Germans from Russia: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Catharine-II.jpg|thumb|right]]  

In 1762, Sophie Fredericke Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, a German native of Stettin, displaced her husband [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Russia Peter III] and took the vacant Russian imperial throne, assuming the name of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_II_of_Russia Catherine II. "Catherine the Great]" published manifestos in 1762 and 1763 inviting Europeans, (except Jews) to immigrate and farm Russian lands while maintaining their language and culture. [[Portal:Germany|Germans]] responded in particularly large numbers due to poor conditions in their home regions. Germans continued to migrate into [[Portal:Russia|Russian]] territories after Catherine's death, sometimes at the invitation of other Czars. Other Germans, especially those in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volhynia Volhynia], arrived because of the availability of cheap land.  

Although the above describes the beginnings of major German migration into Russia, it should also be noted that many Germans lived there prior to the time of Catherine. For example, a German Lutheran church was established in Irkutsk, Siberia in the early 1700s. Most of these Germans were probably associated with trades such as mining, lumber, etc., the professions such as medicine or legal, as well as the arts. Those that came at the invitation of Catherine were farmers needed to develop the vast steppes.  

*[[France|France]]<br>