Everything about The Baltic Germans totally explained
The
Baltic Germans (or
Baltendeutsche) were mostly
ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the
Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of
Estonia and
Latvia.
Danes began arriving in the
Baltic territories just prior to the
Northern Crusades in the
12th and
13th centuries, followed almost universally by Germans, both colonists and crusaders. After the
Livonian Crusades they quickly came to control all the administrations of government, politics, economics, education and culture of these areas for over 700 years until 1918, despite remaining a minority ethnic group. Whilst the vast majority of
urban lands were colonised by traders,
rural estates were soon formed by crusaders and their descendants. Examples of the latter are the crusader castle at Kokenhusen in Livonia, and Schloss Doblen (ruinous by the 19th century when a new
country house, 'Villa Todleben', was constructed) and the mansion of 'Postenden', both in Courland. With the decline of
Latin, German quickly became the language of all official documents, commerce and government business for hundreds of years until 1919.
Despite being politically subordinate to the rule of the monarchs of
Swedish empire until 1710, and the tsars of the
Russian Empire until 1917, both successive ruling kingdoms guaranteed the continuation of Baltic Germans' special class privileges and administration rights when they incorporated the provinces into their respective empires.
Ethnic Estonians and Latvians in the Baltics, who always formed the majority of the population, in contrast to the Baltic Germans, had restricted rights and privileges and resided mostly in rural areas as
serfs, tradesmen, or as servants in
urban homes. This was in keeping with the social scheme of things in Imperial Russia, and lasted well into the 19th century when emancipation brought increased political rights and freedoms.
The Baltic Germans' effective rule and class privileges came to the end with the demise of the Russian Empire (due to the
Bolshevik revolution of October 1917) and the independence of Estonia and Latvia in 1918-1919. Baltic German outlying estates were frequent targets of local Bolsheviks (as portrayed in the film,
Coup de Grace) and the combination of local Bolsheviks and extreme nationalists following independence brought about land nationalisations and a displacement of Baltic Germans from positions of authority. After 1919, many Baltic Germans felt obliged to depart for Germany, which was as foreign to them as any other country, bar the language they spoke. Some stayed as ordinary citizens in the newly formed independent countries.
Their history and presence in the Baltics came to an abrupt end in late 1939 following the signing of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent
Nazi-Soviet population transfers when practically all the Baltic Germans were resettled by the German Government into areas Germany had invaded in western Poland.
The present day descendants of the Baltic Germans can be found all over the world, with the largest groups being in Germany and Canada.
Ethnic composition
It should be noted that in the course of their 700 year history, Baltic German families often hadn't only ethnic German roots, but also mixed with peoples of non-German origin, such as native Estonians, Livonians and Latvians, as well as with Danes, Swedes, Scots, Poles and Dutch.
In those cases where intermarriage occurred, the other ethnic group usually assimilated into the German culture, adopted the German language and customs which often included "Germanizing" their names and surnames. They were then considered Baltic Germans as well. (see also:
Ethnogenesis).
Territories and citizenship
In Baltic German settlement patterns, the Baltic area consisted of the following territories:
- Estland (Latin: Estonia) (Estonian: Eesti), roughly the northern half of present-day Estonia; major towns: Reval (Tallinn), Narva (Narva), Wesenberg (Rakvere), Weissenstein (Paide), Hapsal (Haapsalu).
- Livland (Latin: Livonia) (Estonian: Liivimaa) (Latvian: Vidzeme), roughly the southern half of present-day Estonia and the northern and eastern part of today's Latvia; major towns: Riga, Wenden (Cesis), Wolmar (Valmiera), Walk (Valga), Dorpat (Tartu), Pernau (Pärnu), Fellin (Viljandi).
- Kurland (Latin: Curonia, also English: Courland) (Estonian: Kuramaa) (Latvian: Kurzeme), roughly the western half of present-day Latvia; major towns: Mitau (Jelgava), Windau (Ventspils), Libau (Liepāja).
- Ösel (the island of Saaremaa) belonging to present-day Estonia; major town: Arensburg (Kuressaare).
Incorrectly, ethnic Germans from
East Prussia are sometimes considered Baltic German for reasons of cultural, linguistic, and historical affinities. However, the Germans of East Prussia held Prussian, and after 1871,
German citizenship because the territory they lived in was part of
Prussia. From 1871 onwards, East Prussia became part of the newly formed unified German state, also known as the
German Reich.
However, the Baltic Germans held citizenship of the
Russian Empire until 1918 and Estonian or Latvian citizenship from 1918-1939.
History
Middle ages
Ethnic Germans began to settle in what are now
Baltic countries in the 12th century when traders and missionaries began to visit the coastal lands inhabited by tribes who spoke
Finnic and Baltic languages. Systematic settlement started during the
Northern Crusades. Moving in the wake of German merchants, a monk named Meinhard had landed at the mouth of the
Daugava river in present-day Latvia in 1180. In 1184, the First Christian church was built in
Livonian village of
Uexkyll, and in 1186, Meinhard consecrated as the first Bishop of Uexküll. The Pope proclaimed a crusade against the Baltic
heathens in 1193 and a crusading expedition led by Meinhard's successor, Bishop Berthold, landed in Livonia. In 1196, the New Bishop of Uexküll, Berthold assembled the first crusading army in the Baltics. In 1199,
Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed by the
Archbishop of Bremen to Christianise the
Baltic countries. To ensure a permanent military presence, the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword were founded in 1202. Thirty years later, the conquest and formal
Christianisation of present-day
Estonia and northern
Latvia was complete.
At the same time, German-speaking merchants and craftsmen constituted the majority of the quickly growing urban population in the area. The Livonian Sword Brothers became part of the
Teutonic Order in 1236. For 200 years, the knights on the shores of the eastern Baltic had support from the
Holy Roman Empire.
As the Teutonic Knights were weakened during the
15th century through wars with
Poland and
Lithuania, the Livonian branch in the north began to pursue its own policies. When the Prussian branch of the Order secularized in 1525 and became the
Duchy of Prussia, the Livonian Order remained independent, although surrounded by aggressive neighbors. In 1558, Russia's invasion of Livonia began the
Livonian War between Russia, Poland, Sweden, and
Denmark which lasted for 20 years. In the course of the war, the state was divided between Denmark (which took
Ösel), Sweden (which took Estonia), Poland (which took Livland), and the
Protestant state of
Courland, a fief of Poland.
Reformation
The Baltic provinces became Protestant during the
Reformation, and the secularized land was divided among the remaining
aristocratic knights.
Courland existed as a country dominated by German-speakers for over 200 years, while Livland was once again split. Sweden controlled Estonia between 1561 and 1710 and Livland between 1621 and 1710, having signed an agreement not to undermine Baltic German autonomy. The German-language
Universität Dorpat, the foundation of which was supported by King
Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, remained the only one in the former Livonian territory for centuries and became the intellectual focus of the Baltic Germans.
Russian control 1710-1917
Between 1710 and 1795, following Russia's success in the
Great Northern War and the
Partitions of Poland, the areas inhabited by Baltic Germans became
provinces of
Imperial Russia. However, the Baltic provinces remained dominated and self-governed by the local German-speaking
aristocracy which included the descendants of the former knights as well as some more recent immigrants from the German principalities to the west. Most of the professional classes in the region, the
literati, were German-speakers. Government, however, was in the hands of the Knighthood of each province, in which only members of the
matriculated nobility held membership.
was guaranteed by the various rulers, especially during Russian times. Germans, other than the estate-owners, mainly settled in the cities, such as
Riga,
Reval,
Dorpat, and (
Pernau). As late as the mid-19th century the population of many of these municipalities still had a German majority, with an Estonian or Latvian minority. By 1867
Riga's population was 42.9% German.
The region's
indigenous rural population enjoyed fewer rights under the Baltic German nobility compared to the farmers in Germany, Sweden, or Poland.
Serfdom was officially abolished in the Baltic provinces in the beginning of 19th century, about half a century earlier than in Russia proper. There was less tension between the German speakers and indigenous urban residents.
German
cultural autonomy ceased in the 1880s, when
Russification replaced German administration and schooling with the usage of the
Russian language. The
Revolution of 1905 led to attacks against the Baltic German landowners, the burning of manors, and the killing and torture of members of the nobility, even if usually not by the local inhabitants but by outside revolutionary bands. Owing to their German heritage, during
World War I Baltic Germans were sometimes seen as the enemy by
Russians, yet also as traitors by the
German Empire if they remained loyal to Russia. As a result of the
Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent
Russian Civil War, many Baltic Germans fled to Germany. As the Russian Civil War weakened the Russian Empire, the Baltic countries won the
independence war against both the Russian army and the Baltic Germans of the
United Baltic Duchy, making the former Baltic German elite lose their status and influence.
Independent Baltic states 1918-1940
After the Russian surrender at the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917, the
German Empire organised the occupied territories into the
Ober Ost. In 1918, it created the
United Baltic Duchy, a short-lived client state dominated by the Baltic Germans.
When the republics of
Estonia and
Latvia were founded in 1918-19, the Baltic German estate owners were largely expropriated in a
land reform, although the Germans were given considerable cultural autonomy.
During the time of the
Russian civil war from 1917 to 1921, many young Baltic Germans signed voluntarily into the newly formed Estonian and Latvian armies to help secure the independence of these countries from Russia. These Baltic German military units became known as the
Baltenregiment. The State archives of Estonia and Latvia keep individual military records of each person who fought in this war.
Estonia's Baltic German population was smaller, so as Estonians continued to fill professional positions such as law and medicine, there was less of a leadership role for the Baltic Germans. Many Baltic Germans began to leave during the interwar era. No precise numbers are available for the emigration during this period.
In Latvia, Baltic Germans remained the most politically active and organized ethnic group, although they lost some influence after
Karlis Ulmanis's coup in 1934.
Resettlement of all Baltic Germans 1939-1944
1939-1940
As a result of the secret agreements of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the "Soviet sphere of influence". Hitler gave Stalin free rein over these countries and he made immediate use of this to set up Soviet military bases in Estonia and Latvia in late 1939. This was in preparation of an all-out invasion of the Baltics by the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940. One of the main conditions posed by Hitler to Stalin in August of 1939 was the prior transfer of all ethnic Germans living in Estonia and Latvia to areas under German military control. These became known as the Nazi-Soviet population transfers.
Several small treaties were signed with Estonia and Latvia in 1939 and 1940 concerning the emigration of Baltic Germans and the liquidation of their educational, cultural, and religious institutions. Nazi Germany succeeded in getting the Baltic Germans to abandon their homes and homeland in haste, disposing of their belongings at cut-rate prices.
Some 13,700 Baltic Germans were resettled from Estonia by early 1940.
Around 51,000 Baltic Germans were resettled from Latvia by early 1940.
The Estonian and Latvian governments each published a book for the peroid covering the population transfers from 1939 to early 1940. Both books contained an alphabetical list of the names of each Baltic German adult that was resettled together with their birthdate, birthplace and last address in the Baltics. These books can be found in various European libraries and their titles are:
Eestist saksamaale ümberasunute nimestik : Verzeichnis der aus Estland nach Deutschland Umgesiedelten, Oskar Angelus, Tallinn 1939
"Izceļojušo vācu tautības pilsoņu saraksts" : "The list of resettled citizens of German ethnicity". 1940
Almost all the Baltic Germans were resettled by ships from the port cities of Estonia and Latvia and to the Wartheland (in these times sometimes also called Warthegau) and other Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany. (The action was called Umsiedlung). The "new" homes they were given to live in had mostly been owned and inhabited by Polish citizens a few months earlier who were deported eastwards when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
Spring 1941 resettlement
In early 1941, the Nazi German government arranged another resettlement for all those who had refused to leave in 1939 or 1940. This time around no compensation was offered for any property or belongings left behind and this group of resettlers were treated with intense suspicion or considered traitors because they'd refused Hitler's first call to leave the Baltics in 1939 and 1940. Unknown to the general public, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union was only 2 to 4 months away and this was Hitler's last chance to transfer these people in peacetime conditions. The action was called the Nachumsiedlung.
By this time, the remaining Baltic Germans in Estonia and Latvia found themselves in a vastly different situation than in 1939. Their countries were now part of the Soviet Union and intense pressure and intimidation had been put on anyone with a position of privilege or wealth before 1939. Mass arrests and some killings had taken place. Fearing a worsening of the situation, the vast majority of the remaining Baltic Germans decided to leave.
About 7,000 resettled from Estonia by late March of 1941
Approximately 10,500 resettled from Latvia by late March of 1941
No books were published listing those who resettled in 1941, however the present day archives of Estonia and Latvia still have the lists of all those who left in this year.
1941-1945
A very small minority of Baltic Germans refused again to be resettled and remained in the Baltics past March 1941.
Some fell victim to the Soviet deportations to Siberian gulags from the Baltics in early June 1940. The names and data those deported from Estonia from 1941 to 1953 have been published in books. Details are kept at the Estonian occupation museum.
Others fled with the retreating German army in 1944. No precise numbers or lists are available for those who fled.
A tiny number remained in the Baltics after 1944, but these were subject to widespread discrimination (and possible deportation to Siberia until 1953) by the Soviet authorities ruling Estonia and Latvia. As a result of this, many hid or lied about their Baltic German origins. Most of these Baltic Germans who stayed past 1944 were children of mixed ethnic marriages or themselves married to ethnic Estonians, Latvians or Russians.
"Second resettlement" 1945
Red Army.
In stark contrast to the resettlements in 1939-1941, this time around the evacuation in most of the areas was delayed until the last moment, when it was too late to conduct it in an orderly fashion and practically all of them had to leave most of their belongings behind.
Seeing as they'd only been living in these "new" homes for only about 5 years, this was almost seen as a second forced resettlement for them, albeit under different circumstances.
Many Baltic Germans were onboard the KdF Ship Wilhelm Gustloff when it was sunk by a Soviet submarine on January 30, 1945, in the worst loss of life from a single vessel in maritime history. Additional Baltic Germans died during the sinking of the SS General von Steuben on February 10, 1945.
Two books listing the names and personal data of all Baltic Germans who died as a result of the resettlements and wartime conditions between 1939 and 1947 have been published by the Baltic German genealogical society. These are:
Deutsch-baltisches Gedenkbuch. Unsere Toten der Jahre 1939-1947 by Karin von Borbély, Darmstadt, 1991
Nachtrag zum Deutsch-baltisches Gedenkbuch by Karin von Borbély, Darmstadt, 1995
Later, with Estonia and Latvia falling under Soviet rule after 1944, the Baltic Germans never came to live in the Baltics again.
Destruction of cultural heritage in the Baltics 1945-1989
During the 50 year long occupation of the baltic states, Soviet Russian authorities governing the Estonian SSR and the Latvian SSR, politically empowered by their victory in World War II, were keen to erase any traces of ethnic German rule in past centuries. Numerous statues, monuments, structures or landmarks with German writing were destroyed or altered.
The largest Baltic German cemeteries in Estonia, Kopli cemetery and Moigu cemetery, both standing since 1774, were completely destroyed by Soviet authorities. The great cemetery of Riga, largest burial ground of Baltic Germans in Latvia standing since 1773, also had the vast majority of its graves destroyed by Soviet authorities.
1989 to present
The present day governments of Estonia and Latvia, who regained their independence in 1991, generally take a positive, or sometimes neutral, view towards the contributions of the Baltic Germans in the development of their cities and countries throughout their history. An occasional exception to this comes with some criticism in relation to the large landowners, who controlled most of the rural areas of the Baltics, and the ethnic Estonians and Latvians, until 1918.
After Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union on August 20 1991, the exiled association of the German Baltic nobility sent an official message to the president-to-be Lennart Meri that no member of the association would claim proprietary rights to their former Estonian lands. This, and the fact that the first German ambassadors to Estonia and Latvia were both Baltic Germans, helped to further reconcile the Baltic Germans with these two countries.
Cooperation between Baltic German societies and the governments of Estonia and Latvia has made the restoration of many small Baltic German plaques and landmarks possible, such as monuments to those who fought in the 1918-1920 War of Independence.
Since 1989, many old-age Baltic Germans, or their descendants, have taken holidays to Estonia and Latvia to look for traces of their own past, their ancestral homes, and their family histories.
In some cases, this can be an emotional experience, in particular for surviving older generations, who lived in the Baltics prior to 1945. Often this is the first time they've had the chance to see their birthplaces and childhood homes in over 50 years.
Notable Baltic Germans
Baltic Germans played leading roles in the society of what are now Estonia and Latvia throughout most of the period from 13th to mid-20th century, with many of them becoming noted scientists or explorers. A number of Baltic Germans served as ranking generals in the Russian Imperial army and navy. Several Baltic Germans sided with the Whites during the Russian Civil War.
The Burchard (Burchart) family, owners and managers of the Raeapteek in Tallinn, one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe
Patriarch Alexius II, born Alexei Ridiger (von Rüdiger)
Friedrich Amelung, chess master
Karl Ernst von Baer, biologist and a founding father of embryology
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, field marshal and Minister of War (Russia)
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, admiral and naval explorer (Russia), discoverer of Antarctica
Alexander von Benckendorff, general and statesman (Russia)
Konstantin von Benckendorff, general and diplomat (Russia)
Werner Bergengruen, writer
August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein, linguist, folklorist, ethnographer, and theologian
Emil Bretschneider, Russian legation physcian, sinologist.
Johann Christoph Brotze, pedagogue and ethnographer
Friedrich Georg von Bunge
Georg Dehio, art historian
Kaspar von Dönhoff, Imperial Reichsfürst and Polish Diplomat
Franz Burchard Dörbeck, artist, caricaturist
Oskar von Ekesparre
Heinz Erhardt, comedian, musician, entertainer and actor
Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, botanist and naturalist
Constantin Grewingk
Gregor von Helmersen, geologist
Oskar Hoffmann, painter
George Hoyningen-Huene, fashion photographer
Boris Kaljuveri
Maksimas Katche (Max Kattchée), Russian and Lithuanian military officer
Dennis Keller, (Denis Immanuel Keller), German poet
Woldemar Kernig, internist, neurologist
Alexander Keyserling, geologist, paleontologist
Eduard von Keyserling, writer
Hermann Alexander Graf Keyserling, philosopher
Lionel Kieseritzky, chess master
Otto von Kotzebue, naval officer and explorer (Russia)
Adam Johann von Krusenstern, admiral and naval explorer (Russia)
Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, field marshal and commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Austria)
Heinrich Lenz, physicist
Werner Zoege von Manteuffel, a surgeon, a pioneer of sterilization in the field of surgery
Garlieb Merkel, writer, Estophile and Lettophile
Alexander Theodor von Middendorff a famous zoologist and explorer
Eugene Miller, general and counterrevolutionary (Russia)
Burkhardt Christoph von Münnich, a Russian field marshal and famous politician
Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, politician, son of a Russian and a Baltic German noblewoman
Carl Timoleon von Neff, a world-famous portrait painter
Alexander von Oettingen, theologian
Wilhelm Ostwald, chemist
Johann Patkul, nobleman of Livonia
Adolf Konstantin Jakob Baron Pilar von Pilchau, a politician, land marschal of Livonia/Livland, regent of the United Baltic Duchy (1918)
Alexander Pilar von Pilchau, painter
Wolter von Plettenberg, Master of the Livonian Order
Georg Wilhelm Richmann, physicist
Patriarch Alexius II Sief of Russian Orthodox Church
Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi party ideologist
Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter, early Nazi party leader, inspired the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 in Munich
Marie Seebach German actress
Thomas Johann Seebeck, physicist
Jacob Sievers, statesman and reformer
Heinrich Freiherr von Stackelberg, economist
Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, astronomer
Inge E. M. Thiel, chemist
Frank Thiess, writer
Eduard von Toll, Russian famous Arctic geologist and scientist
Jakob von Uexküll, biologist, semiotician
Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, commander of White Russian forces
Siegfried von Vegesack, writer
Edgar von Wahl, creator of Interlingue
Peter P. von Weymarn, chemist in colloid science (von Weimarn law)
Gero von Wilpert, writer
Ferdinand von Wrangel, admiral and naval explorer (Russia)
Peter von Wrangel, Lieutenant General, one of the leaders in White movement in Southern Russia, known there as Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
Friedrich Zander, rocketry engineer and space flight pioneer
Walter Zapp inventor of the Minox subminiature "spy" cameraFurther Information
Get more info on 'Baltic Germans'.
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