Wir Wollen Deutsche Bleiben: The Story of the Volga Germans

By George J. Walters

Edited by Christopher D. Walters, Updated by Charles Walters, Halcyon House Publishers, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, 1993, 406 pages, softcover.

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased to provide this important book about the history and culture of the Volga Germans. There are many valuable black and white photographs as well as an impressive detailed index and bibliographic essay.

The chapters include these topics) 1) Catherine the Great; 2) Emigration from Germany; 3) Catherine II's Invitation; 3) Exodus; 4) The Settlers; 5: The Villagers; 6) Life in a Village on the Volga; 7) Social Institutions; 8) The Famine of 1920-1921; 9) Stalin; 10) Terror Along the Volga; 11) The Volksdeutschen; 12) The Rise of the Third Reich; 13) Empty Villages; 14) A Volga German Soldier; and 15) German Settlers on the Volga.

About the Author

George J. Walters was born on April 11, 1920, at Catherine, Kansas, and passed from the scene on January 11, 1982, a few days after approving the corrected pages of the first edition of this book. He was well acquainted with the language and customs of the Volga Germans. His interest in what happened to the Volga colonies took form at the end of Word War II, when he was stationed in Berlin. Here he saw thousands upon thousands of refugees passing through the city. He was in almost daily contact with the Soviet forces then occupying one sector of that divided city. The abrogation of the Volga Republic and the resettlement of ethnic German had been announced, but there were no details.

Walters completed his Bachelor of Science Degree at Creighton University and later earned a master's degree in psychology at Denver University. After a few years in business, he taught at service places in the United States. He also served as an Army officer during the Korean Conflict, taking a discharge from the service as a Lieutenant. He traveled widely in thirty-five countries including the Soviet Union and Germany.

George J. Walters	Commercial grain storage Katharienenstadt, Volga Region, Russia. Katharienenstadt was an important grain trade center for the colonies before collectivization. Photograph courtesy of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany.
Plowing with oxen in the Volga colonies. Photograph courtesy of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska.	A livestock market at Grimm on the Lower Volga. Photograph courtesy of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln, Nebraska.

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Review of the book by Edna Boardman

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