Coping with Baku - A Year of Discovery and Learning in a Former-Soviet Republic

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With the introduction of collective farms and the confiscation of land, members of other nationalities began to be introduced into villages that had previously been purely German. The outward aspect of the villages also changed. The stables were torn down; as a result, the houses became shorter in length. The long buildings for cows and horses appeared that now belonged to the collective and no longer to the individual farmer. The long, high, strawstacks in the farmyards disappeared. In place of the beautiful stone buildings of former times, small mud houses appeared, particularly at the ends of the villages.

The walls and fences, so carefully tended before, deteriorated. The collective triumphed over the individual. Only barely recognizable remnants of the former magnificence of the colonists' villages survived. After the Soviets had established their power in Russia, there was another stormy, but short upturn in the life of the German minority in spite of the famine of In the regular Soviet Congress accepted the constitution of the Autonomous Republic. Even in its first ten years, the Volga German Republic developed its industry and to a large extent mechanized agriculture.

The yields from the harvests rose from year to year. Coinciding with the growth and change in the economics of the Volga Republic the culture also began to unfold. The Republic of the Volga-Germans, that in the official Soviet publications of those years was very often called "Stalin's blooming garden", was one of the first Soviet republics that completely conquered illiteracy. In alone there were "country schools"; in there were primary schools and 23 middle schools, as well as a number of other educational establishments.

There were eleven technical schools, five colleges, three worker's institutions, twenty houses of culture, a German national theater and a children's theater. In the Republic more than 20 regional and five supra-regional newspapers appeared. Between and , German books were published, collectively about three million volumes. In the Volga Republic two-thirds of the inhabitants were German and had all of the characteristics of a nation. It was the center in which professionals were educated, not only those who lived there, but also people from the German volk groups in other regions of the USSR.

Everywhere in the Soviet Union that Germans settled in their closed communities, there was cultural and administrative autonomy German as the language of instruction in the schools, language of government and the law courts. At times, the Germans had nine German rayons and German language schools in the Ukraine. Beginning in the school year of the official language of instruction in all schools was changed to Russian or Ukrainian. At first the change only took place outside of the Volga German Republic but, by all German districts were dissolved.

The churches had already been closed in the period between Religious services were forbidden and most of the pastors and church sextons of all denominations had been arrested and deported. In this way, the Germans had already been robbed of all minority rights before the German-Soviet war [] and were helplessly abandoned to Russification.

The Germans had no problems living together with members of other ethnic and national peoples. Beginning in July, , within a very short time, the 45, Crimean Germans were "resettled" in central Asia. In this edict the Russian-Germans were accused of actively supporting the German troops.

The men were separated from their families; above all, the aged, children and the sick died. The Volga-German Republic was dissolved. A total of , Germans were deported, in fact more than , of them, whether by choice or by coercion, lived in the Asian part of the USSR. There the women and their children were settled in scattered makeshift shelters and placed under the strict oversight of the state security apparatus Spezkomendatura.

The men between ages 15 and 60, and women who had no children under the age of three, were placed in the "Trud Army," where they were treated as "enemies of the state" and "betrayers of the fatherland. The conditions under which the members of the Trud Army were forced to live and labor resembled in their inhumanity those of a penal prison camp.

On their way to work the workers were accompanied by soldiers who had strict orders to use their guns based on the least suspicion. In the camp itself the will of any of the guards was law. The German word "Fritz" was used in the standard Soviet colloquial to mean"enemy" or "Fascist. Under these difficult circumstances, crammed together in camps, the members of the Trud Army died in huge numbers from cold, starvation, hard labor, and emotional despair.

The Trud Army camp was finally dissolved some time after the war. Because of the speedy advance of the German troops [in the summer of ] some of the Russian-Germans were spared this tragic fate for a short time. They were under German and Russian occupation. In , , Black Sea Germans were resettled from the region between the Dnieper River and the Dniester River into the Wartheland and from there in part to Germany. Almost all of them acquired German citizenship of their own free will. At the entry of the Red Army into Germany , Russian-Germans were transported to the USSR, where "because of betrayal of the socialist homeland" they were sentenced to a lifelong ban and forced labor.

As "traitors" they were treated much more harshly than the Germans who had been deported earlier in Also, a special commandant's headquarters were set up for them, where those "banned" had to report regularly. The commanding officers enjoyed rights of the kind enjoyed by estate owners during the time of Russian serfdom. For visiting a neighboring village without the permission of the commandant, one received ten days arrest. For a trip that crossed the border of the region the penalty was up to 20 years in prison. Women labored as woodcutters in the primeval forests in the north, as laborers in the mines of the Urals and the coal-mines beyond the Arctic Circle.

They were fed pitiful bread rations of grams per day. The camps were characterized by starving children, bitter cold, hunger, and deprivation. There was no hope at all for release. Under these conditions, considerable part of this generation of the Germans in Russia perished ca. After nothing was heard of the plight of Germans still remaining in the Soviet Union.

Neither in newspapers, magazines or books were they written about, nor were they spoken of in speeches or radio broadcasts. There was no correspondence with relatives in the West. The Germans were forced to sign a declaration in which they committed themselves never to return to their former regions and to make no claims to their confiscated property.

About , Germans petitioned the German Embassy in Moscow, but they were not allowed to emigrate. In spite of this, the amnesty improved the lot of most Germans in the Soviet Union. Many moved to the south, to warmer regions. None of them were allowed to contact the Red Cross to begin their search for relatives and friends, whom they had been separated from in the Soviet Union and Germany for the last ten to fifteen years.

Again, there were German newspapers in the Altai, "Neues Leben" in Moscow , radio broadcasts Moscow in , Kazachstan in , Kirghis in In a decree was publicized allowing German instruction in the mother tongue however, only in Kazachstan; more than 1 million Germans lived in other republics. In Pastor Bachmann was allowed to register a Lutheran congregation in Zelinograd. Lutherans and Mennonites made the first contacts with their fellow believers in the West and the Catholics soon closed ranks. According to the [Soviet] Census of , there were 1,, Germans [living in the Soviet Union] but their distribution among the republics remained a secret.

It was later found that , Germans lived in the Russian Republic in In the same year , Germans lived Kazakstan, and a combined population of 91, lived in the republics of Kirghis, Tadzikistan and Uzbekistan.. The decade of the sixties arrived and with it the so-called "thaw" [in Soviet and Western relations] that gave hope to many people in the Soviet Union which, as it later developed, were groundless.

Even for the Germans things finally seemed to have changed: On after 23 years, almost exactly to the day! The little that had been promised in the edict of was in reality either not carried out, not carried out immediately, or not carried out completely. The Germans' demand for the restoration of their autonomous republic was interpreted as nationalism.

The political rehabilitation of the Volga Germans and of practically all of the Germans in the Soviet Union was presumably planned by [Soviet Premier] Kruschchev as a conciliatory gesture towards the Federal Republic of Germany. The Russian-Germans had first heard the news of their rehabilitation from "Neues Deutschland" East Berlin and protested the fact that the edict had not been published in the Soviet press. It would be wrong to believe that the Germans initially put their hands in their laps and then threw themselves head over heels into emigrating to the West.

They tried to work against Russification, to further develop their own language and culture. Immediately after the rehabilitation of , the movement for the restoration of German autonomy was set into motion. Petitions to the Soviet government were drawn up, signatures collected, delegations put together and sent to the Kremlin in Moscow. Whereas the delegation of 13 women and men in , had collected signatures demanding autonomy which in the opinion of their opposite numbers was not sufficient , the second delegation, that made the trip to the Soviet metropolis less than six months later, was able to supply 4, signatures.

They claimed to speak for more than one million Germans. They asked for a return to the Volga, easing of cultural restrictions and proportional representation in the Supreme Soviet. However, even a third delegation of the Germans that called at the Kremlin had to return without success; they received a hearing, however, their demands produced no results. Mikoyan, who received the delegation of the Germans on June 7, " We cannot restore the republic now. That is beset with great difficulties We need the Germans in the new region, Kazakstan, and in the coal mines in Karaganda Not everything that has happened in history can be restored You are Soviet citizens and have the right to newspapers, schools We cannot, in the present situation, manage the restoration of the autonomous republic, because that is connected with an immense economic cost, but we will accommodate the Germans in their cultural needs German schools, whose founding in Kazakstan was authorized by an order of "at the wish of the parents" if there were enough pupils, were not forthcoming.

There were some schools in the cities in which German as mother-tongue was offered two or three hours a week to one or two groups outside of the normal school day. The acute shortage of teachers and text books contributed to the fact that, German as a subject, was frequently removed from the schedule. In many cases young German teachers, who had been trained for German instruction in the mother-tongue were utilized to teach German as a foreign language at Russian or Kazakstan schools.

Therefore, from the beginning, the participation of German children instruction in their mother-tongue was minor because of the lack of motivation; in succeeding years it decreased even farther. According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture in Kazakstan, of the more than , Germans in Kazakstan in , only groups, totaling 16, children were receiving instruction in German. At that time, the children of the Russian-Germans, if they spoke German at all, spoke only the local dialect learned from their parents. Since several dozen books written in German have appeared from the publishers "Progress" in Moscow and "Kazachstan" in Alma-Ata, that are not in great demand because of their mostly political content or too small a number of copies were printed of editions which quickly became out-of-print.

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No printed matter was allowed to be imported from the Federal Republic [West Germany]. Aside from the language difficulties, the content of these newspapers, overloaded with ideology, and often a translation from Pravda , were not very interesting for the German population.

Even so, this reading material was informative in one respect; in the pages dedicated to the problems of the Germans, the sharp-eyed reader discovered a deeply shocking indirect admission of the actual situation of the Germans in the USSR with their "equal rights. That was proof that, in spite of the highly-touted equality of opportunity, the Germans in the USSR were reduced to being a laboring and farming people. Thread-bare excuses were often used to keep young men and women descent from matriculating. In spite of the partial rehabilitation of , the Germans had to remain in the areas to where they had been expelled.

Even into the 's the moral heritage of the German-Soviet war of weighed upon them. It was not easy for them to get ahead in a country in which "Njemez" , a weakened variation of the notorious term "The ugly German", had become the personification of all things evil and the synonym for "fascist. German-language newspapers, such as "Neues Leben" and "Freundschaft" now "Deutsche Allgemeine Zeiting" and the few German-language radio and television broadcasts, could scarcely dare to criticize the politics of state and party.

German churches were subjected to considerable difficulties when they tried to register their congregations. Instruction in the mother-tongue stagnated or in many places retreated, due to a lack of teachers and textbooks. The efforts to achieve autonomy after had been unsuccessful. For them they were only "Soviet citizens of German nationality. The West German government was also repeatedly challenged to do so by the German Bundestag; but at the same time their hands were tied, because the Soviet government considered every attempt to provide aid for the Russian-Germans an interfere in their internal affairs.

Thus, downgraded to being a marginal group in Soviet society, the Russian-Germans saw only one way out of their desperate situation, emigration to Germany [Federal Republic], the ancient homeland of their forefathers. During the years to only 3, Russian-German families received permission to emigrate. Even so, the number of permissions rose only slowly or at times actually fell, while the requests to emigrate piled up at the Red Cross by the hundreds of thousands.

Whoever received permission to emigrate was overjoyed, but, the large number of those who had to remain behind were bitterly disappointed. They were happy for their countrymen yet envied them at the same time. Who still remembers what things were like in those days? For the Russian-Germans, reaching Germany was the goal of their dreams. On this dream they staked everything; profession, future, health, livelihood, even the little freedom that one possesses in a totalitarian state. Because of their openly expressed wish to emigrate, Germans began what became a sort of living hell for them; loss of jobs, harassment in the workplace and school, not being allowed to register with the police in another location, confiscation of property and houses, house searches and arrest while petitioning the authorities, to mention just a few obstacles.

Worse still was the moral side, the atmosphere of general condemnation and rejection that was artificially aroused against those desiring to emigrate. Is it possible for someone in the free West to understand the torments of a person who was labeled a "criminal" and forced to live as a criminal only because he attempted to make use of his legitimate right to emigrate? And can anyone here really understand how a Russian-German lived and felt after already spending 30 years since ! Can we in the West really understand how someone like Johann Wagner from the Modavian city of Tiraspol, had for years been tossed back and forth between hope and despair, and then finally delivered up to the whims of the bureaucracy?

That quiet, taciturn and hard-working man, who was the head of a large family was actually found guilty of being a "parasite" simply because of his dogged efforts to emigrate! Later, however, he was freed on grounds of "insufficient evidence. The Germans inside the Soviet Union were at the mercy of the authorities even though they relied upon the Soviet laws, the Constitution, the Charter of Human Rights, and the Helsinki Accords. They also cited the "International Pact concerning Civil and Political rights" of adopted by the United Nations and signed and ratified by the Soviet Union.

The official representatives countered: If we want to, we will let you out, if not, then you will just stay here. The usual formula for rejection was: As you have only distant relatives in [West] Germany, you do not fit into the category of family reunification. That was really a complicated subject, this notorious "Family reunification Soviet style" which was impossible to reconcile with logic or sound common sense. Who is related to whom, was decided by the local authorities on their own responsibility, there was no uniform regulation on this subject.

Thus, for example, some brothers and sisters often within the same family , came under the rubrik "distant relatives", others, however, were considered to be "close relatives" and the decision was then made accordingly. There are many such dissonances. The following are several examples:. Because of the wartime situation in , Alois Steiert was separated from his family, a wife and four children.

Herr Steiert, who had lived in Germany since the end of the war, was not able to achieve family reunification until , but without his children. The son, Peter Steiert from Duschanbe commented: I grew up without a father and would finally like to get to know him, to find out what it means to have a father. Why does the state rob me of this right? Another example is Frau Zilke who in her efforts to emigrate in had to leave two of her ten children behind.

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In one of her petitions the despairing mother wrote: When she applied to the passport office in Tokmak Kirghis , to get permission for her husband, Herr Seidel, to emigrate also, she was told: But Viktor Zilke and his sister, Olga Seidel, nee Zilke, remained separated from their family through the arbitrary use of Soviet power and force. The authorities devised various harassments that sometimes verged on the grotesque; emigration forms were given out in limited numbers at restricted times.

For example, one could only pick up the forms with one's supervisor at the workplace. But Olga Breitkreuz from this town was a housewife; therefore she had no supervisor, and as a result did not receive any forms and could not prepare an emigration application. Some dared to protest publicly.

On March 31, a group even demonstrated in Moscow's Red Square, carrying banners on which they conspicuously demanded permission to emigrate. The militia led them away, the episode appeared in the foreign news, but the situation remained the same. The issue concerning immigration and emigration did not change until the law of January 1, Indeed, at first only relatives of the first degree could emigrate in the context of family reunification, but the authorization procedure became more liberal and more generous. Those who were driven out were "settled" in outlying areas east of the Ural Mountains.

And even though there are still some closed settlements in Omsk, Altai, Barnaul and Kirghis the overwhelming majority of the Russian-Germans are widely scattered among Russians in Siberia, Kazakstan and central Asia and among Kazachs, Kirghisi, Usbecks, Turkomen, Tadzhikis and other ethnic peoples.

How Azerbaijan's dictator woos the United States and Europe.

According to the census about two million Germans live in the former Soviet Union. In reality this number is probably considerably larger, because at the time the census was taken there was still a personal risk in acknowledging oneself to be German. That was particularly true in the case of mixed marriages. During the past two decades a slow migration of individual families or smaller groups has taken place into the republics west of the Urals, so that an estimated ,, Russian-Germans have again settled in that region.

The others live as before in the areas to which they have been expelled. Because of the changed political situation in the republics of central Asia after the dissolution of the USSR, Germans who do not wish to immigrate to [re-unified] Germany are moving into the newly constituted German national districts Altai and Asowo.

According to the latest information, at the end of these numbered about , This migration appears to be continuing. According to the census of , , In the number grew to , Male Russian-Germans are particularly numerous in the cities, especially those of the younger generation. The Germans in the city are less likely than those in rural areas to report German as their mother tongue. The pressure to assimilate is therefore, considerably stronger in the city. In places where the Germans lived in closed settlements before World War II there were national governmental units such as the German Republic on the Volga, 16 German rayons districts and German Soviets communities with their own government, judicial system and instructional language.

In the years following the decree of which partially rehabilitating the Germans, the Russian- Germans initially gave up their efforts for the restoration of their own state, and solely concentrated on emigrating to the Federal Republic of Germany. But the Soviet government had an extremely restrictive attitude towards the Russian-Germans and gave out very few permissions to emigrate; the low point was Therefore, the discussion for autonomy of the Germans did not arise again until the beginning of the democratization process in the second half of the 's.

In order to give more force to their demands the Germans organized themselves. Three social organizations were created which today are called:. Under the leadership of " Wiedergeburt ," the largest association of Russian-Germans which increased its membership to , Three congresses of Russian-Germans were held between , at which approxiately l, delegates from all parts of the Soviet Union or Community of Independent States CIS participated..

After a long struggle over a common program, today all three organizations have the same two goals: At the third Congress in February, , it was decided to hold a national referendum and to elect a Volkstag as a preliminary parliament of the Russian-Germans cf. In the meantime there were some successes in the question of autonomy. Two German districts were formed: The Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, ordered the founding of a German district and a German county Okrug in the areas of Saratov and Volgograd, but without further designating their borders and without any orders for carrying this out.

That appears to be simply a promise cf. The German federal government supports the Russian-Germans in all of their efforts to achieve autonomy. In July, , Germany and Russia signed a mutual protocol concerning the restoration of the Volga Republic in stages years. A German-Russian and a German-Ukrainian governmental commission were founded, that are responsible for all concerns of the Russian-Germans.

The Russian-Germans associations cooperate with the commissions.. As the most recent results of this consultation, three regions were designated to be the first to be supported: The founding of more German districts was demanded by the Germans. As long as the Volga German Republic is not restored as the cultural center for all Russian-Germans in the former Soviet Union, it is uncertain whether the number of Germans preferring to emigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany will decline.

Although knowledge about the Russian-Germans in all parts of the former Soviet Union is alarmingly full of gaps, the Germans in the nations of the Community of Independent States CIS , with few exceptions, are today no longer subject to official discrimination. Occasionally, in some places, old prejudices are expressed towards them by members of non-German groups.

But officially they are encouraged to stay where they are, or they are invited with grand promises to settle in other republics, regions and cities. Usually some financial support from Germany is expected in connection with this. In spite of this the number of Russian-Germans wanting to emigrate does not decrease.

There are many different reasons for this desire. In the nations of the CIS, for example, the democratization process is proceeding very slowly. A judicially enforceable guaranty of the right to the restoration of their own sovereignty does not yet exist. And the Russian-Germans, after decades of discrimination and persecution, are very distrustful of all governmental promises. The most recent occurrences in Moscow and in the Russian Federation have awakened new fears. In addition there is the fear that the Islamic fundamentalism that is expanding in many parts of the world could one day go too far, producing conditions like civil war, as in Tadzikistan.

The instability of political conditions in the nations of the CIS and their coalescing national self-interest are creating additional fears for the future. Also, the introduction of the language of the nominal nation as the official language in the central Asiatic republics has brought new concerns: In addition to the Russian language, all citizens, if they wish to hold their own in the future, have to learn the official language.

Thus, the mother-tongue of the Germans is pushed even further into the background. Today, five years later, this percentage will likely have sunk further still. The most important reason for this is that even today, no German schools of the pre-war kind exist. There is only a sporadic offering of instruction of the German language as a regular subject and then only in the lower grades.

Often it rests solely on the hiring of the oddly qualified teacher. In addition , professional instruction in German as mother-tongue MUD is in an unsatisfactory condition. Properly trained teachers are lacking, there are no long-range instructional plans, and proper textbooks and teaching materials are absent.

Instruction in German as a foreign language cannot fill the gap, as at most [Russian Federation] schools the only foreign language taught is English. In addition, English is not, of course, in a position to replace German as the mother-tongue. Since no German schools have existed since the period between , a Russian-German already at retirement age, for example, has been unable to receive any regular instruction in German. In spite of this, German is still spoken in many families today, mostly in the dialect of their forefathers, if parents or grandparents were able to pass it on.

That is why the Russian-Germans are very concerned about regaining and maintaining their ethnic traditions. As with all plans for the future, they set their hopes above all on help from [Federal Republic] Germany or they choose emigration. Those officials of the Federal Republic's Ministry of the Interior who are responsible for immigration, promote German instruction of the mother-tongue in [Russian Federation] kindergartens and schools. The Ministry contributes millions of [Deutsch Marks] for sending German teachers and language consultants, as well as supplying teaching and learning materials.

Effective help is also being provided by the Federal Republic for the founding, furnishing and continuing support of German cultural centers inside the former Soviet Union. Existing establishments and new settlements are being sponsored; the German rayons Asowo and Halbstadt are being assisted in the build-up of their administration and in the completion of their infrastructure through financial subsidies and the sending of consultants. In spite of this, large deficits remain. The German-Russians happily accept this support and are grateful for it.

Whether this will reduce the number of emigrants in the long run will also depend on the larger political and economic development in the components of the Community of Independent States. Due to the change in course of Soviet policies in the s as a result of Gorbachev's "Perestroika" and "Glasnost" and from the pressure of world opinion, the government of the former Soviet Union was no longer able to ignore obligations entered into by treaty under the framework of international agreements for the protection of human rights.

The Russian-Germans, who had already been waiting for many years for permission to emigrate, especially profited from these changes. After the "Law Concerning Immigration and Emigration" became effective on January 1, , the approval system was loosened step by step and the numbers of emigrants began rosing slowly in There were 14,; in , 47,; in , 98,; in , ,; in , , and in , , In the number is expected to be about , Admission of the Russian-German emigrants is embodied in a series of laws. At first, the procedure was regulated according to Article With the increase in the number of Russian-German emigrants extending into the hundreds of thousands, restrictions and reductions in benefits were gradually introduced.

For example, late applicants could only send their applications from their country of origin, and after their arrival it is only under certain circumstances that they would be allowed to freely choose their place of residence in Germany. The War Results Adjustment Act, which took effect on January 1, , in addition to a series of deletions and restrictions of benefits and rights, set an annual quota for the admission of late emigrants, ca. The considerable reduction in the benefits and rights of the later emigrants is very difficult and painful for those concerned.

In spite of the hardships that they are being asked to endure, and against which the Landsmannschaft has taken a decided stand during the legislative process, in justice, one should not overlook the fact that the law has been clarified in various ways. The approximately two million Russian-Germans still living in the countries of the CIS can now be certain that legal return to Germany will be on a fairly long-term basis, and that the rules for admittance have been stated in unambiguous and concrete terms.

Other than that, the public discussion about if, and how, latecomers to Germany should be admitted has been considerably reduced in its shrillness and in general has greatly subsided. Those later Russian-German emigrants arrived in Germany with great expectations. After the fulfillment of a decades-long dream of being finally able to immigrate to the home of their forefathers, they are overjoyed to step onto German soil.

It was difficult for them to make the decision to abandon relatives, friends and colleagues, property acquired through years of hard work and savings, their houses, furnishings and automobiles. Still, they make these great sacrifices to live in freedom as "Germans among Germans," to make it possible for their children to attend German schools, to make a new life for themselves and their families. Therefore, they want to work and adapt themselves to their new circumstances. They want to become German citizens as quickly as possible and aspire to speedy integration.

However, they resist giving up their identity, as they consider themselves to be a nation molded by a hard fate, which does not seek any kind of favor, but requires only an acknowledgement of its particular nature, singularity and culture. The process of inclusion requires time, integration must evolve.

That is particularly true for the middle and older generations; it is easier for the young people. In general, it is not realistic to expect patterns of behavior from new immigrants that ought only to be found at the end of this inegration process. The Russian-Germans have their own values, which they desire to maintain. In the years of persecution and deportation their belief in a "higher justice" was the only thing that they could hold on to; that gave them hope. For that reason, the generation that particularly experienced these injustices still hold fast to their religious beliefs today.

A highly developed sense of family, including the extended family, customs and usages from long ago, readiness to help neighbors, frugality, diligence and industry are all ethnic qualities of their particular nature rooted in their combined German cultural history. Through their ethnic particularities maintained for centuries, they increase the diversity of modern German culture.

The Russian-Germans revive long-forgotten cultural values, customs, songs and dialects and bring them back into the combined German consciousness. One should not ignore the fact that the Russian-Germans have lived together peacefully and as good neighbors with other national groups. Because of their suffering under the Bolscheviki dictatorship, they turn aside every strain of political radicalism, whether of the right or the left. The Russian-Germans have prerequisites for becoming a bridge to the Russians, Ukrainians, Kazachstani and other peoples of the Community of Independent States.

Beyond that, they are an economic asset for modern Germany. For example, among the indigenous population of Germany, the age group from birth to 20 years make up Thus the [comparatively younger population] of emigrants will contribute to the long-range security of pensions and annuities. The large consumption needs of the immigrant arriving with one suitcase are a considerable addition to the German retail economy.

Therefore, the later Russian-German emigrants are not only consumers, but also producers. They desire no exaggerated sympathy or charity, but are thankful for self-help. Whenever the Russian Germans are openly or behind their backs referred to as "economic refugees," or accused of receiving "pensions at our expense," it affects them deeply. Everyone knows that the pensions are paid from current contributions to the social insurance [in the Federal Republic] includes working Russian-Germans.

It is equally depressing when they are blamed for being partially responsible for the German shortage of housing and jobs, as they are satisfied with comparatively small dwellings and are happy if they get any job at all, even if it is beneath their professional qualifications. For them the most important thing is that they are finally living in Germany. They, however, react with the utmost sensitivity when they are accused of "not being Germans at all, because they do not even speak German.

In addition, their lack of German language skills can be explained by the fact that since there have been no German schools [in the former Soviet Union]. While the churches, private charitable organizations, and many individuals are assisting the later emigrants in an exemplary fashion, these and similar misunderstandings put a strain on the relationship between the "natives" and one million Russian-German emigrants who live in Germany. They are essentially victims resulting from widespread ignorance of the history and fate of the Russian-Germans, the only group of German people collectively denied their human rights for decades.

The German federal government through its own measures and financial support of suitable projects has made strenuous efforts to erase this deficit. The churches are also doing a good job enlightening people and spreading information. It would also be very welcome change if Russian-German themes were more emphasized in teaching and programs in the schools, in adult education and higher education, in the media, in publications and in trade unions and employer associations, organizations and municipalities. It should generally be made public, that the Russian-Germans today are still suffering from the consequences of deportation and discrimination for which they are not to blame.

Germany has a historical duty to care for them, because the history of the Russian-German people is a part of German history. Of the , Germans from Russia that made it to the Wartheland and farther to the West during the the Second World War, , of them were "forcibly repatriated. About 30, Russian-Germans emigrated from West Germany during the years for economic reasons and out of fear of Soviet oppression. The remaining intimidated minority of 70, persons nevertheless created their own representation. For safety and political reasons this was called "Worker's Community of Resettlers from the East" and was built up under the protection of the churches.

The Landsmannschaft is a registered organization based in Stuttgart, whose contribution to the public welfare is acknowledged. It utilizes many volunteer workers and has a small staff of full-time employees; it supports state groups in the states of the Federal Republic and more than city and district groups. It devotes itself to the material, cultural and social integration of the late emigrants in the Federal Republic of Germany through cooperation in the production of a social framework for the emigrants.

The Landmannschaft also provides education and offers legal assistance for those concerned.. It pursues and promotes research into the history, the culture, and the present situation of the German minority in the Community of Independent States CIS and brings the results to the attention of the public by means of the media, politicians, scientists and associations. It does this through its monthly journal, "Volk auf dem Weg" since and by means of a number of publications.

In the Cultural Council of the Germans from Russia was founded for the purpose of researching the history of the Germans from Russia to cultivate, maintain and pass on their cultural heritage. This is a non-profit institution which works closely with the Landsmannschaft. The Landsmannschaft and the Cultural Council also consider themselves to represent the interests of those Germans living in the CIS, whose struggle for sovereignty they support as much as they are able.

In addition they use their influence to support the realization of the national and individual rights of the Germans in the CIS, as well as free emigration from the CIS and unlimited immigration into the Federal Republic of Germany. Mammadov was also denied admittance into the presidential race on the grounds that many of the required signatures were invalid; he has called Aliyev an illegitimate leader who ought to resign. In March , he was sentenced to seven years in prison; Yaqublu was sentenced to five years.

In March and April , authorities used water cannons and rubber bullets against a demonstration in Baku. In May , eight Azerbaijani activists, seven of them the NIDA members, were given lengthy prison sentences, ranging from six to eight years. According to Rebecca Vincent, a former U. Much of the crackdown coincided with the October presidential election, the results of which were declared an Aliyev landslide — an entire day before any voting took place. Instead, he locked up more people.

The barber, however, insists that no such tanks were in his establishment. What remains of an adversarial or free media is also on the ropes. Another such outlet, Yeni Musavat , suspended publication in early November because of state restrictions on the release of its sales proceeds. In May, Parviz Hashimli, a reporter for the independent newspaper Bizim Yol and the editor of the online site Moderator , was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that he prompted another man to smuggle weapons from Iran into Azerbaijan. Hashimli says that not only did he not know the alleged weapons trafficker and now his accuser but that he was denied a lawyer for 20 days following his arrest and kept from talking to anyone else.

Both publications with which Hashimli is affiliated are known for their muckraking journalism on corruption and human rights abuses. Ilham Aliyev first attained power in when he succeeded his father, Heydar, the Soviet-era satrap of Moscow who had ruled Azerbaijan since , making the elder Aliyev both a Soviet and post-Soviet dictator.

Embassy cables variously refer to as a medieval feudal fiefdom or Sonny Corleone of The Godfather. Moreover, as I discovered several months ago, the younger Heydar, now well into his teenage years, is technically the legal owner of VTB was the subject of an in-depth corruption study by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption, the final report of which I edited. The government has claimed to be investigating what was obviously the professional intimidation of a journalist. Pro-Aliyev media have branded her an American spy, an accusation both she and the U.

Embassy in Baku ridiculed. Although she has not been formally charged with any crime, Ismayilova has been prohibited from leaving Baku without the consent of the authorities. In February , she posted an appeal to her followers and defenders on Facebook, telling them not to keep quiet if she wound up in jail: Anti-corruption investigations are the reason of my arrest.

The government is not comfortable with what I am doing. I am about to finish three investigations. I will make sure to finish them before anything happens. If not, my editors and colleagues will finish and publish [them]. That interview has already caused the diplomat a great deal of trouble with his host government: Azerbaijan ought to be extremely fertile soil for the conduct of investigative journalism — which may account for why the Aliyev regime wants to ensure that it never is.

And as with any country evocative of The Godfather , this is mainly a family business. Three families control or oversee most of the overseas lobbying apparatus: The Podesta Group, a D.

Foreign Policy contacted the Podesta Group for comment about the nature of its contract with the embassy. We were referred to the FARA filings. We also asked if the firm had any reservations about lobbying on behalf of a foreign government seen by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other international monitors as becoming worse, not better, in its respect for human rights norms.

No one ever did. DCI Group also organized a dinner on Oct. Glassman, the founding executive director of the George W. We had a good relationship [with the embassy] and we certainly support the ambassador. The contract expired on Dec. Elsewhere, lobbying firms have taken U. In late May , Oklahoma Rep. But it earned write-ups by Politico , the Washington Post , and the Washington Diplomat the only publication to attend because of its recognizable guests and speakers.

Among these were delegates from 42 states, 75 state representatives, 11 active congress members, and three newly retired Obama administration staffers: There were much shorter lines than in America, and no hanging chads. Its current chairman is Dan Burton, former Republican congressman from Indiana and the former chair of the House Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats who announced upon his appointment on Feb. Impressively, the AAA has even encouraged seven state legislatures to pass resolutions or proclamations announcing their friendship with Azerbaijan, often using language that would raise eyebrows among human rights monitors or opposition figures.

And no minor dispensation has that been: There is no evidence that other cab companies were given a chance to bid for the service of shuttling thousands of international tourists around the capital city, Fatullayeva reported.

And following the Eurovision contest, Baki Taxsi edged out any and all competition, preventing other cabs from parking in the city center or near subway terminals. Both men used a series of offshore shell companies controlled by parent companies that they owned. He got his start in business, he told Business Time , by importing Turkish textiles, then trading land and private property in Baku, then trading construction materials and equipment. In an editorial comment at the bottom of his article, Hajiyev wrote: Global Witness seems less taken with this self-accounting.

In addition to being a high-stakes property owner in the Gulf, first daughter Leyla Aliyeva is also fashion and art junkie — and a journalist. Having reportedly rejected contracts from Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi 10 times, and from ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak five times, Freud was clearly more amenable to a request for representation by the Azeri dauphine. He wants to promote it as a reliable energy partner, a country to do business with. State Department cable published by WikiLeaks described the group as follows: Congress to provide humanitarian assistance within the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Here, too, PR professionals are not far behind. The Art of Political Persuasion. If you know of a perfect democracy anywhere in the world please do point it out to me. For TEAS, fostering links with Western Europe seems to involve regularly flying out members of national legislatures or the European Parliament for luxurious romps around Azerbaijan. Perhaps not surprisingly, these officials often return home with fond things to say about their hosts. Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat. FP managed to reach Lord Kilclooney by phone. His impressions of the place?

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