Why German? Where do Germans live in Russia Name of Germans

Each nation is characterized by specific characteristics of character, behavior and worldview. This is where the concept of “mentality” comes into play. What it is?

The Germans are a special people

Mentality is a fairly new concept. If, when characterizing an individual person, we talk about his character, then when characterizing an entire people, it is appropriate to use the word “mentality”. So, mentality is a set of generalized and widespread ideas about the psychological properties of a nationality. The German mentality is a manifestation of national identity and distinctive features of the people.

Who are called Germans?

The Germans call themselves Deutsche. They represent the titular nation of the people belonging to the West Germanic subgroup of the Germanic peoples of the Indo-European language family.

Germans speak German. It distinguishes two subgroups of dialects, the names of which came from their distribution among residents along the rivers. The population of southern Germany belongs to the High German dialect, while the inhabitants of the northern part of the country speak the Low German dialect. In addition to these main varieties, there are 10 additional dialects and 53 local dialects.

There are 148 million German-speaking people in Europe. Of these, 134 million people call themselves Germans. The rest of the German-speaking population is distributed as follows: 7.4 million are Austrians (90% of all residents of Austria); 4.6 million are Swiss (63.6% of the Swiss population); 285 thousand - Luxembourgers; 70 thousand are Belgians and 23.3 thousand are Liechtensteiners.

The majority of Germans live in Germany, approximately 75 million. They constitute the national majority in all lands of the country. Traditional religious beliefs are Catholicism (mainly in the north of the country) and Lutheranism (common in the southern German states).

Features of the German mentality

The main feature of the German mentality is pedantry. Their desire to establish and maintain order is fascinating. It is pedantry that is the source of many national advantages of the Germans. The first thing that catches the eye of a guest from another country is the thoroughness of the roads, everyday life and service. Rationality is combined with practicality and convenience. The thought involuntarily arises: this is how a civilized person should live.

Finding a rational explanation for every event is the goal of every self-respecting German. For any situation, even an absurd one, there is always a step-by-step description of what is happening. The German mentality does not allow the slightest nuances of the feasibility of each activity to be ignored. To do it “by eye” is beneath the dignity of a true German. Hence the high assessment of products, manifested in the famous expression “German quality”.

Honesty and a sense of honor are the traits that characterize the mentality of the German people. Young children are taught to achieve everything themselves; no one gets anything for free. Therefore, cheating is not common in schools, and in stores it is customary to pay for all purchases (even if the cashier makes a mistake in the calculations or does not notice the goods). The Germans feel guilty for Hitler's activities, which is why in the post-war decades not a single boy in the country was named after him, Adolf.

Thrift is another way in which the German character and mentality are manifested. Before making a purchase, a true German will compare prices for goods in different stores and find the lowest one. Business dinners or lunches with German partners can confuse representatives of other nations, since they will have to pay for the dishes themselves. The Germans do not like excessive wastefulness. They are very thrifty.

A feature of the German mentality is amazing cleanliness. Cleanliness in everything, from personal hygiene to the place of residence. An unpleasant odor from an employee or wet, sweaty palms can be a good reason for dismissal from work. Throwing garbage out of a car window or throwing a bag of garbage next to a trash can is nonsense for a German.

German punctuality is a purely national trait. The Germans are very sensitive to their time, so they don’t like it when they have to waste it. They are angry with those who are late for a meeting, but they also treat those who arrive early. All the time of a German person is planned down to the minute. Even to meet a friend, they will need to look at their schedule and find a window.

The Germans are a very specific people. If they invite you to tea, know that there will be nothing but tea. In general, Germans rarely invite guests to their home. If you have received such an invitation, this is a sign of great respect. When he comes to visit, he presents the hostess with flowers and the children with sweets.

Germans and folk traditions

The German mentality is manifested in the observance of folk traditions and strict adherence to them. There are a great many such norms passing from century to century. True, they are not fundamentally national in nature, but spread over a certain area. Thus, urbanized Germany retained traces of the rural layout of even large cities. In the center of the settlement there is a market square with a church, public buildings and a school. Residential neighborhoods radiate from the square.

Folk clothing on Germans appears in each locality with its own colors and decoration of the costume, but the cut is the same. Men wear tight pants, stockings and shoes with buckles. A light-colored shirt, vest and long-sleeved caftan with huge pockets complete the look. Women wear a white blouse with sleeves, a dark lace-up corset with a deep neckline, and a wide gathered skirt with a bright apron on top.

The national one consists of pork dishes (sausages and sausage) and beer. Festive dish - pork head with stewed cabbage, baked goose or carp. Drinks include tea and coffee with cream. The dessert consists of gingerbread and cookies with jam.

How Germans greet each other

The rule of greeting each other with a strong handshake, which came from time immemorial, has been preserved by the Germans to this day. The gender difference does not matter: German women do the same as When saying goodbye, Germans shake hands again.

At the workplace, employees use “You” and strictly by last name. And besides the business sphere, addressing people as “you” is common among Germans. Age or social status does not matter. Therefore, if you are working with a German partner, be prepared to be addressed as “Mr. Ivanov.” If your German friend is 20 years younger than you, he will still address you as “you”.

Passion for travel

The desire to travel and explore new lands is where the German mentality also manifests itself. They love to visit exotic corners of distant countries. But visiting the developed USA or Great Britain does not attract Germans. In addition to the fact that it is impossible to get unprecedented impressions here, a trip to these countries is quite expensive for the family wallet.

Commitment to education

The Germans are very sensitive to their national culture. That is why it is customary to demonstrate one’s education in communication. A well-read person can show off his knowledge of German history and show awareness in other areas of life. Germans are proud of their culture and feel connected to it.

Germans and humor

Humor is, from the point of view of the average German, an extremely serious matter. The German style of humor is crude satire or caustic witticisms. When translating German jokes, it is not possible to convey all their colorfulness, since humor depends on the specific situation.

It is not customary to joke in the workplace, especially in relation to superiors. Jokes directed at foreigners are condemned. Jokes spread at the expense of East Germans after German reunification. The most common jokes ridicule the carelessness of the Bavarians and the treachery of the Saxons, the lack of intelligence of the East Frisians and the quickness of the Berliners. Swabians are offended by jokes about their frugality, since they do not see anything reprehensible in it.

Reflection of mentality in everyday life

German culture and German mentality are reflected in daily processes. For a foreigner this seems unusual, for Germans it is the norm. There are no shops open 24 hours a day in Germany. On weekdays they close at 20:00, on Saturday at 16:00, and on Sunday they do not open.

Germans are not in the habit of going shopping; they save their time and money. Spending money on clothes is the most undesirable expense item. German women are forced to limit spending on cosmetics and outfits. But few people care about this. In Germany they do not strive to meet any accepted standards, so everyone dresses the way they want. The main thing is comfort. No one pays attention to unusual clothes and does not judge anyone.

Children receive pocket money from early childhood and learn to satisfy their desires with it. At the age of fourteen, a child enters adulthood. This manifests itself in attempts to find one’s place in the world and rely only on oneself. Elderly Germans do not seek to replace parents for children by becoming nannies for their grandchildren, but live their own lives. They spend a lot of time traveling. In old age, everyone relies on themselves, trying not to burden their children with caring for themselves. Many old people end up living in nursing homes.

Russians and Germans

It is generally accepted that the mentality of Germans and Russians is the complete opposite. The saying “What is good for a Russian is like death for a German” confirms this. But these two peoples have common national character traits: humility before fate and obedience.

The story will be about the name of the people - Germans. This article is a continuation of another - about Berlin.

German is an Old Slavonic word, from “mute”. That is, it has nothing to do with Germany. Apart from Russians, no one now calls the inhabitants of Germany Germans. Moreover, in Rus' in the past this word was also used in relation to representatives of other nations.

“German” means “mute”, meaning someone who cannot speak a word in Russian. Well, judge for yourself, a foreigner who doesn’t know Russian is the same as dumb. That's why they were called that. For example, Gogol in his works calls all people from the West, from Europe, Germans (the French and Swedes are no exception).

Gogol writes that “we call anyone who comes from another country a German,” and the countries themselves from which the foreigners came are called “German land” or “non-German” (this is more likely the Ukrainian version). So, a French engineer came from Nemetchina to Gogol’s Taras Bulba. And in The Inspector General, the German doctor, who does not understand a word of Russian, remains silent all the time, as if he were really dumb.

Since in the 19th century, those who came to Russia were mainly envoys from the German land, the name Germans was stuck in the Russian language for the people of Germany. And Sloboda Kukai in Moscow became the German Settlement, because it was in this territory that foreigners lived. Although there were both English and Dutch there, there were also Germans - in the majority.

Russians are not the only ones who used the word “German” to refer to the inhabitants of Germany. It was found among Hungarians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, and Croats.

What do Germans call themselves?

The word “Germans”, “Germany” was also not invented by the Germans themselves. The Romans called Germany the country located north of the Roman Empire itself. The Romans were the first to come up with a name for this country, but over the years it stuck, apparently due to the widespread use of Latin, and now the country is called Germany.

And the Germans themselves, as I think everyone knows, call themselves completely differently - Deutsch. This word is derived from the Old German word for "people", which was pronounced diot. It turns out that initially the Germans did not bother and simply called themselves “the people”. And at the same time, they called all other peoples in exactly the same way, for example the British, Danes and others. Information about this can be found in Latin historical manuscripts.

Neighboring peoples actually turned out to be more inventive. And still in some countries the inhabitants of Germany are called not Deutsch (and not Germans). In France and Spain they are called Alemanni, and in Italy they are called “Tedeschi”.

Thus, the Germans are called by a name unrelated to themselves not only in.

On the origin of the words “Germans” and “Germany”

According to linguists, the word “German” appeared in Russian in the 12th century or earlier. Rather, earlier, it’s just that in the documentary sources of Ancient Rus' this name is found precisely at this time.

At that time, the word Germania already existed in the Latin language. It was from him that the Russian name “Germany” came. It can be found in Roman works written in Latin as early as the 1st century AD. This is how the Romans called the territory on the other side of the Rhine River, and Julius Caesar called the tribes that lived there Germanus. The chronicler Tacitus also mentioned them.

In the Russian language, the word “Germany” was established only in the 19th century, when several separate principalities on the territory of modern Germany united into one country. As for the word “German,” by that time it had already become firmly entrenched in the Russian language.

So later, in our country, it began to apply only to residents of Germany.

Residents of Germany call themselves Germans, not Germans. From the point of view of ethnology, this is correct, since not only ancient Germanic tribes took part in the formation of the German nation. Historians consider the inhabitants of Scandinavia to be their direct ancestors.

In media publications, fiction, some scientific articles and monographs, the terms “Germans”, “Goths” and “Germans” are mentioned as synonyms. But this is not true.

Origins

The modern German ethnic group has been formed over many centuries. Numerous Germanic tribes took part in this process, for example:

Unmet;
Swabians;
Goths;
Alemanni;
Bavarians;
Saxons;
Franks;
Marcomanni.

They appeared on the territory of Europe in the first centuries of our era. By the beginning of the 5th century. tribes developed the western regions of the continent, including the territory of modern Germany. Historians have found reliable evidence that the Slavic tribes had a huge influence on the formation of the ethnic group at the genetic level. Most likely, these were the Wagers and the Obodrites (many place names in East Germany are Slavic).

Self-name

The Germans call themselves “Deutsch”, which means people. Ethnolinguists managed to trace the history of the word and prove that it is of Indo-European origin.

The neighbors of the Germans, in particular the Spaniards, French and Italians, called them Alemanni. This was a direct indication of the connection with the ancient Germanic tribe of the same name, which lived in the central part of Europe during the early Middle Ages.

The Finns call the Germans Saxons, the English call them Germans, and the Slavs and Hungarians call them Germans. The English version turned out to be the most enduring, which caused confusion with the terms. Translated from English, german is a German, and Germany is a country of Germans. Although the concept of Germany appeared back in the time of Julius Caesar, who geographically designated the area where Germanic tribes lived.

The inhabitants of Foggy Albion most likely borrowed the name “Germans” from the Celts. This word was used to call those who lived nearby (geographically). This is how the Celts emphasized their uniqueness and difference from their neighboring tribes.

Cultural component

Archaeologists and historians have been engaged in long-term debates as to where the ancestral home of the Germans is located. Excavations that were carried out in Jutland, in the lower and middle sections of the Elbe River, say that a special Germanic ethno-linguistic community arose in this area.

Until the beginning of the Iron Age, i.e. up to 1st century BC, these areas were inhabited by tribes that scientists attribute to the archaeological Jastorf culture. Representatives of other tribes did not live in Jutland and Elbe at that time, although archaeological finds of a later period cast doubt on such arguments. However, scientists have proven that the period of formation of the Germans as a separate ethnic group is from the 6th to the 1st centuries. BC. This process covered the following regions of Europe:

The southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula;
Lower Elbe River;
Jutland.

Further ethnic processes

The period that in history is commonly called the Great Migration of Peoples had a huge influence on the development of the ethnic group. It caused the collapse of the powerful Roman Empire and contributed to the formation of the first barbarian states in Europe.

First, the Goths penetrated the continent, arriving from the island of Gotland (1st-2nd centuries AD). They developed the territory of the Baltic and the lower reaches of the Vistula. Already in the 3rd-4th centuries. the Goths moved east, reaching the Black Sea steppes. They were driven out from there by other Germans - the Huns, which is why the Goths ended up on the territory of the Roman Empire, then migrated to Spain, and there they assimilated with the local population.

In the 3rd century. and 4th century Another ancient Germans moved from Jutland and Elbe to continental Europe, finally destroying the Roman state. The barbarian tribes “were not friends with each other”, they fought and eradicated their opponents. Therefore, it turned out that modern Germans arose on the basis of a synthesis of many Germanic tribes, with a clear emphasis on the Celtic component.

Germans, Deutsche (self-name), people, the main population of Germany. The total number is 86,000 thousand people, including in Germany - 74,600 thousand people. There are numerous groups of Germans in the USA (5,400 thousand people), Canada (1,200 thousand people), Kazakhstan (958 thousand people), the Russian Federation (843 thousand people), Brazil (710 thousand people) and other European countries and Latin America, Australia and South Africa. German is spoken by the Germanic group of the Indo-European family. There are 2 groups of German dialects: Low German (Platt Deutsch) and High German. Some researchers from the latter distinguish Central German dialects. Platt Deutsch has its own literature. Writing based on the Latin alphabet. Believers are Protestants (mostly Lutherans) and Catholics. Among Germans living outside Germany, in addition to Catholics and Lutherans, there are quite a few followers of other directions of Protestantism - Baptists, Mennonites, Adventists, etc.

The basis of the German ethnos was made up of the ancient Germanic tribal associations of Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Alemanni, etc., who mixed in the first centuries of our era with the Romanized Celtic population in the southwest and south of Germany and with the Rhaets in the Alps. After the division of the Frankish Empire (843), the East Frankish Kingdom with a German-speaking population emerged. At the beginning of the 10th century it began to be called Teutonic (the name goes back to the ethnonym of the ancient Germanic tribe of the Teutons); in the German form, the self-name - Diutisze (later Deutsch) has been known since the middle of the 10th century, which indicates the formation of the German community. In the X-XIV centuries, the Germans settled the lands east of the Elbe, partially assimilating the local population. During these centuries, there was also a process of resettlement of individual groups of Germans in the territories of modern Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and other European countries. The subsequent centuries-long political fragmentation of Germany hampered the development of the Germans as a single people. For several centuries, the ethnic history of the Germans proceeded in two ways: the process of development of the nationalities that had emerged in the early Middle Ages continued - Bavarian, Saxon, Swabian, Franconian, etc. - and at the same time, cultural features common to all Germans took shape. At the beginning of the 16th century, the process of consolidation manifested itself primarily in the creation of a single German literary language based on the Saxon (Meissen) dialect, but there was a religious split of the Germans into Catholics and Protestant Lutherans, which led to some differences in everyday life and culture. Poor economic development and the wars that devastated the German lands caused in the 18th-19th centuries. active emigration of Germans to various countries of America and Europe (including Russia). Only in the second half of the 18th century did the process of development of German national identity accelerate. In 1871, Germany was unified under the auspices of Prussia. The unification of the country and the implementation of a number of reforms caused the rapid development of industry, and a pan-German market emerged. The concentration of the population in industrial centers contributed to cultural leveling and erasure of ethnographic features. At the end of the 19th century, the German nation was formed, although the cultural and everyday identity of the population of individual lands was preserved. In the process of long historical development, both common ethnic features and ethnographic characteristics of individual groups of Germans have emerged, which are partially erased in the conditions of a highly developed industrial society with an absolutely predominant urban population. Germans living in other countries have retained regional self-names - Bavarians, Swabians, Saxons, Franconians, etc.

Of the traditional culture, the best preserved are housing, some customs and rituals, and folklore. Germany was characterized by frame construction technology (half-timbered), only in the south and in some places in the former Slavic regions in the east - log construction. In small towns that preserve their medieval flavor (for example, Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Celle, Goslar, etc.) there are many half-timbered houses. Gothic-style buildings and frame houses have also been preserved in larger cities (Leipzig, Stralsund, Cologne, Koblenz, Lübeck, etc.). Among traditional rural buildings, there are 4 types of houses. The Low German house is a one-story rectangular frame building with residential and utility rooms under one roof, a courtyard-threshing floor in the middle, on its sides there are stalls for livestock, and on the wall opposite the entrance to the house there is a living area with a fireplace and a hanging boiler. Since the end of the 19th century, the layout of the Low German house has undergone significant changes: the hearth was replaced by a fireplace, the living space was divided into several rooms, and outbuildings were separated from the living area. Central German house, frame, two-story, with a living part on the lower floor, utility rooms and later bedrooms on the upper floor. The house and two-story outbuildings (stalls, barn, etc.) cover the yard on three or four sides. The house is divided into 3 parts, the entrance from the side leads to a warm entryway, and a barn (under one roof) is adjacent to the rear wall of the living area. In addition to the open fireplace, there is a stove in the living room. The boundary between Low German and Middle German types coincides with the boundary between Low German and Central German dialects. In the south of Germany (Upper Bavaria) the Alpine house predominates (also characteristic of the Austrians). Local features can be traced in the decoration of furniture and household items: in the north carving predominated, in the south - painting. In the southwest of Germany (Baden-Württemberg), a transitional Black Forest house between Central German and Alpine is common, the residential and utility rooms of which are located under one roof according to the plan of a Central German house.

German traditional clothing began to take shape in the 16th-17th centuries. based on medieval elements of clothing and urban fashion; persists in some areas of Germany (Schaumburg, Lippe, Hesse, Black Forest, Upper Bavaria). The main elements of women's clothing are a bodice or jacket, a gathered skirt (or several, as in Hesse, of different lengths made of thick woolen fabric), and an apron. A shoulder scarf was often worn. In Upper Bavaria in the 19th - early 20th centuries. Instead of a skirt and jacket they wore a dress. Headdresses were particularly diverse - scarves tied in different ways, caps and straw hats of various shapes and sizes. In the 19th century, leather shoes with buckles and, in some places, ankle boots became widespread. In some places, wooden shoes were worn until the 20th century. The traditional men's costume consisted of a shirt, short (knee-length) or long pants, a sleeveless jacket (later a vest), a scarf, shoes or boots. In the XIX-XX centuries. The so-called Tyrolean costume became widespread (including in cities) - a white shirt with a turn-down collar, short leather pants with suspenders, a red cloth sleeveless vest (vest), a wide leather belt, knee-length stockings, shoes, a hat with narrow brims and a feather. There is professional traditional clothing for shepherds, chimney sweeps, miners, and Hamburg carpenters.

In food, regional differences are largely determined by the direction of the economy. In the north, potatoes and various dishes made from them, rye bread predominate, in the south - flour products (noodles, dumplings, etc.) and wheat bread; dairy and meat dishes are more common among the Swabians and Bavarians, although sausages and sausages are considered a common German food. The most common drink is beer. Among non-alcoholic drinks, they prefer coffee with cream, tea, and seltzer water. Festive food - pig's head (or pork) with sauerkraut, goose, carp. They bake a lot of confectionery flour products (various cookies, gingerbreads, cakes), and prepare confitures.

Since the end of the 19th century, the Germans were dominated by a small family with 1-2 children. Some groups of Germans outside Germany maintained large families. In urban families, several years sometimes passed between engagement and wedding until the young couple acquired their own home; In peasant families, the marriage of the son-heir was also delayed due to the division of the farm: after his wedding, the parents moved to a separate residential part of the estate. The social life of Germans is characterized by various verein (by type of community, by interests, etc.).

Some calendar and family rituals, mainly among Catholics, have been partially preserved in the form of relics or entertainment. From Germany in the 19th century, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree for New Year or Christmas spread. Carnivals are held in January-February: the Cologne Carnival is widely known. Oral folk art is dominated by schwanks (short comic stories), fairy tales, sagas, and folk dances and songs are very popular. Singing plays a significant role in the education of the younger generation. Applied arts continue to develop (working wood, metal, glass, weaving, embroidery, pottery). Germans living in other countries in rural areas in a foreign environment have preserved some everyday and cultural features, rituals and customs, and sometimes traditional housing. Ethnographic features were preserved longer among religious groups whose life was more closed. The Germans who settled in big cities quickly lost their identity.

The Germans of Russia and the former USSR have had almost no contact with the Germans of Germany for more than two centuries and therefore differ greatly from them in the basic elements of material and spiritual culture, as well as in self-awareness. “Germans” is the name given by the Russians to all immigrants from Germany. They call themselves "Deutschen", and the inhabitants of Germany - "Germans" (Deutschlander). In relation to all other peoples of the country, they are “Germans,” and in relation to the Germans of Germany, they are “Soviet Germans” (and recently they often call themselves “Russian Germans,” regardless of which state of the former USSR they live in). The Germans of Russia and the former USSR are characterized by a hierarchical national identity. They often call themselves Swabians, Austrians, Bavarians, Zipsers, Mennonites, etc. At the time of their resettlement to Russia, the process of formation of the German nation was far from complete, and Germany itself consisted of more than 300 independent principalities (states). Regional self-awareness, especially among peasants and artisans (and they were the majority among the colonists), prevailed, which was naturally reflected in the self-awareness of these groups. The Volga Germans (Wolgadeutschen) distinguish themselves separately, having had their own national autonomy for 2 decades. Colonists from other countries - the Dutch, Swiss, French Huguenots, etc. - also mixed with the German population.

The ancestors of Russian Germans moved at different times and from different lands of Germany. They settled in the Baltic states since the medieval “Drang nach Osten” - the offensive of German feudal lords on the lands of the Slavs and Baltic peoples. Subsequently, the Germans made up a significant part of the Baltic nobility and urban population (mainly artisans, traders, and intelligentsia). By the middle of the 17th century, there was already a German settlement in Moscow, where, in addition to the Germans, there lived the Dutch, Flemings and other foreigners close in language and culture to the Germans. Their influx into Russia intensified under Peter I and his successors. These were mainly artisans, merchants, military men, doctors, and scientists. The Academy of Sciences, founded in 1724, employed many foreigners, most of them Germans, for a long time. By the middle of the 18th century, about 100 thousand Germans already lived within the Russian Empire, mainly in the Baltic provinces.

However, the bulk of German colonists appeared in Russia in the last third of the 18th - early 19th centuries. In 1764-74, colonies were founded on the Volga in the area between Saratov and Kamyshin (more than 100 colonies). From the same time, colonies began to emerge in other regions of the country. With the annexation of the Black Sea steppes and Crimea to Russia, the problem of their settlement arose. The government of Catherine II invited German colonists to settle these areas on preferential terms. During the reign of Alexander I in 1803-23, another 134 new settlements were formed in the south of Ukraine, 17 in Bessarabia, 8 in Crimea. At the same time (in 1817-19), German colonies arose in Transcaucasia (in Georgia and Azerbaijan). Mostly colonists from the southwestern lands of Germany (Württemberg and Baden, Palatinate and Hesse), and to a lesser extent from Bavaria, Eastern Thuringia, Upper Saxony and Westphalia, moved to Russia. From the end of the 18th century, in several waves, Mennonites from Prussia also moved to Russia - to the Black Sea region, and later (in 1855-70) to the Samara region. In the middle of the 19th century (1830-70), German settlers from Poland settled in Volyn. The colonies near Odessa were partly created by German settlers from Hungary, where they had previously moved from the Palatinate. From the beginning of the 18th century there was also a resettlement of Germans in Transcarpathia. Swabians and Franconians from Germany settled here, and somewhat later (at the end of the 18th century) Austrians from Salzkamergut and Lower Austria, and in the middle of the 19th century Germans from the Czech Republic and Spis (Slovakia). From the very beginning of their settlement in new lands, the Germans were characterized by dispersed settlement, but sometimes they formed compact groups. High natural growth led to the formation of new enclaves - settlements in the Kyiv and Kharkov provinces, the Don region, the North Caucasus, and the Volga region.

After the October Revolution in October 1918, the Labor Commune of Volga Germans was created on the Volga, transformed in 1924 into the Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans with its center in the city of Engels (formerly Pokrovsk). During the Great Patriotic War, more than 650 thousand Germans were taken from the territories occupied by the Germans, but not all of them managed to reach Germany and about 170 thousand Germans were returned to the USSR (from Yugoslavia and Hungary). In 1941, the Germans of the European part of the USSR were forcibly resettled to Kazakhstan and the eastern regions of the RSFSR, and the Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans ceased to exist. The total number of deported Germans was about 700-800 thousand people. In 1959, there were 1,619.7 thousand Germans in the USSR (including 820.1 thousand in Russia). The bulk of the German population was concentrated in Western Siberia and Kazakhstan (660.0 thousand). By 1970, the number of Germans was 1846.3 thousand. According to the 1979 census, the number of Germans in the former USSR was 1936.2 thousand. By 1989, the number of Germans had increased to 2038.6 thousand people. Since the mid-1980s. there were fewer of them due to the mass emigration of Germans to Germany.

A significant part of Russian Germans are employed in industry, the service sector, science and art. However, up to 50% of Germans are employed in agriculture. They preserved many elements of traditional culture - housing, food, some rituals and folklore. Only the type of settlements changed radically. If in Germany cumulus forms of settlements sharply predominate, then in Russia - linear ones.

The basis of the German economy was traditionally agriculture. They used a three-field cultivation system, the main grain crop being wheat. Seed grain production has been developed. Potatoes are grown from garden crops. Livestock farming plays an important role. Favorable climatic conditions led to widespread poultry farming, pig farming, horse breeding, and cattle breeding.

The main form of family is a small family; in rural areas large families are often found.

In construction, the colonists combined national traditions with available building materials. In the southern steppe regions, houses were made of adobe or adobe. In the northern regions, wooden buildings predominate. The roof is two- or four-slope, made of tiles or boards. There are several types of residential buildings: a house with a linear arrangement of premises, placed with a narrow pediment to the street (the so-called pediment house); houses located axis along the street, when several rooms have windows facing the street, four-room houses, where the rooms are not located sequentially, but in a “cross” around the main stove. The floor, ceiling, and stove in the house are painted. A mandatory element of a German estate is a summer kitchen. Barns, a bathhouse, a smokehouse, and a special backyard for livestock are combined under one roof, covering the yard on three sides. The facade of the house, gates, fences are decorated with ornaments (carvings, paintings). The interior of the home is distinguished by carved wooden furniture, feather beds, and an abundance of embroidered and knitted napkins. They embroider flowers, birds, sayings from the Bible using satin stitch.

Festive clothing was decorated with bright embroidery. The traditional costume is a thing of the past. For women, it consisted of a jacket, a gathered skirt, an apron, a headscarf, and leather shoes. There were wooden shoes called "schlers". Sweatshirts, vests, stockings, socks, and mittens were knitted from sheep wool. A man's suit consisted of a shirt, pants, vest, shoes, and hat. Mennonite clothing was characterized by dark colors and lack of decoration.

Traditional food - chicken noodles (noodle), soup with dumplings, fruit soup. On holidays they cook pork or goose with cabbage, and bake pies (kuhe). There are several versions of the roll (strudel). For the winter they smoke lard, meat and fish, and make a variety of sausages. The preferred drink is coffee.

Germans' knowledge of the German language is continuously decreasing. If in 1926 94.9% of Germans called German their native language, then in 1939 - 88.4, in 1959 - 75.0%, in 1970 - 66.8, in 1979 - 57.0%. According to the 1989 census, 48.7% of Germans of the former Union considered German their native language, and 50.8% considered Russian (in addition, 45.0% of Germans were fluent in it). As for the Germans of the Russian Federation, 41.8% considered German their native language (Russian - 53.2% and fluent in it - 38.4%). Thus, the Germans of Russia are becoming more and more Russian-speaking.

T. D. Filimonova, T. B. Smirnova

Peoples and religions of the world. Encyclopedia. M., 2000, p. 370-375.

GERMANS, units part German m., German woman Self-name Deutsche, German. Deutsch(er), pl. h. die Deutschen. Names of N. in some other European languages: English. German; French Allemand; Italian tedesco; Spanish tudesco; Portuguese alemão; Polish Niemiec; Czech Nemec; room german, neamţ; Swede. tyscen; date tyscer; Dutch Duitser; Finnish saksalainen; Hungarian nemet; save Nemac; Est. saksalane; Latvian. vācietis; lit. vokietis; Bulgarian German. Local differences between individual ethnic groups of Germany go back to the early medieval ethnic communities on the basis of which the German ethnos was consolidated. The memory of them was preserved in the self-names of groups of Swabians, Austrians, Bavarians, Zipsers, Saxons and others living in Germany and abroad, including in Russia. In Russia, there is also a group of Volga region peoples (Wolga-deutschen), which have their own territorial identity. N. speak German, which belongs to the West Germanic subgroup of the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family. The German language has three groups of dialects: Low German, Middle German and South German. Each of them is divided into western and eastern subgroups of dialects. In N. Russia all three dialect groups are represented; The most common dialects are Low German, Rhine-Palatinate, Hessian, Swabian, and North Bavarian. N. is the main population of Germany (76.4 million) with the capital Bonn (since 1991 the capital is Berlin, but the government is located in Bonn). N. also live in the USA (more than 5 million), in the former countries. USSR (more than 2 million), including in Kazakhstan (957.5 thousand), Russia, Kyrgyzstan (101.3 thousand), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and other republics; in Canada (1.2 million), Brazil (0.8 million) and other countries in Europe and Latin America, Australia and South Africa. The total number of N. in the world is 86 million people. (When calculating N. in some countries, the total number of N. also includes German-speaking immigrants from other countries - Austria, Switzerland, and Holland). According to the 1989 All-Union Population Census, 842,295 people live in the Russian Federation. N. (41.32% of all N. of the former USSR), of which 41.8% consider the native language of their nationality, 58% - Russian, 0.2% - other languages. In Russia, N. live mainly in Omsk, Novosibirsk, and Tyumen. Volgograd, Saratov, Perm, Samara regions; in the Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, as well as in the Komi Republic, Khakassia, Bashkiria, Kabardino-Balkaria.
The ethnogenesis of N. is rooted in the history of the ancient Germanic tribes, which formed as a separate group within the Indo-European language region starting from the Late Bronze Age (mid-2nd - early 1st millennium BC). The formation of the Germans apparently took place in Northern Europe, from where they gradually moved southward. At the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. The Germans, who lived between the Oder and the Rhine and partially mixed with the Celts and Rhets, spread throughout the entire territory within which the German ethnos later took shape. In the 1st – 2nd centuries. n. e. this area was occupied by the Saxons, Angles, Lombards, Cherusci, Chatti, Suevi, Marcomanni, Burgundians, Rugians, Goths and other Germanic tribes, which in the 3rd - 4th centuries. began to unite into large tribal unions: Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, Alemanni, Thuringians, etc. These tribal unions became the basis of the gradually emerging German ethnic community. During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (IV – VI centuries), part of the Germanic tribes established themselves on the territory of the Western Roman Empire; in the early feudal period (VI – XI centuries) there was a state of the Franks, who gradually conquered the lands of their neighbors. After the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne (IX – XI centuries), the “Kingdom of the Eastern Franks” included a number of German regions - Bavaria, Alemannia (Swabia), Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, and later Lorraine and Friesland joined. As a result of the conquests of the X – XI centuries. German feudal lords laid the foundation for the Holy Roman Empire, annexing Burgundy with its Romanesque population, Italy, the lands of the Polabian and Pomeranian Slavs and parts of the Balts to their possessions. The period of developed feudalism (late 11th – mid-15th centuries) is characterized by internecine wars and land seizures in the east (in the 13th century, the conquest of the lands of the Livonians and Estonians by the Order of the Sword, the Prussians by the Teutonic Order; in the 16th century, the seizure of Austria and Styria by the Habsburgs ). After serious political and religious upheavals in the 15th – 17th centuries. (Reformation in the 2nd half of the 15th century - 1st half of the 16th century; Peasants' War 1524 - 1525; Thirty Years' War 1618 - 1648) Germany broke up into a number of disunited territorial principalities, among which in the 2nd half . XVII century The Brandenburg-Prussian state strengthened. Since 1701, when Frederick I became king of Prussia, numerous wars were fought with the goal of unifying the German lands (for example, the Seven Years' War 1756 - 1763), and Prussia fought with Austria for hegemony in Germany, and also fought with other countries, striving for dominance in the field of colonial policy and trade. However, after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire and the war with France in 1806, Prussia was defeated and, in the Peace of Tilsit of 1807, lost about half of its territories. As a result, in 1815 - 1848 Germany was again fragmented and existed in the form of the German Confederation of 39 states with the leading role of Austria. A new struggle for the unification of Germany began in the 2nd half. XIX century under the Prussian king Wilhelm I and the head of his government, Bismarck. Prussia annexed the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to its possessions, defeated Austria in the war of 1866 and created under its auspices the North German Union of 22 states located north of the river. Main. In 1870, Germany fought with France, resulting in the annexation of Alsace and Eastern Lorraine; in 1871 a united Germany was created. End of the 19th century was marked for Germany by colonial conquests in Africa and New Guinea, and in the 1st half. XX century Germany participated in both world wars. In 1919, the so-called Weimar Republic was proclaimed in Germany, and in 1933 a fascist dictatorship came to power in the country. After Germany's defeat in World War II, it was divided into four occupation zones, and then two German states were formed: the Federal Republic of Germany (September 20, 1949) and the German Democratic Republic (October 7, 1949). The new unification of Germany took place only on October 3, 1990.
Migration to other countries played a large role in the ethnic history of Nizhny Novgorod. In particular, N. began to move to Russia from the end of the Middle Ages (by the era of Peter I there was already a German settlement in Moscow). The influx of German colonists gradually increased, but the bulk of them moved to Russia in the 2nd half. XVIII – 1st half. XIX century The largest number of German settlements were located in the lower part of the Volga region. On October 19, 1918, the lands inhabited by German colonists were allocated to the Labor Commune of the Volga Germans (Autonomous Region of the Volga Germans), transformed into the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on December 19, 1924. The territory of the republic bordered the Saratov and Stalingrad regions and the Kazakh SSR; its capital was Engels. With the beginning of World War II, the republic was abolished (August 28, 1941) and N. were resettled to the Novosibirsk, Omsk regions, Altai Karry, Kazakhstan and other places. Currently, part of the so-called “Soviet” N. has repatriated to Germany; Among N. remaining in Russia and other CIS republics, a popular movement is for N.’s return to the Volga region.
There is no consensus on the origin of the ethnonym German in Russian (and other Slavic languages). Some researchers convincingly derive the name German from the root nem-, i.e. German - “mute”, “a person who speaks unclearly, incomprehensibly”, “foreigner”; At the same time, dialect words and expressions are cited: Vyatsk. speak mute “speak indistinctly (about a child)”, res. German “baby, a child who does not yet speak”, etc., cf. also other Russian Yugra people are a dumb language, i.e. “alien, foreign-language (mute) people.” Other researchers trace the common Slavic name German to the Celtic name of the Nemetes tribe, believing that the Slavs, who originally adopted this name from the Celts, spread it as “mute” (i.e. we are talking about contamination of two forms). The self-name N. deutsch goes back to the German word theudo “tribe, people,” from which in the 7th – 8th centuries. the possessive adjective theudisca was formed. Initially, this word referred to the Franks of bilingual northern Gaul, who had not undergone Romanization (i.e., “our, native German-Frankish people”), then it spread to the neighboring East Frankish region, in which Germanic dialects were spoken, and later to all Germanic tribes east of the Rhine. From the West Frankish theudisc \ theodisc came the medieval Latin form theodiscus, which was used from 786 in the language of the Carolingian court and office. This word denoted not only the language, but also the entire German population, especially those subject to the state of Charlemagne. In parallel, there was a Latin form Teutonicus “Teutonic, Germanic”. From the end of the 9th and 10th centuries. the name of the language and the ethnic group theodisc\teutonicus that spoke it became an ethnonym that referred to the emerging German people (gens theudisca, gens Teutinicum). In the beginning. XII century monuments for the first time record the expressions Diutsche Lant (designation of Germany) and Diutschiu liutu, Diutschiu man to designate a single German nation, in contrast to the names of individual German tribes. Another designation for N. is Russian. German (plural Germans), English. German, as well as the name of the country Germany, English. Germany, were adopted by the Romans, through whom they entered European languages. Lat. Germania is a word of unknown etymology, apparently of Celtic or Illyrian origin. The name Germans is also used in a broader sense: to designate all the ancient Germanic tribes. In French, the ethnonym allemande “German” goes back to the name of the German tribal union Alemanna (Alamanna) - German. allemani, allamanni (from 213) – “all people”. This name, known to the Romanesque population living in the region bordering the Germans, was fixed in the French language to designate the entire German people. During the 1st World War, the disparaging word bosch (bosch) was used in relation to N. The names of individual ethnic groups of N. are mostly associated with their origin: Swabians - living in Swabia or immigrants from this area; Bavarians - from Bavaria, Zipsers - from the Slovak region of Spis-Zips; Volga Germans - immigrants from the Volga region, etc. The name Mennonites was originally a confessional concept (Protestant sect), which over time acquired an ethno-confessional meaning. In Russia, all these groups of German settlers, and subsequently the colonists from other countries who mixed with them - the Dutch, Austrians, French Huguenots, Swiss - were called Germans. Currently, most Russian N. call themselves Deutsche, but distinguish themselves from N. Germany.

Literature:

Berkovich M.E. On the nature of the German medieval ethnic community in the 11th – 13th centuries. \\ Middle Ages. Vol. 36. M. 1973; Kovalev G. F. Ethnonymy of Slavic languages. Voronezh, 1991; Kolesnitsky N. F. Pre-national ethnic communities (based on the material of medieval Germany) \\ Races and peoples. 8. M. 1978; Essays on the history of Germany from ancient times to 1918. M. 1959; Vasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. T. 3. M. 1987; Filimonova T.D. Trends in the ethnic development of the Germans of the USSR \\ Ethnocultural processes in a nationally mixed environment. M. 1989; Shustrova I. Yu. Soviet Germans: Stages of ethnic history and modern ethnopolitical problems \\ Problems of the history of the USSR and Germany of the 20s - 40s. Yaroslavl, 1991; Deutsche Geschichte in 10 Kapiteln. D. 1988; Germanen – Slawen – Deutsche Forschungen zu ihrer Ethno-genese. B. 1968.

Quoted from the linguo-ethnological supplement to the book by M.V. Mayorova and O.A. Knyazeva “The Germans of the Tula Region” (Tula: Levsha, 2007): R. A. Ageeva. What kind of tribe are we? Peoples of Russia: names and destinies: Dictionary-reference book. – M.: Academia, 2000. – P. 229-233. (Prepared text of the quote special for the Chronos website: M. V. Mayorov).. 22.12.2010

Germans(self-name - Deutsche), people, the main population of Germany.

On the origin of the ethnonym German in Russian (and other Slavic languages) there is no consensus. Some researchers convincingly derive the name German from the root nem-, i.e. German - “mute”, “a person who speaks unclearly, incomprehensibly”, “foreigner”. Other researchers trace the common Slavic name German to the Celtic name of the Nemetes tribe, believing that the Slavs, who originally adopted this name from the Celts, spread it as “mute” (i.e. we are talking about the contamination of two forms).

The total number of Germans is 86 million people, including 74.6 million people in Germany. There are large groups of Germans in the USA (5.4 million), Canada (1.2 million), Kazakhstan (958 thousand), Russian Federation (843 thousand), Brazil (710 thousand) and other countries in Europe and Latin America, Australia and South Africa.

German is spoken by the Germanic group of the Indo-European family. There are 2 groups of German dialects: Low German (Platt Deutsch) and High German. Some researchers from the latter distinguish Central German dialects. Platt Deutsch has its own literature. Writing based on the Latin alphabet.

The subsequent centuries-long political fragmentation of Germany hampered the development of the Germans as a single people. For several centuries, the ethnic history of the Germans proceeded in two ways: the process of development of the nationalities that had emerged in the early Middle Ages continued - Bavarian, Saxon, Swabian, Franconian, etc. - and at the same time, cultural features common to all Germans took shape. At the beginning of the 16th century, the process of consolidation manifested itself primarily in the creation of a single German literary language based on the Saxon (Meissen) dialect, but there was a religious split of the Germans into Catholics and Protestant Lutherans, which led to some differences in everyday life and culture. Poor economic development and the wars that devastated the German lands caused in the 18th and 19th centuries. active emigration of Germans to various countries of America and Europe (including Russia). Only in the second half of the 18th century did the process of development of German national identity accelerate.

The unification of Germany took place under the auspices of Prussia. The unification of the country and the implementation of a number of reforms caused the rapid development of industry, and a pan-German market emerged. The concentration of the population in industrial centers contributed to cultural leveling and erasure of ethnographic features. At the end of the 19th century, the German nation was formed, although the cultural and everyday identity of the population of individual lands was preserved. In the process of long historical development, both common ethnic features and ethnographic characteristics of individual groups of Germans have emerged, which are partially erased in the conditions of a highly developed industrial society with an absolutely predominant urban population. Germans living in other countries have retained regional self-names - Bavarians, Swabians, Saxons, Franconians, etc.

Culture

German traditional clothing began to take shape in the 16th and 17th centuries. based on medieval elements of clothing and urban fashion; persists in some areas of Germany (Schaumburg, Lippe, Hesse, Black Forest, Upper Bavaria). The main elements of women's clothing are a bodice or jacket, a gathered skirt (or several, as in Hesse, of different lengths made of thick woolen fabric), and an apron. A shoulder scarf was often worn. In Upper Bavaria in the 19th - early centuries. Instead of a skirt and jacket they wore a dress. Headdresses were particularly diverse - scarves tied in different ways, caps and straw hats of various shapes and sizes. In the 19th century, leather shoes with buckles and, in some places, ankle boots became widespread. In some places, wooden shoes were worn for centuries. The traditional men's costume consisted of a shirt, short (knee-length) or long pants, a sleeveless jacket (later a vest), a scarf, shoes or boots. In the XIX - centuries. The so-called Tyrolean costume became widespread (including in cities) - a white shirt with a turn-down collar, short leather pants with suspenders, a red cloth sleeveless vest (vest), a wide leather belt, knee-length stockings, shoes, a hat with narrow brims and a feather. There is professional traditional clothing for shepherds, chimney sweeps, miners, and Hamburg carpenters.

Germans of the former USSR

However, the bulk of German colonists appeared in Russia in the last third of the 18th - early 19th centuries. B - colonies were founded on the Volga in the area between Saratov and Kamyshin (more than 100 colonies). From the same time, colonies began to emerge in other regions of the country. With the annexation of the Black Sea steppes and Crimea to Russia, the problem of their settlement arose. The government of Catherine II invited German colonists to settle these areas on preferential terms. During the reign of Alexander I, another 134 new settlements were formed in the south of Ukraine, 17 in Bessarabia, 8 in Crimea. At the same time (in 1817-19), German colonies arose in Transcaucasia (in Georgia and Azerbaijan). Mostly colonists from the southwestern lands of Germany (Württemberg and Baden, Palatinate and Hesse), and to a lesser extent from Bavaria, Eastern Thuringia, Upper Saxony and Westphalia, moved to Russia. From the end of the 18th century, in several waves, Mennonites from Prussia also moved to Russia - to the Black Sea region, and later (in 1855-70) to the Samara region. In the middle of the 19th century (1830-70), German settlers from Poland settled in Volyn. The colonies near Odessa were partly created by German settlers from Hungary, where they had previously moved from the Palatinate. From the beginning of the 18th century there was also a resettlement of Germans in Transcarpathia. Swabians and Franconians from Germany settled here, and somewhat later (at the end of the 18th century) Austrians from Salzkamergut and Lower Austria, and in the middle of the 19th century Germans from the Czech Republic and Spis (Slovakia). From the very beginning of their settlement in new lands, the Germans were characterized by dispersed settlement, but sometimes they formed compact groups. High natural growth led to the formation of new enclaves - settlements in the Kyiv and Kharkov provinces, the Don region, the North Caucasus, and the Volga region.

After the October Revolution in October, the Labor Commune of Volga Germans was created on the Volga, transformed into the Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans with its center in the city of Engels (formerly Pokrovsk). During the Great Patriotic War, more than 650 thousand Germans were taken from the territories occupied by the Germans, but not all of them managed to reach Germany and about 170 thousand Germans were returned to the USSR (from Yugoslavia and Hungary). The Germans of the European part of the USSR were forcibly resettled in Kazakhstan and the eastern regions of the RSFSR, and the Autonomous Republic of Volga Germans ceased to exist. The total number of deported Germans was about 700-800 thousand people. In the USSR there were 1619.7 thousand Germans (including 820.1 thousand in Russia). The bulk of the German population was concentrated in Western Siberia and Kazakhstan (660.0 thousand). The number of Germans amounted to 1846.3 thousand. According to the population census, the number of Germans in the former USSR amounted to 1936.2 thousand. The number of Germans increased to 2038.6 thousand people. Since the mid-1980s. there were fewer of them due to the mass emigration of Germans to Germany.