Engels (Russian: Энгельс) is a city in the Saratov Oblast in Russia and port on the Volga River. It is located across from Saratov and connected to it with a bridge (since 1965). Population: 22,000 (1897); 91,000 (1959); 130,000 (1970); 163,000 (1977); 187,400 (1996).
Before being named after Friedrich Engels, it was known as Pokrovsk between 1914 and 1931, when it became the capital of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, now a part of the Saratov Oblast.
It was founded by Ukrainian settlers, and was settled by Germans during the reign of Catherine the Great; it is now a major center of Volga German culture. It is home to a large chemical fibre complex.
