This past summer I gave the presentation “German Geography of the Russian Empire.” It explored the territorial growth of Imperial Russia & showed its significance to German settlement/migration across the empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here is the first in a series of posts from it.

Russian German history doesn’t often cover the history of Jewish agricultural colonies except in relation to Mennonites being model farmers in some of Jewish colonies. It was more complex than that.

More toponym changes in Ukraine were released in June 2025. This is a part of Ukraine’s ongoing de-communization, de-russification & standardization of state language of place names in the country. Because this project is a living document, changes are made to match name changes made by Ukraine.

Free SGGEE (Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe) convention coming up August 16-17. Virtual convention. Presentation details here: 2025sggee.blogspot.com Registration here: formsmarts.com/form/2f0j

Found a group of Volga Germans in EWZ files yesterday. I've not gone through them in any detaill, but I thought I'd share. www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/07/volg...

Have you ever wondered what the exact words were that ended the special privileges of the German colonists in 1871? I did. www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/06/4970...

“Whereof what’s past is prologue; what to come, in yours and my discharge.” No tsars, no emperors, #NoKings

“Whereof what’s past is prologue; what to come, in yours and my discharge.” #NoKings

On 10 June 1808, German colonists arrived in the Kutschurgan valley. On their 100th anniversary of the colonies, a Russian newspaper in Odessa, the Odessaer Zeitung, published a series of articles about each of 6 Catholic Mother colonies: Baden, Elsass, Kandel, Mannheim, Selz and Strassburg.

German, Mennonite, Separatist colonies in the Taurida province (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine today) in 1829 among the neighboring Nogai Tatars, Doukhobors, and Malokans. www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/06/1829...

A nice map and a few images of a handful of Volga colonies from a 1911 "Volksfreund Kalender." www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/05/1911...

The maps for South Russia and the Black Sea Region have been updated, including noting the former German colonies that are in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Bonus ethnographic map of Bessarabian, too.

A Ukrainian embroidered shirt isn’t just clothing — it’s an ancient code stitched in sacred symbols. 🧵 1/11 ⬇️

Exhibit: The Art of Making Do. Repurpose. Reuse. Recycle. German Russian immigrants were already applying today's sustainability principles to crafting in the 1800s. Nov. 12, 2024–Sep. 30, 2025 North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum youtu.be/lgXY5cVA1IM?...

Hello weekend! Time to do some Germans from Russia genealogy research. Have you checked out the growing list of Surnames with Confirmed Pre-Volga Origins on the The Volga Germans website? Find out where your Volga German ancestors came from. www.volgagermans.org/who-are-volg...

Documentary Premiere | Lawrence Welk: A North Dakota Farm Boy Saturday, May 31, 2025, 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum, East Boulevard Avenue, Bismarck, ND, USA prairiepublic.ticketbud.com/premiere-eve...

The Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE) has a brand new website. If your German ancestors hail from the former Russian provinces of Volhynia, Podolia, or Kyiv, this is a great place to start your research. sggee.org#/

Many thanks to AHSGR for hosting Treffen Tuesday and making the recordings available for rewatch.

The southwest krai was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until Poland was partitioned. Today the former region crosses the Ukrainian oblasts of Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr w/ small number in Odesa and Mykolaiv & Transnistria, Moldova.

The latest map updates have been posted. This focus this time was on the southwest krai and the former provinces of Volhynia, Podolia and Kiev. www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/04/map-...

I'll be presenting at the next AHSGR Treffen Tuesday. Register at the link below. ahsgr.org/event/treffe...

AHSGR Convention registration is now open.

In case you missed it, the March Treffen Tuesday rewatch has been posted. Migrations and Mobilities in Post-Soviet Eurasia with Dr. António Eduardo Mendonça. youtu.be/J2HNZXfp7uI

An excerpt from “History of the Diocese of Tyraspol,” a 15-part series that ran in the GRHS Heritage Review. www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2020/01/leav...

"Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future." Yes, please! Doing house cleaning and deadlink fixing on the blog this week, so good timing.

🔗 Websites vanish. Links break. But knowledge can live on with your help. Use the Wayback Machine’s Save Page Now tool to archive webpages that are important to you. 🕰️ 💾 📌 Try it now: web.archive.org/save

On this day, 11 March 1903, Lawrence Welk was born. If your ancestors were Kutschurganers from the Black Sea region, you stand a pretty good chance of being related to Welk. This group of colonies were all Catholic and intermarried for several decades. library.ndsu.edu/grhc/outreac...

Happy #InternationalWomensDay and #WomensHistoryMonth. www.glueckstal.net/research/gal...

Join us at the #iggpconference in Columbus, OH this June! Check out the agenda and speakers and get your tickets at iggp.org We and the Ohio chapter of PalAm are looking forward to welcoming you!! #germangenealogy

Railway maps to help trace your German ancestors' migration to Siberia, especially your Volga German ancestors.

Treffen Tuesday, March 25, 2025, free virtual presentation from the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. Read more about this event and register. ahsgr.org/event/treffe...

The Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS) 2025 Conference Program is announced and early-bird registration opened. I will be presenting two sessions this year. This conference is virtual. Program: feefhs.org/conference-2... Register: registration.feefhs.org

The frontline on the Black Sea Region & South Russia maps is updated. The red line cuts through the colonies and cuts off the eastern part of Ukraine including the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, parts of Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts, and the Republic of Crimea. bit.ly/GRAtlas-Blac...

Between 1766-1944, Germans lived in over 3,000 places within the borders of Ukraine, in the former imperial empires of Austria, Hungary & Russia. These places, whether or not they still exist, remain in the hearts of the descendants as one our ancestral homelands. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦🌻

Join APG on 2 March for a FREE webinar about the importance of the U.S. National Archives in our profession and how YOU can effectively engage with legislators to support archival access. Open to all; register at bit.ly/4hPJXRg. This presentation is underwritten by Civil War Records.

Map of the Kuban region & adjacent Black Sea province and part of the Sukhumi district. Compiled by the active member of the Kuban regional statistical committee N.S. Ivanenkov, assistant to the manager of the Kuban regional drawing office...drawn from November 10, 1900 to August 20, 1902.

Updates to the colony Markosowka in the Kuban region, North Caucasus. Contemporary sources including a map (1902) & 3 volumes (1906, 1909, 1910) that list place names all point to there being only one Markosowka, not two. Details 👇 www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2025/02/mark...

The Russo-Turkish wars of the 1700s in resulted in treaties that granted Russia free navigation of the Black Sea & Ottoman-controlled seas, including passage through the Bosphorus & Dardanelles straits. Land was also ceded to Russia along the north coast of the Black Sea from Azov to Odessa. 1/5

Tsar Alexander I invited colonists to settle around the Black Sea. Only capable agriculturists & artisans were accepted. Within 20 years, nearly 200 German colonies were settled with a population of over 51,000. #GermansFromRussia www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/2018/02/20-f...

I hope funding & support of Public Prairie continues. ND history & culture is too important to let "fly on its own." Seed money is needed for quality programming. No seed, no cultivation, no harvest, fields go fallow, & vanish into the rural landscape of the prairie that lawmakers presume to love.

Prairie Public "Prairie Churches" History & architectural traditions of 117 churches in Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota & South Dakota. Often the first community structure to be built & the last to close, these landmarks represent the hopes & dreams of early settlers. youtu.be/ZcfLSpJXo0w

Prairie Public "Prairie Crosses, Prairie Voices" Iron crosses stand as sentinels on the prairie landscape, framed by huge expanses of grass & sky. Though they stand silent, fashioned out of wagon-wheel rims & scrap metal, behind each one is a story. #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/yv46x-n34pk

Prairie Public "Childhood Memories: Germans from Russia" Germans from Russia children growing up in rural South Dakota during the Great Depression were no strangers to hard work and new education was their ticket to a better life. #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/euUbLaG2v7E

"Gutes Essen: Good Eating in German Russian Country" A celebration the food culture of the Germans from Russia who emigrated to south central North Dakota beginning in the 1880s. Recipes from GRs from South Russia, or the Black Sea region. #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/5HIY-lG23XY

Prairie Public "Recipes From Grandma's Kitchen Volume II" German-Russian cooks whip up more favorite recipes that speak to the proverb that "food is love." 1/2 #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/QfoJ6_Cf7CU

Prairie Public "Recipes From Grandma's Kitchen Volume I" The resourcefulness of the Russian-German cook is shown in the preparation of food. 1/2 #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/LYlbnPvqyQ4?...

Prairie Public “Women Behind the Plow” Insights of 19 women ranging in age from 15 to 92 on what it's like to be a woman involved in agriculture. #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/22ieRXm92f0

Prairie Public "Germans From Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie" (2000) Story of the agricultural pioneers whose quest for land & peace led them across several continents & shaped them into a distinctive & enduring ethnic group. #GermansFromRussia youtu.be/9vbKf9vyB9E