Volga Germans
The Volga Germans (German: Wolgadeutsche or Russlanddeutsche) are Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia, one of several groups of Germans in the Russian Empire.
Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain their German culture, language, traditions and churches. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Volga Germans emigrated the United States, as well as to Canada and South America (mainly Argentina, Chile and Brazil).
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 during World War II, the Soviet government considered the Volga Germans potential collaborators, and deported around half a million eastwards, where many died. After the war, the Soviet Union expelled many and in the late 1980s and 1990s, many of the remaining moved to Germany.
