The Volga German Background

Eden Church was founded by German speaking immigrants from the Volga region of central Russia. In the early decades of this century a large number of Volga Germans left their homes in Russia to seek better economic opportunities and freedom from military service in the New World. A sizeable group found new homes in the Jefferson Park district of Chicago. At first many intended to return to their old homeland, after the danger of a war with Germany had passed. But the first World War and the Russian revolution forced them to change their plans. American became their new and permanent home.

In a sense the Volga Germans had always been a Volk ouf dem Weg, a people on a pilgrimage. They had come to Russia in large numbers from German regions of Hessia, Saxony, the Palatinate, Swabia, Baden, Wuerttemberg, and Mavaria between 1763 and 1786 at the invitation of the Russian Empress Catherine II (reigned 1762-1796). Catherine herself had been born and raised in Germany. In the year of her accession to the throne she devised a plan to secure German colonists in an effort to develop and settle the vast steppe regions of Russia. On Dec. 4, 1762 she issued a decree, which was widely published in Germany and Switzerland, inviting immigrants to settle in her realm. Immigration did not get under way, however, until a second decree was issued, the famous manifesto of July 22, 1763, which granted far reaching guarantees and concession to the immigrants. Among these were:

1) Full religious liberty, with the single exception that colonists were forbidden to propagate their faith among orthodox native Russians.

2) Almost complete autonomy in local government.

3) Immigrant settlers were exempt from all payments to the government for specified periods (up to 30 years for farmers), and were granted permanent tax concessions.

4) Colonists could not be drafted into military service, or civilian government service, against their will.

5) The Russian government provided travel grants and long term, interest-free loans as and added inducement to the poorer classes.

Additional regulations concerning the holding of property provided that,

1) All tracts of land set aside for colonization became and were to remain the inviolate and inheritable possession of the colonies. The land was to be held in common by the members of each settlement and not to be regarded as the private property of its individual members.

2) The common land holdings of a colony could not be sold or otherwise disposed of without government consent.

3) In addition to the common lands the colonists were permitted to acquire additional land as private property.

As a result of Catherine’s revised invitation great wave of immigrants moved eastward. The long and difficult journey followed a route from Luebeck-Kronstadt-Nowgorod and then along the Volga to Saratov. From 1764-1768, 103 German colonies with a total population of 23,019 were established in the wild steppe regions along the Volga River, in the government districts of Samara and Saratov. The Volga River, affectionately called “Mother Volga” by the Russians, is two miles wide at Saratov. All around that city and for a distance of about 65 miles downstream, as far as the town of Serepta, colonies bearing German names were established.

Many of the early colonists had hoped to escape the devastation wrought by the Seven Year’s War in Germany. But those who expected to find in Russia a ready-made paradise were bitterly disappointed. The land assigned to them were wide tracts of uncultivated steppe, populated only by semi-savage tribes of Tartars, Bashkirs, Kalmucks, and Kirghiz, who prowled the steppes on horseback pillaging and devastating many of the early German settlements.

Gradually the Settlers mastered the initial problems of nomad attack, crop failure, the extremes of climate and other hazards. Their numbers and wealth increased rapidly. By 1798 population had increased from 23,000 to 33,000; in 1898 the Volga colonies numbered 391,000 and by 1914 this figure had grown to 668,896.

In spite of their rapid numerical growth and geographic expansion the German settlers tenaciously clung to a separate existence in the vast Russian empire. They carefully preserved the German language and customs, and meticulously guarded the essentially German character of their settlements with German language schools, churches, and other institutions. Few mastered the Russian language and intermarriage with Russians was virtually unknown.

Not only did the early German settlements carefully preserve the cultural patterns of their native land, but they also founded their villages according to confessional lines as was the usage in Germany. Of the 103 colonies between 1763 and 1768, 65 were Protestant and 38 Catholic. Forty-four of these original settlements were located on the hilly right bank of the Volga River (the Bergseite), and 59 on the flat left bank (the Wiesenseite).

The Volga German colonies as a whole were predominantly Protestant. Catholic villages accounted for only 13.5% of the total. Seventy-eight percent of the Protestants were Lutherans, and 22% belonged to the Reformed Faith. The 1914 Friedensbot calendar of the Lutheran Church at the Volga lists 51 Lutheran churches in 16 parishes on the Bergseite and 104 churches in the 22 parishes at the Wiesenseite with a total membership of 488,522 souls. The Protestant community was served by 24 pastors and 152 teachers. The parish pastor usually resided in the largest village of his parish and would conduct worship services in the churches of his parish on alternate Sundays. School teachers would conduct the services when the pastor was absent. Churches were usually built in the center of each village, with a separate bell tower. Besides calling the people to worship, the bells were used to announce deaths, or to warn of fire and other dangers. Instruction in the village schools was predominantly religious. Textbooks included the Bible, Catechism, and the Volga Gesangbuch.

The predominant German folk group among the early Volga colonists were the Hessians, a strong contingent of Rhinelander formed the second largest group, but many other regions were represented. Between 1861 and 1871 Mennonites from the Black Sea region of Russia moved into the Volga region and founded villages on the Wiesenseite. They were primarily North Germans from the region of Elbing and Danzig.

The Volga Germans adopted the Russian system of inheritance, made necessary by the provisions of their original charter, which meant that the common land holding of a village settlement had to be redistributed periodically among the number of families according to their relative size. As the villages grew in size the share of property assigned to each individual thus became smaller and smaller, in spite of efforts on the part of the government to assign additional land to the colonies. In 1793, the whole territory of the Volga Germans included 485,000 dessiatine of land (1 dessiatine = 2.7 acres) or 15.5 dessiatines per individual colonist. By 1914 total land holdings of the Volga Germans had grown to 2,200,000 dessiatines. But population growth exceeded land growth so that the individual share per male colonist had shrunk to only 1.5 dessiatines. The desire to acquire additional land, no doubt induced many to emigrate to America.

The unwillingness of the Volga German colonies to assimilate themselves to Russian culture and customs led to increasing repression by the Russian government. As early as 1871 the government abolished some of the privileges given by Catherine “in perpetuity.” In 1874 military conscription was applied to the Volga German population as well. At that time many of the Mennonites, who were conscientious objectors, emigrated to America. In 1906 the government abolished the system of common land ownership. The result was a fierce competition for land aggravated by economic difficulties due to the Japanese War and domestic disturbances in Russia. Since the 1870’s there had been increasing attempts to Russianize the colonies. The Russian language was introduced into the schools and gradually German language was reduced to half the regular weekly lesson period.

These repressive measures led to a growing wave of emigration to America. Emigration began in 1872 and continued until the outbreak of World War I. Discernible waves of emigration took place in 1891, 1905, 1907, and 1913. At the beginning of the first World War more than 300,000 Germans from Russia had settled in the United States. They and their descendents are now estimated to number more than one million. Their largest concentration is in North Dakota and other Great Plains states with the State of Illinois attracting comparatively few (the 1920 lists 4,476 first generation settlers in Illinois).

Most of the charter members of Eden congregation arrived in the U.S. between 1905 and 1913. The majority came from 5 Volga villages: Schwed, Enders, Rosenheim, Krasnojar, and Nieder-Monjou. Other villages represented in the congregation are: Rosenthal, Philippfeld, Stahl, Schulz, Eckardt, Balzer, Grimm, Hoffental, Meinhard, Dobrinka, Fischer, Naeb, Straub, and Jost.

While those fortunate enough to find homes in America built new and prosperous lives their country men remaining in Russia came under bitter persecution, which ended in the total destruction of the Volga German settlements. During the first years of World War I the German minority in Russia became suspect as enemies of the State.

In 1915 a law was passed providing for the confiscation of all lands owned by Germans and its sale to Russian farmers. The law was rigorously enforced in those parts of Russia which were threatened by the advance of German armies. Thousands were banished to Siberia. At the Volga region, enforcement of the decree was postponed by the outbreak of the revolution of 1917. But thousands of Volga Germans lost their lives in the starvation periods of 1921-1922 and 1932-1933. In 1938, the government “resettled” thousands of others, mostly men, to Siberia in and effort to stamp out opposition to farm collectivization. By 1926, the number of Volga Germans had been reduced. by hunger and persecution, to about half of that given for 1914 (down to 379,630 from 650,000). Villages had been converted into collectives; churches and German schools had been closed.

The second World War saw the end of German colonization on the banks of the Volga River. In the fall of 1941, Stalin ordered the remaining 340,000 Volga Germans to be “resettled” in Siberia. How many of these survived no on can know. Occasionally a letter testifies to the fact that some do indeed survive. But letters also indicate that countless others lost their lives in forced labor camps or due to starvation and inadequate shelter in the fierce Siberian climate. Those who survived until after the death of Stalin seem now at least to be able to live out the rest of their lives in peace. There is touching testimony that they continue in their Christian faith “in spite of fire, dungeon, and sword,” meeting in homes by 2 or 3 for Andacht and devotion. In Russia the Volga Germans have ceased to exist as a distinct folk group.