Volga Germans

Volga Germans (German: Wolgadeutsche or Russlanddeutsche, Russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskie nemtsy) were ethnic Germans living along the Volga River. They kept the culture, language, traditions and religions of Germans, including Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism.

Catherine the Great invited Germans to immigrate. She gave them Russian lands, and allowed them to keep their language and culture.

The Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans (German: Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen; Russian: Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика Немцёв Поволжья) existed from 1924 to 1942 with the capital in Engels.

South America

Germans from Russia also settled in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Most Volga Germans who settled in Latin America were Catholic. Many Catholic Volga Germans chose South America as their new homeland because the nations in South America shared their religion.

Volga Germans Media

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  • Portrait of Catherine II the Great (1729-1796)label QS:Len,"Portrait of Catherine II the Great (1729-1796)"*label QS:Lde,"Katharina II. die Große (1729-1796)
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  Volga German cities and settlements.

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  Temporary quarters for Volga Germans in central Kansas, 1875.

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  Volga German pioneer family commemorative statue in Victoria, Kansas by Pete Felten, 1976

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  Flags of Argentina, Buenos Aires Province and Germany in front of St. Joseph Catholic Church in San José, Coronel Suárez Partido, Argentina (Volga German colony).

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  Ethnic Germans from the Volga region at a refugee camp in Schneidemühl, Germany, early 1920s.

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  Aerial view of the Vorkutlag, one of the GULAG forced labor camps where many Germans from Russia were enslaved and perished.

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  Andre Geim, 2010 Nobel laureate in Physics.

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  Eduard Rossel was the governor (1995–2009) of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

Other websites

• Volga Germans
• American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Archived 2020-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Germans from Russia in Argentina Genealogy Archived 2005-08-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
• Wolgadeutschen Archived 2007-08-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)