Who is Volga German: the history of German immigrants

It's difficult to understand who the Volga German is. Some experts consider this ethnos a part of the German nation, others - an original nationality, which was formed on the territory of Russia. So who are the Germans of the Volga region? The history of this nation will help us to understand its ethnogenesis.

The reasons for the settlement of the Volga region by the Germans

Let's look at the reasons that led to the fact that the Germans settled the Lower Volga region.

Of course, here the most important role was played by two factors. Firstly, the population of the Russian Empire did not allow optimal populating and using the entire territory of the state as effectively as possible. To fill the shortage of labor, immigrants from abroad were involved. Especially often this practice has been used since the time of Catherine 2. The vast expanses of the Russian Empire were inhabited by Bulgarians, Greeks, Moldovans, Serbs and, of course, Germans, which will be discussed further. The lower Volga region was just such a sparsely populated territory. Until recently, there were nomadic nomadic Nogai Horde, but it was profitable for Russia to develop agriculture on these lands.

The second important factor that caused the formation of such an ethnos as the Germans of the Volga region was the overpopulation of the territory of Germany, which at that time represented a group of many independent states formally united in the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. The main problem of the population of Germany was the lack of land for all who want to work on it. In addition, the Germans experienced significant economic oppression by local authorities, and the Russian government offered them unprecedented benefits.

Thus, the Russian Empire required working hands to handle its vast expanses, and the Germans needed a land that they could cultivate to feed their families. It was precisely the coincidence of these interests that led to the mass resettlement of the German population to the territory of the Volga region.

Manifesto

An immediate signal to the resettlement of Germans and other peoples to Russia was the manifesto of Catherine II, published at the end of 1762. He allowed foreigners to freely settle in the territory of the empire.

In the summer of next year, this document was supplemented by another manifesto, stating that foreigners can choose their place of residence within the borders of Russia.

It is noteworthy that Catherine II herself was a German by nationality and a native of the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, therefore she understood that the inhabitants of Germany, when they were in need of land, would first respond to the call of the Russian monarchy. In addition, she knew about the economics and diligence of the Germans, not by hearsay.

Benefits for the colonists

To attract the colonists, the Catherine II government granted them a number of benefits. In the event of a shortage of money for the move, Russian residents abroad should provide them with material means in sufficient quantities for the trip.

In addition, all the colonists were exempt from paying taxes to the treasury for various periods, if they settled in certain territories, in particular, in the Lower Volga region. Most often, the term of exemption from taxes was thirty years.

Another important factor that contributed to the rapid colonization by foreigners of some of the lands of the Russian Empire was the issuance of an interest-free loan to the settlers for ten years. It was intended for the construction of houses in new places of settlement, economic buildings, for the development of the economy.

The Russian authorities guaranteed non-interference of officials in the internal affairs of the colonists. For the establishment of everyday life in the colonies and their relations with state bodies, it was envisaged to create a separate organization with the powers of the collegium.

Recruitment of immigrants

The state authorities did not confine themselves to simply granting the possibility of resettlement and issuing a number of attractive benefits to the colonists. They began to pursue a policy of active agitation. To do this, newspapers and leaflets with propaganda materials began to spread on the territory of the German lands. In addition, there were persons in Germany who were engaged in recruiting. These people were both civil servants and businessmen, the so-called "evildoers", who entered into an agreement with state structures on the recruitment of colonists.

For four years, since 1763, when the flow of settlers was the most intense, as a colonists in Russia, about 30 thousand people arrived. About half of them were recruited by "callers". Most of all those wishing to travel to Russia were from Bavaria, Baden and Hessen.

Organization of the first settlements

Initially, the colonists were delivered to St. Petersburg (later to Oranienbaum - a suburb of the capital), where they got acquainted with the way of life and culture of Russia, and also gave the oath of allegiance to the emperor. Only then they went to the lands of the South Volga.

It must be said that this way was rather difficult and dangerous. During this trip, for various reasons, more than three thousand immigrants died, or almost 12.5% of the total.

The first settlement, which was now organized by Russian Germans, was the colony of Lower Dobrinka, the German mode called Moninger. It was founded in the summer of 1764 near Tsaritsyn.

In total, 105 colonies of German immigrants were organized in the Lower Volga region. Of these, 63 colonies were founded by "callers", and another 42 by state authorities.

Life in the Colonies

Since then, the Volga region German has firmly settled on Russian soil, began to establish its own way of life and gradually pour into the social life of the empire, while not forgetting about its roots.

The settlers brought with them many agricultural implements, until then practically not used in Russia. They also used an effective three-field turnover. The main crops grown by the Germans in the Volga region were cereals, flax, potatoes, hemp, and tobacco. Some species of plants in large-scale turnover in the Russian Empire were introduced precisely because of this nation.

But not only one farming lived Volga Volga, although this industry remained the basis of its activities. The colonists began to engage in industrial processing of their farms, in particular the production of flour and sunflower oil. In addition, weaving began to develop in the Volga region.

Approximately this was the way of life of the German colonists in the Volga region during the 18th-19th centuries.

Organization of an autonomous republic

The coming of the Bolsheviks to power fundamentally changed life in the country. This event had a tremendous impact on the life of the Volga Germans.

Initially, it seemed that the arrival of Communists promised the Germans a further expansion of their rights and opportunities for self-government. In 1918, on the part of the former Samara and Saratov provinces, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Germans of the Volga region was created, which until 1923 had the status of an autonomous region. This education was directly part of the RSFSR, but enjoyed greater opportunities for self-government.

The administrative center of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans was Saratov first, and from 1919 - Marksstadt (now the city of Marx). In 1922, the center was finally transferred to the city of Pokrovsk, which since 1931 was named Engels.

The main authority in the republic was the CEC of the Soviets, and since 1937 - the Supreme Soviet.

German was used as the second language for office work. At the beginning of 1939, about two-thirds of the population of this formation were Volga Germans.

Collectivization

However, it can not be said that a Volga German could enjoy life under Soviet rule. If the majority of the peasant population in Russia were former serfs and, after liberation from serfdom, at best became landless peasants, then among the Germans there was a fairly high percentage of well-to-do masters. This was due to the fact that the conditions for the colonization of the Volga region assumed the empowerment of people with large tracts of land. Therefore, there were many farms that were regarded by the Bolshevik authorities as "kulak".

The Volga Germans are the people of Russia, who almost all suffered from the process of "dekulakization". Many representatives of this ethnos were arrested, imprisoned and even shot in the process of collectivization. Organized collective farms, because of imperfect management, could not work with a hundredth of the efficiency with which the destroyed farms worked.

The Holodomor

But this is not the worst thing in the life of the German Volga. In 1932-1933, the region embraced an unprecedented famine in its scale. It was caused not only by crop failure, but also by the fact that the collective farms were compulsorily obliged to take all the bread to the state. The scale of the Holodomor that swept the Volga region is comparable only with a similar phenomenon that took place at the same time in the territory of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The exact number of deaths from the famine of the Germans is very difficult to determine, but according to estimates, the total death toll in the Autonomous Republic in 1933 was 50.1 thousand people, while in 1931 it was 14.1 thousand people. For two years, famine claimed at best tens of thousands of lives of Volga Germans.

Deportation

The final blow that the Russian Germans received from the Stalinist regime was their forced deportation.

The first purposeful acts of repressive nature against them began in the second half of the 1930s, when relations between the USSR and fascist Germany were heated. Stalin saw a threat in all Germans, considering them potential agents of the Reich. Therefore, all representatives of this nationality, working for the defense industry or servicemen in the army, were, at best, dismissed, and often arrested.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War meant a new tragic turn in destiny of the long-suffering people. During the second half of 1941 - the first half of 1942 the deportation of Germans from the Volga region from their native places to distant regions of Kazakhstan, Siberia and Central Asia was carried out. And they were given a day for collection, and only a limited number of personal belongings were allowed to take with them. The deportation was carried out under the control of the NKVD.

During the operation, almost 1 million Germans from various regions of the USSR were exported, but most of them were residents of the Volga region.

Current situation

Repressed Germans of the Volga region in their majority and could not return to their homeland. They tried to organize their autonomy in Kazakhstan in the late 1970s, but met resistance from the local population. Attempts to mass return to the Volga region after the collapse of the Soviet regime were also doomed to failure, since the houses in which the Volga Germans once lived were now populated by new residents who did not want to return them to their former owners. Therefore, many ethnic Germans left for Germany. Only a part of them managed to return to the city of Engels. The Volga region at present is not a place of compact residence of representatives of the mentioned ethnos.

Now about 500 thousand Volga Germans inhabit different regions of Russia, about 180 thousand continue to live in Kazakhstan, but a lot has left for Germany, the USA, Canada and Argentina.

Culture

The Volga Germans have a fairly distinct culture, which differs equally from the Russian customs and the culture of the indigenous population of Germany.

The overwhelming majority of the representatives of this nation are Christians of different currents, mainly Protestant trends (Lutherans, Baptists, Mennonites, etc.), but quite a few among them are Orthodox and Catholics.

Despite the years of deportation and separation, many Volga Germans still retain their culture and language. We can say that over the centuries of being outside Germany they have become a separate ethnos, which, incidentally, is akin to that nationality that now lives in the historic homeland of all Germans.