History Of Germans In Russia And The Soviet Union
The German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212 Germans were enumerated, making Germans the fifth largest ethnic group in Russia. In 1999, there were 353,441 Germans in Kazakhstan and 21,472 in Kyrgyzstan. According to the 2001 census, 33,300 Germans lived in Ukraine.
In the Russian Empire, ethnic Germans were strongly represented among royalty, aristocracy, large land owners, military officers and the upper echelons of the imperial service, engineers, scientists, artists, physicians and the bourgeoisie in general. The Germans of Russia did not necessarily speak Russian; they spoke German, while French was often the language of the high aristocracy. Now, however, the Germans in Russia usually speak only Russian and have adopted Russian culture and have a poor command of German. For this reason, Germany has recently strictly limited their immigration, and the fall of Germans in the Russian Federation has moderated as they no longer emigrate to Germany and as Kazakh Germans move to Russia instead of Germany.
Read more about History Of Germans In Russia And The Soviet Union: Germans in Russia and Ukraine, Decline of The Russian Germans, Demographics, Germans in The Baltics, Famous Russian-Germans
Famous quotes containing the words history of, soviet union, history, germans, russia, soviet and/or union:
“Universal history is the history of a few metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (18991986)
“If the Soviet Union can give up the Brezhnev Doctrine for the Sinatra Doctrine, the United States can give up the James Monroe Doctrine for the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine: Lets all go to bed wearing the perfume we like best.”
—Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (18431916)
“The Germansonce they were called the nation of thinkers: do they still think at all? Nowadays the Germans are bored with intellect, the Germans distrust intellect, politics devours all seriousness for really intellectual thingsDeutschland, Deutschland Über alles was, I fear, the end of German philosophy.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“How can I explain the difference to me between America and Russia?... the America Ive known is a place where men on horseback escort union marchers, the Russia Ive known is a place where men on horseback slaughter young Socialists and Jews.”
—Golda Meir (18981978)
“If the Soviet Union can give up the Brezhnev Doctrine for the Sinatra Doctrine, the United States can give up the James Monroe Doctrine for the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine: Lets all go to bed wearing the perfume we like best.”
—Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)
“The admission of the States of Wyoming and Idaho to the Union are events full of interest and congratulation, not only to the people of those States now happily endowed with a full participation in our privileges and responsibilities, but to all our people. Another belt of States stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
—Benjamin Harrison (18331901)