Volga German

The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living near the Volga River and the Black Sea, maintaining German culture, language, traditions, and religions: Evangelical Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism. Many Volga Germans immigrated to the American Midwest in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Ethnic German - Volga River - Black Sea - German culture - Language - Evangelical Lutheranism - Roman Catholicism - Midwest - 19th century

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After she displaced Peter III from the Russian throne, German princess Sophie Fredericke Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, a native of Stettin, took the vacant imperial throne under the name of Catherine II (the Great) in 1762. Since settlement by ethnic Russians had been slow in the Ukrainian lands conquered from the Ottoman Empire, Catherine published manifestos inviting Germans to immigrate and farm Russian lands while maintaining their language and culture. Germans went to Russia with special rights as a group, which were later revoked when the need for conscription into the Russian army arose in the latter part of the 19th century. The Germans, who had little commitment to the Russian Empire, often emigrated to avoid the draft.

Related Topics:
Peter III - Russian - Anhalt-Zerbst - Stettin - Catherine II - 1762 - Ukrainian - Ottoman Empire - Conscription - 19th century

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After the Russian Revolution, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen; ??????????? ?????????? ????????????????? ??????????? ??????? ?????????) was established from 1924–1942 with the capital in Engels (known as "Pokrovsk" before 1931).

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution - Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - 1924 - 1942 - Engels - 1931

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As the Nazis advanced into the USSR towards Volga, Joseph Stalin became worried about the possibility of Volga Germans collaborating with them. On August 28, 1941, he ordered a 24-hour relocation of Volga Germans eastwards. The males spent the war in Stalin's concentration camps, where the survival rate was very low. Similar deportations happened for other ethnic groups, see: Polish minority in Soviet Union, History of Chechnya, Crimean Tatars.

Related Topics:
Nazis - USSR - Stalin - August 28 - 1941 - Concentration camps - Polish minority in Soviet Union - History of Chechnya - Crimean Tatars

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The Volga Germans never returned to the Volga region. After the war, many settled in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, Kazakhstan (2% of todays Kazakh population are recognized as Germans - approximately 300,000), Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (appr. 16,000 = 0.064%). Decades after the war, some talked about resettling where the German Autonomous Republic used to be, but this movement met with opposition from the population resettled to their territory and did not gain momentum.

Related Topics:
Ural Mountains - Siberia - Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan

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Since the late 1980s, many Volga Germans have emigrated to their ancestral homeland of Germany, taking advantage of the German Law of return, a policy which grants citizenship to all those who can prove German ancestry. This exodus has occurred despite the fact that most Volga Germans speak little or no German. In the late 1990s, however, Germany made it more difficult for Russians of German descent to settle in Germany, especially for those who do not speak some of the Volga dialects of German.

Related Topics:
1980s - Germany - Law of return - 1990s

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