German immigration was motivated in part by religious intolerance and warfare in central Europe as well as by frequently difficult economic conditions. Catherine II's declaration freed German immigrants from military service (imposed on native Russians) and from most taxes. It placed the new arrivals outside of Russia's feudal hierarchy and granted them considerable internal autonomy. Moving to Russia gave German immigrants political rights that they would not have possessed in their own lands.
Religious minorities found these terms very agreeable, particularly Mennonites from the Vistula River valley. Their unwillingness to participate in military service, and their long tradition of dissent from mainstream Lutheranism and Calvinism, made life under the Prussians very difficult for them. Nearly all of the Prussian Mennonites emigrated to Russia over the following century, leaving no more than a handful in Prussia.
Other German minority churches took advantage of Catherine II's offer as well, particularly Evangelical Christians like the Baptists.
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Although Catherine's declaration forbade them from proselytising among members of the Orthodox church, they could evangelize Russia's Muslim and other non-Christian minorities.
German colonization was most intense in the Lower Volga, but other areas also saw an influx. The area around the Black Sea received many German immigrants, and the Mennonites favoured the lower Dniepr river area, around Ekaterinaslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) and Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporizhzhia).
As far as I know, my ancestors had been Mennonites and they had come to the area around the Black Sea in the 1st part of the 19th century.
Religious minorities found these terms very agreeable, particularly Mennonites from the Vistula River valley. Their unwillingness to participate in military service, and their long tradition of dissent from mainstream Lutheranism and Calvinism, made life under the Prussians very difficult for them. Nearly all of the Prussian Mennonites emigrated to Russia over the following century, leaving no more than a handful in Prussia.
Other German minority churches took advantage of Catherine II's offer as well, particularly Evangelical Christians like the Baptists.
.jpg)
Although Catherine's declaration forbade them from proselytising among members of the Orthodox church, they could evangelize Russia's Muslim and other non-Christian minorities.
German colonization was most intense in the Lower Volga, but other areas also saw an influx. The area around the Black Sea received many German immigrants, and the Mennonites favoured the lower Dniepr river area, around Ekaterinaslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) and Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporizhzhia).
As far as I know, my ancestors had been Mennonites and they had come to the area around the Black Sea in the 1st part of the 19th century.
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