Dec 14, 2011 · The Volga Germans are a unique ethnic group that settled in the lower Volga River region from 1764 to 1767 under a Russian colonization program promoted by Catherine the Great’s government.

Jan 1, 2022 · Between 1764 and 1772, 106 colonies were established along the Volga River near Saratov. Historically, these original colonies became known as "Mother Colonies". Colonists were assigned to settlements according to their religious confession.

The majority (about 95 percent) of those who settled in the colonies established by Catherine the Great along the Volga River were ethnic Germans from the war-ravaged German states where religious strife and economic hardship had created a climate ripe for immigration.

Jul 10, 2020 · By 1798, there were more than 38,800 individuals living in 101 German speaking colonies along the Volga River near Saratov. Immigrants traveling from the German lands would first arrive at Kronstadt, a Russian naval Port located on …

Aug 2, 2021 · Whether your Volga German family migrated to the U.S., Canada, South America, or Germany, or remained in Russia, you need to gather as much information as possible before attempting to locate information in Russian archival sources.

Online Exhibits - From Far Away Russia: Russian-Germans in Kansas (Kansas State Historical Society) Around Kansas - Kansas Churches built by German Immigrants (YouTube) Leona Pfeifer on wedding traditions in Ellis County, Kansas (YouTube)

A Brief History of the Germans in Russia. Written by Dr. Igor Pleve, for the Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University. Translated from the original Russian text. The formation of various groups of the German Russian population took place over several centuries in different parts of the vast Russian Empire.

The German colonies on the Lower Volga, their origin and early development: a memorial for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first German settlers on the Volga, 29 June 1764. Translated by Adam Giesinger (Lincoln, NE: American …

These original Volga German colonists were joined in 1812 by 181 mostly German soldiers who had been a part of Napoleon's Army when it invaded Russia. A census of Russia taken in 1897 enumerated 1,790,439 ethnic Germans living in Russia.

For centuries, the nomadic Kirghiz and Kalmyks had been ravaging the steppe of the lower Volga River basin. Russians and Ukrainians had attempted to settle there, but three battalions of soldiers sent to protect them had been slaughtered.