Thread by @wulfariks

Volga Germans - Wolgadeutsche:
A short overview of their history.

The settlers had come like many other ethnicities, but mainly Germans, to settle in the lands of Russia. This is to work land which wasn't worked and in the case of Volga Germans they served the same purpose as Transylvania Saxons, to work the land and defend it.

The part of the Volga they inhabited had been harshly fought over with the neighbouring Turkic peoples, just as the Transylvania Saxons had harshly fought against the Cumans and others. A dangerous land, to settle it they were given special privileges by Catherine.

Those special privileges were:
1. German in administration as opposed to Russian,
2. Self-government,
3. Exemption from military service.
Though in 1874 they were abolished completely, this lead to a mass emigration of Germans to U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina.

The journeys from Germany to the Volga were harsh and when they arrived, they met different conditions from what they expected. The land was not as prosperous as expected and the skilled craftsmen were not allowed to practice their crafts.

Catherine II invited these settlers from all over Germany but mainly along the Rhine and some from Schleswig-Holstein. In 1763 and 1767 the first 104 villages were founded and they'd begin working hard to transform their land.

But this hardwork was in part halted by Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, a man who claimed to be the true Tsar and terrorised a lot of Russia. He burned down or attacked a large chunk of the Volga German villages, leading to a celebration in their communities when he was executed.

Coupled with this, from 1891-1892 there was a famine. It hit the Volga Germans hard but the others along the Volga harder, they were quite well off compared to some others and relief allowed them to recover.

By the end of the century though they had already gotten moderate prosperity, already in 1815 their population increased from 25,781 to roughly 60,000. And from this prosperity they created further settlements, more than doubling their population again to 165,000 in 1850.

In 1914 when the war started the Volga Germans were not treated harshly at first, many of them as well had a strong loyalty to the Tsar but as the war went on and the revolution begun the community of Volga Germans was split down the middle and Russians rallied against them.

The fault of failed battles was in part blamed on them and there emerged plans to deport them to Siberia, Germans were banned from fighting on the front. Their loyalty was questioned but many of the Volga Germans were intensely loyal to the Tsar and went to war for him.

The Bolsheviks were initially quite friendly to the Volga Germans, though the Volga Germans themselves were split on that matter, some were quite friendly but over time the Volga Germans begun to resist the Bolsheviks, eventually this lead to the Soviets reorganizing the villages

They plundered the villages and used their Soviet sympathisers among them against them, forbid the Germans from attending mass and this lead to even one of their own getting killed. Saying "You're not going to prevent me from going to Mass on account of the Bolshevik system."

He was shot in the back as he entered the church, he was a poor man who had sided with the Bolsheviks because of their promises to lift them out of poverty. The people reacted in horror and the leader of the red guard in the area said this could be avoided if the priest had died.

Around the same time as well, the Bolsheviks which had promised an end to conscription had reintroduced it, much to the anger of the Volga German villagers. The red guard had been under the command of a man named Josef Schneider, a Volga German commissar who oversaw them.

During a high peak of unrest in the villages he reportedly debated how many needed to be shot to restore order, before this as well some Volga Germans had been invited to talk and had all been taken hostage. This, understandably, meant that tension were quite high and...

The next day the men of Köhler went to get their weapons back which had been taken from them by the soviet, and as they got their weapons back they distributed arms to the other Volga German villages leading to a revolt. Around the time as well news of the Tsar surfaced.

And at 1:00 Am in the village of Leichtling as the commisar Schneider was there trying to get draftees he was shot dead by Volga Germans and as he slumped down bleeding fired his pistol hitting a young man with a pitchfork, the other Soviet men all fled the village.

Leichtling was a small center of Bolshevik activity and the commissar was there awating draftees and reinforcements as the whites were approaching nearby. But as he was killed and the men rejoiced the Bolsheviks had come from the south to the village and fighting ensued.

The Bolsheviks already in the village were all killed and those which had tried to approach were driven away. The Bolsheviks which were left over, mainly officials without weapons, were beaten to death as revenge for the terror.

In 1918 around 32 settlements had united together against the Bolsheviks, 5000 men. They awaited the Whites and they never came. Then on the 20th of july, 2 days after the battle and 1 day after the beginning of the revolution the Soviets attacked. They arrested and killed many

And instructed Volga Germans to kill their own people or be shot themselves, having 11 young men bayonet their brethren but all of them refused to bayonet them and were executed. But during this commotion many men got away. Those which got away joined white forces.

But the fate of the civil war we know. The uprising lead as well to the murdering of many, women and men alike. 10 days or so later the priest of the church in which the man had been shot in was hunted, but managed to flee to Germany.

In 1919 as well in the village of Warenburg the Bolsheviks had come to take young men into conscription, but were faced with a machine gun and 40 rifles. Around 200 extra men came to Warenburg from surrounding villages and helped arm them further in preperation.

News of a Soviet force being sent to quell them was making rounds around the region, just as the rebellion was. The Reds entered the village and were once again massacred, but the Reds retaliated by shooting the village from afar. Gunfire rained upon the village.

After this some returned to their villages and the Warenburg village was forced to surrender to a large Red detachment which proceeded to plunder and destroy the village, executing several villagers.

After those 2 revolts its mostly quiet, suffering from the famine as others did in 1921/1922 but in 1924 they gained autonomy and formed the Autonome Sozialistische Sowjetrepublik der Wolgadeutschen, or the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Things continued on mostly as normal, a lack of progress and stagnation occurred in many areas of life.

In 1941 when it was dissolved due to the invasion around 400,000 total Volga Germans lived there, showing how prosperous they were even despite the famine how large their population had grown. Those Germans were all accused of being collaborators and deported.

They were mostly deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, to the point where even today they have a large amount of descendants in Kazakhstan. This lead to a large temporary decrease in their population and a permanent destruction of the community.

But in 2002 around 600k ethnic Germans were living in Siberia, though not all Volga Germans and many belonged to other German diaspora a large chunk of them had Volga German descent. And in 2009, 178,409 people claimed German descent in Kazakhstan. All their descendants.

In the modern their diaspora live across the Americas, Germany, Russia and Kazakhstan.
There are several subgroups and cultural organisations dedicated to conservation and revival of the culture and dialect of the Wolgadeutsche.