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120-631: 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

240-670: A German prince in Kiel , and took the Russian imperial throne. Following the lead of Maria Theresa , Empress of Austria and Hungary, inviting Germans to settle on the Danube in the Balkans , Catherine the Great published manifestos in 1762 and 1763 inviting non-Jewish Europeans to immigrate and become Russian subjects and farm Russian lands while maintaining their language and culture. Although

360-744: A Brüdergemeine that still exists today in Neuwied on the Rhine. Moravian historians identify the main achievements of this period as: Along with the Royal Danish Mission College , the Moravian missionaries were the first large-scale Protestant missionary movement . They sent out the first missionaries when there were only 300 inhabitants in Herrnhut. Within 30 years, the church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of

480-570: A Unity Province. (The links below connect to articles about the history of the church in specific provinces after 1732, where written.) In the Czech Republic and Honduras splits occurred within the churches after charismatic revivals ; non-charismatic minorities formed their own bodies, but both sides remained connected to the international church. The minority communities are listed as "mission provinces". Other areas with missions but that are not yet established as Provinces are: Tanzania

600-913: A band of 241 Christianized Lenape . In 1771, Moravians established a settlement at Nain, Labrador , which became a permanent settlement and the Moravian headquarters in Labrador. The mission stations expanded to Okak (1776), Hopedale (1782), Hebron at Kauerdluksoak Bay (1830–1959), serving also Napartok Bay and Saeglek Bay , Zoar (1864–1889), Ramah (1871–1908), Makkovik (1896), and Killiniq on Cape Chidley island (1905–1925). Two further stations were added after this period at Happy Valley near Goose Bay (1957) and North West River (1960). Colonies were founded in North Carolina, where Moravians led by Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg purchased 98,985 acres (40,058 ha) from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville . This large tract of land

720-613: A congregation) usually meets twice a year and annually elects the Joint Board of Elders and Trustees that acts as an executive. In some provinces two or more congregations may be grouped into circuits, under the care of one minister. The Unity Synod meets every seven years and is attended by delegates from the different Unity Provinces and affiliated Provinces. The Unity Board is made up of one member from each Provincial Board, and acts as an executive committee between Unity Synods. It meets three times between Synods but much of its work

840-481: A decline in the population from over 3 million to some 800,000 people. By 1622, the entire education system was in the hands of Jesuits, and all Protestant schools were closed. The Brethren were forced to go underground, and eventually dispersed across Northern Europe as far as the Low Countries , where their bishop , John Amos Comenius , attempted to direct a resurgence. The largest remaining communities of

960-571: A deep prejudice against German communities because many Soviet officials considered all German farmers kulaks. After Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 , the Soviet leadership decided to label all ethnic Germans from Russia as enemies of the USSR, and accused them of collaborating with Nazis, most were arrested, even killed or deported to labor camps. The Supreme Soviet decreed

1080-565: A legacy of the Unity of the Brethren . In order to preserve the succession, three Bohemian Brethren were consecrated bishops by Bishop Stephen of Austria , a Waldensian bishop who had been ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop in 1434. These three consecrated bishops returned to Litice in Bohemia and then ordained other brothers, thereby preserving the historic episcopate. In Berlin, 1735,

1200-522: A mission in 1740 at the Mohican village of Shekomeko in present-day Dutchess County, New York . The converted Mohican people formed the first native Christian congregation in the present-day United States of America. Because of local hostility from New Yorkers to the Mohicans, the Moravian support of the Mohicans led to rumors of them being secret Jesuits , trying to ally the Mohicans with France in

1320-680: A resolution on August 12, calling for the expulsion of the entire ethnic German population. With this authority, Beria on August 27 issued an order entitled "On Measures for Conducting the Operation of Resettling the Germans from the Volga German Republic, Saratov, and Stalingrad Oblasts", assigning the deputy head of the NKVD , (secret police) Ivan Serov , to command this operation. He also allocated NKVD and Red Army troops to carry out

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1440-609: A revolt with the unplanned Defenestrations of Prague . The Protestants were defeated in 1620 in the Battle of White Mountain near Prague, known as the first battle in the Thirty Years' War. As a consequence, the local Protestant noblemen were either executed or expelled from the country, while the Habsburgs placed Roman Catholic, and mostly German-speaking nobility in their place. The war, plague, and subsequent disruption led to

1560-509: A separate train car prepared especially for them. Their families are deported for special settlements in the far away regions of the Union. [Family members] must not know about the forthcoming separation from the head of the family." This above document may be a fabrication, as Latvia was under German occupation at that time. Nevertheless, the instructions were followed by the NKVD troops who directed

1680-634: A series of Hussite Wars , initially between various Roman Catholic rulers and the Hussites. Then there was a Hussite civil war, between the more compromising Utraquists and the radical Taborites . In 1434, an army of Utraquists and Roman Catholics defeated the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany . The Utraquists signed the Compacts of Basel on 5 July 1436. Within 50 years of Hus's death, a contingent of his followers had become independently organised as

1800-481: A time, the Germans established several entirely German villages ( Kolonien ). In addition, some Germans also remained in Alt-Schwedendorf. In all, there were the following four initial settlements. They were initially established along confessional lines first in 1782, with the latter ones created in the period 1802 to 1806, viz.: By 1886, around the time when large-scale emigration to North America began,

1920-735: Is called Paraná-Wolga-Deutsch . It is also spoken in the Brazilian state of Paraná in addition to the Argentine province of Entre Ríos . Moravian Church The Moravian Church , or the Moravian Brethren ( Czech : Moravská církev or Moravští bratři ), formally the Unitas Fratrum ( Latin : "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity , dating back to

2040-550: Is divided into seven provinces because of the size of country and the numbers of people in the church. The "Moravian Church in Tanzania" co-ordinates the work in the nation. The lists above, except for some details given under 'Other areas', can be found in The Moravian Almanac . Each province is governed by a synod , made up of representatives from each congregation plus ex officio members. The Synod elects

2160-564: Is done by correspondence and postal voting. The President of the Unity Board (who is elected by the Board for two years and not allowed to serve for more than two terms) works from his/her own Provincial office. The Unity Business Administrator is an officer appointed by the Unity Board to administer the day-to-day affairs of the Unity through the office of the Unity. Ordained ministry in

2280-766: Is estimated that 30-40% of North Dakota's population is of German from Russia descent, primarily Black Sea German. North Dakota State University maintains an archive, the Germans From Russian Heritage Collection, concerning this immigrant group. Due to the increasing scarcity of farmland in the Dakotas of the United States, many Black Sea Germans resettled in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan , where they left descendants. The Canadian Prairies , especially in

2400-601: Is located in the former Estancia Remecó (in English: "Remecó Ranch"), 40 km from Guatraché , in La Pampa Province. Curiously, Guatraché is, at the same time, one of the Argentine towns where the majority of the population is made up of Volga German and Black Sea German descent. Later, other Russian Mennonite colonies were founded in other places of Argentina. After the Bolshevik Revolution and

2520-771: Is the Lamb of God ( Agnus Dei ) with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription " Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur " ('Our Lamb has conquered; let us follow Him'). Apart from the Moravian Church, the more conservative Unity of the Brethren , based in Texas, as well as the Czechoslovak Hussite Church , based in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are denominations in the same Hussite-Moravian theological tradition. The Hussite movement that

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2640-728: The Unitas Fratrum 's three orders of episcopal ordination, The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church also continue the Hussite tradition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia today. They only account for 0.8% of the Czech population , which is 79.4% non-religious, and 10.4% Catholic. In 1722, a small group of the Bohemian Brethren, the "Hidden Seed", who had been living in northern Moravia , as an illegal underground remnant surviving in

2760-528: The Americas and Africa , that is reflected in their broad global distribution. Moravians continue many of the same practices established in the 18th century, including placing a high value on a personal conversion to Christ, called the New Birth , and piety , good works , evangelism , including the establishment of missions, Christian pacifism , ecumenism , and music . The Moravian Church's emblem

2880-676: The Biblical town in Judea . There, they ministered to the Algonquian-speaking Lenape . Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , is today the seventh-largest city in Pennsylvania, having developed as a major industrial city in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1772, the first European-Native American settlement of what later became Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania , occurred when Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian missionary, arrived there with

3000-758: The Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the Unity of the Brethren (Czech: Jednota bratrská ) founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia , sixty years before Martin Luther 's Reformation . The church's heritage can be traced to 1457 and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown , which included Bohemia , Moravia , Silesia , and previously the Hussite movement against several practices and doctrines of

3120-697: The Catholic Church . Its name is derived from exiles who fled from Moravia to Saxony in 1722 to escape the Counter-Reformation , establishing the Christian community of Herrnhut . Hence, it is also known in German as the [Herrnhuter] Brüdergemeine [ sic ] ("Unity of Brethren [of Herrnhut]"). The modern Unitas Fratrum has about one million members worldwide, continuing their tradition of missionary work , such as in

3240-601: The Crimean Peninsula in the late 18th century, but the bulk of immigration and settlement occurred during the Napoleonic period, from 1800 onward, with a concentration in the years 1803 to 1805. At the time, southern Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire . Designated New Russia , and often colloquially South Russia (or Südrussland by its German-speaking inhabitants), these lands had been annexed by

3360-688: The Dano-Norwegian Empire . While attending the coronation of Christian VI of Denmark-Norway in 1730, Zinzendorf was profoundly struck by two Inuit converts of Hans Egede 's mission in Greenland and also by an African from the West Indies . The first Moravian mission was established on the Caribbean island of St Thomas in 1732 by a potter named Johann Leonhard Dober and a carpenter named David Nitschmann , who later became

3480-651: The German invasion , on June 22, 1941, Stalin sent Beria and Molotov to the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to determine a course of action for its German inhabitants, as a way of carrying out collective revenge on the civilian population. On return, they recommended the deportation of the entire German population. Consequently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued

3600-533: The Moravian University and Seminary. The largest concentration of Moravians today is in Tanzania . The motto of the Moravian Church is: " In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love ". Some Moravian scholars point to a different formula as a guide to constructive debate about faith. This formula was first advanced by Luke of Prague (1460–1528), one of the bishops of

3720-649: The Nazi regime . There is debate among sociologists and historians whether ethnic cleansing is genocide. The Volga Germans never returned to the Volga region in their old numbers. They were not allowed to settle in the area for decades. After World War II, many survivors remained in the Ural Mountains , Siberia , Kazakhstan (1.4% of today's Kazakh population are recognized as Germans - around 200,000), Kyrgyzstan , and Uzbekistan (about 16,000 or 0.064%). Decades after

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3840-588: The Protestant Reformation by a century, some historians claim the Moravian Church was the first Protestant church. The movement gained support from the Crown of Bohemia . However, Hus was summoned to attend the Council of Constance , which decided that he was a heretic. Hus was released to the secular authority, which sentenced him to be burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. From 1419 to 1437 were

3960-514: The Rhenish Missionary Society , was eventually transferred to the Moravian Church. The Moravians sought to unify the converts into "one people" living together with the same religious beliefs. Zeisberger, a significant Moravian missionary, implored the converts to remember that they were "one people not two." The modern Moravian Church, with about 750,000 members worldwide, continues to draw on traditions established during

4080-422: The Russian Revolution , the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( German : Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen ; Russian : АССР Немцев Поволжья ) was established in 1924, and it lasted until 1941. Its capital was Engels , known as Pokrovsk ( Kosakenstadt in German) before 1931. The deportation of the Volga Germans was the Soviet government's forcible transfer of

4200-437: 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 . In 1762, Catherine II , born a German princess and a native of Stettin , Pomerania, deposed her husband Peter III , born

4320-402: The Saxon rulers and enjoyed great autonomy, especially in religious questions. The refugees established a new village called Herrnhut , about 2 miles (3 km) from Berthelsdorf. The town initially grew steadily, but major religious disagreements emerged and by 1727 the community was divided into factions. Count Zinzendorf worked to bring about unity in the town, and the Brotherly Agreement

4440-517: The Warsaw area. Catholics, Lutherans, and Mennonites were all known as farmers (see Molotschna for Mennonite settlements in the Melitopol area); the Empress Catherine, herself an ethnic German, sent them a personal invitation to immigrate to the Russian Empire , as she felt they would make useful subjects and enrich her realm. She granted them privileges such as the free exercise of their religion and language within their largely closed communities, also exempt from military service and taxation. In

4560-477: The forced removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma, this mission was replaced in 1842 by New Springplace in Oaks, Oklahoma . Due to Civil War -related violence, New Springplace closed in 1862 and resumed during the 1870s. In 1898, the Moravian Church discontinued their missionary engagement with the Cherokees and New Springplace, now the Oaks Indian Mission, was transferred to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church . The start of far-flung missionary work necessitated

4680-485: The "Bohemian Brethren" ( Čeští bratři ) or Unity of the Brethren ( Jednota bratrská ), which was founded in Kunvald , Bohemia, in 1457. A brother known as Gregory the Patriarch was very influential in forming the group, as well as the teachings of Peter Chelcicky . This group held to a strict obedience to the Sermon on the Mount , which included non-swearing of oaths, non-resistance, and not accumulating wealth. Because of this, they considered themselves separate from

4800-405: The 18th-century renewal. In many places it observes the convention of the lovefeast , originally started in 1727. It uses older and traditional music in worship. Brass music, congregational singing and choral music continue to be very important in Moravian congregations. In some older congregations, Moravians are buried in a traditional God's Acre , a graveyard with only flat gravestones, signifying

4920-526: The 1920s. The first contingents of Black Sea Germans arrived in Argentina in 1898. Volga Germans, who had begun migrating to the country 20 years earlier, outnumbered Black Sea Germans at all times. Thus, many of them joined Argentine towns where there were already Volga Germans and in other cases founded their own colonies. Many of the Black Sea Germans who arrived in Argentina came from the Black Sea colonies München, Speier/Speyer, Rastadt, Landau, Rohrbach, Manheim, Karlsruhe, Kandel, etc. They settled, mainly, in

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5040-466: The 1980s, the first very conservative Russian Mennonite colony ( Old Colony Mennonites ) was founded in the country. Its inhabitants are descendants of the Russian Mennonites who had fled Canadian forced assimilation policies in the 1920s. At that time, their ancestors settled in Mexico. But then, some of the later generations considered they were also in danger of assimilation there, so they left Mexico and settled in Argentina and other countries. This colony

5160-417: The Americas in order to assess potential settlement destinations. The chosen destinations were Canada, United States, Brazil and Argentina. Most Volga Germans who settled in Latin America were Catholic . Many Catholic Volga Germans chose South America as their new homeland because the nations shared their religion. Germans from Russia were the most traditional of German-speaking arrivals to North America . In

5280-422: The Argentine population or 3.5 million Argentines claim German ancestry. Of those, more than 2.5 million claim Volga German descent, making them the majority of those having German ancestry in the country, and accounting for 5.7% of the total Argentine population. Descendants of Volga Germans outnumber descendants of Germans from Germany itself, who number one million in Argentina (2.3% of the population). Following

5400-438: The Black Sea region all came under Nazi German rule, first under a military government and then under that of the Nazi Party or the SS, as Reichskommissariat Ukraine . With the defeat of the German Army at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943, the Soviet Red Army began its offensive, recapturing more and more German-occupied territory. SS Head Heinrich Himmler made a decision to evacuate all ethnic Germans and bring them to

5520-400: The Brethren were located in Leszno ( German : Lissa ) in Poland , which had historically strong ties with the Czechs, and small, isolated groups in Moravia . The latter are referred to as "the Hidden Seed", which John Amos Comenius had prayed would preserve the evangelical faith in the land of the fathers. In addition to the Renewed Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Church, which preserves

5640-510: The Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and establish a number of Roman Catholic educational institutions. One of these was the university in the Moravian capital of Olomouc . In 1582, they forced the closure of local Protestant schools. In 1617, Emperor Matthias had his fiercely Roman Catholic brother Ferdinand of Styria elected as King of Bohemia. In the year that followed, Protestant Bohemian noblemen, in fear of losing their religious freedom, instigated

5760-601: The Catholic setting of the Habsburg Empire for nearly 100 years, arrived at the Berthelsdorf estate of Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf in present-day Saxony in the eastern part of modern-day Germany . Out of a personal commitment to helping the poor and needy, von Zinzendorf, a nobleman who had been brought up in the traditions of Pietistic Lutheranism , agreed to a request from their leader, Christian David , an itinerant carpenter, that they be allowed to settle on his lands in Upper Lusatia in Saxony. The Margraviates of Upper and Lower Lusatia were governed in personal union by

5880-420: The Church is organised into Unity Provinces, Mission Provinces and Mission Areas and four regions of Africa, Caribbean and Latin America, Northern America, and Europe. The categorisation is based on the level of independence of the province. Unity Province implies a total level of independence, Mission Province implies a partial level of supervision from a Unity Province, and Mission Area implies full supervision by

6000-419: The Deacon may be consecrated as a Presbyter. Presbyters function in the local congregation in the same manner as deacons, but may also serve to mentor deacons and may be assigned to other leadership roles in a particular province. An acolyte is a layperson who has received approval to assist the pastor in a specific local congregation. The acolyte may assist in the serving of Holy Communion but may not consecrate

6120-504: The German state, (about 120,000), or elsewhere in Eastern Europe or when they were forcibly repatriated from occupied Germany to the Soviet Union. This enclave of German settlement, established by the Russian imperial government, lies on the west bank of the Dnieper river in the Beryslav Raion district of Kherson Oblast , Ukraine, some 12 kilometers (or 7 Versts under the old Tsarist system of measurement) east-north-east (16.6 km by car, and 16.4 km by approved footpaths ) of

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6240-399: The Germans in Southern Ukraine that the Red Army could not be stopped; thus, they began their hurried evacuation. About 135,000 fled to the West. Approximately 280,000 ethnic Germans were successfully brought out of the occupied Soviet Union, which represented almost 90 percent of the registered German population, according to the 1943 Reich census. On the basis of the articles pertaining to

6360-421: The Germans was based on social and ethnic criteria, the German Russian settlements probably suffered more than any other communities. About 1.2 percent of the Soviet population was classified as kulak and deported to the Gulag , based on a total Soviet population of 147 million, according to the 1926 census. The number of ethnic Germans sent to the camps as kulaks was about 50,000 out of a German population in

6480-417: The Gulag forced labor camps, while other Germans were directly deported to Gulag forced labor camps. The expulsion of the Volga Germans was finished on schedule at the end of September 1941. According to the Soviet Union, the total number sent to forced internal exile was about 950,000. However, the actual estimated number of victims is much higher. It took 151 train convoys to accomplish the first transfers of

6600-459: The Moravian Church emphasizes the pastoral role. A candidate for ministry who has been approved by their home province and has completed the prescribed course of study, usually a Master of Divinity degree in the US and Europe, may be ordained a Deacon upon acceptance of a call. Deacons may serve in a pastoral office and administer sacraments. A deacon is normally supervised by a presbyter who serves as mentor. After several years of satisfactory service,

6720-455: The Napoleonic period, they soon outnumbered their Swedish precursors. Due to attrition, Swedish numbers had fallen within a few years of their leaving their Baltic homeland. To make up for this shortfall, new settlers, mostly ethnic Germans originating in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , such as Württemberg , and the Austrian Habsburg hereditary lands , as well as Poland and Alsace-Lorraine , were invited to settle in

6840-407: The Provincial Board (aka Provincial Elders' Conference or PEC ) to be responsible for the work of the province and its international links between synods. Many, but not all, of the provinces are divided into districts. Each congregation belongs to a district and has spiritual and financial responsibilities for work in its own area as well as provincially. The Congregation Council (all the members of

6960-539: The Reich. Evacuations began in scattered German communities in the North Caucasus , where in February 1943, 11,000 people were transferred. Shortly thereafter, 40,000 German Russians were sent westward from the area between the Don and Dnieper Rivers. When the Soviet troops neared the Dnieper River in October 1943, the Chortitza Mennonite communities , totaling about 35,000 people, had to flee. In October, 45,000 ethnic Germans from Volhynia (Western Ukraine) were also forced to leave, and, by February 1944, it became clear to

7080-606: The Renewed Unity, i.e. the Moravian Brethren in Herrnhut , received the historic episcopal ordination from the two surviving bishops of the Ancient Unity: Bishop John Amos Comenius' grandson Daniel Ernst Jablonski and Christian Sitkovius. This bishop's consecration continues today. Black Sea Germans The Black Sea Germans ( German : Schwarzmeerdeutsche ; Russian : черноморские немцы , romanized :  chernomorskiye nemtsy ; Ukrainian : чорноморські німці , romanized :  chornomors'ku nimtsi ) are ethnic Germans who left their homelands (starting in

7200-426: The Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great after wars against the Ottoman Empire (1768–1774) and the Crimean Khanate (1783). The area of settlement was not as compact as that of the Volga territory; rather it was home to a chain of colonies. The first German settlers arrived in 1787, first from West Prussia , then later from Western and Southwestern Germany and Alsace, France ; as well as from

7320-439: The Soviet Union in 1991 and the independence of the Baltic states, some Russian ethnic Germans began to return to the area of the Kaliningrad Oblast (formerly part of East Prussia ), especially Volga Germans from other parts of Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as to the Volga Germans' old territory in southern Russia near Volgograd . This tempo increased after Germany stopped granting the free right of return to ethnic Germans from

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7440-417: The Soviet Union at the time of the same census of 1.239 million, that is, about 4 percent of the German population. The Germans were not the only ethnic group deported in large numbers during the collectivization drive, as many ethnic Poles also suffered the same fate. Germans, however, comprised the single largest foreign-origin minority sent into internal exile in the Soviet Union. There appeared to have been

7560-412: The Soviet authorities expelled and exiled 856,000 German from Russia. Because of the quick conquest of Soviet territory by the Axis in the early months of their invasion, the Soviet regime was not able to deport the majority of the ethnic Germans from the western part of the Soviet Union, that is, the area west of the Dnieper river. The German towns and villages in the Western Ukraine, in Volhynia , and

7680-440: The Soviet military. They sent tens of thousands of these soldiers to the Trudarmee . In 1942, nearly all the able-bodied German population was conscripted to the NKVD labor columns or had been sent to the Gulag forced labor camps. According to anti-communist Stanford historian Robert Conquest , during the first stage, about one-third (estimated at 1.5 million) did not survive the camps. The conditions imposed on ethnic Germans by

7800-405: The Swedes had to share their original wooden church with some permanent incomers, ethnic German Lutherans. As it happened, the Germanophones also included Roman Catholics, which was another source of community tension. The Germans of either denomination called the village "Alt-Schwedendorf" (literally, old Swedes' village ) after the existing Swedes settlers. Basing themselves in Alt-Schwedendorf for

7920-413: The USSR approved and published a decree, which was the only official decree ever published by the Soviet Union concerning the deportation and exile of the German Russian community. The Soviet regime stated that the evacuation was a preventive measure so that the German population would not be misled into collaborating with the German Army rather than a punitive measure, and they did not reveal the sentence to

8040-579: The United States, many settled primarily in the Dakotas , Kansas , and Nebraska by 1900. The south-central part of North Dakota was known as "the German-Russian triangle" (that includes descendants of Black Sea Germans ). A smaller number moved farther west, finding employment as ranchers and cowboys . They also settled in Ohio , Iowa , Michigan , Minnesota , Oregon (especially in Portland ), Washington , Wisconsin , and Fresno County in California's Central Valley . They often succeeded in dryland farming , which they had practiced in Russia. Many of

8160-432: The Volga German population, an astounding figure when one considers that the Soviet Union was heavily engaged fighting the advancing German army, and all railway stock was required to bring soldiers to the front. This operation also involved 1,550 NKVD and 3,250 police agents assisted by 12,150 soldiers of the Red Army. In 1941, after the Nazi invasion, the NKVD (via Prikaz No. 35105) banned ethnic Germans from serving in

8280-437: The Volga Germans who had previously settled in Brazil later also went to settle in Argentina due to the difficulties of planting wheat in Brazil, among other reasons. In Argentina, Volga Germans have founded many colonies or villages. For example, around the city of Coronel Suárez in the South of Buenos Aires Province , around the city of Crespo in Entre Ríos Province , along the East of La Pampa Province , etc. Every year,

8400-459: The adult males among the ethnic German population of the district to areas of refuge and captivity east of the Ural mountains. During the German occupation, the area was officially under the Nazi civil administration of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine until the Soviet Red Army 's successful counteroffensive drove the occupation forces, both military and civil, from the region in 1944. Dr Karl Stumpp and Dr Adam Giesinger both published materials on

8520-626: The ancient Unitas Fratrum. Luke taught that one must distinguish between things that are essential, ministerial or incidental to salvation. The essentials are God's work of creation, redemption and sanctification, as well as the response of the believer through faith, hope and love. Things ministerial are such items as the Bible, church, sacraments, doctrine and priesthood. These mediate the sacred and should thus be treated with respect, but they are not considered essential. Finally, incidentals include things such as vestments or names of services that may reasonably vary from place to place. For its global work,

8640-726: The area from the turn of the 19th century. Both the arrival of the Swedes and the later advent of the Germans formed two stages of the same official Russian imperial policy designed to secure what was then a relatively new part of the Russian Empire which had only been in Russia's sway since they had defeated of the Ottoman Empire in 1774 and won these vast southern territories, known first as New Russia , and later as Southern Russia . The oldest village, first established in 1782,

8760-657: The centre of a major movement for Christian renewal and mission during the 18th century. The episcopal ordination of the Ancient Unitas Fratrum was transferred in 1735 to the Renewed Unitas Fratrum by the Unity's two surviving bishops, Daniel Ernst Jablonski and Christian Sitkovius. The carpenter David Nitschmann and, later, Count von Zinzendorf, were the first two bishops of the Renewed Unity. In 1756, Zinzendorf founded

8880-747: The community of Volga German descendants holds different celebrations in the country in which they keep their traditions alive. For example, the Kerb (festival to honour the patron saint of a colony), the Kreppelfest , the Strudelfest , the Füllselfest , the Schlachtfest (also promoted by its Spanish name Fiesta de la Carneada ), the Fiesta del Pirok ( Bierock festival), etc. Today, 8% of

9000-568: The deportation of the rest of the ethnic Germans from Russia, had been implemented for several years before World War II and they became particularly exhaustive on September 3, 1941, during the war. Of all of the ethnic German communities which lived in the Soviet Union, the Volga Germans represented the largest group of ethnic Germans which was expelled from its historical homeland. All of their possessions were confiscated and they were mainly deported because of their ethnicity. Shortly after

9120-493: The deportation. The reason for separating the men is that they were all destined to be sent to forced labor camps, Trudarmee (NKVD labor army). The deported and enslaved Germans coined this phrase, whereas Soviet documents only referred to "labor obligations" or "labor regulations." Men between the ages of 15 and 55 and, later, women between the ages of 16 and 45 were forced to do labor in the forests and mines of Siberia and Central Asia under conditions similar to that prevalent in

9240-564: The deportees were not told where they were going, how long they would stay there, or how much food to take. The result was starvation for many and, due to the confusion, the separation of many families. In all, perhaps as many as 60,000 ethnic Germans were expelled from the Crimean peninsula alone at this time. Other parts of Southern Russian were also affected. Although the majority of the Black Sea Germans avoided deportation due to

9360-552: The displaced Volga Germans. At the time, around 936,000 ethnic Germans were living in Kazakhstan, as the republic's third-largest ethnic group. On June 16, 1979, demonstrators in Tselinograd ( Astana ) protested this proposal. Fearing a negative reaction among the majority Kazakhs and calls for autonomy among local Uyghurs , the ruling Communist Party scrapped the proposal for ethnic German autonomy within Kazakhstan. Since

9480-451: The elements. The highest order of ministry is that of a bishop. Bishops are elected by Provincial Synods usually through ecclesiastical ballot without nomination. In the Moravian Church, bishops do not have an administrative role but rather serve as spiritual leaders and pastors to the pastors. Bishops serve the worldwide Unity. The Moravian Church teaches that it has preserved apostolic succession . The Church claims apostolic succession as

9600-457: The end of the 19th century, the Russian empire began to apply an aggressive policy of Russification . Although they had been promised a degree of relative autonomy (including being exempt from conscription ) when they settled in the Russian empire, the Russian monarchy gradually eroded their specific rights as time went on. The Germans began to suffer a considerable loss of autonomy. Conscription

9720-888: The equality of the dead before God and organized by sex, age and marital status rather than family. The Moravians continue their long tradition of missionary work, for example in the Caribbean, where the Jamaican Moravian Church has begun work in Cuba and in Africa where the Moravian Church in Tanzania has missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. This is reflected in their broad global distribution. The Moravians in Germany, whose central settlement remains at Herrnhut , are highly active in education and social work. The American Moravian Church sponsors

9840-596: The establishment of independently administered provinces. So, from about 1732, the history of the church becomes the history of its provinces. Eventually, the Moravian missions in Australia and Greenland were transferred to the local Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches, respectively. The first mission station in present-day South Africa was established by the Moravian Georg Schmidt at Genadendal in 1738. The mission at Wupperthal , established by

9960-613: The first and second generation living in the United States according to the 1920 United States census . In Canada, the largest groups settled mainly in the area of the Great Plains : Alberta , Manitoba , and Saskatchewan . In Saskatchewan, many settled in the predominantly German settlement of St. Joseph's Colony , including the town of Luseland . Germans from Russia also settled in Argentina (see German Argentines ) and Brazil (see German Brazilians ). Additionally, many of

10080-523: The first bishop of the Renewed Unity in 1735. Matthaeus Stach and two others founded the first Moravian mission in Greenland in 1733 at Neu-Herrnhut on Baal's River , which became the nucleus of the modern capital Nuuk . Moravians also founded missions with the Mohicans , an Algonquian -speaking tribe in the colony of New York in the Thirteen Colonies . In one instance, they founded

10200-582: The first evacuations, which were really expulsions, as the inhabitants were never allowed to return. Action to deport every ethnic German from the Crimea began on 15 August 1941. Although the decree stated that old people would not have to leave, everyone was expelled, first to Stavropol , and then to Rostov in southeastern Ukraine, near the Crimea, but then all were sent on to camps and special settlements in Kazakhstan . Given only three or four hours to pack,

10320-503: The first received little response, the second improved the benefits offered and was more successful in attracting colonists. People in other countries such as France and Ireland were more inclined to migrate to the colonies in the Americas. Other countries, such as Austria , forbade emigration. Those who went to Russia had special rights under the terms of the manifesto. Some, such as being exempt from military service, were revoked in

10440-441: The forced labor camps. Stalin allegedly gave the following "secret" order to the NKVD, produced in German controlled Latvia on September 20, 1941: "After the house search, tell everyone who is scheduled to be deported that, according to the government's decision, they are being sent to other regions of the USSR. Transport the entire family in one car until the train station, but at the station, heads of families must be loaded into

10560-595: The formation of the Soviet Union , Black Sea Germans, prior to World War II , were subjected to the forced starvation of man-made famines, the closure of German-language churches, schools, and community organisations, and were required to change their language of instruction from German to Russian. The 45,000 Germans in Crimea (along with other Black Sea Germans) were forced into exile in Siberia and Kazakhstan , many into forced labour camps . Many did not survive

10680-548: The former Soviet Union. The greatest number of Volga Germans emigrated from Hesse and the Palatinate , and spoke Hessian and Palatine Rhine Franconian dialects to which the colonists from other regions, and even from other countries like Sweden, assimilated. Some Volga German dialects are very similar to Pennsylvania Dutch , another Palatine Rhine Franconian language; in either dialect, one could say: Some other common words: The above list only attempts to reproduce

10800-514: The immigrants who arrived between 1870 and 1912 spent a period doing farm labor, especially in northeastern Colorado and in Montana along the lower Yellowstone River in sugar beet fields. Colonies kept in touch with each other through newspapers, especially Der Staats Anzeiger , based in North Dakota. By author Richard Sallet's count, there were 118,493 descendants of Volga Germans of

10920-580: The inhabitants, both Swedes and Germans whom the Nazis considered together as ethnic Germans ( Volksdeutsche , in German) and others (such as Ukrainians), were assessed and inventoried by officers of the Reichssippenamt operating under the direction of Kommando Karl Stumpp , the former historian of the area. As a result of the impending German attack, the Soviet authorities had already exiled many of

11040-463: The labor camps. Many were deported as a result of the collectivization of all Soviet agricultural land in 1930/1931 by Stalin 's first five-year plan . The German farmers were labelled kulaks (rich peasants) by the Communist regime, and those who did not voluntarily agree to give up their land to the Soviet farming collectives were expelled to Siberia and Central Asia. The mass deportation of

11160-454: The late 1980s and the fall of the Soviet Union , some ethnic Germans have returned in small numbers to Engels , but many more emigrated permanently to Germany. They took advantage of the German law of return , a policy that grants citizenship to all those who can prove to be a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such a person. Since the collapse of

11280-406: The late 19th century, both changing political conditions and growing hostilities towards Germans from Russia caused many Black Sea Germans, as well as Volga Germans, among other Germans from Russian communities, to begin migrating to North and South America, especially to Canada, the United States and Argentina. The first Black Sea German settlements in the United States were established in 1873 near

11400-787: The late-18th century, but mainly in the early-19th century at the behest of Emperor Alexander I of Russia , r.  1801–1825 ), and settled in territories off the north coast of the Black Sea , mostly in the territories of the southern Russian Empire (including modern-day Ukraine ). Black Sea Germans are distinct from similar groups of settlers ( Crimean Goths , the Bessarabia Germans , Crimea Germans , Dobrujan Germans , Russian Mennonites , Volga Germans , and Volhynian Germans ), who are separate chronologically, geographically and culturally, but not mutually exclusive groups. Germans began settling in southern Ukraine and

11520-443: The latter part of the 19th century when the government needed more conscripts for the Russian army. The Plautdietsch -speaking Mennonite communities were opposed to military service because of their pacifist beliefs, so many Mennonites emigrated to the Americas instead. In the late 18th century the nomadic Kazakhs took advantage of Pugachev's Rebellion , which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Volga German settlements. At

11640-535: The majority Hussites that did not hold those teachings. They received episcopal ordination through the Waldensians in 1467. These were some of the earliest Protestants , rebelling against Rome some fifty years before Martin Luther . By the middle of the 16th century as many as 90 percent of the subjects of the Bohemian Crown were Protestant . The majority of the nobility was Protestant, and

11760-594: The ongoing French and Indian Wars . Although supporters defended their work, at the end of 1744, the colonial government based in Poughkeepsie, New York , expelled the Moravians from the Province of New York . In 1741, David Nitschmann and Count Zinzendorf led a small community to found a mission in the colony of Pennsylvania . The mission was established on Christmas Eve , and was named Bethlehem, after

11880-523: The population of the four villages was as follows: Later, as the original villages' population continued to burgeon, despite overseas emigration, there were Tochterkolonien , i.e. daughter colonies, formed, such as, the following, viz.: During the Second World War, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 , the district was occupied by the Wehrmacht , and, in 1942,

12000-731: The pronunciation and does not represent how the Volga Germans wrote. The dialects of the Germans of Russia mainly presented differences in pronunciation, as occurs in the diversity of the English language. However, Volga Germans wrote and kept their records in Standard German . Volga Germans only borrowed a few but anecdotal Russian words, like Erbus ("watermelon" from Russian арбуз "watermelon"), which they carried with them on their subsequent moves to North America and Argentina. The Standard German-related variety influenced by dialects and spoken by Volgan Germans who moved to Argentina

12120-538: The province of Alberta, received Black Sea Germans, especially between 1900 and 1913, when the expansion of the railway branches made them easily accessible to new settlers. Previously, from the Black Sea region, Canada had already received Russian Mennonites. However, the forced assimilation policies implemented by Canada caused many Russian Mennonites to begin emigrating to various Latin American countries beginning in

12240-619: The rapid advance of the German Army, Stalin, nevertheless, had sufficient time to arrest and exile those living east of the Dnieper River . Between 25 September 1941 and 10 October 1941, approximately 105,000 ethnic Germans were exiled from this region and forcibly deported to Soviet-held areas far to the east beyond the Ural mountains. In terms of total numbers deported to Siberia and Central Asia , between 15 August and 25 December 1941,

12360-424: The regime continued to be inhumane. The deportation and subsequent deaths to ethnic minorities during Stalin's rule is referred to as an ethnic cleansing . Some historians refer to these acts as a genocide , though there is debate whether or not the destruction of non-Russians was intentional. Ethnically German minorities received little empathy for mass expulsions due to their German ethnicity and assumed relation to

12480-651: The repatriation of nationals in the Yalta Agreement , the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to return each other's nationals at the end of the war. Of the almost 300,000 ethnic Germans who were evacuated by the Germans from the Soviet Union, about 200,000 were caught and sent to the labor camps by the Red Army, either as they fled from the Warthegau in Western Poland, previously incorporated into

12600-629: The schools and printing-shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing. Protestantism had a strong influence in the education of the population. Even in the middle of the 16th century there was not a single town without a Protestant school in the Bohemian Crown Lands . Many had more than one, mostly with two to six teachers each. In Jihlava , a principal Protestant centre in Moravia, there were five major schools: two German, one Czech, one for girls and one teaching in Latin, which

12720-946: The southwest of Buenos Aires Province and in the east of La Pampa Province . In 1905, some Black Sea German families bought land in Estancia El Lucero, in Coronel Suárez Partido (Coronel Suárez Partido has been simultaneously one of the epicenters of the Volga German settlements in Argentina), Buenos Aires Province. The next year, other Black Sea German families founded Colonia Monte La Plata, in Villarino Partido , same province. Many others settled in La Pampa Province, where there were already Volga German colonies, too. In this second province, Colonia San José (in English: "Saint Joseph Colony")

12840-506: The town of Beryslav on the same side of the river. Originally settled in 1782 by manumitted ethnic Swedish serfs from the Baltic island of Hiiumaa (Dagö) in present-day Estonia who were freed by Catherine the Great and invited to settle here, the district took its German name — Schwedengebiet translates as "Swedes' district" — from these earlier settlers, despite the fact that once the Germans began to arrive as official settlers during

12960-669: The town of Lesterville , South Dakota , but they soon spread throughout both Dakotas . Lutherans and Catholics were the largest groups among the Black Sea Germans in the Dakotas. Other settlers from the Black Sea were Russian Mennonites and Hutterites , as well as Dobrujan Germans who had briefly lived in southeastern Romania . By 1920, an estimated 70,000 Germans from Russia lived in North Dakota , most of them were Black Sea Germans, in addition to Volga Germans . There, most Bessarabia Germans , Black Sea Germans, Crimea Germans , and Volga Germans became wheat farmers. Currently, it

13080-641: The transfer. The Germans were to be sent to various oblasts (provinces) in Siberia, Kazakhstan and others, beginning on September 3, and ending on September 20, 1941. On September 7, 1941, the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was officially abolished, clearly showing that the Soviets considered the expulsion of the Germans final. On August 28, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of

13200-593: The war, some talked about resettling where the German Autonomous Republic used to be. But all their properties had been occupied by Russian communists. They met opposition from the new population there and did not persevere. A proposal in June 1979 called for a new German Autonomous Republic within Kazakhstan, with a capital in Ermentau . The proposal was aimed at addressing the living conditions of

13320-601: The whole of the Volga German population from the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Gulag camps which were located in Siberia , Kazakhstan and even in arctic locations. The Soviets, bearing in mind the collaboration of the Sudeten Germans of Czechoslovakia with Nazi Germany , decided as a precautionary measure to transfer the Volga German population. These deportations, which also included

13440-589: The world, including the Caribbean , North and South America , the Arctic , Africa , and the Far East . They were the first to send lay people as missionaries, the first Protestant denomination to minister to slaves, though some communities also owned slaves, and the first Protestant presence in many countries. Owing to Zinzendorf's personal contacts with their royalty, the first Moravian missions were directed to

13560-725: The years, its inhabitants have migrated to other Argentine towns or cities; however, this cemetery is a testimony of the way in which both German communities have cooperated in the country, without losing their own identities. In addition, this particularity facilitates any search. Regarding the Russian Mennonites, in 1877, a small group had arrived in Argentina and settled near Olavarría , in Buenos Aires Province. However, they were not conservative and soon assimilated with Germans living in that area. Instead, in

13680-557: Was adopted by the community on 12 May 1727. This is considered the beginning of the renewal. On 13 August 1727, the community underwent a dramatic transformation when the inhabitants of Herrnhut "learned to love one another", following an experience that they attributed to a visitation of the Holy Spirit , similar to that recorded in the Bible on the day of Pentecost . Herrnhut grew rapidly following this transforming revival and became

13800-535: Was at the level of a high/grammar school , lecturing on Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Rhetorics, Dialectics, fundamentals of Philosophy and fine arts, as well as religion according to the Lutheran Augustana . With the University of Prague also firmly in hands of Protestants , the local Roman Catholic Church was unable to compete in the field of education. The Jesuits were invited, with the backing of

13920-472: Was eventually reinstated. That was not wanted and was especially harmful to the Mennonites , who practice pacifism. Throughout the 19th century, pressure increased from the Russian government to culturally assimilate. Many Germans from Russia found it necessary to emigrate to avoid conscription and preserve their culture. This caused some Germans to organize themselves and send emissaries to some countries in

14040-675: Was named die Wachau , or Wachovia , after one of Zinzendorf's ancestral estates on the Danube River in Lower Austria . Other early settlements included Bethabara (1753), Bethania (1759), and Salem, now referred to as Old Salem (1766) in Winston-Salem , North Carolina. In 1801, the Moravians established Springplace mission to the Cherokee Nation in what is now Murray County , Georgia . Coinciding with

14160-435: Was one of the examples of coexistence between Volga Germans and Black Sea Germans in the country. It had been founded by Volga Germans and later several Black Sea German families joined. In its cemetery, a long central path perpendicular to its entrance divides the land in two: on one side are the graves of the Volga Germans and their descendants, and on the other are the graves of the Black Sea Germans and their descendants. Over

14280-468: Was the Swedish Lutheran village of Gammalsvenskby . In the period 1802–1806, after a generation alone, during which their numbers had been supplemented on occasion by Swedes captured in war and other, mostly temporary, sojourners from Danzig , the local Baltic Swedish community was faced with the arrival of German speakers. This not only meant that they no longer had this area to themselves, but

14400-595: Was to become the Moravian Church was started by Jan Hus (English: John Huss ) in early 15th-century Bohemia , in what is today the Czech Republic . Hus objected to some of the practices and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church . Specifically, he wanted the liturgy to be celebrated in Czech , married priests, and eliminating indulgences and the idea of Purgatory . Since these actions predate

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