The Russian Germans under the Double Eagle and the Soviet Star:
Including a Pictorial History of Cities, Landscapes and People
By Bernd G. Längin
Translated by Jack Thiessen and Audrey Poetker.
Edited by Alex Herzog and Dr. Nancy Herzog.
Pictorial Documentation by Hanns-Michael Schindler.
Called by the Czars, banned by the Soviets, the Russian-Germans are well portrayed in this book with outstanding, dramatic historical black and white photographs. Bernd Längin blends these photo images with the important story about the various Germans from Russia ethnic groups.
The Russian Germans great contributions advanced the cause of the Russian Empire for 200 years. Twenty years later they became the driftwood of history. For some two million Russian-Germans the question of autonomy or immigration commenced with the onset of glasnost and perestroika.
Bernd Längin paints a picture of the rise and fall of a German minority under the Double Eagle and the Soviet Star. With an effectively unknown fate, a history is recalled before all traces of the German generations on the Volga, in Ukraine, in the Caucasus, Bessarabia, and Volhynia are completely obliterated.
Bernd G. Längin (1941 – 2008) was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. He spent much of his life in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His publications have appeared in German language magazines, Globus, and Merian Monatschefte. In 1988, Bernd Längin became a correspondent for CBC Radio Canada International. He had a deep interest about the heritage and culture of the Germans from Russia in the Dakotas. His dream was to see this book translated and published in the English language. The book is a wonderful tribute to his important work as a journalist and writer.
Längin had a particular interest in the Amish, Hutterites and Mennonite German communities. He wrote more than 24 books in his lifetime. He traveled the world many times and dedicated his life to the impact that leaving Europe and German in particular had on its many emigrants.
Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota, 2013, 134 pages, softcover.
