Some of my paternal ancestors left the Elsaß-Lothringen(Alsace-Lorraine in French) area under the clouds of war(the French revolution for one) in 1789 or later. Others were from Bavaria, but they all ended up settling the Saratov region of Russia at the behest of Catherine the Great.
I’m not looking for genealogical information. I want to know more about the society and culture of those people, so I’m asking you dopers if you can recommend any books, journals or diaries. Translated to English hopefully.
I did read the excellent poem Hermann und Dorothea. The Gutenberg project has public domain files if you are interested. (Am I allowed to link?)
So in summary I am interested in books on:
Germanic Alsatians, Bavarians of the late 1700s/early 1800s and Anything about the Volga Germans from that time up to the October Revolution.
If you want a book about the Volga Germans, check out “The Volga Germans in Russia and America from 1763 to the Present” by Fred Koch and Hattie Plum Williams’ “The Czar’s Germans”.
Thanks Cap. I think I read “the Czars Germans”, but I will try for the other one. That one had some interesting stuff about how they were screwed over by the river boat captains, right?
dzero, the DNA is done. I also know I have haplotype I1 on my Y chromosome. My mom is actually a first generation Canadian. Her mom is from Bremen. The Volga stuffs all on dads side.
update: maybe somebody new will have further information.
I am looking for translated journals and diaries of the journey from Germany to the Volga river region of Russia as a result of war and strife in the Germanic provinces.
*From the steppes to the prairies : the story of the Germans settling in Russia on the Volga and Ukraine, also, the Germans settling in the Banat, and the Bohemians in Crimea, their resettlement in the Americas-North and South America and in Canada * by George P. Aberle.
Any public library should be able to get you a copy through Interlibrary Loan free or very cheap.
In WW2 a German living in Russian or Slavic lands was called an Ausländer, which is a term you may want to look for as well. Many German-Russians who came to America were Mennonites, so you may want to google Mennonite heritage or Mennonite primary sources as well.
Thanks Sampiro, Ausländer is new to me. We have Mennonites local to us as well, but I never thought to check. They did go through the same travails of course.
I’ll check for that book, and thanks for the link.
I too am descended from Germans who settled in that area of Russia.
Try these folks - they’re very slow at getting back to you, and a bit disorganized, but if you can touch base with them, they have more info on the Germans who went to Russia than anyone else in the US.
