Russian-German Timeline

Timeline for the German minority in the Russian Empire and USSR

1763 – Manifesto by Empress Catherine II inviting Christian foreigners to the Russian Empire

1764 – First German colonies established along the Volga

1804 – Tsar Alexander I issues invitation for Christian foreigners to settle in the Black Sea region

1871 – Revocation of self government from German colonies in Russian Empire

1874 – Russian-Germans subjected to conscription into the Imperial Russian Army

1915 – Liquidation Laws

1918 – Volga German Workers’ Commune established by Lenin

1924 – Volga German Workers’ Commune upgraded to Volga German ASSR

1935-1936 – Deportation of Russian-Germans from Polish-Ukrainian border

1937-1938 – Great Terror including the “German Operation.”

1941 – Mass deportation of ethnic Germans from European areas of the USSR to Siberia and Kazakhstan

1942 – Mass mobilization of Russian-Germans into labor army detachments and columns

1943-1944 – Mass evacuation of Black Sea Germans from Ukraine to Warthegau

1945 – Forced repatriation of ethnic Germans with Soviet citizenship from Germany to USSR

1955 – Ethnic Germans in USSR released from special settlement restrictions

1964 – Partial rehabilitation of Russian-Germans

1965 – Two delegations of Russian-Germans go to Moscow seeking restoration of Volga German ASSR

1972 – Russian-Germans finally given same right to choose residency as other Soviet citizens

1973 – Emigration movement begins

1979 – Failed attempt to create a German autonomous oblast in Kazakhstan

1987 – Soviet government removes all restrictions on emigration

1988 – 2005 – Mass emigration of Russian-Germans to Germany