Russiangermans Repository

History of the Russian Germans

Short timeline

Already at the time of the "Kievan Rus", the medieval empire with territorial extension over large parts of the present states Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, Germans lived in these areas. Settlements were then organized in an organized form later on, especially among the German-born Catharine II, who ruled from 1762 to 1796. Like Frederick II in Prussia and Maria Theresia and Joseph II in Austria, it represented a comparatively enlightened absolutism. The aim of their settlement policy was in particular to accelerate population and economic growth through the colonization of domestic, less populated areas.

First wave of immigration

07/22/1763	Katharina II (1729 - 1796) invites foreigners to settle in Russia in a manifesto in order to promote the economic development and cultivation of the country.
The settlers are guaranteed privileges (eg free land allocation, religious freedom, exemption from military service, etc.).
1764 - 1773	Mass settlement in the Volga region near the city of Saratov: creation of 104 German colonies.
Until 1767 emigrated 8,000 families / 27,000 people, mainly from Germany (Hesse).

Second wave of immigration

02/20/1804	Tsar Alexander I invites Germans to settle in the Black Sea area in another manifesto.
1816 - 1861	West Prussia, Rhinelanders, Palatine and Swabians immigrate to Volhynia.
1842	Termination of state support for the settlers.
1853 - 1856	Crimean War; German colonists render material assistance to Russia in the war against Turkey.
All in all, the Germans from Russia are valued as loyal subjects of the Tsar during this period.
They make a significant contribution to the economic development of Russia.

Graphical representation of:

German emigration to Russia
in the 18th and 19th centuries

(Source: Ingenieurbüro für Kartographie, J. Zwick, Gießen)

Deutsche Auswanderung nach Russland im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Bei Aktivierung große Ansicht)

The turn

06/04/1871	Beginning of Russification: Abolition of privileges after a movement against the further spread of Germanism in Russia had begun.
1874	Introduction of compulsory military service for the Germans of Russia.
1874-1883	Thousands of German Mennonites emigrate to Canada and the USA.
1887/88	Volga Germans emigrate to South America, where they found numerous colonies, especially in Argentina.
1887	Manifesto of Alexander III: "Russia must belong to the Russians".
1891	The Russian language becomes compulsory subject in German schools in the Tsarist Empire.
1897	A census shows that 390,000 Germans live on the Volga, 342,000 in southern Russia, 237,000 in western Russia and 18,000 in Moscow.
1901-1911	Around 105,000 Russian Germans emigrate to America.
1908	At Slavgorod in Western Siberia a closed German settlement area is created.

The First World War

08/01/1914	Beginning of the First World War: The German Reich becomes an enemy of Russia. Approximately 1.7 million Germans live in the Russian Empire, 300,000 Germans serve as paramedics or forestry workers in the Tsarist army.
1915	Liquidation laws: Germans living in a border strip up to 150 kilometers are expropriated and deported to Siberia. Affected are 200,000 Wolhynian Germans. Pogroms against Germans in Moscow.
07/11/1917	Bolshevik October Revolution.
03/03/1918	The peace of Brest-Litovsk ends the war between Germany and Russia.

Between the world wars

06/01/1924	Founding of the Autonomous Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans (ASSR), in which there was a German infrastructure with its own school system, theater, a publishing house and a number of newspapers.
1928-1932	Forced collectivization in the USSR and deportation of expropriated peasants to the far north and to Siberia (so-called dekulakization).
1937	Closure of the last German churches.
1937/38	High point of the Stalinist terror: In quick procedures alleged enemies of the people, spies, clerics and peasants, including many Germans, are tried by the so-called Troikas and subsequently shot or deported to forced labor camps.

The second World War

09/01/1939	Beginning of the Second World War.
08/23/1939	The German-Soviet non-aggression pact lets the Russian Germans hope for a short time to improve their situation.
06/22/1941	Beginning of the German-Soviet War.
08/28/1941	Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on the resettlement of Germans from the Volga Republic. The German population is generally accused of collaboration with Germany and the preparation of attacks and therefore deported to Siberia and the Asian Soviet republics. In the exile areas, the deportees are accommodated in so-called special settlements, which they are not allowed to leave on pain of severe penalties. In addition, they are subject to the supervision of commanders (Kommandanturaufsicht).
1941-1946	Mobilization of the Germans of Russia into the so-called Trud Army ("Labor Army"). There they have to perform heavy physical work in the construction of industrial plants, railway lines, roads, canals and mining. The total number of German "Trudarmists" is estimated at 100,000 people.
1943/44	With the withdrawal of the German Wehrmacht from Ukraine after the defeat of Stalingrad about 350,000 Germans are relocated to the Warthegau (today's Poland) and naturalized there.
08/05/1945	End of the Second World War. Beginning of the so-called "repatriation": about 200,000 Russian Germans from the Warthegau and all occupation zones are deported by the Red Army to Siberia and Central Asia and thus share the fate of the 1911 abducted Volga Germans.

From the postwar period to the present

Oct. 1946	In the special settlements of the Soviet secret service (NKVD), about 2.5 million people were detained even after the war, most of them Germans.

13/12/1955	Due to the visit of Chancellor Adenauer in Moscow (September 1955), the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet repeals the regime of special settlements. Their inmates may leave their detention centers as of January 1956, but are still denied their return to their original settlement areas. They do not receive any compensation for the 1941 seized property.

Due to the Soviet coercive measures, hundreds of thousands of Russian Germans died during the period 1941-1956.
08/29/1964	Decree of the Supreme Soviet concerning the partial rehabilitation of the Russian Germans.
After 1964	Growing autonomy movement of the Germans of Russia, accompanied by massive leave to travel, which can be realized only after the seizure of power Gorbachev 1985.
From 1987	The influx of German Aussiedler from the USSR is growing continuously.