Hello All,   Following is a link to an article posted at the website "Geschichte der Wolgadeutschen" (="History of the Volga Germans") run by Alexander Spack who lives near Volgograd, Russia.   The article was translated especially for the English-speaking visitors of the website and it goes to discuss the difference in official political and geographic terms connected to the Lower Volga Valley heavily populated by German-speaking people.   http://wolgadeutsche.ru/lexikon/_Wolgagebiet_eng.htm   Regards, Tanja Schell Fargo,ND