The Forgotten Stories of Russian-German Immigrants 

Their history deserves to be acknowledged and respected.

I’m a decedent of Volga Germans. They immigrated to to the Volga river valley in the mid-1800’s and then left between 1912-1914 due to the Bolshevik Revolution. My Great-Great Grandfather’s portrait (the one that immigrated to the US) he’s in a Russian military uniform. He considered himself Russian his whole life even though he didn’t speak the language. My other Great-Great Grandfather that immigrated to the US from another village to the US during that same time came over and started a sugar beet farm in Colorado because that’s what they grew on their farms in Russia. But when I put in my family’s DNA to Ancestry not a lick of Russian DNA in us. It’s fascinating the stories I’ve been told of that generation. I’m proud of my heritage.

My great grandparents are Volga Germans and Black Sea Germans. Many of these people who immigrated back to Germany have relatives here in United States. Too bad we're still separated 150 years later.

I am a Volga Deutsch descendant in the USA. In 1993, I worked in a German company with many young German co-workers (mostly west-German). Their attitude towards the Volga Deutsch coming to Germany at that time was less than enthusiastic. Some were outright negative and even hostile. Then, what I saw in Germany in 2015 until present still saddens me. The Germans were so enthusiastic then and still give generous benefits to foreigners with very different religions and cultures. They even build them mosques. Today's Germany still doesn't recognize the horror Volga Germans went through because of German politics of the 1930s and 40s and the destruction of our culture. The Volga Deutsch and other Germans in Russia did not favor war with Germany or Russia. Germans largely settled the Volga Gebeit because they were anti-military and against the endless wars in Germany-France. There are still millions of Volga Deutsch descendants in Russia, Khazakstan, North America and South America. I would encourage any ethnic German still in Russia or Khazakstan who still wants to leave, but doesn't because they think Germany is the only option, to come to North America or South America. You can integrate here without erasing your history.

My wife’s family is “German From Russia” that came from the Beresan district, part of the “black sea German” population between Odesa and Kherson. In the late 1800s much of the population (especially landless younger sons) chose to come to Nebraska and South Dakota. Their prosperous older siblings were very well established and stayed. I’ve read letters that told the sad saga of their fate in the 1920s. The civil war (red, white, black and green armies each looting), followed by forced famine of these prosperous farmers. They wanted to send help, but that would have been a death sentence… Many more in the family bible says “disappear to Siberia” with death date the day they were arrested. They have no idea what happened to them. So very sad.

My great grandparents on my fraternal side are Germans from Russia. In Lincoln Nebraska many settled there. There is also a museum there about Germans from Russia.

I'm from Eastern Kazakhstan, and we used to have a lot of German settlements here. Most of them moved to Germany now, but some are still living here, with german surnames.

My ethnic German ancestors settled in Volhynia in what is now western NW Ukraine under Catherine the Great. They emigrated to Western Canada in the 1890s. Thank you for this.

I have two personal touch points with Volga Germans. One, there is a character in James Mitchener's multi-generational saga "Centennial" called Potato Brumbaugh, an immigrant from Russia who starts farming potatoes in Colorado. The other is a small museum dedicated to Volga Germans in Fresno, CA.May not exist anymore, it's been a while. What I remember are hand-drawn maps, some from the 19th century, with the names of villages and settlements with distinctly German names.

i was thinking about the volga germans earlier today and the struggles that they've gone through. i hope that they can find peace, if not in the volga region, then in germany or amongst german communities internationally. thank you for quenching my thirst on this topic.

I'm not a German but that was great mini documentary. I would like you to continue to this series. Let's talk about Danziger Deutche, their foods and accent too

I highly respect and always loved Germans who lived in Kazakhstan, mostly Germans were hard working people in agriculture and might be only Europeans who speak in kazakh language and respect Kazakh culture! God bless you Germans!🇰🇿 🇩🇪

Yes, their history worth remembering. Thank you for making this video to help us remember them.

Not just the Russian Germans, similar stories from all over eastern Europe. Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, etc..

My mother's family was Black Sea German descent. They came to Argentina at the beginning of the century and settled in Epu Pell, province of La Pampa. My grandfather was Safenreider and my grandmother Metz. They were happy here and formed a large family. Many Volga Germans and Black Sea Germans settled in Argentina.

In the early 80s I served in the army with guys from northern Kazakhstan. They grew up and lived next to the Germans, then in Kazakhstan German villages alternated with Russian ones. Despite this, they lived very amicably; many families were mixed. In general, they told only good things about the German community. The Germans are a very labor-loving nation and therefore their villages were considered rich and prosperous. In the 90s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, its inhabitants were overwhelmed by poverty and many Germans left for Germany. Once upon a time I watched a film about them. Many of the older generation were disappointed, it seems to me more because of the difference in mentality; after all, they are more Russian than German. The young people have probably assimilated, but it’s better if they talk about it themselves.

I'm Russian-German, I'm 20 and have two citizenships and was born and lived in Russia, but after war began I moved to Germany and feel finally at home. My grandfather was repressed in Siberia, then in Kazakhstan.

I am from Georgia, where there have been several big German settlements since the 1800s. Despite Stalin's ethnic purges and resettlements, the traces of German livelihood were still noticeable and tangible. One of the best examples of this is the town of Elisabethtal-Asureti. This small but beautiful German town still shines as the best example of how German life was during their lives.

As a Russian German living in Germany I can say that many comments here are true, the Germans in Germany did not accept us as their own and until these day there are many prejudices. But I honestly don’t think it is their fault: 1) We were centuries apart and even though we have the same cultural background, it evolved obviously differently 2) The German government did not teach our history or who we are and why we came AT ALL. They just let the situation be 3) Through centuries and Russia + Soviet gov repressions, we were russified by force. It was not allowed to speak German, our churches were closed, our schools as well. While my grandmother couldn’t speak Russian, her daughter (my mom) couldn’t speak German. After the war it went down in like a generation. Obviously the Russians hated the Germans and our people wanted to fit in in order to survive 4) We had wrong expectations. We didn’t think it through that the real Germans are by now completely different people than we are. We always identified as Germans in Russia. That was clear as death to us. When we came to Germany we honestly thought we will come to our own. We were wrong, because we became different people. 5) The migration and realization became a self identity crisis for almost everyone. After the Germans called us „Russians“ we just accepted this new identity, even though with real Russians/Ukrainians we say that we are Germans. That was then. Now we see that our people integrated very well and a big chunk is highly assimilated. No one in my Family born after 2000 identifies as a Russian or speaks Russian at all.

"Germans From Russia" is the largest ethnic group in North Dakota.

Some of my ancestors were Mennonites Germans who fled from the port of Odesa to Saskatchewan, Canada in the 1890s when the Russian tsar burnt our village to the ground. It’s very well documented in family journals. If the Ukrainians didn’t get my ancestors out of the genocide I wouldn’t exist. During the first Holodomor we took in Ukrainian refugees.

Thank you for bringing light to these people's struggles.

The most extensive Volga German records including cultire, geneology and history are housed In Lincoln, Nebraska, USA at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR). The AHSGR was started in the 1970s by the relentless work of a distant cousin of mine, Ruth Amen. Our family originates in Frank, Russia and further back in Hesse, Germany. The AHSGR has professional librarians, translators and reseachers. Their records are extensive and include detailed Eastern European and Russian records. They also include all Eastern European origin Germans. For people in Entre Rios, Argentina and other provinces, they have the records you are looking for.

My grandpa was born in a German settlement in Russia (Black Sea Region, now Crimea.) Immigrated to Canada in approx 1952. Such an interesting watch- thank you!

I met a Russian German here in California in the 1990's. He was a friend of a friend visiting me from Munich. His name was KinderVater he was originally from the Ural Mountains. He grew up just outside the Gulag his father had been sent to during the 2nd world war. Immigrated to Germany in the early 1990s. His father was in the Russian army outside Stalingrad and was told to report to the camp. We drove to just outside Fresno CA from to the Bay Area to meet a relative of his whose name was KinderVater. The road to the Ranch was named KinderVater. They had their own runway and hanger. The American KinderVater restores old World War 2 planes for air shows as a hobby. He had a Messerschmitt, another German plane and a couple American planes. Nice people, it was an interesting trip. Struck me KinderVater fighting for the American, Russian and German armies during WW2. It was interesting to learn the history as well.

Excellent documentary, discovering our history. 👌

Great documentary! My great grandparents immigrated from Yagodnaya Polyana, Saratov Oblast, to Washington state and grew wheat outside of Endicott. I was fortunate to know them and grow up with their stories of their lives and all they had seen and experienced. Thank you for this!

Vielen Dank ❤

This was a very interesting, enjoyable and informative video and reading the comments was very good interesting showing how we are all connected in some way. Thank you all.

Best mix no doubt

Thank you, very interesting.

This sort of topic always fascinates me-ethnic groups building enclaves far away elsewhere like the welsh speakers in argentina. Id be interested to see about the german settlers of the balkans (slovenia and crostia mainly I believe)

Wow, great video

После 2015 года идёт миграция из Германии в Россию, от 3 до 5 тысяч человек в год переезжают из Германии в Россию

I’d love to see something similar about Tyrol and a breakdown of the present status of German in Italy. This short documentary is fantastic!

I'm from Buenos Aires Argentina. My mother's family were Volga-Germans. They came to Argentina around de 1880's to the province of Entre Rios, where there are still colonies of Volga-Germans. My great inheritance has been the evangelical Christian faith that I received from them. I would like to know more about them, but I have only been able to find birth, marriage and death certificates in the province of Entre Rios. The oldest certificates show that their nationality was "Russian" and that they came from Saratov. I would like to know more about who they were in Russia and where they emigrated from in Germany. God Bless

Two things I want to mention: 1. Russian Germans have the highest level of education of all migrants, illustrating how identity matters. 2. “They were given citizenship” makes it sound like we were something else. In the Soviet Union and then the independent states themselves Germans were Germans. We had no Soviet or Kazakh Passport. Maybe some had it after the fall of the iron curtain but under the Soviet Union it wasn’t even possible.

This was a very well created video with high interest content! I wonder if there could be a documentary on the Germans from Prussia with the struggles they faced with wars, emigration and loss of their lands, culture and identity?

They all went to Dakotas and Canada. Met some German Russians from Manitoba four months ago .Got out in early 50s Lovely peoples

Very nice video 📹 👍 👌. .ww2 and cold war brought misery to both the nations

As a Volga German-Russian, I feel more Russian than I do German, I speak in Russian, my values are Russian, my family for the past 300 years lived and integrated with Russians in Russia. Yes, some of my ancestors came from Germany but I overall feel more Russian.

Lots of Germans of USSR moving back from Germany back to Russia. They posting video's here According to their experience life in Russia better than in Germany

Linguistically interesting that in English you used the literal translation from German "Russian-Germans". For me, this emphasizes being German. Like others have already commented, in North America we tend to say Germans from Russia, and similarly this syntax also emphasizes being German. Colloqually in my family and in my home area, I hear more often German-Russians in English. Could be a shortened form of the long Germans from Russia. Otherwise, maybe history impacted it? One of my grandmothers used to talk about being German-Russian during WWII in Northern Colorado. You emphasized the Russian part during the war (even though they didn't speak a word of Russian). Men were even arrested for being suspected German spies. Shortly after the war, they had to switch again to emphasizing the German part of their origins so they wouldn't be considered "commies" or communists. Maybe social pressure helped the word order switch in English to become the norm in my area?? In any case, thanks for sharing history about Germans from Russia ❤

Very sad story 😢 life is so painfill

Fascinating story. I know that I can always depend on DW for educating its viewers. Thank you

My paternal grandfather's family was Volga German with Catholic faith. I still couldn't find anything about that part of my family. The little I know is that my great-grandmother came at a fairly young age to Argentina (16 years, more or less) and that my great-grandfather left Russia (probably because of Russian Civil War and WWI) with his brothers, going their separate ways. In the case of my great-grandfather, he ended up in the province of Buenos Aires, while his brothers could have ended up in Entre Ríos or in the southern region of Brazil.

My grandmother is a Wolga German, and none of our family were prosecuted in the USSR! Yes, she and her mother were sent to the work camp, the so called "Labor-army". But not because they were german! Many people in the USSR were sent to work camps, in order to direct construction of mines, factories and other important infrastructure to wage war. The war was very intense, so much that many civilians had to work under such terrible conditions. Her father was also Wolga German, and he served in the red army. He served as a regular soldier with medical training. He was handled just as harsh as all the other soldiers in the war! He survived the Great Patriotic War, but he died in the Soviet-Japanese War. He saved 100s of lives by carrying soldiers out of no-man's-land at night, and treating their wounds. I can say, that there was no such discrimination or prosecution against Wolga Germans in the USSR. There was some fear and paranoia by some pseudo intellectuals that might have spread to other minds, but it was exactly those people who were prosecuted and then shown how wrong they were thinking!

Dona Olga, muitíssimo obrigada por ter dividido esta parte da história de sua vida com nosco o, passado é muito importante para que possamos compreender o presente e até arriscar um palpite para o futuro para a manutenção da carne humana na terra, Gratidão, Amilcar 60 anos, pescador Brasil, Um abraço e tudo de bom !

cool video! I would be interested in seeing more videos exploring Germans that lived outside of Germany - such as those in the Caucasus, Baltics, Balkans, Sudetes and Carpathians (basically Eastern Europe). perhaps an exploration of Sorbian Lusatian history would be interesting as well, I do not see much content concerning that online.

My respect from Russia to German people.❤ Yes, you devastaded our country, BUT before that you did soooo many cool things here! 👏👏👏

i had russian german ancestors but they emigrated to canada before ww1

I always found it fascinating why a German family would emigrate to Russian Empire / Soviet Union. Black Sea Germans etc.

Olga Wagner has an interesting german dialect! I wonder if they spoke like that in the 19th century, or if she has a little accent and changes in language.

My grt grandparents were Germans from Russia and moved to the US late 1800. Thank God they left before the many horrible things happened to those who stayed. Leona Starkel

Gibts den Beitrag auch auf deutsch, ohne englischen Sprecher? Wäre glaube ich ganz hilfreich. In der Sovietunion stand English nicht auf dem Lehrplan, zumindest nicht bei meiner Mutter und ich glaube sie würde der Beitrag interessieren.

There's a lot of hate in comment section for Russian-germans and russians. Is this how generally most germans view too? Hatred?

i Read All the 132 comments Really Enjoy the video

Из видео может создаться впечатление, будто бы только немцам хреново жилось в начале 20 века в СССР, но наверное правильно было бы упомянуть что жилось хреново вообще всем, вне зависимости от национальности.

Im descended from Volga Germans. Migrated to Iowa and then Wisconsin around ww1

Very interesting. My great grandfather, Gerhard End, a German Mennonite who was forced to immigrate to Canada from the Ukraine in 1890. He eventually became a member of Parliament in the 1st Saskatchewan Parliament in 1911.

I´m Argentine of Volga German descent like Heinze (footballer) or Sergio Denis (his real surname was Hoffmann) and my parents spoke German at home when they didn´t want me to understand what they were saying. My father´s parents were Catholic and very religious, so they had to pray in German and Latin before eating. Greetings from Entre Ríos, Argentina

Ich moechte das Museum in Detmold besuchen. Hoffentlich kann ich das im kommenden Jahr tun. Ist jemanden hier auch da gewesen? Lohnt es sich dieses Museum zu besuchen? Braucht man einige Stunden um alles zu studieren? Danke

My ancestors were Volga German. They managed to escape from a colony several miles outside of Saratov in the 1870s. They settled in western Kansas. I read of persecution by the Imperial government. Nothing changed after Czar Alexander II abolished serfdom. A few years ago, I contacted the Catholic Bishop of Saratov. He’s also the Bishop of Munich. I asked him about any remaining records of Volga Germans. He unfortunately didn’t know. We both suspected those records were destroyed by Stalin before or during WWII. It’s disheartening to see very little evidence of these colonies along the Volga River left on Google Maps.

Add the story of the Prussian refugees that has been silenced for too long

To me it is very annoying that you dubbed an old women. Let me hear what she says in her own language. Only subtitle it into high German and English. She has a right to be heard in her own voice. And than the German speaking girl at 1:14 is dubbed as well. Please stop doing that. Respect someones culture and language! DW! Danke.

Thank you for this very interesting yet little known story of a migration with vast consequences for European and world history!

My wife's great-grandparents left Russia in 1908 and emigrated to the USA. First they went to Milwaukee, then Kansas, and finally Missouri.

Early into the Soviet years ethnic diversity WAS recognised, and peoples including Volga Germans were given nominal autonomy and designated regions, and only later some ethnicities were deemed possible or actual traitors and deported to inland Central Asia.

Curious the Crimean War is mentioned, and that it involved Russia. But Crimea is, and always has been, Ukrainian, not Russian, right?

Excellent video! What about the Black Sea Germans? I would love to know more about this group.

My ancestors from both sides of my family were Volga Germans. Often times when I talked to my grandparents they would talk about how their grandparents’ family members would be there and the next day gone. Would this have been the Russian Secret Police at the time?

My ancestors are coming from south Ukraine, near the mennonites settlement Khortitza. They lived in a village that was destroyed by Makhno gangs during the civil war (Neuehorst, or Zeleni Guy), and many of its inhabitants were raped and killed. It was the time when Germans living in Ukraine were forced to either leave or take the weapons to arms to defend, even though it was prohibited by the religion. Thank you for the video, it’s not only a blind spot in Germany but also in Ukraine.

Hermann Gräf - is a head of the Russian central bank (SberBank), Alexey Miller - the head of Gazprom.. there are a lot of Russian Germans in Russia at the moment

Please do a documentary about the Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians 🇩🇪! One of them is the current president of Romania 🇷🇴. Two of them, Hertha Müller and Stefan Hell, received the Nobel prize for Litterature and Chemistry, respectively.

Do you have a German language RU-vid Channel ?

We have 13 million refugees most are from Syria, Africa, Ukraine, Russia etc. While Turkey doesn't give citizenship to other brotherly Turkic country citizens, it gives citizenship to many others. Interesting things happening everywhere.

100,000 left Germany, and 3,000,000 came back....

❤

Think Video could have mentioned that Catherine the Great of Russia who invited the Germans to settle on lands in the Ukraine and on the Volga lands her armies had recently captured from the Ottomans and others was a German herself and also invited in many other nationalities to settle. So her foundation of Odessa was built by a Frenchman in her service and mostly settled by Germans, Poles, Jews and merchants from many lands. Which makes Putin claim that a City founded by a German, built by a Frenchman and settled by all sorts or land taken off the Ottoman Turks is 100% Russian somewhat interesting.

Russian German population in RSFSR, USSR - 1926 - 1,2 mil 0.8%, 1939 - 1,4 mil 0.8%, 1959 - 1,6 mil - 0.8%

The most interesting part of their story is that German farming colonists never immigrated to Russia, but to Ukraine only.

I now understand why we have lot of Germans in my country kazakhstan.

You can make this same video about Poles scattered across Russia and Kazakhstan please?

All my ancestors are some part of german settlers in the russian empire. Mostly Volga German, Baltic German and Black sea german. We are not a small minorty in Germany or Russia. We are just quiet people. We dont call for Freedom. We dont call for an own Nation. We obey our Masters. That is the mentality most have. Our History is long and complicated with not much Footage.

The explosion of ethnic German who live outside of Germany has always interested me , those ppl lived in countries like poland, Czech Republic, Romania, former Yugoslavia , Baltic countries and other Former USSR countries especially Russia for many centuries, yet they were kicked like they were nothing, and there is little to no recognition to their explosion from those countries and cuz of the little to no effort made by Germany to make those countries recognize it and apologize for it cuz Germany don't want to upset those countries

In the late 1800s thousands of German Mennonites living in Russia, left and settled in the plains states and western Canada. There were many in Kansas.

Can I ask something to this channel's admin? This question I have might be something controversial but here it goes: What was the opinion of Volga-German people towards National-Socialism and everything related to it? I ask this as a descendent from Volga-German immigrants who came to Argentina.

Да,это было конечно очень круто,но ведь пострадали не только немцы,страдали почти все,включая и русских...😮😢

Read a book Forgotten Lands by Max Ergamont, could re-read it brilliant real life story of an emigre in England that as an adult discovered he had a native German different surname...

History is never over

My great grandparents were Black Sea Germans and Transylvanian Saxon. The Olheiser and Goetz families. There were at least a dozen siblings in each family, and several marriages between those siblings. The Olheiser family left Odessa around 1900 and settled in North Dakota, and then after great grandpa Anton Goetz was conscripted into the Russian Army before WWI, great-great Opa Dominic Goetz made the travel plans to get the hell outta there. Anton came home on routine family leave, and Dominic told him they weren’t staying. Anton was apparently very wary of the plan, as it meant certain death for the whole family if they were caught. Nevertheless, off to Bremen they went, caught a ship to Liverpool, and then across to Nova Scotia, and from there they made their way down to where the Olheiser’s were already settled in Strasbourg ND. Our family was also helped by the Welk family… Lawrence being my cousin, which I heard about every damn time that show came on the tv. I can still hear the German spoken by my grandparents when I was a kid in the 70s. I also still remember the anti German sentiments that ran strong in America. And how I wasn’t to repeat anything discussed by my elders in school. I mean, they remained ardently loyal to the German nation and people, so I get it now. They were also hardcore Catholics who called Vatican II heresy and the pope was a fraud. Several of my grandparents siblings (so, grand aunts and uncles) refused to speak English their whole lives. And back in their day, in North Dakota, that was actually a very easy thing to do. There were essentially German colonies on the prairie just like back on the steppes.

Sadly same thing happened to Germans in north Serbia(Vojvodina) ex Yugoslavia.Although they didint anything to do with bad German leaders at that time,Tito and he's communists expelled them all.DW,maybe u should do some documantary on that?

I’m surprised they would migrate to Russia of all places especially in that time. Russia was very de-industrialized but had a lot of land. Prussia on the other hand was industrializing during that time if I were them I would go there but eh. I’m just glad they get to live where they believe it’s best for them. Thank you for bribing this up DW I knew a little bit of this topic but not the full extent.

I myself am a Tajik by nationality, I believe that Stalin and Hitler were both fascists. Stalin, as a dictator, intended to kill more Germans, while Hitler, in turn, wanted to destroy the Jews. all the tunnels of the Moscow metro dug up German prisoners, it was German prisoners, the German people suffered the most from the war unleashed by Stalin and Hitler!

Imagine how many more of these stories will surface in the future after 1 million or so russians left their country just recently.

My well educated guess is that a lot of them ended up in Saskatchewan while only wanting to live peaceful hard working for their family lives. Of course those families were no exeption when ending up with the odd outlaw being among them from time to time while they were all going through hardships. Some people would false assume they speak Russian. Others would false assume they were from Britain. In my own grandmother's case she witnessed 3 of her infant siblings dying of influenza while in poverty when she was growing up untl for a short period of time during the upswing of the wild ups and downs during the lazzei-faire politics prevelant here in North America during the 19th century and the early 20th century. I am not sure when or where the German heritage identity in her family first started. My only a guess so far based on her appearance only is that her family fled from Spain to Germany before having to flee again to North America. In my grandfather's case he was born in German before moving here to marry her just before the Great Depression began. After maybe his family maybe went from Ireland to Holland and then to Germany. Why do I believe it was maybe Holland where his family spent some time in? Only because he spoke what is now being called only, "Low German." Whatever that is supposed to mean.

It was brutal wars by Germany ( Prussia) against Russian Empire in WW1 ( 12 million dead) and Nazi Germany in WW2 ( 27 million dead), with the WW2 being "War of annihilation" , especially brutal against Russians, Belorussians, Eastern Ukrainians, Jews, Gypsies, members of the government, families of Red Army soldiers, with 9 million military killed by Nazi Germany and their allies ( 3 million of Soviet POW's killed in captivity), and 18 m million civilians tortured , hanged , shot, raped and killed in concentration camps, with cities, villages and infrastructure destroyed, crops shipped to Germany with livestock, black soil loaded onto trains and shipped to Germany, Leningrad siege for 3 years with 2 million dead. How many atrocities and horrors were committed by Germans, Romanians and their allies is a mind boggling. Wone, children killed for no reason, burned alive in the barns. How should have the people and the government of Soviet Union reacted to it's German population ? The Germany's Kaiser and Nazi Germany Hitler needs to be blamed for deportations of Russian Germans

No mention of Germany’s most famous living celebrity being Russian-German? I know a lot of Germans like to pretend they’re too cool for her, but it seems kind of relevant here.

The most hilarious part is that the same people (or their descendants) are the most vivid Russia's supporters in Germany, lol. Stockholm Syndrome: the nation.

Don't wonder, that nobody knows about this stories. This documentary is not available in German! Why aren't Germans allowed to hear this?