Review of the monograph: Bonwetsch B. Mit und ohne Russland. Eine familiengeschichtliche Spurensuche. Essen: Klartext-Verlag, 2017. 168 S. ISBN 978-3-8375-1770-5 = Bonwetsch B. With and without Russia / translated from German by L. Bashkina. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo «IstLit», 2019, 240 p. ISBN 978-5-6042416-0-8

Abstract

This review considers the last lifetime monograph of the famous German historian Bernd Bonwetsch (19402017) With and without Russia, dedicated to a multifaceted study of the history of his family and its kindred clans in the context of German-Russian relations of the XIXXX centuries. This research is marked by unique fragments on the history of a group of Russian Germans (the so-called imperial Germans) in the Middle Volga region and in the Samara region in particular. B. Bonwetsch's historical and memoir book, subtitled family history research, combines a number of chronological essays marked by interesting personalities and analytics of social, gender and confessional groups of Russian Germans and their ethnic subcultures. The research of Professor Bonwetsch, integral in its design, based on unique memoirs, summarizes the complexity and diversity of relations between Germany and Russia at the turning points of modern history.