Figure 1.--Here we see a typical staged Soviet propaganda photograph of ethnic German children studying under the watchful eye of a Lennin bust. The picture was taken in the library of Marx, a German community in the Volga rehion. Even under Soviet rule, the Germans were allowed schools and community organization in which German continued to be used. Income levels and other indicators such as literacy were higher than for the Russian population. This hanged after Hitler launched Barbarossa and German armies hurled themselves east (June 1941). The Soviet Government ordered the total deportation of Germans from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans (August 28, 1941). The deportations was conducted during the first two weeks of September 1941.

The largest German population in the Soviet Union was the Volga Germans. I do not know if the NAZIs tried to get Stalin to allow them to return to the Reich after the NAZI invasion (June 1941). This was one group that was forced back to Germany after the War. The Volga Germns were one of several nationalities Stalin deported to isolated areas of the country. The Soviet Givernment ordered the total deportation of Germans from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans (August 28, 1941). The deportations was conducted during the first two weeks of September 1941. Most of them were transported to a variety of locations in Siberia Most of the exiled Volga-Germans were at first put to work on kolkhozes (collective farms). Because of the military emergency most by early 1942 weee foeced into the "Trud-Army" (labor army). Many were used in forestry. Women except those who had many children and juveniles were transported north to various settlements to work in the fishing industry (Summer 1942). Soviet authorities next began assgning juveniles to the "Trud-Army" (1943). They worked at the oil and natural gas hauling plants in the South-Ural. The Volga-Germans who had survived the ardous cinditions in the "Trud-Army" were relaeased 1946. The "release" actually meant internal exile mostly in Siberia. They were not allowed to return to their former homeland. The KGB issue "personal exile files" on all adult Volga-German deportees (1946-47). Many were put under "special registration" wjoch meant having to appear for registration and periodic checks. Soviet officials released the Volga-Germans (as well as other German exiles)from exile (February-March 1956). They were not, however given any right to return" home. Many were not allowed to leave their internal exile until the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)

Origins of the Volga Germans

One of the largest groups of Volksdeutsche were the Volga Germans. Like other Vilksdeutche they were whole communities of Germans established in foreign countries. The first Volksdeutche were brought to Russia by Catharine the Great. Catherine herself was a German princess when she married the Tsarina Elizabeth's nephew Peter who she chose to suceed her as Tsar. She invited German farmers to settle lands that were empty after the Seven Years War (1756-63). They were not only offered the land, but also a whole list of privileges. They could continue living as Germans in their own communities, being Lutherans, Mennonites or Catholics in an Orthodox country. They also were exempt of military service and did not have to pay taxes. No wonder that thousands of poor German farmers went to Russia. They established colonies along the Volga, but also near Odessa, on the Crimea, in Wolhynia and even in the Caucasus mountains. They were loosing their privileges under Czar Alexander II in the 1860s and many emigrated to Canada and the United States, especially the Mennonites. But about 2 million stayed in Russia, also when it became the Soviet Union.

World War I

The Tsarist Government during World war I began deporting ethnic Germans around Volynia (north-west Ukraine) (1915). Another Tsarist decree ordered the deportation of the Volga Germans (1916). It was eventually rescinded by the Bolsheviks, perhaps because Lenin was part-German and sympathetic to their plight. .

Germans in the Soviet Union

The Tsarist Government in the 19th century has pusued a Russification policy which affected groups like Jews and non-Russian nationalities. Many American Jews trace their origins to their ancestors fleeing Tsarist pogroms. The Bolshevicks reversed the repressive Tsarist Russification efforts. Many of the national groups ( Crimean Tatars, Koreans and Volga Germans) in the Soviet Union benefitted by these policies during the 1920s. Some authors describe a “golden age”. Soviet propaganda used these communities to serve as examples of benign Soviet nationalities policies, showing minority progress and autonomy. The Bolsheviks set up the Volga German Workers’ Commune (1918). It later became the Volga German Autonomous Republic (1924). We do not yet have details as to how property rights were dealt with. There were changes after Stalin seized control. There were purges of “bourgeois nationalists”, collectivization, and the Great Purges in (1936-38). We do not yey have details as to how the Volga Germans wre affected., The largest German population in the Soviet Union was the Volga Germans. Apparently at the time of World war II the farms of the Volga Germans had not yet been collectivized. Stalin also was actively attacking religion and the Volga Germans were very religious. One report suggests that the Volga Germans were allowed to keep their schools and community organization in which German continued to be used. Income levels and other indicators such as literacy were higher than for the Russian population.

NAZI Policy

I do not know if the NAZIs tried to get Stalin to allow them to return to the Reich. The NAZIs and Soviets after signing the Non-Agression Pact (1939) were virtual allies. And the issue of the ethnic Germans in the Baltics and Romania (areas assigned to the Soviet Union under the terms of the Non-Agression Pact) were the subject of extensice negotiations, both their disposition and their property. Give the size of the Volga German population, it would have been a group that NAZI race experts would have been aware of. I have no information, however, as to whether the NAZIs ever raised the subject with the Soviets. The Volga Germans for their paret were not heavily politicized. I have no indication at this time that they would have been at all interested in returning to the Reich.

Soviet Deportations

Stalin ordered the forced resettlement of large numbers of non-Russisn Soviet citizens before, during, and after World War II. After seizing eastern Poland and the Baltic republics (Estonia, Latviam and Lithuania), large numbers were arrested and their families deported. During the War large numbers of people, mostly Muslims were forcibly resettled to isolated areas of the Soviet Union. One estimate suggests over 1.5 million people. Those deported included Volga Germans and seven nationalities grom the Crimea and the northern Caucasus were deported (the Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachai, and Meskhetians. There were also other minorities evicted from the Black Sea coastal region (Bulgarians, Greeks, and Armenians). Stalin was concerned about resistance to Soviet rule, desores for independence, and collaboration with the NAZIs. The possibility of a German attack was given as the reason for resettling the ethnically mixed population of Mtskheta, in southwestern Georgia. The Balkars were reportedly disciplined because it was alleged that they sent a white horse as a gift to Adolf Hitler. The KGB and other security forces rounded up and transported the deportees mostly railroad cargo to isolated areas in Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Siberia, Uzbekistan. These were not well planned deportations. Little arrangements were made to recieve them. Most accounts suggest that about 40 percent of the deportees perished. The Crimean Tatars had an especially horrendous experience. About half died of hunger in the first 18 after having been deportment. After the War there were deportments of Poles to the Poland. Large numbers of people were deported from the former Baltic republics after they were retaken from the NAZIs (1944). There had been some colaboration with the NAZIs in the Ukraine, but there wasno large scale deportmet, probably because of the number of people involved. After Stalin's death (1953), Nikita Khrushchev began the Destalinization process with a speech at the 20th Party Congress (February 1956). He condemned the deportations as a violation of Leninist principles.

NAZI Invasion (June 1941)

The Battle of Britain in many ways changed the course of the War. An invasion of Britain was impossible without air superiority. Hitler, fearing a cross-Channel invasion, decided that the only way to force the British to seek terms was to destroy he Soviet Union. He began shifting the Wehrmacht eastward to face the enemy that he had longed to fight from the onset--Soviet Russia. The nature of the War changed decisevely in the second half of 1941. The Germans invaded Russia in June 1941, launching the most sweeping military campaign in history. The Soviets were surprised and devestated. Stalin ignored warnings from the British who as a result of Ultra had details on the Germna preparations. Stalin was convinced that they were trying to draw him into the War and until the actual attack could not believe that Hitle would attack him. The attack was an enormous tactical success. The Soviets were surprised and devestated. The Soviet Air Force was destoyed, largely on the ground. The German scaptured 3.8 million Soviet soldiers in the first few months of the campaign. No not knowing the true size of the Red Army, they thought they had essentally won the War. German columns too the major cities of western Russia and drove toward Leningrad and Moscow. But here the Soviets held. The Japanese decission to strike America, allowed the Sovierts to shift Siberian reserves and in December 1941 launch a winter offensive stopping the Whermacht at the gates of Moscow--inflicting irreplaceable losses. The army that invaded the Soviet Union had by January 1942 lost a quarter of its strength. Hitler on December 11 declared war on America--the only country he ever formally declared war on. In an impassioned speech, he complained of a long list of violations of neutality and actual acts of war. [Domarus, pp. 1804-08.] The list was actually fairly accurate. His conclusion, however, that actual American entry into the War would make little difference proved to a diasterous miscalculation. The Germans who months before had faced only a battered, but unbowed Britain now was locked into mortal combat with the two most powerful nations of the world. The British now had the allies that made a German and Japanese victory virtually impossible. After the Russian offensive of December 1941 and apauling German losses--skeptics began to appear and were give the derisory term " Gröfaz ".

Deportation of the Volga Germans (September 1941)

The Volga Germns were one of several nationalities Stalin deported to isolated areas of the country. The Voga Germans were the first of the deportations of nationaloties conducted after the NAZI invasion (June 1941). (The Soviets had begun deportations in the Baltics before the invasion.) The Soviet Government ordered the total deportation of Germans from the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans (August 28, 1941). The deportations were launched with considerable brutality during the first 2wo weeks of September 1941. Some reports suggest that they continued for some time until finally completed (Match 1942). We have noted a range of estimates as ro the numbers deported, something like 0.4-0.8 million people. Part of the variation may be due to the fact that the Volga Germans were not the only ethnic Germans in the Soviet Union. The Volga German ASSR was abolished. The once prosperous villages and farms were confiscated and divided into kolchozes.

Destination

Most of them were transported to a variety of locations in Siberia, Altai and Kazakhstan.

Experience

Most of the exiled Volga-Germans were at first put to work on kolkhozes (collective farms). Because of the military emergency most by early 1942 were foeced into the "Trud-Army" (labor army). Many were used in forestry. Women except those who had many children and juveniles were transported north to various settlements to work in the fishing industry (Summer 1942). Soviet authorities next began assgning juveniles to the "Trud-Army" (1943). They worked at the oil and natural gas hauling plants in the South-Ural.

Economic Calculation

The VolgaGermans were used for ardous labor in remote areas of the Soviet Union. This was of some support to the War effort. We wonder though if that more production would have resulted from their farms if they had not been transported.

Release and Internal Exile

The Volga-Germans who had survived the ardous conditions in the "Trud-Army" were relaeased 1946. The "release" actually meant internal exile mostly in Siberia. They were not allowed to return to their former homeland. The KGB issue "personal exile files" on all adult Volga-German deportees (1946-47). Many were put under "special registration" wjoch meant having to appear for registration and periodic checks.

Stalin's Death (1953)

Destalinization (1956)

Soviet officials released the Volga-Germans (as well as other German exiles)from exile (February-March 1956). They were not, however given any right to return" home. Thus the Volga Germans were left mostly in Siberia and Kasikstan. A reader also reports some in Tajikistan. "Before the collapse of the Soviet Union there was a large population of Germans living in Dushanbe and tajikistan. Many left to return to former East Germany but thee is still a small German community still here. It is made up of older people so I guess that it will have died out in a few years. When Dushanbe was being built 80 years ago the city architects were Germans from what would become East Germany." [Fergusson]

Disolution of the Soviet Union (1991)

Many were not allowed to leave their internal exile until the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)

Current Situation

It is estimated that about 1 Million Volga Germans now are living in Kazakhstan where the soil is not nearly as good as along the Volga. Every month thousands of Russian Germans are moving to Germany where they are granted citizenship immediately on account of their heritage. Some of them don't speak German anymore and they have to prove that they are of German descent.

Sources

Domarus, Max. Hitler Reden und Proklamationen 1932-45 Vo. 1-2 (Neustadt a.d. Aisch: Velagsdruckerei Schmidt, 1962-63).

Fergusson, William. E-mail, April 15, 2004.

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Created: April 15, 2004
Last updated: 6:22 AM 6/7/2010