Caucasus Germans - North Caucasus

North Caucasus

The end of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) ensured Russia's expansion into the Caucasus and created a need in populating these lands with Russian subjects in order to hasten its exploration. In the late 18th century the government permitted families of Volga Germans to settle in Kuban. However poor infrastructure, lack of organization of the officials responsible for the settlement, and the refusal of the military personnel to have these lands populated by non-Russians were an obstacle to steady and constant migration of the Germans. By the late 1840s there were 5 German colonies in the North Caucasus. The migration waves (especially to Don Voisko Province) grew beginning in the second half of the 19th century with the capitalist influence on farming in Russia. Germans would immigrate not only from the regions adjacent to the Volga River but also from the Black Sea region and Germany. By the time of the October Revolution, there were over 200 German colonies in the North Caucasus; of those over 100 were in Rostov Oblast, 60 in Stavropol Krai and around 20 in Krasnodar Krai. In 1942 more than 160,000 Germans were deported from these entities as well as from elsewhere in the North Caucasus and the Don region (Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, North Ossetia, Dagestan, and Checheno-Ingushetia).

The majority of the Germans of this region adhered to various branches of Protestantism, most commonly Lutheranism, Mennonitism and Baptism. Roman Catholics formed a minority and lived in six colonies.