Abstract
The article traces the policy of resettlement of German nationals from German states to the southern outskirts of the Russian empire based on the analysis of legislative material. To analyze the laws of the Russian Empire, the authors use historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods. Analysis. Mostly farmers were invited to Russia. They were to contribute to the transfer of improved European agricultural practices to the Russian peasantry. However, the Russian authorities could not predict the possible consequences of inviting foreigners. Therefore, there was no clear mechanism for organizing and regulating this process. Immigrants were offered significant benefits and privileges, so they agreed to move. Over time, the overpopulation of the colonies due to the high birth rate and lack of land contributed to the beginning of migration movements of the Germans in the second quarter of the XIX century in various regions of Russia from the mother colonies. The geography of the colonists began to expand as new laws were passed that eventually regulated their way of life. They created new colonies in the image of their mothers in the Caucasus and the Don, Siberia and Central Asia. The loss of benefits and privileges led not only to an increase in migration processes among them, but also forced them to emigrate to America and even return to Germany.
Highlights
The phenomenon certainly played an essential role in the emergence, formation, and development of ethnic German communities in Russia
To analyze the changes that took place in the migration policies the Russian state adopted for German colonists, as well as to appreciate their interconnection and interdependence, the authors reviewed the relevant legislation using the historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods
Their primary sources include laws beginning with the colonists’ invitation to Russia in the middle of the 18th century to the late 19th, which are published in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire (Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiyskoy imperii, or PSZ RI)
Summary
Once having arrived, they did not necessarily stay put and their continuous resettlement has given them a unique place in the Russian mentality as a “Volk auf dem Weg” (People on the Move) Their history is key to understanding the current resettlement profile of both Germans and other ethnic groups in Russia today. To analyze the changes that took place in the migration policies the Russian state adopted for German colonists, as well as to appreciate their interconnection and interdependence, the authors reviewed the relevant legislation using the historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods Their primary sources include laws beginning with the colonists’ invitation to Russia in the middle of the 18th century to the late 19th, which are published in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire (Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiyskoy imperii, or PSZ RI)
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