The Germans of St. Petersburg from the 1860s to 1914: Number, Distribution, and Economic Activities

Abstract

The authors examine the situation of the German community in St. Petersburg in the second half of the XIX - early XX century. The research is based on the published materials of the urban population censuses of 1869 and 1900 and the First General Census of Population of 1897 in St. Petersburg, as well as medical descriptions of commercial and industrial establishments of the capital. These office documents including petitions from artisans and other persons, correspondence be-tween the bodies of city management and central departments, contracts for the execution of orders found in the central and regional archives of the Russian Federation. The research shows that in the 1860s and 1900s, the bulk of German citizens moved from the central parts of St. Petersburg to newly built areas of the city largely due to the economic reasons. In the industrial parts of the city, German women made up the majority of ethnic Germans. In the late XIX - early XX century, the German population continued to play an important role in the system of interethnic division of labor of city. They occupied dominant positions in education, medicine, and credit institutions. In addition, despite the rapid development of large-scale industry, artisans still played an important role in the urban economy and the Germans continue to make a significant impact.

Keywords

• interethnic division of labor
• small-scale production
• labor migration
• frontier territory
• modernization theory