Comments on: Russian-Germans: Back to the Heimat

By: Jason Holliss

Jason Holliss — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:57:23 +0000

Interesting. Have all “Russian-Germans” been assimilated in to Russian society, or are there many who still living/working in German in Kazakhstan? It is sad that they are unable to find happiness, however I find it sadder that they are somewhat cultureless, stuck in between cultures, and it seems they were somehow forced to lose their true culture and identity.

By: Otto Pohl

Otto Pohl — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 05:52:53 +0000

Ben,

I find the story interesting as well. But, I think those that return will be a small minority. I do not see much that the Kazakh government can do that would overcome 65 years of history and make Kazakhstan the chosen Heimat of most of the Russian-Germans born there. But, the disillusionment with Germany is real. My guess is that third country migration will also become an option. After both WWI and WWII a number of Russian-Germans in Germany opted to come to the Canada, Paraguay and the US.

As an interesting side note The early Soviet government actively sought the return of Volga Germans in the US and Germany to the Volga German ASSR during the 1920s. Moscow actually allowed the Volga German ASSR considerable independence to conduct a limited foreign policy aimed at fulfilling this goal. In a strange repeat of the policies of Catherine the Great they actually offered the emigrants free land if they returned. Very few took advantage of the offers made by the Volga German ASSR.

I put a link to this post from my blog. I have quite a few readers who come to my blog specifically for stories on Russian-Germans. Most of them are Americans of Russian-German heritage. A surprisingly large number have relatives that have left Kazakhstan for Germany in the last two decades.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:34:58 +0000

Otto, I guess the numbers are marginal – you are right. I find this story interesting inasmuch it shows that many Russian-Germans aren’t willing to put up with their disadvantaged position in German society anymore. If things continue to go well in Kazakhstan (or the CIS by extension), more might follow. If Kazakhstan was to allow (hypothetically) dual citizenship or really starts a campaign to re-attract its former citizens, this could become a trend.

By translating these stories, I don’t want to create the impression that all Russian-Germans’ lot is terrible and that everyone wants to go home (which is clearly not the case). The two stories I linked at the beginning of the post also show the success stories of integration, especially in the comments.

By: Otto Pohl

Otto Pohl — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:16:52 +0000

Ben:

A fascinating article. Thanks for posting this. How many Russian-Germans do you think might return to Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan? My guess is that is a pretty small percentage. The number of Russian-Germans from Kazakhstan to settle in Germany since 1987 is over 800,000 by my rough count. So 2,000 returnees is only 0.25%. Even if 80,000 returned it would still only be 10%. By the way this is not new. Many of the Russian-Germans, although still a minority, that immigrated to the Americas in late 19th century returned to the Russian Empire.