| 1549 |
The travel reports Rerum moscovitarum commentarii (German,
1557, Description of Moscow) by the Freiherr von Herberstein
appeared in Vienna. The book in which "German mercenaries" in
Russian service were mentioned became the standard work for
political background studies of Russia. |
| 1652 |
Founding of the "German suburb" (Nemeckaja sloboda) in Moscow |
| 1703 |
Founding of the city of St. Petersburg |
| 1727 |
St. Petersburger Zeitung, the first German newspaper
in Russia appears. (Banned in 1916. Started up again in 1991. |
| 1763 |
22 July - Manifesto of Czarina Catherine II (1762-1796). Call
on foreigners to immigrate to Russia |
| 1764 |
19 March - Colonial codex: determining agricultural regulations
in the colonies |
| 1765 |
Founding of the Herrenhuter community in Sarepta/Volga |
| 1773 |
Founding of the arch diocese Mogilev, residence St. Petersburg.
Responsible for all Catholics in Russia |
| 1774-92 |
In the two Turkish wars Russia acquires all of the coast land
by the Black Sea between Dniester and Cuban including the Crimea
(Taurien, New-Russia) |
| 1789 |
July - Founding of Chortitza, first Mennonite colony in South
Russia by the Dnieper. Was also called "Old Colony". |
| 1793 |
Founding of the port city of Odessa |
| 1800 |
6 September - Special privilege by Paul I (1796-1801) in favor
of the Mennonites |
| 1804 |
20 February - Manifesto of Alexander I (1801-1825). Invitation
to Germans to settle in the Black Sea area |
| 1804-1824 |
Founding of numerous colonies in the Black Sea area by immigrants
from Southern Germany and Danzig-West Prussia |
| 1838 |
9 November - Nikolaus I (1825-1855) confirms the colonists'
privileges |
| 1842 |
Codifying all prerogatives, responsibilities and privileges
of the colonists and granting civil rights to the colonists
in the Czar's Empire |
| 1847 |
3 August - Concordat between Russia and the Holy See: Founding
of the Catholic diocese Tiraspol with headquarters in Cherson/Saratov |
| 1863 |
Founding of the Odessaer Zeitung |
| 1871 |
4/16 June - Abolishing the colonial status of "foreign colonists"
(among others things abolishing the colonists' autonomy) |
| 1874 |
Introducing compulsory military service. For Mennonites service
in forestry as an alternative. Beginning of immigration to North
and South America |
| 1879 |
7 October - German-Austrian agreement. Result: For Germans
in Russia deterioration of the situation |
| 1881 |
13 March - Assassination of Alexander II; afterwards ascension
to the throne by Alexander III (1881-1894). Beginning of russification.
24 May - Dedication of the Catholic cathedral in Saratov |
| 1904-1905 |
Russio-Japanese war. Defeat of Russia leads to partial liberation.
New economic and cultural upswing in the German colonies because
of it |
| 1908 |
In the Kulunda steppes (Siberia) closed German settlement
area |
| 1914 |
1 August - Outbreak of WW I. 300,000 Germans serve in the
Russian army. In spite of it, the "inner Germans" are declared
enemies of the Russian Empire |
| 1915 |
27 May - Pogrom against Germans in Moscow. Many shops are
looted, 40 Germans wounded, three murdered. 2 February and 13
December - Liquidation laws. German land property in an area
of 150 km in the West and by the Black Sea is to be liquidated.
Later expansion to other areas as far as the Ural Mountains |
| 1917 |
15 March - Abdication of Nikolaus II (February Revolution).
Soon abolishment of the liquidation laws. 20 - 23 April - First
German congress in the history of the Germans from Russia. Establishing
a central committee of all German Russians. 7 November (25 October)
- Bolshevist Revolution (October Revolution) |
| 1918 |
3 March - Peace of Brest-Litovsk. Repatriation clause in favor
of the Germans in Russia. 19 October - The Council of Volkskommissare
in Russia approves the autonomy of the Volga German area ("workers'
commune") in a decree |
| 1923 |
16 May - Founding of the All Russian Mennonite Agricultural
Society (A. M. A. S.) |
| 1924 |
20 February - Founding of the Autonomous Socialist Soviet
Republic (ASSR) of Volga Germans. Capital Engels (Pokrovsk) |
| 1921-1927 |
New Economic Politics (NEP). Temporary recovery in the German
colonies |
| 1927 |
Last new settlement by the Armur |
| 1928 |
Start of collectivization. "Entkulakisierung" and closing
of churches |
| 1929 |
November/December - ca. 14,000 Germans and their families
from all parts of the country set out to Moscow hoping to get
an exit permit. After long negotiations 5,671 are accepted in
Germany - only for transit (!) - from where they are transported
to North and South America. The others are transported back
by force and under inhumane conditions. |
| 1938 |
Russian, i.e., Ukrainian as the official language is introduced
in all German schools outside the Volga German Republic |
| 1938/39 |
Dissolving all Rayons outside the ASSRdWD |
| 1939 |
23 August - German-Soviet non-aggression pact. 1 September
- Outbreak of WW II (1939-1945) |
| 1941 |
22 June - Start of the German-Soviet war. As of July - Deportation
of Germans from the western parts of the Soviet Union (Crimea,
Caucasus, parts of the Black Sea area). 25 August - German troops
occupy Dnepropetrovsk/Dnieper. The Germans west of the Dnieper
escape exile to a great extent. 28 August - Beginning of deportation
of Volga Germans to Siberia and Central Asia based on a decree
of the same date |
| 1943/44 |
350,000 German Russians are settled in the land of the Warthe
where they get German citizenship |
| 1944 |
10 April - Soviet troops occupy Odessa |
| 1945 |
12 January - Start of Soviet winter offensive. Many Germans
flee. 8 May - Unconditional surrender of the German army. Massive
deportation of Germans from Russia from all occupied zones to
Siberia and Central Asia |
| 1948 |
26 November - Decree of the Supreme Soviet: Exile "forever",
forced labor of up to 20 years when leaving the settlement areas
without special permit |
| 1949 |
23 May - Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| 1955 |
22 February - Naturalization of German Russians as a result
of the war is adopted by a resolution of the German Lower House
of the German parliament. 9 - 13 September - German chancellor
Dr. Adenauer visits Moscow. 13 December - Decree of the Supreme
Soviet Concerning the lifting of sanctions in the legal status
of Germans and their family members who are in special settlements.
However: No return of the property confiscated during exile
and ban to return to the former colonies which were their home |
| 1957 |
Neues Leben, first national German newspaper after
the war, published in Moscow. Freundschaft as a daily
paper for the Soviet German population in Kazakhstan follows
(today Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung in Alma-Ata) |
| 1958 |
8 April - German-Soviet agreement on family unification and
collaboration with the Red Cross of both countries |
| 1959 |
24 April - German-Soviet agreement on family unification |
| 1964 |
29 August - Edict concerning partial rehabilitation of Volga
Germans and revoking the deportation decree of 8/28/1941 (applies
also to all other Germans in the USSR) |
| 1966 |
19 December - International pact concerning civil and political
rights: right to free emigration and protection of minorities
guaranteed. Ratified by the USSR on 23 March 1973 |
| 1970 |
12 August - Settlement of the Moscow agreement between the
Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR concerning mutual renunciation
of force. Numbers of ethnic German emigrants increase |
| 1972 |
3 November - Free choice of residence promised also to Germans
per decree. However, the ukase is not published. |
| 1975 |
1 August - Signing the KSZE-agreements of Helsinki. Further
increase in the numbers of ethnic German emigrants is only of
short duration (low point in 1985: 460 persons) |
| 1979 |
Bogus attempt to establish an autonomy in Kazakhstan |
| 1981 |
German language "drama theater" founded (first in Temirtau,
today Alma-Ata) |
| 1986 |
28 August - New law on entry and departure facilitates family
unification. Afterwards continual increase in the numbers of
ethnic German emigrants (1987: 14,488; 1989/98: 134; 1992: 195,576) |
| 1989 |
Late March - Founding the German society "Wiedergeburt". Its
highest goal: reestablishment of the Volga Republic. On the
Volga, published protests against the return of Germans |
| 1990 |
1 January - Immigration-assimilation-law (IAL). Considerable
cutback in services for ethnic German emigrants and assignment
of a temporary place of residence for two years. 1 July - Ethnic
German emigrant-admission- law. Proceedings for admission can
only be carried out from the country of origin. |
| 1991 |
1 July - Restoration of the in 1938 dissolved German Rayon
Halbstadt (Nekrasovo) in the Altai |
| 1992 |
18 February - Supreme Soviet of the USSR decides on the founding
of the German Rayon Asovo/Omsk area. 21 February - Decree of
Russian president Yelzin of forming a German Rayon and a German
district (Okrug) in the Saratov and Volgograd areas. 10 July
- Protocol between Germany and Russia for the reestablishment
of the Volga Republic in phases (4 to 5 years). Public opinion
poll in the Saratov area results in a majority against autonomy
of Germans (in rural areas up to 80%) |
| 1993 |
1 January - Law Regulating Compensation for War-induced Losses.
Setting a high admission quota of ca. 200,000 per year but some
cutbacks in services |
| 1993 |
26 - 28 February - 3rd congress of Germans of the former USSR
decides: Forming an intergovernmental council of German Russians/Execution
of a referendum/Election of a "Volkstag" of German Russians
(as "Vorparlament") |
| 1996 |
1 March - 2nd "Wohnortzuweisungsgesetz" (Law on the Assigment
of a Place of Residence) |
| 1997 |
22 Dec. - Changes in this law, valid until 15 July 2000 |
