“There are more cars with EU license plates than local ones”, “Azovo is fattening on German money”, “Everyone in Azovo speaks German” - three myths are circulating around Siberia about the Omsk village of Azovo. And although it is not easy to hear German speech there, here is a fact: from 5 to 9 thousand Germans a year leave Germany for Russia. Of these, up to two to three thousand a year go to Halbstadt in the Altai Territory and to Azovo in the Omsk Region, where German autonomous regions have been recreated. To see how and why repatriates are returning, the RG special correspondent went to the fastest growing German region of Siberia - the Azov German National Municipal District (ANNMR).
“What does “gut” mean to a German...
The house of the headman of the village of Privalnoye, Yuri Bekker, is typically German. This is how his ancestors, who founded the village in the 19th century, built it. Yard in Siberian style - with a well from white brick. There is a black plow at the well.
— I bought it from a friend, he wanted to sell it for scrap metal. I would also pass “before Germany”. But I came back and I can’t.
In Oldenburg, Germany, since 2005, he has endured “eternity”—less than five years.
“I left because everyone was leaving,” he clarifies. “My wife was crying, she had all her relatives there, and I gave up.” Well, after all, a historical homeland. I tried to fit in there. I mowed the grass on golf courses, carried mail, lit fireplaces. But I can't live without land. And in Germany there is no village life. And the way they understand it is a mockery. The plot of land should be standard - the lawn should not be higher than the designated mark, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes can only be planted on a quarter of the area. I paid a little more - a fine. I wanted to have chickens, just like at home, and the police called me. I tried to plant cherries, currants, and raspberries on the plot, but the neighbors stopped saying hello to me. The policeman explained: “We buy berries and fruits; they grow in the garden for the birds.” I thought he was joking, but he writes a fine. Because I planted too many fruit trees and am picking berries in my garden.
The thought that “you have to make a move” often tormented Becker, but it finished him off when he saw his niece crying. She, the pride of the family clan, was preparing for university. Teachers praised her for her studies: “Gut, gut.” The girl received a certificate, but it turned out that it did not give her the right to enter the university. She is in tears, the teachers don’t understand what’s going on: a bachelor’s degree is also a higher education, albeit a two-year one and without the right to engage in science.
“It’s like this: they’ll lift a stranger from his knees, but they won’t let him stand on his feet,” Becker frowns. - So it turns out that the German is “gut”, the Russian German is going to laugh.
Upon their return, Becker did not recognize their native Privalnoye. The club is overgrown with weeds, the sidewalks have almost disappeared as a view, the stadium is a wasteland. He, the hereditary village headman after his father and grandfather, where he came to an agreement with the farmers, where he cleared the stadium on a voluntary basis, mowed down the weeds near the club, is now trying to return the sidewalks to the village.
It is difficult for Yuri Bekker to explain why he returned. With four annual salaries in Germany, he was able to buy a house and land from his brother in Privalny. And here his salary in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, even for several decades, is not enough for a modest house. And here we need to sculpt a new life.
“Someone cuts everything off, like me, and returns, someone hangs between two countries. Someone cunningly “risks” applying for pensions in two countries, although for this you can run into a fine of 11 thousand euros. Some people simply return to their children; they don’t want to end up in a nursing home in old age. Someone has a business in two countries... But I, even though I’m German, didn’t learn German there.”...
I want to go to Russia as a milkmaid
The entrance to Azov is like the border of the European Union with Siberia. Cottages in the Bavarian style, above them, like a town hall, is a complex of three-story residential buildings. The Gothic style of their towers and the patina of the green roofs are confusing: is this Bavaria or Siberia? The streets of still uninhabited cottages and the infrastructure of the town - a gymnasium, a hospital, a sports complex, wastewater treatment plants- a gift from Germany to Russian Germans who created an autonomous region in Azov. But in the midst of construction, in 1995, mass emigration of Russian Germans to Germany began: the almost 65 percent German region remained only 30 percent for them. He could have gotten worse, but his German appearance was saved by German settlers from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Basically they live in the Eurocity.
“The cover,” Ulyana Ilchenko squints skeptically at the glare from the roofs of the “town hall,” “but I fell for it.” I sold my house in Kazakhstan and collected debts from my brothers in Germany. And I’m living - I can’t boast: the roof is leaking, the walls are coming apart at the seams... It’s unfinished, it’s not even finished in euros, it’s unfinished.
And returnees from Germany react to “Bavarian” cottages with a grin. Budgetary investments from Germany ended by 2005. The former head of the ANNMR administration, Viktor Saberfeld, suspected of fraud with land plots, is under criminal prosecution. Prices for “German” real estate have skyrocketed so much that many people cannot afford housing. Finally, mutual sanctions between Russia and Germany froze the next 2016 tranche for autonomy - 66.3 million rubles from Russia and 9.5 million euros from Germany.
But the number of “returnees” is still growing. In 2015, more than a thousand people returned, in 2016 - 611, about 50 people came for reconnaissance. Currently, the district administration has 21 applications for resettlement from Germany.
And those who left write letters.
“Choose any one,” Sergei Bernikov, deputy head of the ANNMR, points to a stack of envelopes and carefully follows the unfolded sheet with the inscription: “Lydia Schmidt, Baden-Württenberg.”
“A fellow countrywoman,” he comments, “from the village of Aleksandrovka.”
The woman has a typical request: she wants to go back, but since she sold her house when she left, she asks for municipal housing - “at least a hostel with a toilet on the street.” Her children are back on their feet, and even though she is 62, she assures that she is strong and wants to work as a milkmaid. “Will you take it?” I want to go home to Russia.”
“They are there, on their “social” (municipal housing and social benefits - “RG”),” Bernikov abruptly jumps off his chair, “they don’t understand what they are asking for.” No USSR. There is no municipal housing or dormitories. And there are almost no milkmaids. Capitalism and farmers. But they don't provide housing. You need to buy it. And competition for work in villages is higher than in Germany.
Therefore, Lydia Schmidt will most likely be given cautious advice - to start with some reconnaissance. Like Natalya Merker and Katerina Burkhard. They came from Bavaria, but introduce themselves: “I’m from Karaganda,” “And I’m from Aktobe.” We learned about Azov from our relatives, came for reconnaissance, and visited almost all German villages. They liked Azovo least of all.
“They take us for fools, take out a mortgage, buy apartments 200 meters away,” admits Natalya Merker.
— My brothers in Germany have taken out mortgages for 15-20 years. And they would be happy to leave for Russia, but they can’t. And here the mortgage is also at 16 percent versus 4-6 in Bavaria. The former party nomenklatura grabbed square meters for sale and wants to make money on us. Benefactors...
Therefore, Natalya and Katerina have looked at private houses in two villages, with plots, barns, and are hoping to save up money and buy them. “We are rural people,” says Merker, “we miss open spaces, cows and chickens...”. But I'm afraid to return. “Everything is different,” admits Burchard. “But everything is changing there too,” Merker interjects.
When she was little, she was afraid of movies about the Great Patriotic War, school fees, rulers, history lessons. “As soon as I hear the word “fascist,” I immediately feel a chill down my spine. It's like it's me. And when in Munich I saw how the Germans came out to demonstrations with posters “We love you, refugees!”, I again got a chill down my spine. Refugees terrorize them - blow them up, rape them, and German women take to the streets shouting: “Munich must be colored!” As soon as other Germans came out with the slogan “No to the Islamization of Germany!”, they were called “fascists.” And again, I am at one with the “fascists”, because I am Russian. I’m no stranger to this: here I was German, there I was Russian. But I don’t want my children to have a future in which they will be asked to be someone they don’t know in their homeland...
“We are running from refugees,” shares Katerina Burchard, “and from those who should try them for criminal offenses, but they judge us for lack of “tolerance.”
Katerina’s son is in the fifth grade, and she has two reports to the police and a threat from representatives of juvenile justice to “remove her son because of the mother’s inappropriate behavior.”
A mother almost fainted when her fourth-grader son returned from a sex education lesson with plasticine figures of genitals made on the instructions of the teachers. She's off to school. There they listened to her with restraint bordering on contempt, and showed her school curriculum. And the woman now goes every year to the “Demo fuer alle” demonstration against early sex classes at school. They started filing police reports against her and threatening to take her son away.
But Citizen Burchard also learns to despise with restraint: she does not allow her son to take sex lessons. She admits that she is most glad that “just in case” she gave birth to her son in Russia and granted him Russian citizenship. True, after the organizers of the “Demo fuer alle” action in Münster began to be judged, she became depressed. Her friends, Catholics from “Demo fuer alle”, emigrated to Canada and Moscow. And she looked at the village of Privalnoye in Siberia.
Summer at home
When summer approaches, Andrei Klippert from Bavarian Ludwigsburg asks his son and daughter: “Where are we going: to the sea or...?” “To Grandma Lena,” the children are noisy. And the family through Poland, Belarus and half of Russia in a BMW crossover, defiantly modest “wet asphalt” color, going to Azovo.
- Pa-ah, but we’re not leaving Ludwig, are we? Elon’s 12-year-old daughter asked while on the road this summer.
- For what? — Digging up his parents’ garden in Azovo, he tells me. — There is no such medicine as in Germany, and even at a preferential rate, in Russia. I won’t find a job here other than gardening. In Ludwig, before the sanctions, I assembled turbines for Russia at a factory. Then I was laid off, but at the company’s expense I received retraining and now work on a computer line for the distribution of cargo and mail in a large transport company. 2000 euros per month versus 10-14 thousand rubles for working at a post office in Omsk, cure nostalgia in the bud.
Although Elona's question took his father by surprise. He guessed that his daughter heard him phone conversation with her grandfather from Azov. At his son’s request, he looked after land plot and invited me to the show.
“I don’t have money for a house in Russia yet,” explains Klippert. “They think here that if we come here from Germany by car, then... The car is just a bonus, and it was taken on credit. I have no desire to move permanently. I am happy with my social home in Germany. And I came to Azov to look for something for the future for myself and my wife. Maybe we'll come back... Let the children decide for themselves. The daughter dreams of becoming a German swimming champion. She has the nickname “Torpedo”, she took second place in the competition of the state of Bavaria.
After a pause, Andrey adds that many in the Russian community are renewing their Russian passports. And almost everyone began teaching their children Russian again and visiting their relatives more often—to Tyumen, Saratov, Orenburg—for the summer.
“And no one will recognize our homeland,” he laughs. “We relaxed there, and if anything happens, we download our license.” And here everyone relies only on themselves. And not on “shuttle” tours, but on their own farms, cheese factories, breweries...
In Russian, they become poor because of large losses, but it’s clear that they got into the business really well... I bought eggs for the children at an ostrich farm in Tsvetnopolye to try. And here they have learned how to make such sausage, it’s tastier than in Germany. The house-building plant in Zvonarev Kut was not completed, and there are no more vacancies. In general, for retirement, I’ll buy a house in Azov.
I’m trying with all my might to “catch” Klippert: why does he call Germany home and Russia home? “My father is German, my mother is from Odessa, I am Siberian,” he laughs. - And Siberia, who is whose, simply finds out: “Why are you fighting?” - “I want to meet you.”
He is not offended that he does not look like a German. An ordinary Russian, just called German by fate. I threw it into Germany, but forgot my heart and head at home.
The full material “Goodbye, Germany” can be read at
Life in Germany seems calm and prosperous to many. Many ethnic Germans who lived in the post-Soviet republics moved to their homeland. However, recently some of them have decided to return to Russia. The settlers told why this is happening and what they don’t like about life in Germany.
Sergey Rukaber, moved from Karlsruhe to Crimea
Sergei lived in Germany for 18 years and returned to his homeland last summer. The man admits that he never considered Germany his homeland and thought about moving after the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
— In Germany all these years I didn’t feel at ease, a lot of things were just wild for me. For example, recently a sex education lesson has been introduced in schools starting from the first grade. They talk in detail about sexual minorities, everything is presented in the spirit that such relationships are normal.
Sergei said that his salary in Germany was not much different from his income in Russia due to high taxes. Now the man has opened an individual entrepreneur and is developing his own business. The only problem now is paperwork for the family. Sergei and his wife received a certificate large family, but do not receive benefits yet. Despite this, Sergei can breathe more calmly in Russia.
— In Germany, refugees have complete freedom of action. There was once a situation: I saw off my parents at the train station in Karlsruhe. I arrived in my personal car, while I was helping them carry their luggage to the train, some Arabs climbed into the car. I called the police, and they said to me: “Is it hard for you to take them?” You cannot beat migrants; in any conflict with them you will definitely be to blame.
Anton Klockhammer, moved to Tomsk
Anton lived in the city of Rendsburg for ten years and has been living in Russia for ten years. In Germany, Anton did not like the excessive calm and stability. According to him, the way of life in the country has not changed for decades.
— I was 20 years old, and I corresponded with Tomsk friends. Some of my peers have already held leadership positions, organized individual entrepreneurs, LLCs. My German friends continued to play the console at this age.
Anton spent nine months in the German army, where he communicated only with people from the former GDR. Mutual understanding was established with them almost immediately. Now the young man lives in Tomsk and occupies a leadership position.
— In material terms, living in Germany is better. Now I spend all day at work, I have 50 people under my command, and I earn three to four times the average salary in Tomsk. My classmates in Germany are not in charge of anything, they are responsible only for themselves, they have no higher education, they work as ordinary electricians and plumbers, but they receive the same two thousand euros. With this money you can easily take out a mortgage on a house.
Denis Schell, moved from Hannover to the Omsk region
Denis lived in Germany for almost 20 years, and two years ago he returned to Russia; life in his homeland is calmer. Now he is farming on his plot of land in the Omsk region.
— In Germany there are huge taxes on farming. I was there cleaning pigsties and chicken coops. I had my own company. The market is big, not everyone wants to work with Russians. I communicated mainly with the same immigrants, although I also had local acquaintances.
MOSCOW, June 25 - RIA Novosti, Igor Karmazin. A country of ideal roads and delicious beer, life in Germany seems orderly and prosperous. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans decided to move from the post-Soviet republics to the homeland of their ancestors. In recent years, however, a reverse trend has emerged - Germans are returning to Russia. The settlers told RIA Novosti about the reasons for their rejection of the German order.
Sergey Rukaber, Karlsruhe - Crimea
I left for Germany in 1999, lived there for 18 years, and we finally returned to Russia on July 31, 2017. Germany never became my homeland; I always kept in mind the possibility of moving again. The decisive factor was the reunification of the native Crimea with Russia.
In Germany all these years I did not feel at ease; many things were simply wild for me. For example, recently a sex education lesson has been introduced in schools starting from the first grade. They talk in detail about sexual minorities, everything is presented in the spirit that such relationships are normal. My daughter once returned home after school and asked: “What is it like when one aunt is with another aunt?” It turns out they taught lesbianism. I couldn’t answer, but went to complain to the school. I was told that failure to take this lesson would result in legal action with the police.
Many people think that making money in Germany is easier. Yes, my income was higher than what I have now, but my taxes were much higher. As a result, I now receive about the same amount in my hands as there. A typical story in Germany: you pay some tax, but at the end of the year it turns out that you paid little and still owe something to the state.
I had a transport company there. At first, things were going well, but after the 2008 crisis we were driven into very large debts. Here in Russia, I opened an individual entrepreneur and am doing my own business. I know how much I have to pay, no extra paperwork, no red tape. Communication with officials is kept to a minimum. In Germany, for 17 years, I learned the order, so here I immediately began to work legally - I registered, got formalized.
Communication between people in Germany is also different. I have no language barrier, I know German well. There are still acquaintances in Karlsruhe. There are a couple of families with whom we still keep in contact, we call each other via instant messengers and Skype. But most people communicate with you while they are looking you in the face. If you turn away, they are ready to devour you.
Constant complaints about neighbors are considered normal. At eight in the evening you should already sit at home, shut up and not move, under no circumstances make noise. But I can’t tell the children to freeze, because some stranger wants it that way. I told everyone: “Don’t like it? Go to a nursing home, you will have perfect silence there.” It was easier for me to pay a fine than to drill my children. After the first two complaints they simply warned us. The third time I received a fine of 50 euros.
At the same time, refugees have complete freedom of action. There was once a situation: I saw off my parents at the train station in Karlsruhe. I arrived in my personal car, while I was helping them carry their luggage to the train, some Arabs climbed into the car. I called the police, and they said to me: “Is it hard for you to take them?” You cannot beat migrants; in any conflict with them you will definitely be to blame.
In Russia I breathed more freely, but not everything is smooth here either. The main difficulty for my family now is paperwork. Locally in Crimea there are many incompetent officials who themselves do not know the laws or instructions. I have three children, so far we have been given a certificate for a large family, but we do not receive any benefits.
© Photo: from the personal archive of the Rukaber family
© Photo: from the personal archive of the Rukaber family
Anton Klockhammer, outskirts of Hamburg - Tomsk
I lived in the town of Rendsburg in northern Germany for ten years and have been in Russia for ten years. In Germany, life is very measured, you know in advance what will happen in five or 15 years. Pedantry is carried to the point of nausea. Perhaps in adulthood stability is more valued, but then I wanted more drive, freedom, lightness. I was 20 years old, and I corresponded with Tomsk friends. Some of my peers have already held leadership positions, organized individual entrepreneurs, LLCs. My German friends continued to play the console at this age.
In Germany there is no such clear division between private and public as we have here. For example, I once parked by the pool and sat in the car for a while. Not even a minute had passed when a German grandfather knocked on my windshield and demanded that I turn off the engine. According to him, I pollute nature. How do we reason in Russia? Of course, the first thought is: “What is your business?”
The relationships between people are also different. A typical incident took place at school. I didn't understand one question on the test. I decided to look at the problem from my bosom friend Denis. He noticed this and immediately complained to the teacher. We were seated and they reprimanded me. During recess, I approached him and tried to explain: “Look, I didn’t copy from you. I just didn’t understand the problem. You and I are friends. Why did you make such a fuss?” He answered, as usual: “Well, it’s impossible! You can’t write it off.” We could have quarreled, completely quarreled, but I saw that he sincerely did not understand my question.
I still managed to serve in the German army. For nine months, we went home on weekends. It turned out interesting there: we served and served, and in the end it turned out that everyone with whom I got along a good relationship, - immigrants from the former GDR. We understood each other perfectly, we had general concepts about mutual assistance, mutual assistance. Compared to conscripts from Germany, these guys had a very different sense of humor. In Germany the jokes are American and primitive. The funniest thing for them is if someone burped loudly, passed gas, or said something about someone else’s mother. The guys from the GDR had a more subtle, sharp humor, between the lines, with wordplay.
© Photo: from the personal archive of Anton Klockhammer
© Photo: from the personal archive of Anton Klockhammer
Although in material terms it is better to live in Germany. Now I spend all day at work, I have 50 people under my command, and I earn three to four times the average salary in Tomsk. My classmates in Germany do not manage anything, are responsible only for themselves, do not have a higher education, work as ordinary electricians, plumbers, but receive the same two thousand euros. With this money you can easily take out a mortgage on a house. Mortgages in Germany are much more affordable: the rate is two to three percent instead of our 12-13.
Denis Schell, Hanover - Omsk region
I lived in Germany for almost 20 years, but in July 2016 I returned to Russia. Over the two decades spent in Germany, I realized that my homeland is actually here. Here I feel free and calm. In Germany, he lived for a long time in the vicinity of Hannover.
I have my own plot of land, my own cattle in the village of Azovo, Omsk region. In Germany there are huge taxes on farming. I was there cleaning pigsties and chicken coops. I had my own company. In terms of cleanliness, Germany has much stricter requirements than ours. Even in a barn it should be as clean as a plate. The market is big, not everyone wants to work with Russians.
In general, there are a lot of prejudices towards immigrants from post-Soviet countries. I am an ethnic German, I graduated from school in Germany, I know the language well, and I got a profession. But from the first days they called me Russian there. “You can see Ivan from afar,” that’s the saying. I thought it would go away with time, but before I left, nothing changed. I communicated mainly with the same immigrants, although there were also local acquaintances. There are a lot of arrogant Germans, they don’t want to get along with the “Russlanddeutsche” (Germans from Russia - editor's note). I even partially understand them. Some immigrants do not behave very appropriately, work miracles, and do not take into account local orders. Trust and respect are lost.
Alexey Grunenwald, outskirts of Cologne - Crimea
I have lived in Germany since 1993, but I haven’t finally moved yet, I am busy processing Russian documents. We are such a people that we have neither a flag nor a homeland. In Kazakhstan we were fascists, although my ancestors moved back during the time of Catherine the Great. In Germany they consider us Russians. I thought that if they call me Russian, then I will go to them. I started thinking about moving to Russia after the annexation of Crimea. In 2015, we flew to the peninsula for the first time and tested the waters. In 2016, we bought property in the city of Saki.
In Germany I changed two professions. At first he was a realtor, then he started selling cars. The taxes there are simply extortionate - they rip you off like crazy. Large firms are still doing well, and small business It's hard to make ends meet. Extortions for literally everything. I was very surprised, for example, when I received a receipt for paying for the TV - 40 euros for three months.
All this rip-off is for only one reason - we need to feed the refugees something. They are resettled in every village, although they seem to be afraid of our Russians. One of my friends once stopped at an intersection that two Arabs were crossing. They stopped, approached the car and took thumbs on the throat. The man they knew showed his middle finger in response. A fight ensued. As a result, the police fined my friend five hundred euros, but left the migrants alone.
The aggressive propaganda of sexual minorities in Germany greatly irritated me. Some kind of gay pride parades are constantly held there, homosexuals show off their bare asses on the streets without embarrassment. I simply don’t have censorship words on this matter, but even children see it all! In kindergartens and schools they are told that a boy with a boy, a girl with a girl is normal. Many Germans, in fact, are also dissatisfied with this situation; it is not for nothing that in the last elections there were many votes from the “Alternative for Germany”, which is for family values and improved relations with Russia.
“Yes, I just love my homeland,” explains driver Anatoly Sidorenko ingenuously. “And I am my husband,” echoes his wife, paramedic Tatyana.
What prompted us to emigrate? - says Tanya. - I wanted to better life! After all, how we live: from paycheck to paycheck, which is not enough, let alone for a vacation - we can’t afford to go on a visit to the neighboring region! The money is spent only on feeding the children and putting them on shoes. The most basic thing, we can’t even dream of anything else, although we work hard both at work and on our farm: vegetable garden, livestock... And still we barely make ends meet! Moreover, everyone from our village was leaving for Germany at that time, so we decided: let’s try it! We tried... We were getting ready, our hearts were breaking. Don’t believe anyone who says that he doesn’t miss his native land. It's not true - everyone is bored! We watched Russian films via satellite - our souls sang and cried...
We were first settled in a camp. We studied German, and when the courses ended, we moved to rented apartment and lived on “social” benefits. Just compare the life of a German unemployed and a Russian hard worker in the countryside! Let's start with the basics - open the refrigerator. There we had cheeses, several types of sausages, yoghurts, juices, fruits, and meat. But here, can I afford all this for myself and my children? On weekends there are swings and carousels; those of us who have already found work there have the opportunity to go to the sea once a year. But in Russia, no matter how hard we work, we would never rise to such a standard of living...
And yet they returned...
My husband was the first to break down: he lasted only 8 months there. He simply said to me: “I want freedom!”, and I understood that he could not cope with the language barrier: neither he understood anyone, nor him. “I’m nobody here!” - speaks. And in our village he is a respected person. And after a year and a half, I left for my husband: it’s not right to break up a family.
I’ll give you a simple example,” explains Anatoly. “We sat up late one night, until 11 pm, with the guys in the kitchen, as we are used to: arguing, singing, opening our souls to each other. So one grandmother from the house went and knocked the police: they came, dispersed... I can’t do this! Here I go out on my bench, talk as much as I want, everyone understands me...
But this is not even the main thing, says Tatyana. - I’ll say something banal: one word - homeland. Why kid yourself that life is better here? No, living here is worse. But without her, without Russia, it is impossible. This is a state of mind that cannot be explained in dry words...
“I love my homeland - the way it is,” Anatoly picks up. - She raised me, taught me. I've lived here for so many years - I wouldn't change it for any other. And don’t ask why she needs my love. I’m not asking you why you love your mother... That’s how it is with me: it’s in my blood. And don’t look for reasonable explanations: there simply aren’t any.
The returnee's opinion
K. Severinov: “It was a challenge to myself”
Biologist Konstantin Severinov went to work in the USA in the 1990s, where he became a world-class scientist, received the title of professor and a laboratory at Rutgers University (New Jersey). But in 2005 he returned to Russia: he heads laboratories at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
I came back because I could afford it. A professorship in the USA brings me income, and my laboratory there works like a well-oiled machine. Everything is planned out for years in advance, which makes it even boring. Returning to Russia was a challenge to myself: could I create a normally functioning laboratory from scratch here, when favorable conditions for this, it would seem, no? I’ll tell you straight: doing science in Russia is not for the faint of heart. That is why there are so few “returnees” among our scientists. But teaching young people here, showing them what normal science is that meets world standards, is extremely interesting. The broader task is also interesting - to participate in the construction of modern Russian science. She's not worried right now better times. I like the phrase “civil position,” although it sounds pretentious. Someone must build Russian science.
When Soviet Germans emigrated to Germany in the 90s, it seemed to everyone that it was forever. Therefore, some looked at the German Bruno Reiter as a madman, and others as a traitor. In 1992, at the site of the deportation of Russian Germans in Siberia, he created the Azov German National Municipal District. Today Germans from Germany are returning there. From 5 to 9 thousand Germans a year leave Germany for Russia. Of these, up to three thousand people travel annually to Siberia - to Halbstadt in the Altai Territory and to Azov in the Omsk Region.
Bruno Reiter - Head of the Laboratory of Genetics, Siberian Research Institute Agriculture, founding father and first head of the national German district. Today he, the head of the Renaissance repatriation fund, travels between Omsk, Moscow and Berlin in the hope of finding a way out without “burning bridges.”
Bruno Reiter. Photo from the archives of the International Union of German Culture
Bruno Genrikhovich, why are the Germans returning?
250 years in Russia and about twenty-five years in Germany. What do you want?
...To hear from you an explanation: why did the reverse outflow of Germans from Germany to Russia begin?
It would be more correct to say that there is a tendency to leave. Don’t forget: almost two million left, and, according to various estimates, 100–140 thousand people returned. Here I would primarily include those who simply could not adapt to the new life in Germany. The Germans in the USSR mostly lived in villages. They left as the rural elite, bearers of the exemplary Soviet “Ordnung” in German, and there they moved to the cities and became marginalized. Not everyone will survive such a blow.
The second group of returnees is an unsustainable trend recent years. People do not accept the changes with the settlement of Germany by refugees from the Arab East, they do not accept the imposition of new standards of “European identity” on them, in which the role of traditional values - faith and family - is changing. They leave Germany, which they pictured in their imagination - forever stable, well-fed and safe. But she is no longer like that.
The third group is the same Russian factor. Nostalgia. Three birch trees in a field is not a joke. This is philosophy. Near those birches a man declared his love for the first time, kissed a girl for the first time. The third group is adjacent to the fourth – protest. In the 90s, many, almost more than half, left, no, rushed to Germany, under the pressure of emotions. There were several waves of them. Many who hesitated were knocked down by President Yeltsin’s mocking proposal to recreate German statehood - the Republic in the Volga region - not in the Saratov and Volgograd regions, where it was, but at a nuclear test site - in the Astrakhan semi-desert of Kapustin Yar. Resentment and emotions took over tens of thousands of people.
Finally, there were those who didn’t think: “Everyone is leaving, I’m like everyone else.” Now it's time for all these groups to reflect on the decision they once made.
We are the unit of measurement for the new globalization
Forest.media
About a year ago you said that up to forty percent of those who left are ready to return. Where does this figure come from?
The comeback trend is only gaining momentum. It is especially rocked by the same wave of protest. While it's accumulating. Those who, over decades of adaptation, have never adapted to life in Germany, like snails retreat into shells: they live in a narrow diaspora Russian-speaking world and unwittingly oppose themselves to the German linguistic and cultural space. They are the ones who return and will continue to return. According to our fund, there were up to 40 percent of them.
I don’t presume to say unequivocally, but recent events in the EU with refugees give an increase in those wishing to move to Russia over time by another 10-15 percent. And thus, we can talk about about half of those who want to return.
But there is a reinforced concrete “but”. The German mentality is such that, firstly, it is inconvenient to admit that you have made a mistake. Secondly, there is a national rule - “there are obligations.” But I’m not blind and I see, my brother, if they offer it, you’ll be the first to rush. There would be a place to live - a house or an apartment. Work isn't that important. The Germans, as always, will not be left without it. But housing... Many, if not most, displaced people are tied hand and foot by mortgage loans. I have heard more than once: “I’ll pay off the mortgage...” This implies that the housing will remain for one of the children, and the adults will return. Or people sell housing in Germany, and use the difference to buy an apartment in Russia and a small “business”.
There are more of the latter. They see prospects for doing business in Russia. I think that the future landscape of Russian-German relations will definitely be determined by these Russian Germans who left, those who did not leave, and those who hesitate. We are the unit of measurement for the new globalization. Or an element of the diffusion of globalization.
How do you respond to those in Germany who believe that Russians are returning because they do not accept a true German identity?
I have heard more than once that returnees do not recognize European German identity. This is an erroneous formulation. The point is not even that one can and should argue about key things - who and how preserves the root German identity.
We, Russian Germans, have preserved rare dialects of the German language; in Germany they died. We have preserved unique folklore and folk traditions, which are no longer available in Germany. Finally, we saved Plattdeutsch, a type of German. He died in Germany.
There, if we talk about the evolution of identity, we must admit that it is Americanized and unified precisely to the detriment of ethnicity, which, by the way, the Germans of the FRG are ashamed of. For example, your language. Therefore, I would argue about the nature and contribution to German identity. But it would be foolish to deny that Russian Germans do not have Russian identity. I’m telling you, 250 years is not enough to go on tour to your historical homeland.
We, Volga Germans, ended up in Siberia in the Azov region as repressed
Forest.media
Do many Russian Germans remain tourists in Germany?
They are afraid even to admit it to themselves, but they live with this feeling for years.
How did you come up with the idea of creating German autonomy in Siberia in the 90s, when Soviet Germans from Russia and the CIS were leaving en masse for Germany? Out of despair?
From the calculation. Simple arithmetic. If someone leaves, someone will definitely stay. We need a communication channel. It became the Azov German national municipal district of the Omsk region. Why not?
I don’t believe it’s so routine and...
The only way. You know, when before your eyes the idea of recreating German statehood on the Volga turns to dust, and you believed in it and wanted to go home, emotions... they help to perish, and we had to preserve the German ethnic group in Russia.
I have always been for the restoration of the German republic in the Volga region. I'm from the Volga myself. We, the Volga Germans, ended up in Siberia in the Azov region as repressed people. We were assigned to the village of Aleksandrovka, a 100 percent German village where voluntary settlers from the late 18th century lived. Everything was here German, customs and traditions are German.
We Volga Germans, of course, were a little different. We missed you. Grandfather and father often said: “At home it was home.” I grew up under the influence of myths and nostalgia for the unknown Volga. I dreamed of a republic in the Volga region, but in the 90s, when mass emigration began, I began to realize that we ourselves were reducing our chances of its revival.
How many Germans from Siberia could return to the Volga? We at the Vozrozhdenie Fund thought it was 6-7 percent. But what should the Siberian Germans do if they live compactly, but without any status against the backdrop of the mass departure of their own? Well, the question naturally arose: “Who, if not me?”
Azov, although founded by the Azov Cossacks, has been and remains German since the end of the 18th century
Forest.media
Why is it clear that you are a famous geneticist and politician whose voice is heard in both Moscow and Berlin, and why in Azov?
Azov, although founded by the Azov Cossacks, has been and remains German since the end of the 18th century. In 1959 I went to Soviet army from the Azov region, and returned in 1963 - our region was dismantled into five parts. The economies of other regions were consolidating, but German villages have always been economically strong, so they were thrown into “strengthening.”
The Azov region did not officially exist until 1991. When perestroika began, the question arose about its restoration within its previous boundaries. I realized that this was a chance to create German autonomy in Siberia. For the sake of this cause, he even left science and became a deputy. My argument is a fact. The German influence on the economy of the region and the Omsk region has always been clearly decisive: in the Omsk region for more than two hundred years, the Germans ranked second in population after the Russians. Today, however, is only the fifth.
In general, there was something to go to the podium with and argue for the idea of recreating the area. Almost all the deputies supported me except one. It was a German. He later even got me expelled from Revival. I was made a traitor to the idea of recreating German statehood on the Volga.
I still cannot accept this politicization. In pursuit of the ghost of a republic in the Volga region, it was possible to lose what we had, what we could get our hands on. After all, the creation of a national region, on the contrary, strengthened and is strengthening the compactness of the Germans in Siberia. Not only Germans from Germany are returning to us, but people are moving from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. These are good starting positions for the further process of development and reconstruction of statehood.
Is almost 30 percent not enough? This is the island of hope.
Forest.media
How does this fact make you feel? In the 90s, there were 67 percent of Germans in Azov, but only a little over 29 percent remained...
The right of the minority remains its right. Is almost 30 percent not enough? This is the island of hope. The national district, if it continues to grow with Germans from Germany and Kazakhstan, and with them German investments, may well take shape into a national district.
How risky is it for Moscow to raise the status of a German district to a national district if Germans live in both Germany and Russia? The new migration is taking such root that experts are talking about the dual loyalty of Russian Germans – both Germany and the Russian Federation.
There is no need to promote the idea of double loyalty. She is. The dual loyalty of Russian Germans is a necessity recognized by the people, but by the states - Germany and Russia. Half the people are there, half are here. This cannot be erased either from geography or from the soul. And most importantly, it is stupid and criminal to suppress these feelings. I await the wisdom of recognizing this need. After all, both Moscow and Berlin, no matter how they resist the new migration of Germans, are forced to accept it as a civilizational process, and not as a cost of adaptation or a way to influence bilateral relations.
