Most Germans in Kazakhstan are the descendants of
Volga Germans, who were deported to the then Soviet republic of
Kazakhstan from the
Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic soon after the
Nazi German Invasion during
World War II. Large portions of the community were imprisoned in the
Soviet labor camp system. After the deportation, Volga Germans, as well as other deported minorities, were subject to imposed
cultural assimilation into the
Russian culture. The methods to achieve that goal included the prohibition of public use of the
German language and education in German, the abolition of German ethnic holidays and a prohibition on their observance in public and a ban on relocation among others. Those measures had been enacted by
Joseph Stalin, even though the Volga German community as a whole was in no way affiliated with
Nazi Germany, and Volga Germans had been loyal citizens of the
Russian Empire (and later the
Soviet Union) for centuries. These restrictions ended, however, during the "
Khrushchev Thaw". In 1972
, over 3
,500 German Russians sent a petition to Moscow again requesting an autonomous republic in the Volga regions. The government responded with an ad hoc committee to study this request. In 1976, the commission finally agreed to create an autonomous
oblast (county) in Northern Kazakhstan, centered in
Ereymentau, 140 kilometers from Tselinograd (Virgin Land City and capital of the virgin lands district). The district would be partially located in the “virgin lands,” which had already put 41.8 million hectares into agricultural production, although this area had been one of the least developed in Kazakhstan. The success of Khrushchev's agricultural focus was largely due to the labor of the ethnic Germans exiled there. This government proposal created much opposition in Kazakhstan from residents, including a public protest, a rarity in the Soviet Union; every effort was made to keep the demonstration secret. Local Communist Party leaders also strongly opposed the plan
, as it would diminish their authority in the Kazakh SSR. Ultimately, nothing came of the idea, which lacked support from even the German Russians, who tended to believe that reconstitution of the Volga Republic was the only way toward full rehabilitation and restoration of their rights. According to a 1989 census, more citizens of ethnic German origin lived in
Kazakhstan (numbering 957,518, or 5.8% of the total population) than in the whole of
Russia, including
Siberia (841,295). Due to the
German right of return law that enables ethnic Germans abroad who had been forcibly deported to return to
Germany, Volga Germans could immigrate to Germany after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But due to widespread abuse of the system and the lack of interest on the part of the heavily-
Russified newly arrived immigrants to assimilate, Germany tightened the policy during the early 21st century. By 2009, Russia had replaced Germany as the major immigrant destination for German Kazakhstanis. In 1999, there were 353,441 Germans remaining in Kazakhstan. A small number of Germans have returned to Kazakhstan from Germany during the last several years, unable to assimilate into the German cultural sphere. The
Rebirth organization, founded in 1989, handles cultural and community affairs of the ethnic German community. Most Germans of Kazakhstan speak only
Russian. Most were historically followers of
Protestantism, but some are Roman Catholic. Today many, possibly the majority, are irreligious. The heaviest concentrations of Germans in Kazakhstan can be found along the cities and villages in the Northern region, such as
Uspen,
Taran, and
Borodulikha. The 2021 Census revealed for the first time since the dissolution of the USSR, that the ethnic German population of Kazakhstan had increased to 226,092 from 178,409 in 2009. ==See also==