![Russian germans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Russian_germans._%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%86%D1%8B.png)
Russia Germans or Germans from Russia (german: Russlanddeutsche, literally "Russia Germans"; russian: российские немцы or ) are
ethnic Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
or their descendants who were born in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
or in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The term literally "Russia Germans" in Germanis often mistranslated as "Russian-Germans."
After the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, many Russia Germans immigrated to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, benefiting from the German law that recognizes citizenship to ethnic Germans who arrived in the territory as late ethnic Germans resettlers (german: Spätaussiedler).
Terminology
Russia Germans can receive a more specific name according to where and when they settled. For example, an ethnic German born in a village in Odesa is an Ukraine German, a
Black Sea German and a Russia German (the former Russian Empire). Alternatively, the Germans of Odesa belong to the group of the Germans of Ukraine, of the Black Sea, of Russia, and, less specifically, of Eastern Europe.
The most populous division are the
Volga Germans
The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...
.
History
Russia German resettlers in Germany
During the advance of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
in the course of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, many
Black Sea Germans
The Black Sea Germans (german: Schwarzmeerdeutsche; russian: черноморские немцы; uk, чорноморські німці) are ethnic Germans who left their homelands (starting in the late-18th century, but mainly in the e ...
, who had fallen under
National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
dominion, were relocated by the Nazi
SS to
Warthegau
The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...
. They received German citizenship ("administrative resettlers"), but after the end of the war they were forcibly repatriated to Russia. Only in the context of
Ostpolitik
''Neue Ostpolitik'' (German for "new eastern policy"), or ''Ostpolitik'' for short, was the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) and
Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republ ...
could more than 70,000 Russian Germans move to Germany in the 1970s and 1980.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, voluntary migration skyrocketed and the term "return" became common. Since middle of the 1980 more than 2.3 million have emigrated to Germany. The resettlers and late emigres who arrived after the dissolution of the USSR were comparatively well integrated; in 2010 the Swiss journal ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
'' called the will to integrate "exemplary", though views conflict on the social and cultural integration of Russia Germans. Men work more often than average in manufacturing and construction, and women often work in marginal employment. Overall, with all family members have taken together, the income distribution of Russia German households is similar to that of the non-immigrant population.
When the Ruso-German relationship deteriorated after 2014, declining further since the 2015 start of the refugee crisis in Germany, many Russia Germans felt unfairly treated and unwelcome.
[Manuela Roppert]
''Russlanddeutsche – die verführbaren Wähler?''
In: ''BR24
BR24 (until 30 June 2021: ''B5 aktuell'') is a German public radio station owned and operated by the Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich ...
.'' 13 September 2017, consulted on 7 November 2017. Russia had begun to attack Western democracies with propaganda. In the Russian media often consumed by Russia Germans, a mood was set against Chancellor
Merkel and
neo-fascism
Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sen ...
was presented as Germany's main characteristic. In 2017, for the first time since 2004, the
Federal Agency for Civic Education
The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, german: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, B ...
provided
voting advice in Russian. Russia German families had not spoken German over fear of discrimination after the Second World War, but had never learned to form a free opinion, according to the Russia German journalist Ella Schindler. Some withdrew "into the well-known Soviet past" and familiar simple explanatory patterns offered by Russian television.
[Inna Hartwich]
Die unsichtbaren Deutschen.
In: ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
.'' 15 May 2016, consulted on 7 November 2017.
See also
*
History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine and the Soviet Union
The German minority population in Russia, Ukraine, and the Soviet Union stemmed from several sources and arrived in several waves. Since the second half of the 19th century, as a consequence of the Russification policies and compulsory militar ...
References
{{authority control
Ethnic groups in Russia
Ethnic cleansing of Germans
German minorities
Russian and Soviet-German people