Volga Germans

2025-10-23T11:34:53Z

2A05:5A00:C02:8600:1DC0:95B8:CBFE:8961:

{{Short description|18th-century German immigrants to the Volga region of Russia}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Volga Germans
| native_name = Wolgadeutsche
| native_name_lang = German
| flag = Flag of Volga Germans (version).svg
| flag_caption = Flag of Volga Germans
| image = 
| image_caption =
| population = 
594,138
| genealogy =
| regions = 
| ref1 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paralelo32.com.ar/dia-del-aleman-del-volga-en-la-argentina-mas-de-25-millones-de-personas-de-esta-descendencia-celebran-hoy-su-dia|title=Día del alemán del Volga en la Argentina: Más de 2,5 millones de personas de esta descendencia celebran hoy su día|website=Paralelo32 | Paralelo32 te brinda noticias e información fehaciente, las 24 hs. del día, de Crespo, la región y el país.}}</ref>
| region2 = {{flag|Russia}}
*{{flag|Altai Krai}} 79,502
*{{flag|Omsk Oblast}} 76,334
*{{flag|Novosibirsk Oblast}} 47,275
*{{flag|Kemerovo Oblast}} 35,965
*{{flag|Chelyabinsk Oblast}} 28,457
*{{flag|Tyumen Oblast}} 27,196
*{{flag|Sverdlovsk Oblast}} 22,540
*{{flag|Krasnodar Krai}} 18,469
*{{flag|Orenburg Oblast}} 18,055
*{{flag|Volgograd Oblast}} 17,051
*{{flag|Tomsk Oblast}} 13,444
*{{flag|Saratov Oblast}} 12,093
*{{flag|Perm Krai }} 10,152
*{{flag|Kaliningrad Oblast}}
| pop2 = 394,138
| ref2 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls |format=XLS |title=Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity |language=ru |website=Perepis-2010.ru |access-date=12 November 2017}}</ref>
| region3 = {{flag|Kazakhstan}}
| pop3 = 226,092<ref>{{cite web |title=stat.gov.kz |url=https://stat.gov.kz/upload/medialibrary/cee/3rsfg8ps3xo19orb284esg4rx27ihqf7/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.pdf |website=stat.gov.kz |publisher=Kazakhstani government |access-date=13 December 2024}}</ref>
| region4 = {{flag|Germany}}
| region5 = {{flag|United States}}
| region6 = {{flag|Canada}}
| region7 = {{flag|Brazil}}
| languages = In Europe: [[German language|German]]{{·}}[[Russian language|Russian]]{{·}}[[Kazakh language|Kazakh]]<br />In America: [[Spanish language|Spanish]]{{·}}[[English language|English]]{{·}}[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
| religions = [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]]{{·}}[[Roman Catholicism]]{{·}} [[Mennonites|Mennonite]]{{·}}[[Eastern Orthodoxy]]
| related_groups = [[Black Sea Germans]]{{·}}[[Don Cossacks]]{{·}}[[Volhynia Germans]]{{·}}[[Russians]]{{·}}[[Baltic Germans]]
| footnotes =
}}

The '''Volga Germans''' ({{langx|de|Wolgadeutsche}}, {{IPA|de|ˈvɔlɡaˌdɔʏtʃə|pron|De-Wolgadeutsche.ogg}}; {{langx|ru|поволжские немцы|povolzhskiye nemtsy}}) are ethnic [[Germans]] who settled and historically lived along the [[Volga River]] in the region of southeastern [[European Russia]] around [[Saratov]] and close to [[Ukraine]] nearer to the south.

Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain their German culture, language, traditions and churches ([[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]], [[Catholics]], [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] and [[Russian Mennonite|Mennonites]]). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Volga Germans emigrated to the [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Brazil]], and [[Argentina]].

After the [[October Revolution]], the [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Volga German ASSR]] was established as an autonomous republic of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]]. During [[World War II]], the republic was abolished by the Soviet government and the Volga Germans were [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|forcibly expelled]] to a number of areas in the hinterlands of the [[Soviet Union]]. Following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, many Volga Germans immigrated to [[Germany]].

==History==
=== Invitation to settle in Russia ===
[[Image:Katharina-II-von-Russland.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Catherine the Great]].]]
[[File:Volga German area.gif|thumb|right|Volga German cities and settlements.]]

In 1762, [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]], born a [[Germans|German]] princess and a native of [[Szczecin|Stettin]], Pomerania, deposed her husband [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]], born a [[Germans|German]] prince in [[Kiel]], and took the [[Russian Empire|Russian imperial]] throne. Following the lead of [[Maria Theresa]], [[Habsburg monarchy|Empress of Austria and Hungary]], inviting [[Danube Swabians|Germans to settle on the Danube]] in the [[Balkans]], Catherine the Great published manifestos in 1762 and 1763 inviting non-[[Muslim]], non-[[Jewish]] Europeans<ref name=Lewis1999_p61>{{cite book|author-link=Bernard Lewis |author-last=Lewis |author-first=Bernard |title=Semites and Anti-Semites |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |date=1999 |isbn=0-393-31839-7 |pages=61}}</ref> to immigrate and become Russian subjects and farm Russian lands while maintaining their language and culture. Although the first received little response, the second improved the benefits offered and was more successful in attracting colonists. People in other countries such as [[France]] and [[Ireland]] were more inclined to migrate to the colonies in the Americas. Other countries, such as [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], forbade emigration.

Those who went to Russia had special rights under the terms of the manifesto. Some, such as being exempt from military service, were revoked in the latter part of the 19th century when the government needed more conscripts for the Russian army. The [[Plautdietsch]]-speaking [[Russian Mennonite|Mennonite]] communities were opposed to military service because of their pacifist beliefs, so many Mennonites immigrated to the [[North America|Americas]] instead.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

In the late 18th century the nomadic [[Kazakhs]] took advantage of [[Pugachev's Rebellion]], which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Volga German settlements.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pohl |first1=Jonathan Otto |title=The Years of Great Silence |date=2022 |publisher=ibidem-Verlag |isbn=9783838216300 |page=43}}</ref>

=== 19th century ===
At the end of the 19th century, the Russian empire began to apply an aggressive policy of [[Russification]]. Although they had been promised a degree of relative autonomy (including being exempt from [[conscription]]) when they settled in the Russian empire, the Russian monarchy gradually eroded their specific rights as time went on. The Germans began to suffer a considerable loss of autonomy. Conscription was eventually reinstated. That was not wanted and was especially harmful to the [[Russian Mennonite|Mennonites]], who practice pacifism. Throughout the 19th century, pressure increased from the Russian government to culturally assimilate. Many Germans from Russia found it necessary to emigrate to avoid conscription and preserve their culture. This caused some Germans to organize themselves and send emissaries to some countries in the Americas in order to assess potential settlement destinations. The chosen destinations were Canada, United States, Brazil and Argentina. Most Volga Germans who settled in Latin America were [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]]. Many Catholic Volga Germans chose South America as their new homeland because the nations shared their religion.

==== North America ====
{{Main|Germans from Russia}}
{{See also|German Americans|German Canadians}}
{{further|Ellis County, Kansas#English and Russian-German immigrants}}
[[File:Volga-Germans-US.jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|Temporary quarters for Volga Germans in central Kansas, 1875.]]
[[File:VictoriaKanasaVolgaGermanStatue.jpg|thumb|Volga German pioneer family commemorative statue in [[Victoria, Kansas]], USA by Pete Felten, 1976]]

Germans from Russia were the most traditional of German-speaking arrivals to [[North America]]. In the United States, many settled primarily in [[the Dakotas]], [[Kansas]], and [[Nebraska]] by 1900. The south-central part of [[North Dakota]] was known as "the German-Russian triangle" (that includes descendants of [[Black Sea Germans]]). A smaller number moved farther west, finding employment as ranchers and [[cowboy]]s. They also settled in [[Ohio]], [[Iowa]], [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]], [[Oregon]] (especially in [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.volgagermans.net/portland/ |title=Volga Germans in Portland |website=Volgagermans.net |access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref>), [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Fresno County]] in California's [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]]. They often succeeded in [[dryland farming]], which they had practiced in Russia. Many of the immigrants who arrived between 1870 and 1912 spent a period doing farm labor, especially in northeastern [[Colorado]] and in [[Montana]] along the lower [[Yellowstone River]] in [[sugar beet]] fields. Colonies kept in touch with each other through newspapers, especially ''[[Der Staats Anzeiger]]'', based in North Dakota. By author Richard Sallet's count, there were 118,493 descendants of Volga Germans of the first and second generation living in the United States according to the [[1920 United States census]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.volgagermans.org/who-are-volga-germans/history/immigration/united-states|title=To the United States|website=Volgagermans.org |access-date=6 June 2022}}</ref>

In Canada, the largest groups settled mainly in the area of the [[Great Plains]]: [[Alberta]], [[Manitoba]], and [[Saskatchewan]]. In Saskatchewan, many settled in the predominantly German settlement of [[St. Joseph's Colony, Saskatchewan|St. Joseph's Colony]], including the town of [[Luseland]].
[[Image:San Jose1.JPG|thumb|Flags of Argentina, [[Buenos Aires Province]] and Germany in front of St. Joseph Catholic Church in [[San José, Coronel Suárez Partido|San José]], [[Coronel Suárez Partido]], [[Argentina]] (Volga German colony).]]

==== South America ====
{{Main|Germans from Russia}}
{{See also|German Argentines|German Brazilians}}
Germans from Russia also settled in [[Argentina]] (see [[German Argentine]]s) and [[Brazil]] (see [[German Brazilian]]s). Additionally, many of the Volga Germans who had previously settled in Brazil later also went to settle in Argentina due to the difficulties of planting wheat in Brazil, among other reasons.

In Argentina, Volga Germans have founded many colonies or villages. For example, around the city of [[Coronel Suárez]] in the South of [[Buenos Aires Province]], around the city of [[Crespo, Argentina|Crespo]] in [[Entre Ríos Province]], along the East of [[La Pampa Province]], etc. Every year, the community of Volga German descendants holds different celebrations in the country in which they keep their traditions alive. For example, the ''[[Kermesse (festival)|Kerb]]'' (festival to honour the [[patron saint]] of a colony),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coronelsuarez.gob.ar/feliz-kerb-pueblo-san-jose/|title=¡Feliz Kerb Pueblo San José! – Municipalidad de Coronel Suárez}}</ref> the ''Kreppelfest'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.olavarria.gov.ar/el-cronograma-completo-de-la-kreppelfest/|title=El cronograma completo de la Kreppelfest | Municipalidad del Partido de Olavarría}}</ref> the ''Strudelfest'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://diarionuevodia.com.ar/cuenta-regresiva-para-la-septima-edicion-de-la-strudel-fest/|title=Diarionuevodia.com.ar|access-date=2022-06-05|archive-date=2022-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201122643/https://diarionuevodia.com.ar/cuenta-regresiva-para-la-septima-edicion-de-la-strudel-fest/|url-status=dead}}</ref> the ''Füllselfest'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coronelsuarez.gob.ar/todo-listo-para-la-6-edicion-de-la-fullsen-fest-por-la-simpleza-de-mi-gente/|title=Todo listo para la 6° edición de la "Füllsen Fest: por la simpleza de mi gente" – Municipalidad de Coronel Suárez}}</ref> the ''Schlachtfest''<ref>[https://fiestasnacionales.org/FiestasPopulares/FiestaDetalle/255 Fiestasnacionales.org]</ref> (also promoted by its Spanish name ''Fiesta de la Carneada''), the ''Fiesta del Pirok'' ([[Bierock]] festival),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fiestasycaminos.com.ar/entre-rios-crespo-celebra-la-fiesta-provincial-del-pirok/|title=Entre Ríos: Crespo celebra la Fiesta Provincial del Pirok | Fiestas y Caminos|website=fiestasycaminos.com.ar|date=10 July 2019 }}</ref> etc.

Today, 8% of the Argentine population or 3.5 million Argentines claim German ancestry. Of those, more than 2.5 million claim Volga German descent,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/revista-lugares/alemanes-del-volga-dejaron-rusia-y-en-entre-rios-fundaron-varias-aldeas-donde-celebran-sus-nid12122021/|title=Alemanes del Volga. Dejaron Rusia y en Entre Ríos fundaron varias aldeas donde celebran sus tradiciones|website=Lanacion.com.ar |date=14 December 2021 |access-date=6 June 2022}}</ref> making them the majority of those having German ancestry in the country, and accounting for 5.7% of the total Argentine population. Descendants of Volga Germans outnumber descendants of Germans from Germany itself, who number one million in Argentina (2.3% of the population).

=== 20th century ===
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-037542, Westpreußen, Russlanddeutsche Flüchtlinge.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Ethnic Germans from the Volga region at a refugee camp in [[Schneidemühl]], Germany, early 1920s.]]
Following the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], the [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] ({{langx|de|Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen}}; {{langx|ru|АССР Немцев Поволжья}}) was established in 1924, and it lasted until 1941. Its capital was [[Engels, Saratov Oblast|Engels]], known as ''Pokrovsk'' ({{lang|de|Kosakenstadt}} in German) before 1931.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==== Soviet deportation ====
The deportation of the Volga Germans was the Soviet government's [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|forcible transfer]] of the whole of the Volga German population from the [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Saratov Oblast]] and [[Volgograd Oblast|Stalingrad Oblast]] to [[Siberia]] and [[Kazakhstan]], with about half being resettled in each region. The Soviets, bearing in mind the collaboration of the [[Sudeten German]]s of Czechoslovakia with [[Nazi Germany]], decided as a precautionary measure to transfer the Volga German population.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grey |first1=Ian |title=Stalin: Man of History |date=1979 |page=504}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Diesendorf |first=Viktor |date=2001 |title=ДЕПОРТАЦИЯ РОССИЙСКИХ НЕМЦЕВ В 1941-1942 гг.: ПРИЧИНЫ, ОСОБЕННОСТИ, ПОСЛЕДСТВИЯ [The Deportation of Russian Germans in 1941-1942: Causes, Defining Features, Effects] |url=https://wolgadeutsche.net/diesendorf/deportation.pdf}}</ref>

These deportations, which also included the deportation of the rest of the ethnic Germans from Russia, had been implemented for several years before [[World War II]] and they became particularly exhaustive on September 3, 1941, during the war.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pohl |first1=J. Otto |title=Stalin's genocide against the "Repressed Peoples" |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=1 June 2000 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=267–293 |doi=10.1080/713677598 |s2cid=59194258 |issn=1462-3528}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McMeekin |first1=Sean |title=Stalin's war : a new history of World War II |date=2021 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York City |isbn=978-1541672796 |edition=First}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Arnold |first1=Klaus J. |last2=Duffy |first2=Eve M. |title=Reluctant Accomplice |date=23 January 2011 |pages=246–366 |doi=10.23943/princeton/9780691140421.003.0004 |url=https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691140421.003.0004}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=CHILDRESS |first1=DAVID |title=ANTARCTICA AND THE SECRET SPACE PROGRAM from wwii to the current space race. |date=2020 |publisher=ADVENTURES UNLIMITED PR |isbn=978-1948803205}}</ref>

Of all of the ethnic German communities which lived in the Soviet Union, the Volga Germans represented the largest group of ethnic Germans which was expelled from its historical homeland. All of their possessions were confiscated and they were mainly deported because of their ethnicity. Shortly after the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion]], on June 22, 1941, Stalin sent [[Lavrentiy Beria|Beria]] and [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] to the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to determine a course of action for its German inhabitants. On return, they recommended the deportation of the entire German population. Consequently, the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the Communist Party]] issued a resolution on August 12, calling for the expulsion of the entire ethnic German population. With this authority, Beria on August 27 issued an order entitled "On Measures for Conducting the Operation of Resettling the Germans from the Volga German Republic, Saratov, and Stalingrad Oblasts", assigning the deputy head of the [[NKVD]], [[Ivan Serov]], to command this operation. He also allocated NKVD and Red Army troops to carry out the transfer.

On August 26, 1941, the [[Council of People's Commissars|Council of People's Commissars of the USSR]] and the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the CPSU]] published decrees concerning the impending deportations. Following that, on August 28, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR approved and published a decree, according to which the Germans were to be sent to various oblasts (provinces) in Siberia, Kazakhstan and others, beginning on September 3, and ending on September 20. On September 7, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was officially abolished, clearly showing that the Soviets considered the expulsion of the Germans final.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pohl |first1=J. Otto |title=Ethnic cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949 |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=0-313-30921-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krieger |first1=Viktor |title=Secret criminal proceedings against the last Volga German government during the years 1944-46 {{!}} WorldCat.org |journal=American Historical Society of Germans from Russia |date=2005 |url=https://worldcat.org/title/68479972 |language=en |oclc=68479972}}</ref><ref name="Koch" />{{Page number|date=November 2023}} August 28 later became the unofficial Day of Mourning and Memory of Russian Germans.<ref name=":0" />

The Soviet regime stated that the evacuation was a preventive measure, so that the German population would not be misled into collaborating with the German Army rather than a punitive measure, and they did not reveal the sentence to the forced labor camps. Stalin allegedly gave the following "secret" order to the NKVD, produced in [[German occupation of Latvia during World War II|German-controlled Latvia]] on September 20, 1941:
[[Image:Vorkuta a.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Aerial view of the [[Vorkutlag]], one of the GULAG forced labor camps where many Germans from Russia perished.]]
<blockquote>
"After the house search, tell everyone who is scheduled to be deported that, according to the government's decision, they are being sent to other regions of the USSR. Transport the entire family in one car until the train station, but at the station, heads of families must be loaded into a separate train car prepared especially for them. Their families are deported for special settlements in the far away regions of the Union. [Family members] must not know about the forthcoming separation from the head of the family."{{sfn|Merten|2015|p=167}}</blockquote>

The document above may be a fabrication, as Latvia was under German occupation at that time. Nevertheless, the instructions were followed by the NKVD troops who directed the deportation.{{sfn|Merten|2015|p=168}} The reason for separating the men could have been that they were all destined to be sent to forced labor camps, known as ''Trudarmee'' (labor army, officially referred to as [[NKVD labor columns|labor columns]]). The deported Germans coined this phrase, whereas Soviet documents only referred to "labor obligations" or "labor regulations." Able-bodied men between the ages of 15 and 55 and, later, able-bodied women between the ages of 16 and 45 were forced to do labor in the forests and mines of Siberia and Central Asia under conditions similar to those prevalent in the Gulag forced labor camps, while other Germans were directly deported to Gulag forced labor camps.{{sfn|Merten|2015|p=168}} After the Nazi invasion began, the [[NKVD]] (via [[decree|Prikaz]] No. 35105) banned ethnic Germans from serving in the Soviet military. They sent tens of thousands of these soldiers to the ''Trudarmee''.<ref>{{cite book|author-first=J. Otto |author-last=Pohl |title=Ethnic cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing]] Group}}</ref>{{Page number|date=November 2023}}

The expulsion of the Volga Germans was finished on schedule at the end of September 1941. According to the Soviet Union, the total number sent to forced internal exile was about 950,000. However, the actual estimated number of victims is much higher. It took 151 train convoys to accomplish the first transfers of the Volga German population, an astounding figure when one considers that the Soviet Union was heavily engaged in fighting the advancing German army, and all railway stock was required to bring soldiers to the front. This operation also involved 1,550 NKVD and 3,250 police agents, assisted by 12,150 soldiers of the Red Army.{{sfn|Merten|2015|p=170}}

In 1942, nearly all the able-bodied German population was conscripted to the NKVD labor columns or had been sent to the Gulag forced labor camps. According to anti-communist Stanford historian [[Robert Conquest]], during the first stage, about one-third (estimated at 1.5 million)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wheatcroft |first1=Stephen |title=The scale and nature of German and Soviet repression and mass killings, 1930–451 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |date=December 1996 |volume=48 |issue=8 |pages=1319–1353 |doi=10.1080/09668139608412415}}</ref> did not survive the camps.<ref name="conquest59">{{cite book|author-first=Robert |author-last=Conquest |title=The Nation Killers |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan|Macmillan]] |date=1970 |pages=59–61}}</ref> The conditions imposed on ethnic Germans by the regime continued to be inhumane.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kalandarov |first1=Artur |title=Soviet Germans and Soviets Living in Germany during the Second World War |journal=Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History |date=1 April 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |doi=10.20429/aujh.2019.090105|s2cid=150376063 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Wilson T. |title=Stalin's Gulag at War : Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory in the Second World War |date=2018 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=978-1487523091}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levchuk |first1=Nataliia |last2=Wolowyna |first2=Oleh |last3=Rudnytskyi |first3=Omelian |last4=Kovbasiuk |first4=Alla |last5=Kulyk |first5=Natalia |title=Regional 1932–1933 Famine Losses: A Comparative Analysis of Ukraine and Russia |journal=Nationalities Papers |date=May 2020 |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=492–512 |doi=10.1017/nps.2019.55|s2cid=216306759 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pohl |first1=J. Otto |title=The Persecution of Ethnic Germans in the USSR during World War II |journal=The Russian Review |date=April 2016 |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=284–303 |doi=10.1111/russ.12075}}</ref> The deportation and subsequent deaths to ethnic minorities during Stalin's rule is referred to as an [[ethnic cleansing]]. Some historians refer to these acts as a [[genocide]], though there is debate whether or not the destruction of non-Russians was intentional.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Manaev |first1=Georgy |last2=Guzeva |first2=Alexandra |title=Why Stalin ordered the forced relocation of ethnic groups |url=https://www.rbth.com/history/333112-stalin-forced-relocation-nations |access-date=29 January 2023 |work=Russia Beyond |date=8 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Terry |date=December 1998 |title=The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=813–861 |doi=10.1086/235168|s2cid=32917643 |url=https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3229636 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=James W. |date=October 1992 |title=The Volga Germans and the Famine of 1921 |journal=Russian Review |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=510–525 |doi=10.2307/131043|jstor=131043 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Ukraine |date=1993 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-3995-2 |location=Toronto}}</ref> Ethnically German minorities received little empathy for mass expulsions due to their German ethnicity and assumed relation to the [[Nazi regime]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Adam |title=Genocide : a comprehensive introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781138823846 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

=== Recent years ===
{{unreferenced-section|date=October 2024}}
The Volga Germans never returned to the Volga region in their old numbers. They were not allowed to settle in the area for decades. After World War II, many survivors remained in the [[Ural Mountains]], [[Siberia]], [[Kazakhstan]] (1.4% of today's Kazakh population are recognized as Germans - around 200,000), [[Kyrgyzstan]], and [[Uzbekistan]] (about 16,000 or 0.064%).<ref name="Stat.kz">{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Pages/n_04_02_10.aspx |title=Stat.kz |website=Stat.kz |access-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212175154/http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Pages/n_04_02_10.aspx |archive-date=12 February 2010}}</ref> Decades after the war, some talked about resettling where the German Autonomous Republic used to be. But all their properties had been occupied by Russian communists. They met opposition from the new population there and did not persevere. A proposal in June 1979 called for a new German Autonomous Republic within Kazakhstan, with a capital in [[Ermentau]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.volgagermans.org/settlements/resettlement-within-russia/kazakhstan/ | title=Kazakhstan }}</ref> The proposal was aimed at addressing the living conditions of the displaced Volga Germans. At the time, around 936,000 ethnic Germans were living in Kazakhstan, as the republic's third-largest ethnic group. On June 16, 1979, demonstrators in Tselinograd ([[Astana]]) protested this proposal. Fearing a negative reaction among the majority [[Kazakhs]] and calls for autonomy among local [[Uyghurs]], the ruling Communist Party scrapped the proposal for ethnic German autonomy within Kazakhstan.

Since the late 1980s and the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], some ethnic Germans have returned in small numbers to [[Engels (city)|Engels]], but many more immigrated permanently to Germany. They took advantage of the German [[Right of return#Germany|law of return]], a [[German nationality law|policy that grants citizenship]] to all those who can prove to be a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such a person.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==Notable people of Volga German descent==

[[Image:Andre Geim 10.jpg|thumb|180px|Andre Geim, 2010 [[List of Nobel laureates in Physics|Nobel laureate in Physics.]]]]
[[Image:Eduard Rossel.jpg|thumb|220px|[[Eduard Rossel]] was the governor (1995–2009) of [[Sverdlovsk Oblast]], Russia.]]
*[[Philip Anschutz]] (born 1939), American billionaire businessman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/anschutz-philip-f |title=Anschutz, Philip F. | Volga German Institute |access-date=7 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155844/https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/anschutz-philip-f |archive-date=11 February 2017 }}</ref>
*[[Harold W. Bauer]] (1908–1942), American [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]] fighter pilot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://acepilots.com/bauer/usmc_bauer1.html |title=Harold William "Indian Joe" Bauer, WW2 Marine Corps ace |website=acepilots.com |access-date=11 November 2017 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702124408/http://acepilots.com/bauer/usmc_bauer1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Khristiyan Brauzman]] (born 2003), Kyrgyz footballer
*[[Tom Daschle]] (born 1947), American politician.<ref>{{cite web |author-last=Reitwiesner |author-first=William |title=The Ancestors of Tom Daschle |website=Wargs.com |url=http://www.wargs.com/political/daschle.html |access-date=7 February 2017 }}</ref>
*[[Sergio Denis]] (1949–2020), Argentine singer-songwriter
*[[Jean Bethke Elshtain]] (1941–2013), American political philosopher and academic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/jean-bethke-elshtain-a-guiding-light-for-policy-makers-after-9-11-dies-at-72.html |title=Jean Bethke Elshtain, a Guiding Light for Policy Makers After 9/11, Dies at 72 |author-first=Paul |author-last=Vitello |date=15 August 2013 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=11 November 2017}}</ref>
*[[Joe Exotic]] (born 1963), American former Zoo owner.<ref>{{cite web|author-last=Mendelsohn |author-first=Jennifer |date=2 April 2020 |title=Joe Exotic's Family History Could Be Its Own Netflix Series |url=https://gen.medium.com/joe-exotics-family-history-could-be-its-own-netflix-series-1cd6857ff98c |access-date=6 October 2020 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Helene Fischer]] (born 1984), German singer, dancer and entertainer.<ref name="topnews24">{{cite web |url=http://www.topnews24.ru/press/aif/12510-khelena-fisher-ja-rodilas-v-sibiri.html |title=Последние новости дня |trans-title=Latest news of the day |language=ru |website=Topnews24.ru |access-date=11 November 2017 |archive-date=22 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622143801/http://www.topnews24.ru/press/aif/12510-khelena-fisher-ja-rodilas-v-sibiri.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Tim Gaines]] (born 1962), American musician.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/StryperBassMan/posts/553450168031317 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/307225352653801/553450168031317 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |url-access=limited |title=Family History - Tim Gaines |website=Tim Gaines - Official |publisher=[[Facebook]] |access-date=11 November 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*[[Andre Geim|Sir Andre Geim]] (born 1958), Russian-born Dutch-British [[physicist]] and 2010 [[List of Nobel laureates in Physics|Nobel laureate]].<ref name=NobelBio>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2010/geim-bio.html |title=Andre Geim – Biographical |work=nobelprize.org}}</ref>
*[[Jim Geringer]] (born 1944), American politician, [[List of Governors of Wyoming|30th Governor of Wyoming]].<ref name="Junge podcast">{{cite web |url=http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/pdf/GeringerTranscript.pdf |title=TRANSCRIPT for PODCASTS GOVERNOR JIM GERINGER : Interviewed by Mark Junge |date=June 2009 |website=Wyospcr.state.wy.us |access-date=12 November 2017 |archive-date=27 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027230538/http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/pdf/GeringerTranscript.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Sonja Graf]] (1908–1965), German chess player who became woman's champion of the US.
*[[Gabriel Heinze]] (born 1978), Argentine football player.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://estacionplus.com.ar/2010/06/14/gabriel-heinze-el-hijo-de-titina-y-la-garra-de-un-pueblo/ |title=Gabriel Heinze: El hijo de Titina y la garra de un pueblo |trans-title=Gabriel Heinze: The son of Titina and the spunk of a people |publisher=Estación Plus |language=es |date=14 June 2010 |access-date=7 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407073627/http://estacionplus.com.ar/2010/06/14/gabriel-heinze-el-hijo-de-titina-y-la-garra-de-un-pueblo/ |archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref>
*[[Óscar Ibáñez]] (born 1967), Argentine-born Peruvian football player.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/ib%C3%A1%C3%B1ez-holzmann-%C3%B3scar-manuel |title=Ibáñez Holzmann, Óscar Manuel | Volga German Institute |access-date=7 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211075607/https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/ib%C3%A1%C3%B1ez-holzmann-%C3%B3scar-manuel |archive-date=11 February 2017 }}</ref>
*[[Viktor Kress]] (born 1948), Russian politician, governor of [[Tomsk Oblast]], Russia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Institute for Research of Expelled Germans -- 10,000,000+ civilians deported AFTER WWII |url=http://expelledgermans.org/russiagermans.htm |access-date=20 January 2022 |website=expelledgermans.org}}</ref>
*[[Randy Meisner]] (born 1946), American musician, original bassist with the [[Eagles (band)|Eagles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/meisner-randy-0 |title=Meisner, Randy | Volga German Institute |access-date=8 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155603/https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/meisner-randy-0 |archive-date=11 February 2017 }}</ref>
*[[Roman Neustädter]] (born 1988), Russian-German football player.<ref name="neustadter">{{cite web |url=https://www.spox.com/de/sport/fussball/bundesliga/0906/Artikel/roman-neustaedter-interview-man-geht-nicht-nach-frankfurt-mainz-05-borussia-moenchengladbach.html |title=<nowiki>"Als Mainzer geht man nicht nach Frankfurt"</nowiki> |trans-title=People from Mainz don't go to Frankfurt |publisher=spox.com |date=25 June 2009 | access-date=28 July 2012 |language=de}}</ref>
*[[Peter Neustädter]] (born 1966), Kyrgyz-born German football player and coach.<ref name="neustadter"/>
*[[Boris Rauschenbach]], (1915–2001), scientist, physicist in Russia.<ref name="R">Russian: Раушенбах, Б.В., "Пристрастие", М, Аграф, 1997, {{ISBN|5-7784-0020-9}} . Available online [http://www.pravbeseda.ru/library/index.php?page=book&id=632 www.pravbeseda.ru]</ref>
*[[Eduard Rossel]] (born 1937), Russian politician.<ref>{{cite web|title=Eduard Rossel Ergartovich, photo, biography |url=https://persona.rin.ru/eng/view/f/0/10913/eduard-rossel-ergartovich |access-date=20 January 2022 |website=persona.rin.ru}}</ref>
*[[Cher Scarlett]] (born 1984 or 1985), American software engineer and labor activist.<ref>{{cite web|title=House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee - TVW |url=https://tvw.org/video/house-labor-workplace-standards-committee-2022011380/?eventID=2022011380 |access-date=20 January 2022 |website=tvw.org | date=18 January 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>
*[[Alfred Schnittke]] (1934–1998), Russian composer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/schnittke-alfred |title=Schnittke, Alfred | Volga German Institute |access-date=8 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155455/https://vgi.fairfield.edu/biographies/schnittke-alfred |archive-date=11 February 2017 }}</ref>
*[[Kendall Schmidt]] (born 1990), American singer of ''Big Time Rush''.
*[[Heinrich Schmidtgal]] (born 1985), Kazakh footballer
*[[Diana Shnaider]] (born 2004), Russian tennis player<ref>{{cite news |title="I will play in a headscarf throughout my entire career." Interview with Diana Schneider |url=https://www.sport-express.ru/tennis/wta/reviews/diana-shnayder-intervyu-rossiyskoy-tennisistki-o-nemeckih-kornyah-i-mechte-vyigrat-vse-turniry-bolshogo-shlema-2197563/ |work=[[Sport-Express]] |date=7 April 2024 |access-date=17 May 2024 |last1=Rabiner |first1=Igor |language=ru}}</ref>
*[[Robert Shwartzman]] (born 1999), Russian racing driver.
*[[Alvina Shpady]] (1935–2019), Uzbek artist and art restorer.<ref>{{cite news|date=24 June 2019 |title=Памяти Альвины Шпады |trans-title=In memory of Alvina Shpady |language=ru |work=Fergana Agency |url=https://fergana.agency/articles/108444/ |access-date=13 December 2021 }}</ref>
*[[Afu Thomas]] (born 1988), German Internet celebrity active in China.<ref name="Family history video">{{cite web |title=这里是中国，对面竟然是俄罗斯？！【德国家庭的中国俄羅斯边境之旅】 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glb9TEvAuTY |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=27 August 2022 |language=zh |date=12 November 2017}}</ref>
*[[Mitch Unrein]] (born 1987), American football player.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unrein, Mitch {{!}} Volga German Institute |url=http://www.volga.domains.unf.edu/biographies/unrein-mitch |access-date=20 January 2022 |website=www.volga.domains.unf.edu}}</ref>
*[[Sergio Unrein]] (born 1991), Argentine football player.<ref>{{cite web|title=Unrein, Sergio {{!}} Volga German Institute |url=http://www.volga.domains.unf.edu/biographies/unrein-sergio |access-date=20 January 2022 |website=www.volga.domains.unf.edu}}</ref>
*[[Joseph Werth]] (born 1952), Bishop of Transfiguration at [[Novosibirsk]]

== Language ==
The greatest number of Volga Germans emigrated from [[Hesse]] and the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]], and spoke [[Hessian dialects|Hessian]] and [[Palatine German language|Palatine]] [[Rhine Franconian dialects]]<ref name="Koch">{{cite book |last=Koch |first=Fred C. |title=The Volga Germans: in Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the present |publisher=Penn State Press |year=1977 |isbn=0-271-01236-6 }}</ref><ref name="GandA">''Germany and the Americas: O-Z'' (2005, {{ISBN|1851096280}})</ref> to which the colonists from other regions, and even from other countries like Sweden, assimilated.<ref>{{Harvnb|Koch|1977|page=238}}: "even nationals like Scandinavians, Frenchmen, Italians, and Englishmen among the colonists became submerged and lost ethnically in the highly dominant Rhineland culture and dialects."</ref> Some [[Volga German dialects]] are very similar to [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], another Palatine Rhine Franconian language; in either dialect, one could say:<ref name="Koch"/>
* (spelled according to standard German pronunciation rules:) {{lang|de|Mehr wolla mohl gaern in die sche gehl Kaerrich geha.}}
* (in German:) {{lang|de|Wir wollen einmal gern in die schöne gelbe Kirche gehen.}}
* (in English:) We would like to go into the beautiful yellow church.

Some other common words:<ref name="Koch"/><ref name="Dinges">{{ill|Georg Dinges|de}}, ''Über unsere Mundarten'', originally 1923 ([//wolgadeutsche.net/history/Ueber_unsere_Mundarten.htm online copy])</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Conrad Derring |first=Roy |date= |title=The Volga German dialect and where is it now? |url=https://www.volgagermansportland.info/uploads/3/7/7/9/37792067/volga_german_dialect_-_roy_derring.pdf |access-date=}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Volga German !! Standard German !! English
|-
| {{lang|de|Baam}} (''some dialects''), {{lang|de|Boum}} (''other dialects'') || {{lang|de|Baum}} || tree
|-
| {{lang|de|Daitsch}} ({{lang|de|Deitsch}}) || {{lang|de|Deutsch}} || German
|-
| {{lang|de|Flaasch}} (''some dialects''), {{lang|de|Fleesch}} (''other dialects'') || {{lang|de|Fleisch}} || flesh, meat
|-
| {{lang|de|g'sotza}} || {{lang|de|gesessen}} || (that has been) sat down
|-
| {{lang|de|ich sin}}, {{lang|de|ich bin}} || {{lang|de|ich bin}} || I am
|-
| {{lang|de|Kopp}} || {{lang|de|Kopf}} || head
|-
| {{lang|de|net}} || {{lang|de|nicht}} || not
|-
| {{lang|de|seim}} || {{lang|de|seinem}} || his (dative)
|-
| {{lang|de|un}} || {{lang|de|und}} || and
|-
|{{lang|de|Gu Morzha}}
|{{lang|de|Guten Morgen}}
|Good Morning
|-
|{{lang|de|Vo geest Du}}
|{{lang|de|Wohin gehst Du}}
|Where are you going
|-
|{{lang|de|Eisch gee hamn}}
|{{lang|de|Ich gehe heim}}
|I'm going home
|-
|{{lang|de|Eisch gee nit}}
|{{lang|de|Ich gehe nicht}}
|I'm not going
|-
|{{lang|de|Fro-uh Nigh Yor}}
|{{lang|de|Frohes Neues Jahr}}
|Happy New Year!
|-
|{{lang|de|Geest Du hamn Du bayza Boop}}
|{{lang|de|Gehst Du heim Du böser Bub}}
|Go home you bad boy
|-
|{{lang|de|Grautgoge, Gahdovil und Vorscht}}
|{{lang|de|Krautkuche, Kartoffeln und Wurst}}
|Krautkuche, potatoes, and sausage
|}

The above list only attempts to reproduce the pronunciation and does not represent how the Volga Germans wrote. The dialects of the Germans of Russia mainly presented differences in pronunciation, as occurs in the diversity of the English language. However, Volga Germans wrote and kept their records in [[Standard German]].

Volga Germans only borrowed a few but anecdotal Russian words, like {{lang|de|Erbus}} (from Russian {{lang|ru|арбуз|italic=no}} "watermelon"),<ref>''Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia'', volumes 15-16, (1992), page 46: Who could ever forget the ''eigemachte{{sic}} Erbusen''? The Germans call them ''Wassermelone''. [''Ed. note'': ''Erbus'' probably was borrowed from the Russian ''[[:wikt:arbuz|arbuz]]'' (watermelon).] For this delicacy the watermelons would be picked late in the season when they were not too ripe and would remain firm.</ref> which they carried with them on their subsequent moves to North America<ref name="GandA"/> and Argentina.<ref>''Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Volkskunde der Universität Wien'', volume 4 (Verlag A. Schendl), page 49: "Grün wie Schnee / Weiß wie Klee / Rot wie Blut / Schmeckt sehr gut. (''Erbus'', so nannten die Rußlanddeutschen die ''Wassermelone'', Teresa Hardt, [[Urdinarrain]])"</ref>

The Standard German-related variety influenced by dialects and spoken by Volgan Germans who moved to Argentina is called ''{{vanchor|Paraná-Wolga-Deutsch}}''. It is also spoken in the Brazilian state of [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]] in addition to the Argentine province of [[Entre Ríos Province|Entre Ríos]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linguasphere.org/auswanderungs_deutsch.pdf |title=INDO-EUROPEAN phylosector | language=de |website=www.linguasphere.org |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231112918/http://www.linguasphere.org/auswanderungs_deutsch.pdf |archive-date=31 December 2005 |url-status=dead}} with:
* "52-ACB-h Auswanderungsdeutsch (notional)"
** "52-ACB-hm wolga-deutsch"
*** "52-ACB-hmb paraná-wolga-deutsch"</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2013}}

== See also ==
* [[German diaspora]]
* [[Kazakhstan Germans]]
* [[History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine, and the Soviet Union]]
* [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]]
* [[Volhynia]]
* [[Russian Mennonite]]s
* [[Baltic Germans]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book|author-last=Merten |author-first=Ulrich |title=Voices from the Gulag: The Oppression of the German Minority in the Soviet Union |publisher=American Historical Society of Germans from Russia |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-692-60337-6}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last=Mukhina |first=Irina |title=The Germans of the Soviet Union |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415-40731-1 }}
*{{cite book |last=Salitan |first=Laurie P. |chapter=Soviet Germans: A Brief History and an Introduction to Their Emigration |title=Politics and Nationality in Contemporary Soviet-Jewish Emigration, 1968–89 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=1992 |pages=72–83 |isbn=0-312-06108-0 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Waters |first=Tony |title=Towards a theory of ethnic identity and migration: the formation of ethnic enclaves by migrant Germans in Russia and North America |journal=International Migration Review |volume=29 |issue=2 |year=1995 |pages=515-544 |doi=10.1177/019791839502900208 }}

== External links ==
* [https://vgi.fairfield.edu The Volga German Institute at Fairfield University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410151444/https://vgi.fairfield.edu/ |date=2019-04-10 }}
* [http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu The Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080903074146/http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/ |date=2008-09-03 }}
* [http://www.grhs.org Germans from Russia Heritage Society]
* [https://flagspot.net/flags/su-wd.html Flag]
* [http://www.webbitt.com/volga/ Volga Germans]
* [https://www.ahsgr.org American Historical Society of Germans from Russia]
* [https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/ Germans from Russia Heritage Collection North Dakota State University]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050830012228/http://volguenses.com.ar/ Germans from Russia in Argentina Genealogy] {{in lang|es}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070830081342/http://www.wolgadeutschen.narod.ru/index.html Wolgadeutschen] {{in lang|ru}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050421052309/http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/ethnic/german-russian/jubilee/index.html The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051201102609/http://comunidad.ciudad.com.ar/ciudadanos/herman/Volga/volga_eng.htm Germans from Russia in Argentina]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080321211753/http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/history/volga-germans.htm German Memories - Volga Germans Migration Towards Americas]
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04803/ Elaine Frank Davison Germans from Russia collection at the Whitman College and Northwest Archives, Whitman College.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125020133/https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv04803/ |date=2018-01-25 }}

{{Indigenous peoples of Russia}}
{{German diaspora|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Volga German people| ]]
[[Category:German diaspora in Russia]]
[[Category:German diaspora in Europe]]
[[Category:Germany–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Germany–Russia relations]]
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing of Germans]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:German minorities]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Volga Germans