Russia: Update to RUS36174.E of 22 January 2001 on the situation of ethnic Germans; treatment by state or other agents; treatment in the military; areas of high demographic concentration
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 30 July 2002 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | RUS39396.E |
| Reference | 4 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Russia: Update to RUS36174.E of 22 January 2001 on the situation of ethnic Germans; treatment by state or other agents; treatment in the military; areas of high demographic concentration, 30 July 2002, RUS39396.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4e0e0.html [accessed 21 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
In 2001 the ethnic German population in Russia was approximately 1.5 million people (ITAR-TASS 27 Aug. 2001; RFE/RL 29 Aug. 2001) although Agence France Presse (AFP) estimated the population as "few as one million" (28 Aug. 2001).
AFP described the situation of this minority as follows:
Today, Russia's once-deported ethnic Germans want "cultural autonomy, meaning a federal status which would allow us to preserve and develop our particular way of life and have our schools where German would be taught," [Russian-German association head Vladimir] Bauer said.
He added that they also wanted to be finally rehabilitated as a people.
According to estimates, two million of Russia's ethnic Germans have emigrated to Germany over the past 10 years, with as few as one million estimated to have remained in Russia.
Only 10 to 15 percent of those still speak German.
Most ethnic Germans who had gathered for the ceremony [for the 60th anniversary of Josef Stalin's 1941 deportation of ethnic Germans] Tuesday talked to one another in Russian (ibid.).
Several reports refer to areas with a concentration of Germans. Current information on the distribution of the German population among specific cities was not found among sources consulted. The Centre for Russian Studies of the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI) provided the following data based on the 1989 census for centres having more than 20,000 Russian German individuals (n.d.):
Omsk 134,199
Altay 127,731
Novosibirsk 61,479
Krasnoyarsk 54,254
Kemerovo 47,990
Orenburg 47,556
Krasnodar 31,751
Sverdlovsk 31,461
Tyumen 29,569
Volgograd 28,008
Recent reports indicate that the following are areas of ethnic German concentration: the German National District in Altay (ITAR-TASS 8 July 2001; RFE/RL 5 Dec. 2001), the Azov (ITAR-TASS 30 May 2000) or Azovskiy German National District in Omsk (ibid. 28 Dec. 2001), Novosibirsk (ibid. 18 May 2000), southern Krasnoyarsk and Khantimansisky (RFE/RL 29 Aug. 2001). ITAR-TASS refers to the German population of Novosibirsk as 60,000 people (18 May 2000) and the Republic of Komi is reported to have 12,000 Germans with 4,000 residing in the city of Syktivkar (CEMES 1 Aug. 2001).
The Research Directorate could find no reports of the treatment of ethnic Germans in the Russian military or a detailed description of the minority's treatment by the state or Russian society. RFE/RL briefly noted that "[d]espite some anti-German feeling in the former ethnic German territories, most Russian political parties express sympathy for the demands of the ethnic German community" (29 Aug. 2001). On the same subject, AFP noted in 2001 that:
Even the communists, Stalin's remote heirs, sent a telegram of support for the opening of their congress Monday, and ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky drew applause there when he told delegates, in German: "Russians and Germans have always been together" (28 Aug. 2001).
AFP noted that in 1997, the Russian Federation and Germany "set up a joint program to support Russian Germans" (ibid.); however, the head of the Russian-German Association, Vladimir Bauer, was cited as stating that while
[t]here is a law on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression ... we do not have a law which would make it possible to say that the ethnic minority of Russian Germans, after having been unlawfully persecuted, deported and humiliated, has been legally rehabilitated (NTV 27 Aug. 2001).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 28 August 2001. "Russia's Germans Commemorate Stalin Deportation." (NEXIS).
Centre for Migration and Ethnic Studies (CEMES). 1 August 2001. "Implementation of the Programme for the Socio-Economic and Cultural Development and Revival of Russian Germans, City of Syktivkar, Republic of Komi, Russian Federation." ITAR-TASS [Moscow, in English]. 28 December 2001. "Russia: Siberian Court Examines Future of Ethnic German National District." (FBIS-SOV-2001-1228 28 Dec. 2001/WNC)
_____. 27 August 2001. "Ethnic Germans Honor President Putin." (FBIS-SOV-2001-0827 27 Aug. 2001/WNC)
_____. 8 July 2001. "German Delegation Visits German National District in Russia's Altay Territory." (FBIS-SOV-2001-0708 8 July 2001/WNC)
_____. 30 May 2000. "Germany to Stop Investment in Russia's Ethnic District." (NEXIS)
_____. 18 May 2000. "Itar-Tass Asian News Digest of Thursday, May 18." (NEXIS)
Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI). n.d. "Ethnic Groups: Germans." NTV [Moscow, in Russian]. 27 August 2001. "Russia's Putin Invited to Attend Congress of Former Volga Region Germans." (BBC Monitoring 27 Aug. 2001/NEXIS)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. December 2001. Russian Federation Report. Vol. 3, No. 34. "New Plan for Ethnic Groups Unveiled." _____. 29 August 2001. Features. "Russia: Ethnic Germans Look for Past Wrongs to be Righted." Additional Sources Consulted
Countries of the World 2002
Europa 2001
IRB Databases
Nations Without States: A Historical Dictionary of Contemporary National Movements
NEXIS
Internet sites including:
American Historical Society for Germans in Russia
Centre for European Migration and Ethnic Studies
Council of Europe, Directorate for Human Rights
Ethnobarometer Programme Working Paper No. 2, "New Migration and Migration Politics in Post-Soviet Russia"
Ethnolinguistic Minorities in Russia Internet Resources
European Country of Origin Information Network
European Forum for Migration Studies
Freedom House
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Minority Rights Group International
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Russia Federation Report
Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
Sociologicheskiye Issledovaniya (Sociological Studies)
United Kingdom (UK). Immigration and Nationality Directorate. April 2002. "Russian Assessment."
World News Connection
