Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 8/28/1941

Volk auf dem Weg: Deutsche in Rußland und in der GUS: 1763 - 1997

Published by the Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland e.V., Kulturrat der Deutschen aus Rußland e.V., Stuttgart, Germany, 1997, 41 pages, German language

Translation from German to English by Ingeborg W. Smith, Western Springs, Illinois

A People on the Move: Germans in Russia and in the Former Soviet Union: 1763 - 1997
Bells Are Ringing Again in Omsk, Western Siberia
Manifesto of Catherine, The Great
Maps
My Homeland
Photographs
Settlement Areas for Germans on the Volga Identified
To my Mother Tongue

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"Concerning the resettlement of the Germans of the Volga region"

"According to believable reports from the military authorities, there are in the Volga region among the German population there thousands and tens of thousands of saboteurs and spies, that are to commit acts of sabotage at a prearranged signal from Germany in the regions settled by the Volga Germans. None of the Germans living in the Volga region has announced to the Soviet authorities the presence of such a large number of saboteurs and spies among the Volga Germans; therefore the German population on the Volga is hiding the enemies of the Soviet people and the Soviet might in their midst. In the case of subversive acts, that are to be carried out upon a signal from Germany by German saboteurs and spies in the region of the Volga Germans, the Soviet government will be forced, in accordance with the laws in force during wartime, to take measures punishing the entire German population of the Volga region. But in order to avoid undesired happenings of this kind and to avoid bloodletting, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR has found it necessary to resettle the entire German population of the Volga region into other areas and indeed in such a manner that land will be given to the emigrants and that they will be supported by the state in their new installations in the settlement areas allotted to them. Farmlands in the regions of Novosibirsk and Omsk, in the Altai region, in Kasachstan and in other neighboring regions have been allotted for settlements. In connection with this the State Defense Committee has been advised to deal with the resettlement of the Volga Germans and the allotment to the Volga Germans of new lands for settlement immediately."

(Newspaper of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 1941, Nr. 38)