Volk auf dem Weg (народ в пути): миграции российских немцев в фольклоре и литературном творчестве

Уральский исторический вестник. 2018. Т. 60. № 3. С. 57–65.

Kisser T.

The ethnic history of the Russian Germans is a story of long-term and regular migrations. Hence the
set expression “Volk auf dem Weg” (folk en route) which has become a metaphoric description of the
Russian Germans. The notion “folk en route” reflects, in addition to the numerous migrations of the
Russian Germans and their “mobile” way of life, also the ethno-cultural dynamics, the renovation of
the community. The Russian Germans who have always been a sedentary people were forced to assume
a “nomadic” way of life. Their relocations to the entirety new environments and living conditions
have found a vivid reflection in their folklore and literature, from which we can learn about the history
and the motivation for migrations. Descriptions of the journeys are full of geographic images with
the emphasis on the comparison between different places of residence. A Russian German during the
Soviet period was as a rule described as an exile who did not see any chance for salvation. The folklore
texts were filled with the greatest tragedy and collective suffering, while the literary works were often
based on autobiographic facts and thus were more reserved in style. The events most vividly described
in both the folklore and the literature were the largest in scale (both in terms of the number of people
and the distances involved) — the deportation from the Volga region and the emigration to Germany.
These events inspired the new forms of presentation as well as the new trends in literature.

Keywords: миграции, folklore, фольклор, Russian Germans, migrations, российские немцы