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In South Russia Our German ancestors began arriving in the Black Sea region, known as South Russia, in the early 1800s at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I. They lived there for almost 150 years, mostly in rural villages, fiercely holding onto their German identity. These former German villages are located in current day Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania.
Each geographic area has its own history and research record availability.
After South Russia
As the German
population grew and
additional farmland
became limited, many
of our ancestors
left South Russia.
Beginning in the
1880s, they headed
to the plains of the
U.S. and Canada, as
well as to South
America.
The 1917
Bolshevik Revolution
and subsequent
Stalinist government
resulted in many
ethnic Germans being
sent east to prison
camps in Siberia.
From 1940 to 1944,
those who remained
fled or were
resettled - first to
Poland, and then to
Germany.
Today, large
concentrations of
people with Black
Sea German roots
live in:
Before South Russia Our ancestors came to the Black Sea region as pioneers. War, lack of land, religious oppression, or political upheaval in their homelands resulted in them looking for better economic opportunities and new homes in the steppe lands of South Russia. They came from: