (after Karlsruhe, Germany) in 1809 by Catholic Germans.[3] The settlement was part of the Beresan Colonial District of Odessa region, Kherson Governorate. In 1886, the population of the German colony of Karlsruhe was 2,132 people; at which time it was part of the Landau parish, Odessa district, Kherson Governorate. There were 190 farmsteads, a Roman Catholic church, and a high school. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul was designed by the architect Korfu (Corfu) and was constructed from 1881 to 1885.
In 1925–1939, the Karlsruhe colony was part of Karl-Liebknechtovsky's German National District of Mykolaiv region (from Odessa Oblast since 1932).
Today, the ruins of the 19th-century neo-gothic style Roman Catholic church still remain. It is somewhat bricked up and its wooden roof and original steeple are gone. Several pictures of the church dated from the 1930s and 40s were published in a German language book called “Die Kirchen und das Religiöse Leben der Russlanddeutsche”. Pictures from 1942 and 1943 show the steeple missing the peak and cross but still with the stone base. The steeple was destroyed by the Soviets as they removed crosses from churches all over Ukraine. It is reported that the steeple was destroyed in 1934. It was rebuilt during the German occupation and destroyed yet again when Soviet forces advanced in mid-1944. Today, the main stone body of the steeple is completely gone. The church could have been battle damaged during the Nazi's advance through the area in 1941 or their retreat a few years later. Battle damage is present on its exterior from small-arms fire and shrapnel from undated events.