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Entries / Germans

Germans


Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups

GERMANS, an ethnic community forming a part of the St. Petersburg population. German language is related to the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. Their religion is Lutheran (amongst the St. Petersburg population up to 90%) and Catholic. Germans are the majority of the foreigners living in St. Petersburg. The German community was conceived at the same time as the city. Tsar Peter the Great invited German specialists to Russia, among many others. They consisted of artisans (from among these in the 19th century the most famous were the bakers), soldiers, civil servants, scholars, and doctors. The German community in St. Petersburg grew on account of the Germans in the Baltic states, as well as from immigrants from Germany, from the second half of the 18th century. From the second half of the 18th century there arose in St. Petersburg Province a German agricultural colony (on the territory of present day St. Petersburg - Grazhdanka, Vesely Poselok among others). In 1869 there were 45,600 Germans living in St. Petersburg. In 1910 - 47,400 settled mainly on Vasilievsky Ostrov and Admiralteiskaya (in the 18th century) and in the Kazanskaya suburbs. In 1710 the first German Lutheran Society of St. Peter was founded, in 1730 its church was consecrated (see Lutheran Church of St. Peter). Burials were mainly conducted at Smolenskoe and Volkovskoe Lutheran cemeteries. From the 18th century in St. Petersburg there was a German school (the oldest being - Peterschuhle, founded in 1710), in the 19th century - there were cultural and professional unions (for example, the Society of Artisans Palme). In 1728-1916 the German newspaper St. Petersburger Zeitung was produced (re-established in 1991), in the 19th and first third of the 20th centuries, there were other periodical publications. From the start of World War I (1914-18) in St. Petersburg German pogroms occurred. In the 1920s-30s, in Leningrad the German Cultural-Educational Society operated (1 Eighth Line, Vasilievsky Ostrov), as well as the German Museum Society (3 Мalaya Konyushennaya Street), the German House of Education (4 Yakubovicha Street), the German Pedagogical Technical School (74-76 Moika River Embankment), the German Department attached to the Leningrad Order of the Red Star State Pedagogical Institute in honour of А.I. Herzen, and other national organizations, liquidated in 1937-38. In March 1942 Leningrad Germans together with Finns were deported to Siberia (see ethnic deportations). In 1989 there were 3570 Germans living in St. Petersburg. In 1989 the German Society of St. Petersburg was established, in 1991 - St. Petersburg Society of German Culture, in 1993 -the German Cultural Society, involved in the preservation of traditions and German language. In the 1990s some Germans emigrated.

References: Немцы в России: Петерб. немцы: Сб. ст. СПб., 1999; 300 лет вместе: С.-Петербург и немцы в течение трех столетий / Сост. Г. Кнаппе, Е. Петровская. СПб., 2002.

A. Y. Chistyakov.

Persons
Herzen Alexander Ivanovich
Peter I, Emperor

Addresses
18th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Malaya Konyushennaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 76
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 74
Yakubovicha St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Веселый Поселок
Гражданка

Bibliographies
Немцы в России: Петерб. немцы: Сб. ст. СПб., 1999

The subject Index
Handicraft (overview)
Military Personnel
Civil Servants
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
St. Petrischule
Pedagogical University
Finns
Deportations, ethnic


Bourgeoisie

BOURGEOISIE, a social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population. The permanent inhabitants of the city did not consist of seasonal labourers or merchants

Civil Servants

CIVIL SERVANTS, a social-professional group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population, serving state institutions. In 1722 Emperor Peter the Great introduced a Table of Ranks

Foreigners in St. Petersburg (entry)

FOREIGNERS, from the 18th to the early 20th century, foreigners were an important element of the St. Petersburg population. Foreigners appeared in the city from the moment of its foundation

Intelligentsia

INTELLIGENTSIA, a social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population, individuals engaged in intellectual work and possessing high educational qualifications (subdivided into creative work, science, and manufacturing)

Merchants

MERCHANTS, a social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population, individuals engaged in trade and industrial activities. In the first half of the 18th century merchants came in among the "planted people

Nobles

NOBLES, a social group within the St. Petersburg population. Nobility was a strict class that was divided by inheritance, and those who had received their title by merit for service (without the right to pass on their title through inheritance)

Population (entry)

POPULATION of St. Petersburg is the second largest in the Russian Federation after Moscow. From the 18th to the start of the 20th centuries the population continually grew: in 1725 - 40,000 people, in 1750 - 74,000; in 1800 - 220,000; in 1818 - 386

Servants

SERVANTS, professional social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population, consisted mainly of peasants who came to the capital in search for work (see Otkhodniki), the smaller part was comprised of petty bourgeoisie