――Escape of the Russian Germans against Stalinism―― Takeo Suzuki (Japan)

Russia has been a multiethnic nation. Germans made up a small part of the different ethnic groups living in Czarist Russia, but there were about 1,770,000 Germans in Russia at the end of the 19th century. Historically, Germans came to Russia long time ago and played an important part in the process of Russian modernization. Most Germans who lived there in the 19th century were those who immigrated from Germany at the invitation of Catherine II and Alexander I at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. Such Germans are called "Russian Germans. ” Czars wanted them to become a model of farmers in Russia. They colonized in the Volga region and southern Russia, and were given special rights such as access to free land, tax exemption for a certain period, no military service obligation, religious freedom, and self-government in their colonies. In 1768, there were 30,000 settlers in the Volga area, most of whom were Lutherans followed by Mennonites, Calvinists, and Catholics. At the end of the 18th century in Germany, people suffered from severe living conditions due to succeeding wars. As a result, some people wished to emigrate t