Germans from Russia in Argentina

During 1762, Catharine II the Great inherits the throne in Russia. On July 22nd, 1763 a public declaration is made urging foreigners with a colonizing desire to settle in Russia. Their exemption from military service, freedom of worship, and right to have their own schools and speak their language were granted by the Czarina. Thus the first German colonists arrived in the Volga region. They succeeded in establishing a community with rights and prerogatives until 1860, when the Czar decided to cancel the previously obtained exemptions. This fact persuaded the colonists to search for new horizons. Many of them headed to the USA but a rather numerous group emigrated to southern Brazil. Their intention was to cultivate wheat, as they were doing since generations back in the Volga region. Sadly they found out that , despite its fertility, the soil wasn't propitious for wheat. Right after that, four representatives traveled to Buenos Aires, on August 1877, where they began negotiation with Bernardo de Irigoyen, at that time Minister of the Interior. They knew what they wanted and also knew the advantages that Argentina could offer to their needs.

The Government proposed to guarantee the immigration of 50000 people , the colonists ,on the other hand, asked for good soil in order to export their agricultural products. They asked, like their ancestors, exemption from military service, freedom of worship, and the installment of German schools. The contract soon proved to be definitive; the argentine Congress confirmed it by law. In this way 1100 Germans from Russia, from the Volga region, arrived to Argentina in 1878.

Despite some unpleasant circumstances, like when they were offered flood plains in the province of Santa Fe, positive results stood out. They established several agricultural colonies in Entre Ríos: Marienthal ( Valle María), Marienfeld, Köhler, Pfeifer. The founders of these villages were mostly catholics, but there was an evangelic settlement as well: Aldea Protestante.

Another group headed southwards and settled near Coronel Suárez, in the the province of Buenos Aires, founding the town of Hinojo that soon turned , like Marienthal in Entre Ríos, into a focus of irradiation of an active colonizing activity with a vast economic and territorial reach.

The fact that Argentina appears among the most important grain producers of the world is, in part, responsability of its citizens of Volga-German origin.

The immigration of Germans from Russia to Argentina kept a steady pace until the beginning of World War I . Crespo in Entre Ríos and Coronel Suárez in Buenos Aires became the most outstanding centers of colonization. At the present time, the descendants of these people live disseminated all over Argentina. The numerous progeny of the original founders and the division and distribution of their properties into smaller lots forced many of them to abandon the original colonization sites and find new occupations.

Despite the great difficulties that this community had to run through, the Germans from Russia descendants intend to keep their union by means of festivals and annual reunions .

 

Presencia Alemana en la Argentina - Manrique Zago Ediciones