Germans from Russia History: Difference between revisions

1992-1996  Many Russian Germans emigrate to recently unified Germany where they were offered citizenship.

Some of the most valuable sources for family history research are local histories. They describe the settlement of the area and the founding of churches, schools, and businesses. You can also find lists of early settlers, businessmen, local leaders, and civil officials. Even if your ancestor is not listed, information on other relatives may be included that will provide important clues for locating the ancestor. A local history may also suggest other records to search.

In addition, local histories should be studied and enjoyed for the background information they can provide about your family's life-style and the community and environment in which your family lived. Examples of this kind of history are:

For some localities, especially in the United States, there may be more than one history. Thousands of histories have been written about local towns and communities in the United States and Canada, dozens about communities in Russia. Although fewer local histories have been published for towns, counties, provinces, or regions in Russia, a careful search for available histories for your ancestor's locality is well worthwhile.

The Family History Library has some local histories for German villages in Russia. Similar histories are often available at major public and university libraries and archives, as well.

Arends, Shirley Fischer. The Central Dakota Germans: Their History, Language, and Culture. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Univ. Press, 1989. (FHL book 978 H2as; computer number 536438). Includes a brief history of Black Sea and Bessarabian places of origin.

Wagner, Immanuel. Geschichte der Gründung derKolonie Sarata 1822-1832 (History of the founding of the Colony of Sarata 1822-1832). Stuttgart/Mühlacker: Heimatmuseum der Deutschen aus Bessarabien, 1967. (FHL book 947.71/S1 H2w).

Rife, Janet Warkentin. Germans and German-Russians in Nebraska: A Research Guide to Nebraska Ethnic Studies. Lincoln, Nebr.: Center for Great Plains Studies, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln: Nebraska Curriculum Development Center, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1980. (FHL book 978.2 F23r; computer number 380921). Sources regarding history, churches, communities, museums, and newspapers.

Brendle, Johannes. Aus deutschen Kolonien in Kutschurganer Gebiet (German Settlements in the Kutschurgan District). Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlags-A.G., 1930. (FHL book 943 W2sd; computer number ???).  Describes Catholic settlements with lists of settlers for each village with ages, relationships and places or origin in Germany.

Aberle, George P. 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 American and in Canada. Dickinson, N. Dak.: Aberle, 1964. (FHL book 947 F2a.)

Miller, Michael M. Researching Germans from Russia pages 68-75. (Full citation given in “Other Records” section at the end of this outline.) Local histories in Dakotas.

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar in common use in the world today. It is a correction of the Julian calendar that had been in use since a.d. 46. Leap years had been miscalculated in the Julian calendar. By 1582, the calendar was ten days behind the solar year.