Volga Germans

Volga Germans

Wolgadeutsche
Flag of Volga Germans
Total population
594,138
Regions with significant populations
Russia  Altai Krai 79,502  Omsk Oblast 76,334  Novosibirsk Oblast 47,275  Kemerovo Oblast 35,965  Chelyabinsk Oblast 28,457  Tyumen Oblast 27,196  Sverdlovsk Oblast 22,540  Krasnodar Krai 18,469  Orenburg Oblast 18,055  Volgograd Oblast 17,051  Tomsk Oblast 13,444  Saratov Oblast 12,093  Perm Krai 10,152  Kaliningrad Oblast	394,138[1]
Kazakhstan	200,000[2]
Languages
German, Russian, Kazakh
Religion
Lutheran, Roman Catholicism, Mennonite, Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
Black Sea Germans, Don Cossacks

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.

After the October Revolution, the Volga German ASSR was established as an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. During World War II, the republic was abolished by the Soviet government and the Volga Germans were forcibly expelled to a number of areas in the hinterlands of the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many Volga Germans emigrated to Germany.