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The Czar's Germans: with Particular References to
the Volga Germans
Book review by Edna Boardman, Bismarck, North Dakota
This book, described in the introduction as the "first serious
study of the Volga Germans in the English Language," was written
by an Iowa-born, non German-Russian woman. She became aware, as
a young college student, that some 4,000 Protestant German-speaking
persons lived in the vicinity of her college town, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Oddly dressed, they were labeled locally as Russians, but that clearly
was not accurate because she noticed that they spoke only German.
After a bit of questioning, she learned that they had come to Nebraska
when the political climate had changed in Russia, which indeed had
been their home area. Her interest piqued, her masters thesis, written
in 1909, was called "The History of the German-Russian Colony in
Lincoln." She followed this with a doctoral dissertation, published
in 1916, "A Social Study of the Russian German." The thesis and
dissertation led, eventually, to the writing of this book.
Hattie Plum Williams retained a lifelong interest in the people
she called Russian Germans. Published posthumously, "The Czar's
Germans" was based on her own early chapters plus other writing
found among her effects, which included some books written in German.
Some of the first members of American Historical Society of Germans
from Russia performed the complex job of readying the book for publication.
Adam Giesinger, best known as the author of "From Catherine to Khrushchev,"
did a final read-through of the manuscript.
Williams wrote before World War I, so the reader must always hold
that perspective, not the 1975 copyright date, in mind. "The Czar's
Germans" has the marks of careful scholarship, with footnotes that
provide additional information, name sources, and point out problems.
It is, however, not difficult to read. It flows from fact to fact,
answers many questions frequently asked about the history of the
Germans from Russia, and is full of archival black and white pictures.
The book ends with a list of sources.
The book begins with an overview of the disjointed situation that
existed in the Holy Roman Empire, the "Germany" that existed when
the people of western Europe received the call to come to Russia.
Williams clearly delineates the causes of the German emigration:
1. Poverty created by devastating wars, especially the Thirty years
War, 1618-1648, The War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714, and
the Seven Years War, 1756-1763. This last, she calls "The most disastrous
of 18th Century conflicts..." 2. The stupid vanity and exactions
of German princes. The princes of the city-states, in what then
constituted Germany, felt their subjects owed them, and never tried
to improve their people's lot or make common cause with them. Some
built magnificent palaces for themselves while their people starved.
For extra cash, they rented out their young men as soldiers. (Remember
the Hessians, who played a part in the American Revolutionary War!)
3. The lack of a strong central government and national feeling.
4. Religious differences which led to cruel persecution. As areas
flowed from the governance of one prince to another, forced religious
conversions created deep discontent. These conditions continued
into the second half of the 18th century.
She describes in detail Catherine II's efforts to recruit persons
to populate the steppe. Germans were not at all her only targets,
and early efforts failed disastrously. Williams uses the best sources
she can lay hands on to determine numbers, names, and occupations.
She paid impressive attention to detail.
The story of the voyage of the early German emigrants is full
of tribulations. When they finally arrived in the area along the
Volga, there was little match between the glowing promises of the
Russian recruiters and what they found. They had been set up and
couldn't do anything about it. The book contains this pungent quote:
"When we had traveled a while longer (after leaving the last trace
of a road) in a barren, sober waste, we came to a brook.... Our
guides called 'Halt!' at which we were very much surprised because
it was too early to put up for the night; our surprise soon changed
into astonishment and terror when they told us that we were at the
end of our journey. We looked at each other, astonished to see ourselves
here in a wilderness; as far as the eye could see, nothing was visible
except a small bit of woods and grass, mostly withered and about
three shoes high...."
The newcomers spent their first winter in dugouts the local Russians
taught them to make. "...all who came--many of them expecting to
make a fortune without labor--were sent into the empty steppe to
clear it, break up the soil, set up a farming establishment and
raise crops of unfamiliar grains." Several years passed before they
fully internalized the fact that this was to be their life and work
from now on. False rumors that money was being collected to enable
them to return to Germany slowed the adjustment. When they did finally
build homes, wild animals, superstition, and attacks by Tartar tribes
interfered with their development. (The attacks continued until
1860, when the government finally routed the bandit groups.) Only
slowly, and not even in the first generation, did these settlers
become a cohesive community, and once they began to prosper and
multiply, the land quickly ran out. Some sources say Germans were
citizens, others say they were not. Williams shows a mix due to
people's coming and going, legal and otherwise.
In a section of the book titled "Economic and Political Life of
the Volga Germans," Williams divides the time thus:
1. Period of Deterioration, 1765-1801. This was a time of demoralization
and general failure while the settlers figured out what they had
to do to prevail. 2. Period of Economic Progress, 1801-1850. During
this time, they "developed in agriculture and trade." 3. Period
of changing status in relation to the Russian government, 1850-1871.
In this period, a group known as the Slavophils, sought "the redemption
of Russia through a return to the ancient regime which existed before
the introduction of western innovations by Peter the Great." There
is some problem with exact date here. In 1871, says Williams, "All
males without distinction of class were liable to military duty."
Yet, she says that universal military service became law in January
of 1874. When the status of the Germans changed, they were given
10 years, during which they would have the right to emigrate. "This
was a great concession because Russia has never recognized the right
of free movement either within or without the empire."
The trek to the west began with the Odessa Germans (who came into
Russia in a second wave), followed by the Mennonites, then the Volga
Germans, who seemed last to receive communications. In June of 1873,
"150 families comprising over 400 persons, were ready to start for
America." Though others had explored before and presumably some
stayed, this was the first contingent to take up residence in Nebraska
and Dakota. Mennonites, a separate group, came also, the largest
number settling in Kansas but also in Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma,
Texas, and California." "On June 11, 1875, the first organized group
of Volga German Protestants Left Saratov for the United States."
In the U.S., all the land then considered fit for settlement had
been taken. This did not include, to the minds of the settlers from
the eastern United States, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and the Dakotas.
Into these open spaces moved thousands of Germans from Russia, both
invited by the railroads and fleeing a situation that was becoming
more and more untenable.
Williams goes into detail about the reasons why the Germans objected
to military service. Conditions in the military, quite apart from
any fighting, were terrible. Soldiers were beaten with heavy whips
called knouts for even minor infractions. There was no help if a
man suffered military disability. Mennonites were noncombatants
by theology. There persisted an enduring feeling among the Germans
that they were not Russian subjects. Germans had a deep sense that
the Russian government had broken its contract with them, and would
follow military service with withdrawal of other promises such as
freedom of religion and the right to have their own language and
schools. When rumors flew that there would be war with England in
1885, when Germans participated in large numbers in a war between
Russia and Turkey in 1877-1878, and when more were called to participate
in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, many fled. This reason to
move was augmented by a hunger for land as it became increasingly
scarce in Russia. The largest number came 1875-1879. In America,
military service was also required, but except among the Mennonites,
it seemed not so great a burden.
Because Williams is so strong on beginnings, this book is very
highly recommended to all Germans from Russia who want to understand
their history.
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