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History of the German Sorbs and the Volga Germans

History of the German Sorbs and the Volga Germans. Initial settlement : Volga Germans.

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History of the German Sorbs and the Volga Germans

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  1. History of the German Sorbs and the Volga Germans

  2. Initial settlement : Volga Germans • In 1762-63, Catherine the Great invited German farmers to settle the Volga River basin, offering free land, farming equipment, freedom of worship, tax exemption, freedom from military conscription, and long-term low-interest loans as incentives.

  3. Initial settlement: Sorbs • The Lusatian Sorbs are one of the four Polabian tribes which migrated from their homeland in the Western/Eastern Carpathian Mountains during the 6th century Slav migrations.

  4. Relation to the state • Both Sorbs and Volga Germans enjoyed autonomy following initial settlement. Yet this autonomy was affected by state power.

  5. Sorbs vs. State Power, 20th-21st centuries • Fluctuating relationship to the state • Weimar Republic : + • Nazi Regime: -- • GDR: + • Reunified Germany: +/-- • Federal government:~ • Regional governments (Saxony/Brandenburg):+

  6. Volga Germans vs. Tsarist Power Due to national jealousy over the Volga Germans’ prosperity and privileged status, the tsarist state began to restrict VG autonomy. • Alexander I, 1812: standard tax status assigned • Alexander II, 1871: German language banned in VG schools • Alexander II, 1874: military conscription instated • Nicholas II, 1915-1916: Laws of Liquidation—property rights revoked, forced eastward resettlement.

  7. Volga Germans vs. Soviet Power • 1920s: Lenin’s Korenizatsija program • Language rights reestablished • 1924: Establishment of the Volga German ASSR • Stalin, 1941: Liquidation Decree • 400,000 resettled in Siberia and Kazakhstan • Disestablishment of the VG ASSR The Volga German post-WWII pro-autonomy campaign has culminated in their demand for the reestablishment of the VG ASSR. The Soviet state has only offered petty gestures toward reconciliation.

  8. The role of language in the assertion of autonomy • The Sorbs established a literary language in order to assert their threatened autonomy. • For the Volga Germans, attrition of their native language, which was already a literary language upon settlement, is circumstantial to their pro-autonomy movement.

  9. The Sorbian Language versus German Assimilation • Ecclesiastic literary standard • First translation of the bible, 1548 • Secular literary standard • Established in mid-19th century • Fostered era of literary productivity, Weimar Republic (1919-1933) • Domowina: “supports the idea of greater autonomy” • Unites Sorbian societies • Member, EBLUL and FUEN

  10. German language and Volga German Pro-Autonomy Movement In inverse relation to Volga German reconsolidation, which manifested itself during the post-WWII drive for restored territorial autonomy, language attrition occurred.

  11. Volgograd Returnees • 1972, deportation settlement restrictions lifted • 1989: 28,000 Volga Germans populate the Volgograd Region • 1.1% of the population • 1970: 65.7% of VGs consider German their native tongue • 1989: 50.5% of VGs consider German their native tongue

  12. Sorbs and Volga Germans: Shared Relationships to State Power Eras of state sponsorship • Recognition of autonomy • Rights to native language usage • Sorbs • Weimar Republic, GDR • Volga Germans • Catherine II, Lenin Eras of state suppression • Disestablishment of native-tongue curriculum in state schools • Prohibition of native speech in public • Xenophobic political persecution in times of compromised internal security (wartime)

  13. Future Prospects, Sorbs Following reunification, the flow of state resources into Sorbian institutions has substantially decreased. Small-scale cyber, mechanical, and electric modes of inter-Sorbian communications continue to operate, yet survival prospects for the regional ethnicity are bleak.

  14. Future Prospects, Volga Germans • The Russian and German governments have allocated funds in tandem to improve the lives of all Russian Germans • 2000 • Germany allocates 80 million DM, 35 million DM earmarked for 2001. • Russia was to spend 76 million rubles on the same project • President Putin awarded a medal for good favor to Russian Germans • 2005 • Russia has allocated 13.7 million euros for Russian German housing, schools, and cultural programs • Germany set to allocate 10 million euros • 2006 • The Russian government has decided not to cut financial support for ethnic Germans in Russia for 2006

  15. Bibliography • Aberle, Msgr. George P. From the Steppes to the Prairies: The Story of the Germans Settling in Russia on the Volga and Ukraine. 9th ed. Dickinson, North Dakota : Tumbleweed Press, 1981. • American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, (n.d.). The German Colonies on the Volga River. Retrieved Dec. 03, 2005, from www.volgagermans.net/volgagermans/Volga%20German%20Churches.htm. • Downey, Sabine. “Homeless Lutherans: half-German, half-Russian.” The Christian Century October 27, 1993 :1038. • Morais, Richard C. and Andreas Wildhagen. “Home Sweet Volga.” Forbes, February. 3, 1992 : 45. • “”Putin Receives Medal”.”28 08 2001. The Russian Issues.com. 03 Dec. 2005. http://issues.strana.ru/topics/55/01/08/28/6584.html. • Scheuerman, Richard D and Clifford E. Trafzer. The Volga Germans : Pioneers of the Northwest. Moscow: The University Press of Idaho, 1980. • Sheehy, Ann and Bohdan Nahaylo. The Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans and Meskhetians: Soviet treatment of some national minorities. 3rd Edition, Report #6. London: The Minority Rights Group. pp. 17-24. • Smol,nikova, N.V. Nemtsy Volgogradskoj Oblasti: Etnokul,turnaja i Etnopoliticheskaja Situatsija v 1995-1997. Doc. #117. Moscow: Instituta Etnologii I Antropoligii RAN, Moscow, 1998. • “Volga Germans” Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 30 Oct. 2005 <http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Germans. • ""State to Continue Support for Ethnic Germans in Russia"." 16 2005. Russian News & Information Agency, Novosti. 03 Dec. 2005 <http:en.rian.ru/russia/20050816?41164408.html>. • Walters, George J. Wir Wollen Deutsche Bleiben : The Story of the Volga Germans. Kansas City: Halcyon House, Publishers, 1982.

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