A History of the German Colonies on the Volga

Bonwetsch, Gerhard, Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien an der Wolga. Verlag von J. Engelhorns Nachfolge. Stuttgart, 1919.

When Bonwetsch wrote the forward to his history of the German colonies on the Volga their fate had already been sealed. Whole villages had disappeared as their inhabitants fled to America and elsewhere to escape the depredations of increasing tyrannical governments. Those who did not flee were either exterminated, or banished to Siberia.

A century and a half before this, the colonies got their first start when Catherine the Great issued her second manifesto in three parts on 22 July, 1763. More generous than her unsuccessful first attempts, this manifesto sought to entice immigrants by promising comprehensive rights -- freedom of religion, the right to self-government, exemption from military conscription in perpetuity, and extensive tax relief for at least 30 years. The whole project was carefully administered and controlled. The commission responsible for immigration was charged with documenting such details about the immigrants as profession, size of family, willingness to become permanent residents of Russia, and nationality. Consequently, we can know something of the background of each family who left for Russia.

There were no restrictions on profession, but there was an emphasis on attracting peasant farmers who would be able to improve land heretofore lying fallow. The authorities hoped in influx of skilled farmers would present an example of good husbandry to those already inhabiting the area. While immigrants had the option of settling most anywhere in the empire, peasants were encouraged to go into the Volga region where uncultivated land was still plentiful. Merchants were encouraged to settle the region along the Volga from Saratov downriver as far as Astrakhan in anticipation of eventually fostering trade with Persia. A growing Volga population would also provide a buffer against nomadic Asiatic tribes of the steppes.

The Volga region was fertile and part of the so-called black earth, or Chernozem belt stretching from the Sudeten to the Ural mountains--a soil very similar to that found in the Canadian prairies and in Texas. Both areas are ideally suited for grain farming.

When the incentives still proved insufficient to attract enough settlers, Catherine resorted to contracting with private recruiters of often murky backgrounds. The German countryside was overrun with numerous agents exaggerating the attractions of the Volga, competing against each other and even sabotaging each other. In the end, they were able to recruit about 25,000 settlers. This success is due in no small measure to the desperate conditions existing in German lands after the recent wars with France and Austria.

At first the princes of many German states were glad to be rid of a portion of their poorest. But with time they began to realize the consequences of loosing cheap labor. The Russian agents were not the only folks combing the countryside. The Prussians were looking to move more Germans into their eastern territories, the French were seeking colonists for Guyana, George the Third through his Hanoverian relations was doing the same for his North American colonies, and lastly but not least, the Emperor Joseph II of Austria was seeking settlers for his lands in Hungary and elsewhere in central Europe. Faced with serious loss of their peasant populations, the various German princes began to ban emigration to Russia: the Palatinate on 27 February, 1764; Bavaria also in 1764; the free city of Frankfurt on 21 April, 1765. Other German states followed with emigration bans in 1765, and finally, Prussia did the same on 1 May, 1766. These bans, of course, did not completely stop emigration; the smaller, less powerful states close to a border with a state still allowed emigration. And a number of people crossed the borders to those smaller states so they could be free to emigrate.

Settlers coming from different regions of Germany gathered and departed from different ports. Emigrants from the lower reaches of the Rhine left from Dutch ports. Other emigration routes led from Regensburg to Weimar to Lüneberg to Lübeck, and from southwest Germany to Worms to Westphalia to Hanover and then on to Lübeck as well. Hence Lübeck was the debarkation point for most of the emigrants.


According to surviving Volga village church records, the first settlers in Norka came from Hesse and the Palatinate, in Galka they came from the Palatinate, Hesse, Württemberg, and Baden. In general, it is likely the majority of the colonists came from Hesse since the predominate German dialect on the Volga stems from that region.

The port of entry was Saint Petersburg. Once on Russian soil, the immigrants came under the personal care and protection of Catherine and found their fortunes improving. Some proceeded overland to Saratov and their new homes. But most went by boat down the Volga. As happened while on board ships to St. Petersburg, those responsible for transporting the settlers deliberately delayed progress so they could sell supplies at inflated prices. The immigrants resented these attempts to cheat them, and occasionally vented their wrath on the local populations as well the Russian officials accompanying them.

After arriving in Saratov, the settlers were assigned 30 hectares (about 75 acres) of land per family. The Russian authorities desired that the youngest male of the family should inherit the land. The thinking behind this arrangement was that the older siblings should have the opportunity to learn trades or professions. However, as this was contrary to German respect for laws of primogeniture, the colonists rarely if ever following this practice. More significant was the fact that the land was actually the common property of the colony itself, and only loaned to a colonist family in perpetuity as long as they continued to live in the community. The right to the use of the land is what was inherited, not the land itself. Consequently there were no sales of land, or other similar documentation that would give some insight into the fortunes of specific persons or families. This arrangement was based on the Russian system free peasant communities owning all land in common--the "mir."

The colonists had been promised and expected to find houses already waiting for them when they arrived. But corruption and bad planning assured that most of the money allotted for this found its way into the pockets of corrupt officials instead. So the first settlers found nothing but fields of dried grass when they arrived at their homes. Most had to huddle under tents or sought the help of their Russian neighbors to throw together primitive sod huts dug into the earth. Nothing less would guarantee their survival through the first winter. One of the few consolations was to discover that the land indeed appeared to be fertile. Some of the colonists came with a good knowledge of farming, and possessed the personal resources they needed to use of the fertile soil. But the majority had come to the Volga colonies as a last resort after failures at other livelihoods had reduced them to poverty.

It should come then as no surprise that the founding years of the colonies were difficult and filled with deprivation. In the first years a few banded together and sought to either return overland to Germany on their own, or follow rumors of better conditions to the west near the Black Sea. These people were either slaughtered by Tartars on the way, or caught by the Cossacks and returned to the Volga.

The colonists remaining on the Volga encountered lack of medical services, new and unfamiliar diseases, extremes of climate, lack of clean water, backbreaking manual labor, livestock dying, nomadic raiding parties, and inadequate housing to see them through the first winter.

The founding of the Herrnhut colony of Sarepta has a different story. The brethren already had considerable experience founding colonies in America and elsewhere. The success of Sarepta was due mainly to their previous experience with colonies, careful preparation, and the support of the powerful Russian Count Chernyshyov--a close confidant of the empress who was sympathetic the society's missionary goals as long as they did not attempt to convert orthodox families. Sarepta enjoyed virtually the same rights and exemptions as the other Volga colonies, including interest-free loans, and freedom from taxation and conscription. In spite of the restrictions on their missionary activities, the Russian orthodox clergy were nervous about allowing these evangelical missionaries to settle on the Volga. Their reservations contributed to an extend period of negotiations between the brethren and the Russian government for several years.

In spite of the careful preparations made at Sarepta, the colony also suffered some setbacks. Like the other colonies, their farming settlements were raided and sometimes destroyed by the nomadic tribes from the steppes. The town was razed during the Pugachev rebellion. Plans to convert the Asiatic tribes were foiled by difficulties with their languages. As a result, the missionaries turned their attention to the other Volga German villages where they found a more receptive audience. In time, Sarepta prospered in spite of setbacks.

After 1800 the fortunes of the colonies began to improve. This was probably at least partly due to the transition to a pure form of the 'Mir' system of communal ownership of the land. Also, the colonies benefited from a relatively peaceful time during the first half of the 19th century while their former homelands suffered through the turbulence of the Napoleonic invasions, the Metternich era, and the revolution of 1848. The colonies also enjoyed the care and guidance of some exemplary pastors during this time. The first two protestant pastors in the colonies where the Swedish Luthern Altbaum, and the reformed paster Herwig from Cassel. Herwig was pastor in Norka. Six other pastors to other villages followed. Pastor Janet was then the first of a number of Swiss pietist pastors to come to the colonies. Like the other pietists who followed, Janet relied a good deal on his fellow pietists in the Moravian colony of Sarepta. However, after the death of Janet around 1800, the influence of the pietists in the colonies began to decline. Johann Cataneo succeeded Herwig as pastor in Norka, and he also had close ties with the pietists. However he was practical man of the enlightenment more inclined to serve his flock than to proselytize.

In spite of the praise of such illustrious visitors as Alexander von Humboldt, Sarepta began to decline after an early period of success and growth. Perhaps it was a combination of factors--a series of disastrous fires, failure of trading enterprises, over-specialization of the economy, and perhaps not least, some degree of complacency on the part of the inhabitants.

In a way, comparing the other Volga German colonies with Sarepta brings to mind the old fable of the tortoise and the hare. The other German colonies had to struggle along from the outset without the backing of a sponsoring organization like the Herrnhut brethren.

The colonies kept the usual small livestock--about an equal amount of sheep and pigs. One oddity is the fact that they were familiar with camels, and used them next to oxen to till the fields. Primary crops were grains such as wheat and rye, and tobacco to a lesser extent. Early on the nomadic tribes and especially the Kalmyk bought the crops. Then later on a goodly amount of the grain was exported to the west up the Volga. The merchant houses handling the exports were found for the most part in Saratov, and eventually contributed considerably to the wealth of the city.

The Russian government provided the Luthern church in the colonies with an organizational structure, but not the Reformed church. In time, only three major colonies remained prominent Reformed communities: Norka, Ustsolicha and Goloi-Karamysch. These three villages were part of the Lutheran parent organization in Moscow. Unfortunately, this arrangement did not ensure that the Lutheran and Reformed pastors always got along with each other without contention during the founding years. At first the pastors came from a variety of German-speaking areas in Europe, but over time, more and more came from the south German area, and aspecially from the missionary activities in Basel. Eventually, the Lutheran consistorium was relocated from Moscow to Saratov where it attempted to integrate the Reformed communities.

Education in the colonies was rudimentary at best. The teachers, some of whom could barely read and write, were often viewed with suspicion by the farmers as parasites. The demands of the fields left little in the way of resources for extensive education. It also did not help that the Russian authorities wished the colonies to gradually adopt a more Russian cultural identity. Hence the efforts of the Lutheran Bishop, Ignatius Aurelius Fessler, to establish a German high school in Saratov met repeatedly with rejection. However he was able to institute reforms and educational standards that helped to improve the education in the villages. Many years later, the colonists were finally able to establish an elementary and intermediate school in Saratov.

As time passed and the colonies began to loose their original regional identities, they began to establish a new cultural identity as Volga Germans. They acquired a Volga German dialect that retained many features of the Hessian dialects even as it acquired common Russian phrases such as 'strastje,' or 'Good day'. Evangelical Lutheran pastors could find themselves in charge of a Reformed parish. In dress the colonists were no different than the Russians; something that is reasonable given the climate. But Russians smoked cigarettes, while the Germans remained loyal to their pipes, or snuff.

Beginning in 1848, the Volga colonies undertook a period of expansion--a second colonization. As with so many other migrations, this one was prompted by a growing shortage of land. The families normally had many children, and, especially on the protestant west bank of the Volga, there was no new land available for the colonists. While some families moved to the Caucasus, the main migrations were east across the Volga. The Catholic colonies on the 'meadow side' of the Volga had not prospered as much, and some of their original land grants were made available to the protestant colonists. In addition, the steppes farther to the east were still relatively undeveloped and the domains of the nomadic Kirghiz. But persuading families to move on to the new lands was a hard sell. They remembered the hardships endured by their ancestors in the first years. The land to the east was less fertile, and not within the black earth Chernozem belt. The more wealthy colonists had to contribute considerable financial incentives in the form of loans, seed, and farming implements to persuade their poorer neighbors to move on to the new lands to the east. Once the migrations began, they continued until the end of the 19th century. The last new colony to the east was founded in 1902. As before, these daughter colonies also began to thrive. The few of the colonies that did not thrive or lacked the leadership of an evangelical pastor became fertile territory for various sects such as baptists and adventists.

The Russian Mennonite colonies were especially prosperous. Originally recruited from Poland and Prussia, the Mennonites settled in small colonies in southern Russia, to the east and near the Black Sea. They brought with them a more homogeneous social structure, better education, knowledge of modern agriculture practices, and the support of their fellow Mennonites back home. It did not hurt that they were also able to negotiate very favorable conditions with the Russian authorities.

In the second half of the 19th century the colonies began to enjoy the services of a number of new institutions, including fire insurance, and savings and loan banks. The banks were initially funded with money realized from the auction of the property of under-age orphans. The money was held in trust for the orphans until they came of age. In the mean time, the money could be invested by the banks that held it in trust.

The decline of the Volga colonies is said to have begun in 1871. In that year the Russian government abrogated the privileges originally granted the colonists. The government declared them to be a part of the regular Russian peasantry. The financial impact of this change was immediately apparent. Whereas up to then the colonists were liable only for a head tax, they now had to pay tax on the land they worked as well. Beginning in 1874 young male colonists were subject to military conscription. Only the Mennonites were able to avoid military service by serving in other capacities, for example, as firemen. By 1876, all traces of independent self-government were gone.

At the same time, the colonies began to suffer failed harvests. The soil had been worked for the same grain crops for 100 years, and droughts came more frequently. By the end of the 19th century the colonies had declined to the point where they were dependent on charitable support from various groups back home in Germany. Several villages had fallen into abject poverty. By 1900 a rail line and steamship service on the Volga reached as far as Saratov. This brought an increase in commerce and elevated grain prices. The consequence of this was that the farmers now gambled by concentrating on producing single crops that would bring the highest price on the market, and sold everything that they produced. This practice carried with it risk as nothing was held back for the lean years when harvests could fail. Another consequence was a sharp increase in the value of their land. When lean years of poor harvest alternated with good harvest years the net effect was that those families that had accumulated enough wealth to make it through the lean years began to give out loans to the less fortunate. The result over time was that the rich became richer, and the poor became poorer--little more than sharecroppers and day laborers on the lands of the wealthy. In almost every case, a family became wealthy when someone gained expertise in some other area in addition to farming--building a mill, skill in managing and lending money, construction.

Emigration out of Russia began about 1875 as financial problems accompanied a loss of the original privileges granted by Catherine. This was made easier by a government influenced by pan-slavism. Ridding the country of foreigners who refused to assimilate seemed desirable. And for those that did not leave, the government contemplated removing the rest to Siberia where a number of German colonies had already be established. At first Catholic villagers preferred to emigrate to Brasil. But there they did not find the type of land similar to the steppes, so many abandoned agriculture for other forms of employment. North America, however, drew the largest number of immigrants. Factory workers went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Four hundred families from Samara went to Fresno. The majority, however, emigrated to the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and Washington. The author points out that those German emigrating to North America rapidly did something they never did in Russia--adopt the culture and language of their new home. Also, unlike while in Russia, they spare no expense in educating their children. The one feature they seem to have retained, is a tendency to quarrel among themselves over minutiae of religion. Attempts of some families to emigrate back to Germany were less successful. Agricultural practices in Germany had progressed, and the newcomers found it hard to adapt to them. A small number of the families returning to Germany at the beginning of the 20th century were re-settled on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in German colony of Tanzania.