Origins

Those who are included in our definition of "Volga German" originated from a variety of places in Europe. Determining that place of origin can be a very difficult task. The Holy Roman Empire was actually made up of hundreds of small kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities, and a host of other geographic entities, many not contiguous to other parts of the same entity.

Some of those who came to be known as the Volga Germans actually came from France, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, or England. Yet another group were actually ethnic Germans, but they had settled earlier in Denmark before immigrating to Russia.

The surnames of those families for which origins have been confirmed by documentation in parish or other records can be located through the Surnames link.

Map of the central German states in the 1760s. Source: Steve Schreiber.

Resources

Decker, K. P. (2009). Büdingen als Sammelplatz der Auswanderung an die Wolga 1766. Budingen: Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen.

Decker, K. P., Cott, Joachim, Cott, Susanne, & Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen, publisher. (2015). Die Auswanderung von 1766/67 aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen nach Russland : Soziale und wirtschaftliche Hintergründe anhand ausgewählter Dokumente Mit einer Namensliste der Emigranten aus der Grafschaft Ysenburg-Büdingen. Büdingen, Hess: Geschichtswerkstatt Büdingen.

Idt, Andreas., & Rauschenbach, Georg. (2015) Auswanderung deutscher Kolonisten nach Russland im Jahre 1766. Moscow: Nestor Istoriia.

Mai, B. A., & Reeves-Marquardt, Dona B. (2003). German migration to the Russian Volga (1764-1767) : origins and destinations. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.

Mai, B. A. (1998). Transport of the Volga Germans from Oranienbaum to colonies on the Volga 1766-1767. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.

Pleve, I. R., & Eisfeld, Alfred. (1999). Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767. Göttingen: Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis.

Pleve, I. R. (2010) List of Colonists to Russia - 1766 - Reports by Ivan Kulberg. Saratov: Saratov State Technical University.

Pleve, I. R., Rye, Richard R. (2001). The German colonies on the Volga : the second half of the eighteenth century. Lincoln, Neb.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.

Stumpp, K. (1982). The emigration from Germany to Russia in the years 1763 to 1862. Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.

List of Surnames with confirmed places of origin

External Links

Archion (German Protestant parish records - subscription required)

Surname Charts (AHSGR)

German Origins Project (AHSGR)

Online Ortsfamilienbücher (Online heritage books)