German Colonists in Russia

By Bev Krein

Anthropology 596, Summer, 1986, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

The fate of the Germans from Russia was tied into Russia’s as early as 1240 when Genghis Khan overran Russia. The Golden Horde dominated and terrorized parts of Russia until 1769. During the 1769-74 Russia Turkish War Catherine the Great pushed the Turks back and annexed the Crimea and an area of the northern Black Sea coast from the Bug River almost to the Caucasus.

Catherine wanted to end the Turkish influence on the Russians that lived near the Turkish borders. A settled buffer zone separating the Turkish and Russian people was desired. Catherine II wanted hardworking industrious people who would not be easily influenced by the Turks. She wanted a people whose situation was so desperate they would leave their homeland, endure the hardships and uncertainty of pioneer life. She wanted people to make her country bloom. Of German descent herself, Catherine issued a manifesto inviting the people that lived in the German states to come settle the Volga Region.

Catherine, the astute politician, knew that incentives would lure the Germans from their homeland: The Germans were always land hungry (the German states were too small to support their populations), were deeply religious, and were very proud of their traditions and culture. The German states had been devastated by the Seven Years War (1756-1763) which had just ended, and the Germans were tired of the hardship and sorrow of the conflict.

Thus when Catherine issued a manifesto on July 22, 1763, inviting the Germans to settle the Volga region they were willing listeners. She offered free land, low interest loans, exemption from military service, colony settlement according to religious preference, Catholic or Protestant, and self administration; Catherine had little intention of Russianizing the Germans. Thousands of Germans accepted Catherine’s generous offer, and migrated into the Volga region. The folksong “Das Manifesto” outlines the historic event.

The manifesto of the Empress
It had the Germans in mind.

They were to plant bread and wine
And they were to be colonist, too

“Des Schoene Garden” (The Beautiful Garden), is a poetic description of Catherine’s response to the needs of her adopted land. The colonists’ gratitude towards Catherine and a tendency to make her a personal heroine are quite apparent.

There was a beautiful large garden.

Few trees stood in it.
A great gardener
Diligently took care of it
She wanted it more beautiful,
She fetched trees from afar.

Russia is the large garden,
And the Germans who gathered
Upon the call of the empress
Are the trees of the foreign land
Both sides of the Volga bank.

Even though the Germans felt an eagerness for a better life, the Germans left their homeland with heavy hearts. Germany was all that was familiar and loved. The Germans loaded up their families and belongings and traveled 25 to 100 families per wagon train. The long and tedious journey to the Volga region took 20-25 weeks. The story of the migration would be sung about 100 hundred years later.

We left our families
And moved into Russia
The Russians envied us a lot
Because we were exempted for so long.

I’ve wept many, many tears
Since I must part from here;
But my father has decided
That we leave our homeland.
Homeland, today we shall leave you,
So goodbye and farewell!
So adieu, adieu, adieu

In 1812, groups of Germans settled in Russia without invitation. Napoleon conquered most of Europe by 1808. As he swept across German territory he had conscripted able bodied Germans into his army. During Napoleon’s disastrous campaign in Russia many of these German soldiers were captured. They were sent as prisoners of war to established German colonies and many stayed to start a new life. The following folksong refers to Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, his early success, followed by flight and his ultimate defeat. The war tired colonists had left their fatherland to escape the terror of war so it was with a great deal of satisfaction the colonists sang of Napoleon’s defeat. “Is it really True,” was of the era’s most popular songs.

Ist es denn auch wirklich (Is it really true)
is it really true
as we have heard,
that Emperor Napoleon
came to Russia?
Many on horse and many on foot
came to Russia.
They occupied very quickly
the beautiful city of Moscow.
Moscow was not enough
there we found no booty.
Petersburg, the capitol,
is what we must have.

There is plenty of meat and porridge
and new fresh life.
and a glass of champagne
and a lovely girl too.

In the morning
came an officer
and said: “We are lost”
All of our people
have frozen in the snow
Many on horses and many on foot
Began retreating.
But God showed mercy
bullets came flying
O you mighty Napoleon
where have your people gone?
All at once you have lost all
Except for one sled.

O you proud Napoleon

You are now a prisoner
Your enemy sends you a priest
whom you are happy to welcome.

On February 20, 1840 Alexander I extended another invitation to the Germans in order to settle the Black Sea District. This rich steppe land is very similar to the prairies in North and South Dakota, the region that later become the home of the Germans from Russia. The climate is similar, with very harsh winters, hot summers, with years of drought and years of perfect harvest weather. The landscape was similar as well, with very few trees, endless miles of unbroken land and a limitless horizon. Thousands of Germans accepted the czar’s invitation just as thousands had accepted Catherine the Great’s offer.

A common misconception concerning the German colonists was that they were all farmers. True they were an agrarian society but they certainly were not confined to agriculture. Carpenters, cabinet makers, coopers, bakers, bargers, masons, weavers, teachers, storekeepers, engineers, shoemakers, tanners, tailors, watchmakers, people from all professions helped to settle the new colonies.

Like most pioneer societies, the first years of settlement were years of struggle. When the Germans reached their destination the open skies were their roofs until they could build shelters. The colonists settled in villages with extended families and former neighbors. They settled nearly five hundred villages in the Volga and Black Sea regions. Self sufficient, the Germans made most of the products needed for daily life, from fuel for their fire, made from manure and straw, to items such as candles, soap, furniture and of course their clothing. Families kept a cow for milking, pigs, and chickens, and had their own gardens, if not fields. They were very independent and had little interaction with the Russians. An example of this is seen by the fact the colonists carried enough provisions to last until they could plant and harvest a crop. Food was often scarce. Each colony was responsible for building their own schools and churches, as well as procuring teachers and clergy.

The first homes made of sod with reed roof usually consisted of two rooms. After the family had their first crop in, or their trade established, they would build a larger home of five or six rooms. Sandstone or mudbricks would replace the sod walls and instead of reed roofs the permanent houses would have either thatched roofs or cement tile roofs. Most kitchens or dining rooms would have a picture of the “Last Supper” near the eating area. The living room walls would have been decorated with framed certificates of baptisms and confirmations. In Catholic home a crucifix along with photographs of the “Sacred Heart of Jesus” and the “Sacred Heart of Mary” would be arranged to form the “Liberherrgottseck,” the Lord God’s corner. In the event of a death in the family, the deceased would be laid out in the Lord’s Corner of the home rather than at a church or funeral home. A wake would be held in the home, and a family member would stay with the deceased at all times until burial.

One of the reasons the colonists were so successful in retaining their German culture in Russia was because marriage outside of one’s faith was strongly discouraged as was intermarriage with the Russians or Turks. Nearly all adult colonists married at a young age; and divorce was extremely rare. Marriages were arranged by the parents, often with the help of the village matchmaker. Economics played a serious role in the matchmaking decision as, “daughters inherited land when only there were no male heirs in the family and since most German-Russian families were large, it was unlikely that any young girl owned land in her own right.” The family of the bride did provide a dowry, the size of which depended on the wealth of the family. Traditionally the “Hochzeit” wedding ceremonies were held in late fall after harvest. It was a “High Time,” at least a three day celebration of singing, feasting, and merry making. Marriage was a popular theme for the German colonists’ folksongs.

Some of them are tame like the lamb and turtle dove

Happy in the household as wives of love.
But soon they commence to rule and to reign,
Wielding the slipper with all their might and main.
Some love to primp and find it lots of fun,

Leave all the housework utterly undone
Stand before the mirror the whole day through
And soon many a man becomes a beggar, too.
But praise the Lord, there’s still another faction,
Which both in world as well as action,
Are busy in the household, faithful and true.
And they possess a bit of beauty too.
It’s she it’s she, she whom I’ll woo
And this I shall never, never rue.

A familiar expression among the German colonist was “I don’t change my mind.” A common observation concerning German colonists and later Germans from Russia was that they were more German than Germans from Germany. This may be true, due to the fear the colonists and Germans from Russia had of losing their ethnicity. They made a very conscious effort to change. While they were preserving their very Germanness the people in Germany were under the influence of the rural to urban transformation, industrialization; and the revolution in modes of transportation and communications.

In their cultural isolation and nearly static world the colonists retained German customs and traditions that may otherwise have been lost for all time. Folk customs, traditions and attitudes may have been corrupted by the Russian experience to a degree; but the use of the German language in both schools and churches, and traditional folk music were strong ethnic reinforcements. The following is a small sampling of the German colonists’ sayings, expressions, and myths that would make their own way to the United States with the Germans from Russia: Name calling; (the Germans had a tradition of rather descriptive nicknames,) English translation; shit in the pants, great shit, little shit, great fart, dumb head. On cursing; “Donner Wetter.” Means thunder weather, a second German from Russia said, “Oh, we weren’t allowed to say that “Donner Wetter” in the house, that was cursing, thunder weather wasn’t the intended meaning.”

At Christmas time the custom was for a young woman to play the role of Christkindchen. “She was usually a robust girl dressed in a white gown. The girl’s face was covered with a white veil.” She would distribute the gifts of sweets and nuts. The Christkindchen would be accompanied by a Bilsonigle, a Santa. He would be dressed in ragged old dirty clothes; his face would be covered so the children couldn’t see who he really was, usually a neighbor boy. The Bilsonigle, a boogie man type character, would crawl or creep into the house with a large chain in his hands. If the children hadn’t been good the Bilsonigle meant trouble. The children would cling to their father so the Bilsonigle could not steal them away. Oh, this was high excitement. How different from St. Nick’s visit in Moore’s poem, “A Visit from St. Nickolas.”

The colonists took witchcraft very seriously. It was a way of explaining events such as a child dying for no apparent reason. A personal account from the reminiscence of Johann Dockter. After moving to a new settlement; “the animals seemed bewitched shying during the nights and trampling down the grain fields. An old Russian woman was called upon, but she could not get rid of the evil spirit which befell the horses.” From the same account, “natural phenomenon my mother talked about just before the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78, the heavens had been red as blood, an ominous portent.

A favorite expression from the folklore of the German colonists and Germans from Russia was, “Where there’s singing, join the throng. Evil people sing no songs.” (Folksong) Another version, “Where one sings you might confidently settle down; evil people do not have songs.” There are many versions of this saying which is characteristic of folklore. Women sang hymns around the house but other than at church they never sang in public. Consequently men were responsible for passing on much of the musical folklore.

The German colonists had large families and followed a patriarchal family pattern. Households often consisted of married children’s spouses and their children. Although the man of the house was unquestionably the head of the family, the oldest woman in the household usually took charge of the work of day to day life. She decided what work would be done and by whom. In some households women had control of the finances. And old expression concedes that the patriarch didn’t make all the decisions, “when the woman handled the money, the house was bigger and when the man handled it, the barn was bigger.” In Russia it was not unusual for parents to hire their children out to neighbors as laborers in order to save money to buy more land. There were few hardships the colonists would not endure in order to own land.

The colonists planted large orchards of pears, apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, and grapes. They were great wine drinkers; with the fall harvest the wine making was a social event. Crops they raised included: wheat, rye, barley, flax, tobacco, corn, and hemp. The Ukraine was famous for its huge pumpkins and watermelons. Because the weather conditions were so important to their harvest many of the colonists had many folk sayings forecasting the weather, such as: A ring around the moon means windy weather is coming. A quarter moon, sitting down means fine weather. Sun dogs (looks like three suns) look for cold weather.

Even though the Germans were famous for their ability to raise extraordinary fine crops, they could not control the weather nor disease. Hardship was a constant threat to the colonists even as they prospered, as the records from the “Chronicle of the Community Katzback” reveal:

“In the year of 1831 cholera killed 23 persons. Also in 1847, 2 persons died of cholera. 1855, 6 persons and in 1866, 1 person died of cholera. In 1855, 6 persons and in 1866, 1 person. In 1874, 6 people died of smallpox. In the years 1878-79 diphtheria struck particularly hard, 98 children died of this disease.” In spite of harvest failures such as the following describes, the heard working German colonists were successful. “Total harvest failures occurred on the following years: 1822, 1823, 1824, 1830, 1833, 1834, 1846, 1865, 1873,” etc.

Following crop failure were financial difficulties. Colonist Johann Dockter wrote of one solution. “The children of Israel came to the rescue, but this only made matters worse, the Jews wanted 40% interest and common collateral. The Jews knew all the tricks of their trade. If they were chased out the door they would find their way through the window. But the “German Michael” could not make do without the likes of Jankel and Moischa. Even in a simple purchase of a horse they were involved.” Apparently Jews acted as the colonists’ bankers or money lenders and were begrudgingly respected as necessary middle-men.

The serfs in Russia were emancipated in 1861. (It is a strange logic that would offer foreign people free land, low interest loans, and military exemption, to settle in a land where the majority of the people were held in bondage to landowners.) In 1871, Alexander II developed a program to unify Russia, “One Land, One Language, One people.” On June 4, 1871, he repealed the Manifestos of both Catherine II and Alezander I. The Germans had always felt culturally, socially, and racially superior to their Russian and Turkish neighbors and the government mandated privileges had promoted this superior feeling. There would be no more special privileges for the German colonists.

Self administration was abolished, as was the German’s separate judicial system. The Russian language was to be used in the schools rather than the German language, and restrictions were placed on the Germans concerning the purchase of land. For the first time in one hundred years the colonists had military obligations. Again they recorded the changes in their lives through their music.

So they contrived it with cunning

That we should no longer be colonists
Oh, we are no longer colonists
And have to carry the rifle.

Once again conditions were such that the Germans were willing to leave their homeland, which was Russia this time. Representatives were sent to South America, the United States, and Canada to find land suitable for agricultural purposes. Several countries in South America, Especially Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, were eager for the colonists to relocate in their countries. These countries opened emigration offices in Bremen, Germany, (an ocean departure point) to assist colonists with departure and settlement arrangements. They offered free land, from 60 to 250 acres depending on the country, and free ocean passage in some cases. Canada’s policy of granting free land to immigrants, plus a railroad boom in the 1850’s had opened the Canadian prairies for settlement made Canada a popular choice of the colonists. In the United States the Homestead Act of 1862 granted 160 acres of land to any adult willing to live on the land for three years. (And who filled an Intent of Citizenship.) Land was available for homesteading, and the railroads were rapidly crossing the country easing transportation considerably.

In 1876, thousands upon thousands of German colonists left Russia. The German’s migration out of Russia continued until Russia halted it due to World War I. Regardless of which country the colonists chose to resettle in, they were starting over, leaving their established order. For the settlers that chose the Dakota prairies it was back to sod houses, like their ancestors in Russia one hundred years before them. In their new adopted lands they sang of homesickness, again like their ancestors of one hundred years before, with their values intact.

America, you crazy country!

I would give a finger of hand!
I would give a finger of hand,
if I were in my fatherland.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Aberle, Msgr. George P. From the Steppes to the Prairies, Bismarck Tribune Company, Bismarck, North Dakota, 1963.
  
• Dockter, Johann. From Neudorf Russia to the North Dakota Plains, Memoirs Unpublished, 1940.
  
• Height, Joseph S. Folksongs of Our Forefathers, North Dakota Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Bismarck, North Dakota, 1978.
  
• Sallet, Richard. Russia-German Settlements in the United States, Translated by Lavern J. Rippley and Armnad Bauer, North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, Fargo, North Dakota, 1974.
  
• Walsh, Warren Bartlett .Russia and the Soviet Union, Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., Binghamton, New York, 1958, 1968.
  
• Hoffman, Klaus D. "Songs of the Germans From Russia Mirror of An Ethnic Minority", Journal of the American Historical of the Germans From Russia. Vol. 5, No.2 Summer 1982. 38-44
  
• Hoffman, Klaus D. "Die Alte Heimat War Zu Enge, Germans from Russia Tell Their Story in Songs", Heritage Review. Vol. 16, No.3 Sept. 1986. 9-17
  
• Kloberdanz, Timothy J. "Folklore Forum Marriage Beliefs and Customs of the Germans From Russia". Journal of the American Historical Society of the Germans From Russia. Work Paper 23 Spring 1977. 37
  
• Rader, Irene. "The Folklore of German-Russian Women", Journal of the American Historical Society of the Germans From Russia. Vol. 7 No.2 summer 1984. 32-37 Weigel, Lawrence A. "We Sing Our History", Journal of the American Historical Society of the Germans From Russia. Vol. 7 No.4 Winter 1984. 30-31
  
• Winger, Arnold. "Chronicle of the Community Katzback the German Volks-Kalendar for Bessarabia, 19Z9", Heritage Review. Vol. 16 Dec. 1986. 29-34

i Klaus D. Hoffman, “Die Alte Heimat War Zu Enge Germans from Russia Tell Their Story” Heritage Review, Vol 16, No. 3 Sept. 1986. P. 9
ii Hoffman, P. 10
iii Hoffman, P. 9
iv Lawrence A. Wigel, “We Sing Our History” Journal of the American Historical Society of the Germans from Russia, Vol. 7, No. 4 Winter 1984. P. 31
v Valburg Krenzel, oral interview Nov. 1986. `
vi Irene Rader, “The Folklore of German-Russian Women” Journal of American Historical Society of German from Russia, Vol. 7, No. 2 Summer 1984. P. 34
vii Joseph S. Height, Folksongs of Our Forefathers, (North Dakota: North Dakota Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1978), P. 25
viii Krenzel
ix Rader, P. 34
x Johann Dockter, From Neudorf Russia to the North Dakota Plains, (Unpublished Memoirs: 1940), P. 108
xi Dockter, P. 104
xii Height, P. 19
xiii Hoffman, P. 17
xiv Rader. P. 32
xv Arnold Winger, “Chronicle of the Community of Katzaback the German Volks-Kalendar for Bessarabia” Heritage Review, Vol. 16, No. 4. P. 30
xvi Winger, P. 30
xvii Dockter, P. 109
xviii Hoffman, P. 11
xixHoffman, P. 42