.

Time line most (not all, work in progress) 

important events in the 

history of the Volga Germans

1762 December 4 Catherine II's publication of the manifesto "On allowing foreigners to settle in Russia and free return of Russian people who fled abroad."

1763 July 22 The publication of Catherine II manifesto "On the admission of all foreigners entering Russia, they will settle in provinces and on the rights granted to them." Education in St. Petersburg Chancellery of Foreign Guardianship.

1763-1766 Mass migration of colonists to Russia and the Saratov Volga region. Read more at: https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/history/people.html

1764-1773 In the Saratov Volga region, 106 colonies are formed, including the German settlement in Saratov.

1764 On March 19 Empress Catherine II approved the report of the Government Senate "On Disengaging Land Allotted to Settle Foreign Colonists", known as the colonial law of 1764 and later named agrarian.

June 29 A German colony of Dobrinka was established, the first Volga colony.

Sarepta, 1870. Taken from CVGS

1765 At a distance from the main group of colonies, twenty-eight versts south of the city of Tsaritsyn, at the confluence of the Sarpa River in the Volga, on the border of the Kalmyk nomad camp, the Sarepta colony was founded by the Evangelical brothers. 1766 April 30 Establishment in Saratov "Office of the Office of Guardianship of Foreign."

August 27 Baron Boregard founded the colony of Ekaterinenstadt - the main German colony of the Volga region.

1767 The first German churches were built and parishes were established: the Protestant ones in Talovka, Lesnoy Karamysh, Podstepnoy, Sevastyanovka, and the Catholic ones in Tonkoshourovka and Kozitskaya.

A Volga Sunrise-The Lutheran Church in Beideck, Russia” - Mike Boss

1768 On February 26, the decree of the Office of the Office of Foreign Custody on official names of the colonies was issued.

1770 On February 25, the Office of Guardianship of Foreign Affairs introduces the Instruction of Internal Regulations and Management in the Colonies.

1773-1774 A number of colonies on both banks of the Volga are looted by scattered gangs of Emelian Pugachev.

Yemelian Pugachev (taken from Wikipedia)

1773 colonies were visited by the famous traveler and naturalist Academician P. S. Pallas of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences during an expedition to the Caucasus and the Transcaspian region, the results of which were published in the book "Journey through the Various Provinces of the Russian State" (Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs in den Jahren 1768-73).

1774-1776 The colonies of the left bank side are repeatedly looted by nomads. Some colonies, because of severe destruction, cease to exist or are transferred to new places. On the left:  Yemelian Pugachev

1775 The worst crop failure in the Volga region, as a result of which the population died by starvation in thousands.

1776 Spring - Summer In the German colonies of the Volga region, tobacco and potatoes were first sown in Russia.

1782 On April 20, the Decree of Catherine II abolished the Office of Foreign Custody and its office in Saratov. The colonists are transferred to management in common with state peasants.

April 8, 1783 Manifesto of Catherine II on the accession to Russia of the Crimea, Taman and Kuban.

1797 March By the decree of Emperor Paul I the Volga colonies are transferred to the subordination of the "Expedition of the State Economy, Guardianship of Foreign and Agricultural Economics".

June 30 The Saratov Foreign Custody Bureau is re-established to manage the Volga colonies, subordinate to the Expedition of the State Economy, Guardianship of Foreign and Agricultural Economics (1797-1802), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1802-1837), and the Ministry of State Property (1837-1871). Since July 1, 1833 it became known as the "Bureau of Foreign Settlers."

1798-1845 The return of "state" debts by the colonists, that is, state funds allocated to the first settlers for the development and development of the economy.

1800 September 17 The decree of Emperor Paul I on the introduction of a new special "Instruction of internal regulations and management in the Saratov colonies."

1840 On March 12, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to allocate additional land to the Volga colonists. Due to the fact that a number of new land plots turned out to be far from settlements, the decision to emigrants from the indigenous colonies recommended the creation of new ones.

1847-1864 Resettlement of a part of the colonists to a designated land formation of 61 new colonies. (Source to colonies map, with foundation dates and location:  https://www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/

1851 October 4 In Ekaterinenstadt there is a monument to Empress Catherine II, made by sculptor P. Klodt.

1853-1862 1871-1874 Resettlement of the Mennonites to the Saratov Transvolga. Education Malyshkinskoy volost in the 10 Mennonite colonies.

1871 June 4 The decree of Emperor Alexander II abolishes in the Russian Empire all the privileges of the colonists, granted to the settlers by the Manifesto of Catherine II. The colonists pass under the general Russian administration and receive the status of settlers with the same rights as the Russian peasants. All office work in the colonies is translated into Russian.

1871-1914 Emigration of part of the Volga Germans to the West, to the countries of North and South America. The greatest scope of emigration is in 1876-1879, 1888-1889, 1891, 1898-1899, 1912-1913.

Temporary quarters for German immigrants, Kansas, 1875

1874 January 1 Introduction of the universal conscription in the Russian Empire, which extended to the colonists. (After the Russian defeat in the Crimean War during the reign of Alexander II, the Minister of War Dmitry Milyutin introduced military reforms, with an initial draft presented in 1862. On January 1, 1874 , a statute concerning conscription was approved by the Tsar by which military service was made compulsory for all males at the age of 20. The term of actual service was reduced for the land army to 6 years followed by 9 years in the reserve. This measure created a large pool of military reservists ready to be mobilized in the event of war, while permitting the maintenance of a smaller active army during peace-time. – source:  Wikipedia)

1907-1914 Carrying out the agrarian reform of P. Stolypin in the German colonies of the Volga region. For the most part, the colonists became private owners of their plots. Landless and landless migrated to Siberia. (There remains doubt whether, even without the interruption of Stolypin's murder and the First World War, his agricultural policy would have succeeded. The deep conservatism from the mass of peasants made them slow to respond. In 1914 the strip system was still widespread, with only around 10% of the land having been consolidated into farms. Most peasants were unwilling to leave the security of the commune for the uncertainty of individual farming. Furthermore, by 1913, the government's own Ministry of Agriculture had itself begun to lose confidence in the policy. Nevertheless, Krivoshein became the most powerful figure in the Imperial government. – Taken from Wikipedia)

1915 February 2 In connection with the war, the Russian government passes laws on the expropriation of land holdings of persons of German nationality in the western provinces. Later, these "liquidation laws" extend to other provinces and regions of the country.

December 13, the Government is preparing a decree, according to which all the German population of the Volga region was subject to eviction to Siberia. The eviction was planned to begin in the spring of 1917.

1917 On February 6, Emperor Nicholas II authorizes the application of "liquidation laws" on the expropriation of lands to Volga Germans.

March 2-3 The victory of the February revolution in Petrograd and Saratov. Suspension of the "liquidation laws".

April 25-27 The work of the 1st congress of 334 authorized representatives of the German population of the Volga region. Formation of the national organization "Germans of the Volga region", election of its governing bodies.

July 1 The beginning of the publication of the newspaper "Saratower deutsche Volkszeitung". November-December In Saratov, other cities of the Saratov Volga region, the German colonies are nationalizing the enterprises of the German bourgeoisie, expropriation and confiscation of the large private property of the colonists. The persecution of the leaders of the organization "Germans of the Volga region" begins, the newspaper "Saratower deutsche Volkszeitung" is closed.

1918 March 3 In Brest-Litovsk signed a peace treaty with Germany. On the basis of articles 21 and 22 of the Addendum to the treaty, Russian Germans were allowed to emigrate to Germany for 10 years while transferring their capital there.

April 30 Creation of the Volga Commissariat for German Affairs in Saratov. October 19, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR approves the decree "On the Establishment of the Region of the Germans of the Volga Region".

1919-1920 Conducting in the region of the Germans of the Volga region a surplus-appropriation campaign leading to the complete seizure of food from German villages and famine.

1920 Autumn-autumn 1922 Mass hunger in the Region of Germans in the Volga region, which claimed tens of thousands of human lives. March - April A powerful peasant uprising in the Region of the Germans in the Volga region, brutally suppressed by the authorities.

1922 June 22 The publication by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Decree on "rounding off" the Region of the Germans in the Volga region.

1923 August 20 In Pokrovsk, an archival bureau of the Region of Germans of the Volga region was established, reorganized later in the Central Archive Administration of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region.

December 13 By decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), the Region of the Germans of the Volga region is transformed into the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region.

1924 January 6 Proclamation of the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans at the first congress of Soviets of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

September The capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Pokrovsk was visited by the Chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars, AI Rykov.

1924-1926 In the city of Marksstadt, the "Vozrozhdenie" plant produces a tractor "Dwarf" - the first tractor in the Soviet Union.

1925 August 27 Adoption of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) At the request of the Autonomous Republic of the USSR of a special closed decree on granting to the republic of a number of privileges designed to promote the development of economic and cultural ties with Germany and to strengthen the "political significance" of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic abroad.

1925-1928 On the basis of the New Economic Policy, the successful restoration of all branches of the economy of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, affected by the civil war and famine.

1926 December 17 The All-Union Population Census was conducted.

1928 On April 26, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) Decides to include the ASSR of the Volga Germans in the Lower Volga region.

1929 September Opening of the German State Pedagogical Institute (Neppedinstitute) in the capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Pokrovsk.

September - June 1931 Conducting in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the NP "solid collectivization", liquidation of individual peasant farms.

December 24 In Ekaterinenstadt in the former Lutheran church the opening of the Karl Marx Palace of Culture took place.

December - January 1930 Mass actions of peasants of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region against forced collectivization. The uprising in the village of Marienfeld.

1930 February Mass campaign on "dekulakization" of peasants in German villages of the Volga region.

1931 Spring In the Autonomous Republic of the USSR, the German Agricultural Institute (NemShI) was established.

October 19 Renaming the capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Pokrovsk NP in Engels.

1932 Autumn-autumn 1933 In connection with the complete seizure of food, the mass hunger of the population of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan. Over 50 thousand people died of starvation.

1934 January 1 Liquidation of the Lower Volga Region. Inclusion of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Saratov region. On November 5, the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) Issued a special directive on "fighting the fascists and their accomplices" among the German population of the USSR. The directive gave impetus to a powerful repressive campaign of the same name against the Soviet Germans, including the NP of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

1936-1938 "The Great Terror" in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region, tens of thousands of people are repressed. Arrest and execution of several formations of the top leadership of the republic.

1937 April 27 Adoption of the Constitution of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region, according to which the republic withdrew from the subordination of the Saratov region and transferred directly to the authorities of the RSFSR.

August - September In the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR, a record harvest of grain was collected - 1,170,700 tons.

December 12 Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1938 March In accordance with the Orgbureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), all Estonians, Tatar, Mordovian and Kazakh schools are closed in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR.

June 26 Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans.

July 25-27 The first session of the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Election of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Republic of the Soviet Socialist Republic headed by Chairman K. Hoffmann. The approval of the government of the republic, headed by A. Heckman.

1939 January 17-24 The All-Union Population Census was conducted on the territory of the Nemrepublic. As a result of the census, the population of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was 606532 people. On September 1, a universal compulsory seven-year education was introduced by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars and the regional committee of the VKP (b) of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Republic of the Volga in the Republic of the Germans of the Volga region. 1940 On April 10 the Council of People's Commissars and the regional committee of the VKP (b) of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the People's Republic adopted a resolution "On the construction of the first stage of the Engels irrigation system by the high-speed method." August-September In the Republic of the Germans in the Volga region the largest grain crop in the history of its existence - 1186891 tons was collected. The average yield is 10.8 centners per hectare.

1941 June 22 The population of the ASSR NP learns about Germany's attack on the USSR and the beginning of the war.

July-August Establishment in the territory of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the NS detachments of the people's militia with a wide participation of the German population. In the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the population, enterprises and institutions evacuated from the frontline zone arrive and are deployed.

On August 26 the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU (B) adopted a resolution "On the resettlement of Germans from the Republic of the Germans of the Volga region, Saratov and Stalingrad regions."

The deportation decree published in "Nachrichten," a German language newspaper, on August 30, 1941.

August 28, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree "On the resettlement of Germans living in the Volga region," officially accusing the Volga Germans of complicity with the aggressor. 3-20 September Deportation of the German population from the Volga region to Siberia and Kazakhstan.

September 7, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR territory of the Republic of Germans in the Volga region is divided between the Saratov and Stalingrad regions.

1942 May Elimination of German toponymics in the Volga region.

January - March 1946 Functioning of the "labor army", in which more than 300 thousand were mobilized. Germans and Germans.

1945 January Legal registration of the special settlement. Creation of special instructions.

1948 On November 26, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree "On criminal liability for escape from places of compulsory and permanent residence of persons evicted in remote areas of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War."

1955 On December 13 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts a decree "On lifting restrictions in the legal situation with Germans and members of their families who are on a special settlement."

1957 All-Union newspaper of Soviet Germans "Neues Leben" was created.

1964 August 29, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On Amendments to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 28, 1941" On the Resettlement of Germans Living in the Volga Region "from the Germans of the Volga region," indiscriminate accusations " in aiding the aggressor, but their return to the Volga and the restoration of autonomy is not foreseen.

1972 November 3 The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On lifting restrictions on the choice of residence, foreseen in the past for certain categories of citizens" is adopted. The Germans get the legal right to return to the Volga region.

1989 January 12 According to the All-Union Population Census, 17,000 reside in the Saratov Region, 26,000 Germans in the Volgograd Region. In total, there are 2.1 million people in the USSR. In the territory of the former ASSR, 474,000 people live, of whom 12,900 are Germans. End March A society "Revival" was created. Its main goal is the restoration of the republic on the Volga.

December - early 1990's. In the Volga region, the Germans' movement is developing for the restoration of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, supported by the majority of Soviet Germans, and a campaign against the re-creation of German statehood. The most acute nature of the political confrontation in 1990-1992. 1992 Beginning of rapid development of the process of emigration of Germans from the former USSR (including the Germans of the Volga region) to Germany. The process continues to the present day.

February 21 A decree on the formation of the German district and the district in the Saratov and Volgograd regions was signed. At the same time, President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin, with his speech in the Saratov region, practically refused to restore the German autonomy on the Volga. July 10 An agreement was signed between Germany and Russia on the step-by-step (4-5 years) restoration of the Republic of Germans in the Volga region. August According to the results of the survey, the majority of the population of the Saratov region opposed the creation of the German autonomy (in rural areas, up to 80% of the population spoke out against it). In Saratov, the central street is returned to the historical name - "German".

1993 February 4-6 First Congress of Volga Germans. The formation of the German citizenship of the Volga region, the beginning of the reorientation of the main efforts of the German national movement on the Volga from a purely political struggle to solving the economic, social and cultural problems of the Germans in the Volga region.

On February 26-28 the Third Congress of Germans of the former USSR decides: to form the Interstate Council of Russian Germans, to hold a nationwide referendum (the elections of the People's Council (Volkstag) of the Russian Germans).

On January 31, 2016 Russia closed the “German question” On the last day of January, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On Amendments to Presidential Decree No. 231 of February 21, 1992" On Urgent Measures for the Rehabilitation of Russian Germans. " Read more at: https://russiangermansrepository.blogspot.com.ar/2018/02/on-february-21-1992-president-of.html