Sorry for cross posting but this topic is of general interest to GRs, Not only Volga-GRs. Well, since you ask ....about German/Russian relationships, here is a brief overview of the time span and development.... 1. To begin with the Russian serfs were obviously envious that foreigners were getting a better deal and preferential treatment. It was pretty galling that foreign farmers were given free land. 2. After the abolition of serfdom in 1860 relations improved as the Russian serf now enjoyed a somewhat better. freer status, and started to move around and off the landlords' estates into towns. 3. After the abolition of German colonial privileges and the introduction of German colonists to full-scale Russian citizenship with is advantaged and also disadvantages, tension eased, as now everyone was more equal than before, everybody was up for military service...etc....Germans were no longer the "privileged foreigners'.... 4. It was during this period, and starting from about 1880 that the rich colonists began to move out of the colonies to now compete on the open market with Russians in big towns. 5. One generation later, their children, urban and educated, started to intermarry with Russians. Marriage unions were now based in 'class', education, business ties and MONEY ... rather than village or German loyalties . ----------------- I am a great admirer of Dietz (and Alexei). [ See below] What Dietz says is of course true but takes a wide sweep, since nearly 95% all colonies had this function to be the buffer between the ever expanding Russian Empire. It did not only apply to the German colonies, although these were the most numerous. This method of expansion also applied to other nations' colonies, soldiers' colonies and of course the Cossack Host. Ditto Southern Russia. But this is not how the Russian peasant/serf saw it, who had no private land or farm. Russification, meaning Russian language taught in schools, took place, so the better educated children knew Russian well, and those who were sent off to higher education in the cities and universities came out bilingual. Once they completed university, they were automatically written out of the village commune and most found jobs and careers in cities, thus becoming bi-lingual and bi-cultural....quite a few them took Russian wives. These city GRs are the ones that did not emigrate to USA or keep "village roots", and you will not find them on this List. My family is a typical example of bi-lingual, bi-cultural Gr-Russians. The language and religion remained but links with villages were slowly loss from about 1890, as such families moved to Saratov to start competing in the open marketplace and better economic and career opportunities. By 1920, when a large number of GRs fled the revolution or the civil war or its immediate aftermaths to Berlin - children were sent off to bi-lingual Russian-German schools. I remain bi-lingual, bi-cultural 117 after grandpa left this village as a child, and some 90 yrs after grandparents left Russia. - ----------------- One GR son, from the (Saratov) Borel milling family, finished his education in St.Petersburg, and ended up as a officer in the white army and marrying the daughter (only child) of General Alexeev, leader of the White Army of the Civil War. Their daughter, who died recently in Buenos Aires, authored her father's biography. Few educated GRs chose to return to their villages, but settled near and around larger towns (including Dietz), where they were in a better position to pursue their careers - ---- Original Message ------ From:Lauren Brantner Sent:Friday, June 22, 2007 19:33 To: ger-volga@rootsweb.com; Subject:Re: [GV] Russian German Relationships If you get a chance to read Jacob Dietz's history that AHSGR recently published you will find his viewpoint:" The colonists, in spite of frequently expressed viewpoints, were not at all invited to Russia because of the German Empress Catherine's II's sympathy toward them. They were not in favorable conditions and their favor was not the goal of their invitation. Such an accusation is historically unreliable and politically unscrupulous. As we know from what the many manifestoes, circulars, and secret communications have shown us, the real reasons for the invitations of the Volga colonists were the settlement of empty lands, the drive to establish a natural buffer for the safety of Russia between the Kalmyk, Kirghiz and other wild tribes and to assert Russia's power over these areas. There was also the desire to raise the level of agriculture and industry by means of the immigration of enlightened Western Europeans. The Russian government did not favor the immigrants, but awaited favors from them to benefit the country. And this expectation was glowingly fulfilled." Further he comments, "Because of their colonies' destruction and their unhappiness, the colonists gave great service...through their blood and destruction the colonists purchased the peace of the Russian state." Our last AHSGR dinner speaker was the newly hired Coordinator of the German Russian International Program at Colorado State University, Dr. Alexi Kuraev-Maxah who is a Russian/German scholar here to participate in the exchange between CSU and Saratov State University. He indicated that Russian peasants had no brick churches, no schools, ate maybe 2 meals a year with meat in them, and lived really hard lives and had to serve in the military for many years. In their eyes, GR's had a lot more to eat, didn't have to serve in the military, could work their way up in life, etc. So naturally there was resentment that these "foreigners" had a better life, clean villages, educational opportunities etc. When asked about Catherine's motives in bringing in Germans, Maxah commented that above all Catherine was a very astute politician and that bringing in the Germans solved problems for her. If you look at her manifesto it asks for foreigners not Germans, he commented. If you look at the conditions in Europe when Germans left - they were facing really hard times because of all the wars that devastated the countryside. So --- not a pretty picture all the way around. If you look as a whole at the colonies - Germans kept their language, their culture, their religious practices intact. For there to be a large amount of interaction with the locals, someone had to learn another language.