Volga Germans

The Volga Germans (German: Wolgadeutsche, pronounced [ˈvɔlɡaˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃə] ^ⓘ; Russian: поволжские немцы, romanized: povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain their German culture, language, traditions and churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Catholics, Moravians and Mennonites). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Volga Germans emigrated to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina.

During the Great Purge, Volga Germans were targeted, and following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, ethnic Germans were deported to concentration camps in Siberia and Central Asia resulting in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Volga Germans. Scholars refer to the deportations and subsequent mass casualties of the ethnic minorities under Stalin as ethnic cleansing and there is debate whether or not the expulsion was genocidal. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many Volga Germans emigrated to Germany under resettlement.