Wolgadeutsche | |
---|---|
Total population | |
594,138 | |
[1] | |
Russia
| 394,138[2] |
Kazakhstan | 200,000[3] |
Languages | |
In Europe: German · Russian · Kazakh In America: Spanish · English · Portuguese | |
Religion | |
Lutheran · Roman Catholicism · Mennonite · Orthodoxy | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Black Sea Germans · Don Cossacks |
The Volga Germans (German: Wolgadeutsche, pronounced [ˈvɔlɡaˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃə] ; Russian: поволжские немцы, romanized: povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south.
Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain their German culture, language, traditions and churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Catholics, Moravians and Mennonites). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Volga Germans emigrated to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.
After the October Revolution, the Volga German ASSR was established as an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. During World War II, the republic was abolished by the Soviet government and the Volga Germans were forcibly expelled to a number of areas in the hinterlands of the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many Volga Germans emigrated to Germany.