During the Soviet period, the USSR's two-million strong population of ethnic Germans was a little-known natsional΄nost΄ (nationality/ethnicity). Initially recruited to the desirable Volga Region of Russia by Catherine the Great in the 18th century for demographic and expansionist aims, later Alexander I continued the policy and German-speakers settled on the Black Sea Coast. Some fled east to escape poverty, war, or religious persecution; others were attracted by the privileged economic benefits offered. In the following century German life flourished, as the settlers maintained their language, established newspapers, schools, churches, and other elements of civil society.
A gradual downward turn in their privileged status ensued in the late 19th century, though they were granted limited autonomy by the USSR. The German Reich's invasion early in WWII, however, was followed by the dissolution of the Volga Autonomous Region and the expulsion of the Volga Germans to the east, as Stalin was worried about a potential 5th column. Thus, a new German diaspora was created throughout Central Asia and Siberia. Many were deported to rural steppe villages in Kazakhstan. Despite the multi-national ideology and internationalist ethos of the Soviet world, the Soviet-Germans were seen as an internal enemy, with limited rights to the extent that well into the 1960s some of them lived under a sort of house arrest, not permitted to move from their villages and obliged to register with the local authorities monthly. The local Kazakh populations had an ambivalent attitude toward them, but most agreed that their houses and gardens were better maintained and more attractive.
In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a full 75% of the then two million Soviet Germans moved to Germany as Aussiedler (settlers), taking advantage of Germany's ethnicity-based law of return. This policy welcomed these co-ethnic kin as long-lost relations, rewarding them with generous benefits.
But what became of the quarter-million who remained in the post-Soviet states? These are the Germans who are the focus of Rita Sanders' Staying at Home: Identities, Memories and Social Networks of Kazakhstani Germans. In particular, she describes, through a synthesis of qualitative interviews, ethnographic research, quantitative methodologies, a thoughtful critique, and review of relevant literature, the everyday realities of the practices of identity, given a new set of transnational ties in a newly nationalizing state, Kazakhstan.
Formerly nomadic Kazakhs, once one of the internal “others” of the Soviet Union, constitute the titular nationality of the quarter-century-old Republic of Kazakhstan. During this time Kazakhstan has emerged as the most western-facing of the Central Asian republics, an oil-rich nation-state, and one that has experienced a nationalist resurgence. Sanders' book addresses the complex feelings, attitudes and practices entailed in identifying as German in the post-Soviet independence period. This is juxtaposed with notions of Kazakh identity vs. Kazakhstani (or ethnic versus civic). She claims that Kazakh identity is ascribed, that one cannot “become” Kazakh; this belief plays out in the widespread reluctance of non-ethnic Kazakhs to learn to speak the language of the titular nationals, which, given Kazakh language laws, excludes Russians, Germans and others, despite many Kazakhs themselves being unable to speak the titular language. The book does a good job of describing the complex nexus of language-ethnicity-nationalism, drawing on solid literature for the analysis.
One underlying question is: given the ethnic privileging of Kazakhs in the public sector, the ascendency of the Kazakh language, and increasing ethno-nationalism, why do non-Kazakhs choose to remain? Here the book comes into its own, as Sanders nicely describes the ambivalence of the Germans left behind. Some have been to Germany and actively disliked it, preferring their Kazakhstani homeland. Others insist on their belonging to and in Kazakhstan. Sanders provides examples of attempts made by these German-Kazakhstanis to jockey for higher social positions in the ethnic hierarchy, hoping to displace the once superior, now resented, Russians. Sanders has an excellent understanding of the subtleties involved in the myriad of reasons and responses, including the attempt some Germans make to identify with Kazakhs as a way to distance themselves from Russians.
One question here that remains unanswered is that of mixed marriages. It is possible that in Taldikurgan, the site of the research, mixed marriages were rare. Many did occur, however, and one wonders how this native theory of identities she poses comes into dialogue with this fact. This comprehensive study of the German-Kazakhstanis provides a thoughtful analysis of post-Soviet identity/ethnicity/nationality entanglements. Anyone interested in these issues would benefit by reading this book.
