Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Encyclopedia
Autonomous republic
An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Many of these republics were established during the Soviet...
established in Soviet Russia, with its capital at the Volga port of Engels
Engels (city)
Engels is a city in Saratov Oblast, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River, located across from Saratov and connected to it with a bridge . Population: 163,000 ; 130,000 ; 91,000 ; 22,000 ....
(until 1931 known as Pokrovsk).
History
The republic was created following the Russian RevolutionRussian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, by October 29 (some claim 19th) Decree
Soviet Decrees
Decrees were legislative acts of the highest Soviet institutions, primarily of the Council of People's Commissars and of the Supreme Soviet or VTsIK , issued between 1917 and 1924...
of the Soviet government, Volga German Workers' Commune, giving Soviet Germans a special status among the non-Russians in the USSR. It was upgraded to the status of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on February 20, 1924 (claims of December 19, 1923), by the Declaration of the All-Union Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR. It became the first national autonomous unit in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
after the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic
Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic
The Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was a short-lived and never recognized Soviet Republic founded on 12 February 1918 and sought an independence from the Soviet Ukraine...
. It occupied the area of compact settlement of the large Volga German
Volga German
The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain German culture, language, traditions and churches: Lutherans, Reformed,...
minority in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, which numbered almost 1.8 million by 1897. The republic was declared on January 6, 1924.
The A.S.S.R. was divided into fourteen canton
Cantons (USSR)
Cantons were administrative units in several autonomous republics and regions of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and then the Soviet Union, in 1920–1941. Cantons existed in Bashkir ASSR , Kirghiz ASSR , Tatar ASSR , Mariyskaya AO and the Volga German ASSR....
s: Fjodorowka, Krasny-Kut, Tonkoschurowka, Krasnojar, Pokrowsk, Kukkus, Staraja Poltawka, Pallasowka, Kamenka, Solotoje, Marxstadt, Frank, Seelmann, and Balzer.
After the Russian Revolution the deeply religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
Volga Germans, 76% of whom were Christians of the Lutheran faith, immediately came into conflict with the anti-religious Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
revolutionaries
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
.
As of 1919, pastors were labelled counterrevolutionary propagandists
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and sent to gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
s in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
During the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
some Volga Germans enlisted with the White Army and, as a result, fierce attacks by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
on Volga German communities took place. In the aftermath of the war, the famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
that swept the U.S.S.R. took the lives of one third of the Volga German population.
To the moment of declaration of the autonomy an amnesty was announced. However it eventually was applied to a small number of people. According to the politics of korenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya
Korenizatsiya sometimes also called korenization, meaning "nativization" or "indigenization", literally "putting down roots", was the early Soviet nationalities policy promoted mostly in the 1920s but with a continuing legacy in later years...
, carried out in 1920s in the Soviet Union, usage of German language was promoted in official documents and Germans were encouraged to occupy management positions. According to the 1939 census, there were 605,500 Germans in the autonomy.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 marked the end of the Volga German A.S.S.R. On August 28, 1941, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
issued a formal Decree of Banishment, which abolished the A.S.S.R. and exiled all Volga Germans to the Kazakh S.S.R.
Kazakh SSR
The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...
and Siberia, fearing they could act as German spies. Many were interned in labor camps merely due to their heritage. The Republic was formally extinguished on September 7, 1941.
After the war, they were forced to sign contracts that promised they would never return to the Volga area.
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, the situation for Volga Germans improved dramatically, and in 1964 a second decree
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
was issued. It openly admitted the government's guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
in pressing charges
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
against innocent people, and urged the Soviet citizens to give the Volga Germans every assistance possible in support of their "economic and cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
expansion". With the existence of a socialist German state in East Germany now a reality of the post-war world, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was never reestablished. The land area is now part of Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov. Population: -Demographics:Population:...
.
Beginning in the early 1980s and accelerating after the fall of the Soviet Union many Volga Germans have emigrated
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
by taking advantage of the German law of return, a policy which 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. This exodus
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
has occurred despite the fact that many Volga Germans either do not speak German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
or have a poor grasp of the language. However, especially the older Volga German population can usually still speak the Volga German dialect, which is closely related to the German language. In the late 1990s, however, Germany made it more difficult for Russians of German descent to settle in Germany, especially for those who do not speak some of the Volga dialect of German.
Population
The following table shows population of the ethnic groups of the Volga German A.S.S.R. (for further information visit demoscope.ru):| 1926 census | 1939 census | |
|---|---|---|
| Germans Germans The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages.... |
379,630 (66.4%) | 366,685 (60.5%) |
| Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... |
116,561 (20.4%) | 156,027 (25.7%) |
| Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... |
68,561 (12.0%) | 58,248 (9.6%) |
| Kazakhs Kazakhs The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia .... |
1,353 (0.2%) | 8,988 (1.5%) |
| Tatars Tatars Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,... |
2,225 (0.4%) | 4,074 (0.7%) |
| Mordvins | 1,429 (0.3%) | 3,048 (0.5%) |
| Belarusians Belarusians Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian... |
159 (0.0%) | 1,636 (0.3%) |
| Chinese Han Chinese Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the... |
5 (0.0%) | 1,284 (0.2%) |
| Jews Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation... |
152 (0.0%) | 1,216 (0.2%) |
| Poles Poles thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe... |
216 (0.0%) | 756 (0.1%) |
| Estonians Estonians Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian... |
753 (0.1%) | 521 (0.1%) |
| Others | 710 (0.1%) | 3,869 (0.6%) |
| Total | 571,754 | 606,352 |
Head of State
Central Executive Committee Chairmen (see Ispolkom)- 1918-1919 Ernst ReuterErnst ReuterErnst Rudolf Johannes Reuter was the German mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War.- Early years :...
(1889–1953) (German statesman, diplomat, Mayor of Berlin) - 1919-1920 Adam Reichert (1869–1936) (teacher, journalist, kolkhoznik)
- 1920 Alexander Dotz (1890-1965+) (World War I participant, Russian statesman)
- 1920-1921 Vasiliy Pakun (Russian statesman)
- 1921-1922 Alexander Moor (1889–1938) (World War I and Russian Civil War participant, Russian general, Russian statesman, Turkmenistani statesman, Uzbekistani statesman, shot in TashkentTashkentTashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
) - 1922-1924 Wilhelm Kurz (1892–1938) (Russian statesman, entrepreneur, shot)
- 1924-1930 Johannes Schwab (1888–1938) (Russian statesman, shot)
- 1930-1934 Andrew Gleim (1892–1954) (Russian statesman)
- 1934-1935 Heinrich Fuchs (?-1938) (Russian statesman, shot)
- 1935-1936 Adam Welsch (1893–1937) (World War I participant, chekistChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, regional party leader, Russian statesman, shot) - 1936-1937 Heinrich Lüft (1899–1937) (Russian statesman, shot)
- 1937-1938 David Rosenberger (?-?) (Russian statesman)
Supreme Council Chairman
- 1938-1941 Konrad Hoffmann (1894-?) (World War I participant, railways worker, Russian statesman)
Head of Government
Sovnarkom of the RepublicCreated on January 12, 1924 by the declaration at the first session of the Central Executive Committee of the Republic
- 1924-1929 Wilhelm Kurz (1892–1938) (Russian statesman, entrepreneur, shot)
- 1929-1930 Andrew Gleim (1892–1954) (Russian statesman)
- 1930-1935 Heinrich Fuchs (?-1938) (Russian statesman, shot)
- 1935-1936 Adam Welsch (1893–1937) (World War I participant, chekistChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, regional party leader, Russian statesman, shot) - 1936-1937 Heinrich Lüft (1899–1937) (Russian statesman, shot)
- 1937-1938 Wladimir Dalinger (1902-1965+) (Russian Civil War participant, security forces officer, Russian statesman, entrepreneur)
- 1938-1941 Alexander Heckman (1908–1994) (engineer, Russian statesman, GULAGGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
survivor)
State Security Directorate
State Political Directorate- 1926-1929 Yakov Bodesco-Michali (1892–1937) (World War I (Austria-Hungary) and Russian Civil War participant, chekistChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, Russian officer, shot) - 1929-1932 Andrey Adamovich (1891–1948) (World War I and Russian Civil War participant, Russian general, chekistChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, fired from NKVDNKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
administration (1939), Order of Red Star)
NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
(People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs)
- 1934-1935 Aleksandr Bubennov (temporary placed)
- 1935-1937 CPT Samuil Denotkin
- 1937 1LT Wladimir Dalinger
- 1937-1938 1LT Illya Ressin
- 1938 LT Ivan Shuster (temporary placed)
- 1938-1941 CPT Aleksandr Astakhov
- 1941 MAJ Vladimir Gubin (1904–1972) (KomsomolKomsomolThe Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
activist, party leader (Ukraine), chekistChekaCheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
, Russian statesman, Order of Badge of Honor, Order of Labor Red Banner, Order of Red Star, Order of WWII)
See also
- Gustav KlingerGustav KlingerGustav Klinger was a Russian Bolshevik politician. Klinger joined the Party in 1917 in time for the revolution and was leader of the Volga German Soviet government 1918. He became business manager for the newly founded Communist International in 1919, and was elected to the Comintern Executive...
- Republics of the Soviet UnionRepublics of the Soviet UnionThe Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
- Volga GermanVolga GermanThe Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain German culture, language, traditions and churches: Lutherans, Reformed,...
- Ethnic GermanEthnic GermanEthnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
- Ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
- Nemetsky District
External links
- Native Volga-German - researcher of his heritage ,
- German Villages in the Volga Valley of Russia
- High resolution map of VGASSR
- City of Pallasowka, Canton of the Volga-German ASSR
- Guide to the history of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union
- City of Marx, Canton of the Volga-German ASSR
- Документальный фильм о городе Маркс — Фильм состоит из трёх частей. Часть первая «Екатериненштадт», часть вторая «Марксштадт» и часть третья «Маркс».