It is rather difficult to figure out who a Volga German is. Some experts consider this ethnic group to be part of the German nation, others consider it to be an original nationality that was formed on the territory of Russia. So who are the Volga Germans? The history of this nation will help us understand its ethnogenesis.
Reasons for the settlement of the Volga region by Germans
Let's look into the reasons that led the Germans to settle in the Lower Volga region.
Certainly, two factors played the most important role here. Firstly, the population of the Russian Empire did not allow optimal settlement and use of the entire territory of the state as efficiently as possible. To make up for the lack of workers, immigrants from abroad were attracted. Especially often this practice began to be applied since the time of Catherine 2. The expanses of the vast Russian Empire were inhabited by Bulgarians, Greeks, Moldavians, Serbs and, of course, Germans, which will be discussed later. The Lower Volga region just belonged to such sparsely populated territories. More recently, there were nomads hereNogai Horde, but it was beneficial for Russia to develop agriculture on these lands.
The second important factor that caused the formation of such an ethnic group as the Volga Germans 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 German population was the lack of land for everyone who wanted to work on it. In addition, the Germans experienced significant economic harassment from local authorities, and the Russian government offered them unprecedented benefits.
Thus, the Russian Empire needed workers to cultivate its vast expanses, and the Germans needed land they could cultivate to feed their families. It was the coincidence of these interests that led to the mass migration of the German population to the territory of the Volga region.
Manifesto
The manifesto of Catherine II, published at the end of 1762, served as a direct signal for the resettlement of Germans and other peoples in Russia. 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, which stated that foreigners themselves 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 Anh alt-Zerbst, therefore she understood that the inhabitants of Germany, feeling the need for land, would be the first to respond to the callRussian monarchy. In addition, she knew firsthand about the economy and hard work of the Germans.
Privileges for colonists
To attract the colonists, the government of Catherine II granted them a number of benefits. In the event of a shortage of money to move, Russian residents abroad had to provide them with sufficient material resources for the trip.
In addition, all colonists were exempted 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 period of exemption from taxes was thirty years.
Another important factor that contributed to the rapid colonization of some lands of the Russian Empire by foreigners was the issuance of an interest-free loan to immigrants for ten years. It was intended for the construction of houses in new places of settlement, outbuildings, for the development of the economy.
Russian authorities guaranteed non-interference of officials in the internal affairs of the colonists. To improve life in the colonies and their relationship with state bodies, it was planned to create a separate organization with the powers of the collegium.
Recruitment of migrants
State authorities were not limited to simply providing resettlement opportunities 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 campaign materials began to be distributed on the territory of the German lands. In addition, in Germany there were personswho recruited immigrants. These people were both civil servants and entrepreneurs, the so-called "callers", who entered into an agreement with government agencies to recruit colonists.
During four years, starting from 1763, when the flow of immigrants was the most intense, about 30 thousand people arrived in Russia as colonists. Of these, about half were recruited by "callers". Most of those wishing to go to live in Russia were from Bavaria, Baden and Hesse.
Organization of the first settlements
Initially, the colonists were taken to St. Petersburg (later to Oranienbaum, a suburb of the capital), where they got acquainted with the life and culture of Russia, and also took an oath of allegiance to the emperor. Only then did they go to the lands of the Southern Volga region.
I must say that this path was quite difficult and dangerous. During this journey, more than three thousand settlers died for various reasons, or almost 12.5% of the total.
The first settlement organized by the now Russian Germans was the Nizhnyaya Dobrinka colony, called Moninger in the German way. It was founded in the summer of 1764 near Tsaritsyn.
In total, 105 colonies of German settlers were organized in the Lower Volga region. Of these, 63 colonies were founded by "callers", and another 42 by state bodies.
Life in the colonies
From that time on, the Volga German firmly settled on Russian soil, began to improve his life and gradually merge intosocial life of the empire, while not forgetting their roots.
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 Volga Germans were cereals, flax, potatoes, hemp, and tobacco. It was thanks to this nation that some plant species were introduced into large-scale circulation in the Russian Empire.
But the Volga German lived not only by agriculture, although this industry remained the basis of his activity. The colonists began to engage in industrial processing of the products of their farms, in particular, the production of flour and sunflower oil. In addition, weaving began to develop actively in the Volga region.
The life of the German colonists in the Volga region remained approximately the same 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 also had a huge impact on the life of the Volga Germans.
Initially it seemed that the arrival of the communists promised the Germans a further expansion of their rights and opportunities for self-government. In 1918, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans was created on a part of the former Samara and Saratov provinces, which until 1923 had the status of an autonomous region. This entity was directly part of the RSFSR, but enjoyed great opportunities for self-government.
The administrative center of the German ASSRThe Volga region was first Saratov, and since 1919 - Marxstadt (now the city of Marx). In 1922, the center was finally moved to the city of Pokrovsk, which since 1931 received the name Engels.
The main body of power in the republic was the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, and since 1937 - the Supreme Council.
German was used as a second language for office work. At the beginning of 1939, about two-thirds of the population of this entity were Volga Germans.
Collectivization
However, one cannot say that a Volga German could enjoy life under Soviet rule. If the majority of the peasant population of Russia were former serfs and, after liberation from serfdom, at best became landless peasants, then among the Germans there was a rather high percentage of we althy owners. This was due to the fact that the conditions for the colonization of the Volga region implied the endowment 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 suffered the most from the process of "dispossession". Many representatives of this ethnic group were arrested, imprisoned and even shot in the process of collectivization. Organized collective farms, due to imperfect management, could not work even with a hundredth of the efficiency with which the destroyed farms worked.
Holodomor
But this is not the worst thing in the life of the German Volga region. In 1932-1933, the region was gripped by an unprecedented famine. He was called not onlycrop failure, but also by the fact that the collective farms were forced to hand over all the grain to the state. The scale of the Holodomor that engulfed the Volga region is comparable only to a similar phenomenon that took place at the same time on the territory of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
The exact number of Germans who died of starvation is very difficult to determine, but, according to estimates, the total death rate in the autonomous republic in 1933 was 50.1 thousand people, while in 1931 it was 14.1 thousand people. In 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 targeted actions of a repressive nature against them began in the second half of the 30s, when relations between the USSR and Nazi Germany escalated. Stalin saw a threat in all Germans, regarding them as potential agents of the Reich. Therefore, all representatives of this nationality, working for the defense industry or serving in the army, were at best fired, and often arrested.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War meant a new tragic turn in the fate of the long-suffering people. During the second half of 1941 - the first half of 1942, the Volga Germans were deported from their native places to remote regions of Kazakhstan, Siberia and Central Asia. Moreover, they were given a day to collect, and only a limited amount was allowed to take with them.number of personal items. The deportation was carried out under the control of the NKVD.
During the operation, almost 1 million Germans were deported from various regions of the USSR, but most of them were residents of the Volga region.
Current situation
Repressed Germans of the Volga region, for the most part, could not return to their homeland. They tried to organize their autonomy in Kazakhstan in the late 70s, but met resistance from the local population. Attempts of 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 inhabited 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 is currently not a place of compact residence of representatives of the mentioned ethnic group.
Now about 500 thousand Volga Germans inhabit various regions of Russia, about 180 thousand continue to live in Kazakhstan, but many have left for Germany, the USA, Canada and Argentina.
Culture
Volga Germans have a rather distinctive culture, which is equally different from the customs of Russians and from the culture of the indigenous population of Germany.
The vast majority of representatives of this nation are Christians of various denominations, mainly of the Protestant direction (Lutherans, Baptists, Mennonites, etc.), but quite a lot of them are Orthodox andCatholics.
Despite the years of deportation and separation, many Volga Germans still retain their culture and language. We can say that over the centuries of staying outside of Germany, they have become a separate ethnic group, which, however, is related to the nationality that now lives in the historical homeland of all Germans.
