From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Germans of Kazakhstan
Germans of Kazakhstan
The Germans of Kazakhstan are a minority in Kaza- tion among the majority Kazakhs and calls for a similar
khstan, and make up a small percentage of the popula- autonomy among Kazakhstan’s Uyghurs the ruling Com-
tion. Today they live mostly in the northeastern part of munist Party scrapped the proposal for a German auton-
the country between the cities of Astana and Oskemen, omy within Kazakhstan.
the majority being urban dwellers.[1] Most of them are According to a 1989 census, more citizens of ethnic
descendants of Volga Germans, who were deported to the German origin lived in Kazakhstan, numbering 957,518,
Kazakh SSR (now the sovereign state of Kazakhstan) from or 5.8% of the total population, than in the whole of Rus-
the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic sia including Siberia (841,295).[2]
soon after the Nazi German Invasion during World War Due to the German right of return law that enables
II. Large portions of the community were imprisoned in ethnic Germans abroad who had been forcibly deported
the Soviet labor camp system. About one third of them to return to Germany, Volga Germans were able to im-
did not survive the labor camps.[citation needed] migrate to Germany after the dissolution of the Soviet
After the deportation, Volga Germans, as well as oth- Union.[3] But due to widespread abuse of the system and
er deported minorities, were subject to imposed cultural the lack of interest from the part of newly arrived immi-
assimilation into the Russian culture. The methods to grants to assimilate, the repatriation was stopped during
achieve that goal included the prohibition of public use the early 21st century. Russia has replaced Germany as
of the German language and education in German, the the major immigrant destination for German Kazakhsta-
abolition of German ethnic holidays and a prohibition on nis by 2009.[4] In 1999, there were 353,441 Germans in
their observance in public and a ban on relocation among Kazakhstan.
others. A small number of Germans had returned to Kaza-
Those measures had been enacted by Joseph Stalin, khstan from Germany during the last several years, un-
even though the Volga German community as a whole able to assimilate in to the German cultural sphere. The
was in no way affiliated with Nazi Germany, and Volga "Rebirth" organization, founded in 1989, handles cultural
Germans had been loyal citizens of the Russian Empire and community affairs of the ethnic German community.
and later the USSR for centuries. These restrictions end- Most Germans of Kazakhstan speak only Russian.
ed, however, during the "Khruschev Thaw". Most are followers of Protestantism.
Demographics
• Population: 178,000 (2009)
• Birth Rate: 21.81 per 1000 (2009)
• Death Rate: 11.90 per 1000 (2009)
• Natural Population Growth: +0.99% (2009)
• Migratory Population Growth: -1.18% (2009)[5]
References
[1] Assessment for Germans in Kazakhstan, The MAR
Project
[2] KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on ethnic Germans,
The German Theater in Almaty IRIN Asia
[3] Russian-Germans: Back to the Heimat,
A proposal in June 1979 called for a new German Au- kazakhstan.neweurasia.net
tonomous Republic within Kazakhstan, with a capital in [4] http://www.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/
Ereymentau. The proposal was aimed at addressing the Dem_Ezegod_2009%20CD.pdf
living conditions of the displaced Volga Germans. At the [5] http://www.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/
time, there were approximately 936,000 ethnic Germans Dem_Ezegod_2009%20CD.pdf
living in Kazakhstan, as the republic’s third largest ethnic [1] Assessment for Germans in Kazakhstan, The MAR
group. On June 16, 1979, demonstrators in Tselinograd Project
(Astana) protested this proposal. Fearing a negative reac-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Germans of Kazakhstan
[2] KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on ethnic Germans,
IRIN Asia
See also
[3] Russian-Germans: Back to the Heimat, • Demographics of Kazakhstan
kazakhstan.neweurasia.net • Population transfer in the Soviet Union
[4] http://www.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/ • German as a minority language
Dem_Ezegod_2009%20CD.pdf
[5] http://www.stat.kz/publishing/DocLib/
Dem_Ezegod_2009%20CD.pdf
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germans_of_Kazakhstan&oldid=452233899"
Categories:
• German diaspora
• Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan
• Russian and Soviet-German people
• People of Volga German descent
• Kazakhstan stubs
• Asian ethnic group stubs
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