Periodical Press as a Source on the History of German Settlements in the Volga Region in the 1920s (based on the Materials of the Newspaper “Die Welt-Post”)

Abstract

The newspaper “Die Welt-Post” is analyzed in the article, namely, the rubric “Letters from Russia”, from 1920. It published correspondence of Volga Germans and their relatives who immigrated to America in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The analyzed material allowed finding out how the Volga Germans perceived the economic and political situation in the country. Having survived the revolution, the Civil War like many peoples of the Soviet Russia, they experienced all the hardships of the economic policy pursued by the Bolsheviks. In the letters, they described the process of requisitions of food by food detachments in the villages and even told stories about their personal participation in the open confrontation with the authorities. With the first signs of famine in the Volga region, the Germans began to turn to relatives in America with requests to send food, clothing, money, or help to leave the country. However, there were also those who wanted to receive books, newspapers or magazines because they were in an information vacuum or wanted to develop intellectually. The Germans were very religious people and therefore they perceived the events that took place as tests sent from above. American aid had been perceived similarly. Often the Germans gave characteristics in an allegorical form using references to the Bible.

Keywords

• volga region
• germans
• german colonists
• american relief administration
• famine
• new economic policy
• russia
• america
• f. a. lorenz
• “die welt-post” newspaper