Volga Germans
From Wikinfo
A Volga German is an ethnic German living near the Volga River, maintaining German culture, German language, German traditions and religions: Evangelist Lutherans, Roman Catholic.
After she displaced Peter III from the Russian throne, German princess Sophie Fredericke Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, a native of Stettin, took the vacant imperial throne, under the name of Catherine II the Great. Catherine II published some manifestos inviting Germans to immigrate and farm Russian lands, maintaining their language and culture.
The Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans (Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen; Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика Немцёв Поволжья) was established from 1924–1942 with the capital in Engels (known as "Pokrovsk" before 1931).
Between 1943 and 1944 under Stalin the Volga German republic was disbanded, and the Volga Germans were deported to the Kazakhstan.
Similar deportations happenned for other ethnic groups, see Polish minority in Soviet Union.
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References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Volga_German" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_German, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
