ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan

I was born in Kazakhstan, but my ancestors are from Russia, Poland and Germany. My maiden last name is German, so people automatically assumed that I was ethnically German. Many of them suggested I immigrate to Germany, but when I went to the German Cultural center in Ust-Kamenogorsk to inquire about the immigration procedure, the director told me that I would not qualify due to:

1. I didn't speak German
2. I was not German %100
3. The ethnicity in my passport was "Russian"

I also think he blew me off because I look too Slavic.
So I decided to study English language and culture, which are a lot more beautiful, interesting and sophisticated than German, and immigrated to the US.
Now Kazakhs can have their filthy Kazakhstan to themselves, Russians don't have to call me "Nazi" anymore, and Germans can knock themselves out enjoying their racial purity. It's such a relief to be away from all that.

Peter wrote:
"i am of german descent (dad is mennonite, mom is volga german). is was born in the pavlodar region of kazakhstan, later moved to germany in 1989. now there is a big movement of our people moving to canada (which is were i now live). i guess it all has to do with the fact that in russia we were picked on for being germans, once we moved to germany we were being picked on for being russians. when i grew up in germany, i thought of myself as russian. once i moved to canada, people once again called me a german.
i think that many russian germans came to germany expecting to be coming home..."

It's really difficult when you can't perefctly fit a certain mold unlike real Germans from Germany. If there is something off about you, whether it is the wrong place of birth, insufficient knowledge of the national language or ethnicity, you'll always be the target for upsetting comments on yourself. That's why I think it's absolutely unnecessary to leave Germany, especially if the only thing that really bothers you is that you are no longer viewed as German but Russian rather, which you don't want to be.

The real reason why ethnic Germans from Kazakhstan immigrate to Germany is not because they were picked on, but because they want to have higher living standards. Kazakhstan is too underdeveloped.
Therefore, if you're in Germany, you should take as much advantage as you can, and use Germany for what it's worth without worrying about how they perceive you. If they think you're Russian, so be it. After all, there is nothing wrong with being Russian. Just because Germans killed 20 million of them not too long ago, it doesn't mean there is something wrong with you! These former murderes never compensated Russia for what they did to it.

One more thing...

"The real reason why ethnic Germans from Kazakhstan immigrate to Germany is not because they were picked on, but because they want to have higher living standards. Kazakhstan is too underdeveloped."

A good proof for that are Germans, who immmigrated to South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Australia and USA. These Germans never went back to Germany no matter how much they were ridiculed and picked on, people calling them "Krauts", "Nazi" and what not. They took all these insults only because these highly advanced countries offered them better living conditions, abundance of food, and obviously prestige.

You don't see ethnic Germans of the US, Canada, Australia and such flocking back to their "fatherland". Kazakhstan is the only country in the world that came up with this whole "German exodus" idea. I don't understand why Germans can't have any power in Kazakhstan. I guess they are not like the English, who could use their accumen to colonize a country, and subjugate the native population. What a bunch of losers!

My ancestors, who came to Russia from Germany were the kind of immigrants, who were capable of integrating into a foreign culture. They didn't have to isolate themselves into rural settlements by the Volga and speak only their native language and eat only wiener schnizel mit kortofel zalat. They were highly educated and talented people. The children they produced were educated at Russian schools and spoke Russian as a native language.

The only problem was that my grandpa, didn't change his German last name into Russian, and when WW2 began, he was identified as ethnic German and exiled to Kazakhstan with his wife and 3 of their children, one of whom was my dad.

Culturally my dad is totally Russian. He was educated in Russia and his native and only language is Russian. The only thing that's reminiscent of his German ancestry is his German lastname, otherwise our German heritage is completely expunged. My dad told me that it was absolutely unnecessary to preserve it. It completely ended with me when I decided to learn English instead of German and focus on exploring other cultures. I also changed my last name into English.

I, personally, wouldn't want to move to Germany just because some of my ancestors were from there. Obviously, there must have been a reason why they left Germany for Russia to begin with. I hear Germans are very cruel people, so it must have been precisely because of that.

I know of many ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan, who completely ignored their heritage by entirely bypassing it, and, instead, put a lot of emphasis on learning English starting from primary school, so that they could immigrate to an English-speaking country.

I've always considered English culture to be the most advanced and fascinating culture on the planet, and the fact that I had some German blood in me, wasn't really impressing me as much because German culture and language seem too bleak and fail in comparison.

Even real Germans from Germany have a fascination with everything English, and their best musicians all sing in English. Just think of Modern Talking, Sandra and CC Catch, among many others. Plus, almost every German in Germany speaks fluent English.

I guess that would be the only thing I truly have in common with real Germans.

If one wanted to locate lost relatives believed to be in Kazakhstan, what would be the best way to go about that? Most of my family came to the US between 1890 and 1920, but a few stayed behind,as did their children. So far, descendants of only one of those families have been found. We'd like to be in contact with descendants of the other family members.

Peter wrote:
I guess it all has to do with the fact that in russia we were picked on for being germans, once we moved to germany we were being picked on for being russians.
I wonder if you could tell ethnic Germans born and raised in Germany to view you the way YOU want to be viewed. I think they are advanced enough intellectually to understand what it means.
It seems that you tend to accept other people's view of who you are instead of your own. However, it's important to remember that other people's view of you might be completely distorted. How can you go exclusively by that?
Ethnicity is just one of many things that can be picked on. If someone calls you physically ugly, and (you know you're not, it doesn't mean that that's what you have to call yourself and believe it.

Does anyone know how German Germans view ethnic Germans from countries other than Kazakhstan?

People usually have a tendency to bring everyone around them down to the lowest common denomenator. Since German Germans look down on Russia, most likely, that would explain why Germans from the ex-Soviet Union are viewed as Russian in Germany.

I think an American or Canadian of German descent would be allowed to view themselves as German, if they were to relocate to Germany. Again, it's because German Germans, most likely, look up to the US and Canada, countries association with which acts as a high common denominator, thus bringing them down to the lower status, which is German.

I think it's absolutely wrong for anyone to push an identity on somebody. If a person has always identified themselves as German in Kazakhstan, they shouldn't, all of a sudden, start identifying themselves as Russian, particularly, after living in Germany for some time. Trust me, German culture and language cannot turn you into a Russian!

Test

I guess the worst country to be in if you have Germanic background and are from Kazakhstan is the US. This is where it gets really barbaric. The abuse you'll be subjected to is something you can see only in your worst nightmares. It's even worse than in Germany.

People living in the United States have a REALLY bad reaction to something like this. They'll be literally FORCING you to accept that you're Russian. It gets to the point where they simply lose it on you. They tell you you look Russian. You're Russian. You should love yourself for who you are. Are you ashamed of being Russian? Things of that nature. On top of all, after persuading you that you're Russian, they start taking out their hate towards Russians on you.

I am not sure if they think being German is something you get respected for in the US, and if you say you're, they start looking for a reason to dispute that by switching labels around so they can have a reason to disrespect you. But in any case, it's extremely cruel.

I guess it has to do with the fact that people living on the territory of the US, all labels stripped off, assigned different value to different categories of people. If you attach a label associated with the people of higher value, you'll be brutally slaughtered for it cause people here want to keep you down, as low as possible. I think this is also the case with Barack Obama, where he is intentionally labelled as "black" despite his European heritage.

"I guess it all has to do with the fact that in russia we were picked on for being germans, once we moved to germany we were being picked on for being russians."

I don't think Germans from Germany will feel very comfortable knowing that by doing something like this, they'll be turning the Russian race, known to be Slavic, into Germanic because that's what their DNA analysis will be showing. I don't think Russians would want to be enhanced by German DNA.

"I guess it all has to do with the fact that in russia we were picked on for being germans, once we moved to germany we were being picked on for being russians."

I don't think Germans from Germany will feel very comfortable knowing that by doing something like this, they'll be turning the Russian race, known to be Slavic, into Germanic because that's what their DNA analysis will be showing. I don't think Russians would want to be enhanced with German DNA.

My family came to the US from Crimea and Bessarabia in the early 1900s, as did a large number of people who settled in North Dakota. We wear our German-Russian heritage proudly. Many of the communities strive to preserve the language and culture. If you are German-Russian (or Russian-German) or German from ANYWHERE, you will find that the Germans from Russia descendants in North Dakota will embrace you. I suspect that will be the case in any German-Russian community throughout the US, Canada, South and Central America. Our grandparents all left family members and friends behind. We all lost people in Stalin's purges, through the deportations and labor camps. We all want to find the descendants of those whom we lost touch with. Of course, those who are not of our culture, just don't understand.

What's really unfair is that even though you may not have had as much connection to Germans to make you German as per German "standards", you were still the target for persecution. During the Soviet regime, even a german last name was enough to make you such target. My dad, for instance, landed in one of those concentration camps for Germans, even though he doesn't even speak a word of German at this point. I personally felt that there was no need to carry on either German, Russian or any other culture since to me all these cultures were the product of someone else's creativity....

Although you were practically Russianized culture and languagewise, any deviation from "perfection", so to speak, could set off abusiveness on part of those, who were on the lookout for any reason to harass you. I think this is the worst type of situation...Or worse yet, they would label you a "Jew' since many people can't tell the difference between Germans and Jews, and get off on that kind of abuse, as it's even more intense. Kazakhs viewed these type of people Russian because to them anyone, who didn't look Kazakh was Russian and needed to be harassed for being Russian. Then you come to the US, and find that the inhabitants of its free land, are just like Kazakhs in this sense. Well, some...I guess when there are so many variables in your heritage, abusive people may effectively manipulate and switch the labels around and, not in your favor, in order to make you suffer...

Perhaps, to you, segregating yourselves into a community based on your ethnic heritage is a great thing because it allows you to focus on the actual complexity of a human being...I still find this version of apartheid pretty gruesome. Why can't people be just conditioned to defy the human body and everything that's associated with it, right?

I decided to conduct some tests on the US population... Here are the results...At some clinic, I intentionally refused to indicate my race and ethnicity on an intake form. Instead I put "Don't feel too strongly about this...None of your business...You tell me"...I knew the response to something like this was going to be really nasty because we are dealing with the scum of the earth, you know. I was prepared.

And, of course, the staff hired some couple to walk right by me after my appointment while I was in the lobby, and called me "Schmuck" while staring at me. This just shows that the US uses punishment for refusing to obey their racial practices by exposing your personal medical records to whoever, and involving people to harass the victim. I am not sure how the US intends on surviving this...but many people have already safely exited the United States to avoid the atrocity that the people have turned into in here. The sociopathy here is outrageous!!! If you think that that's what need to be done to everybody in the US for refusing to indicate your race in a country, where poeple would cling to anything they can in order to accumulate some imaginary self-value, then everybody's records should be exposed and used against the poeple including their race, which is actually used against people a lot.

However, I think the scum that lives on the territory of the US has gone too far. Poor things. Give them some value!!!

i just wanted to tell kazakh germans, or anyone who thought they were Germans or were confused with Germans during the Soviet era, until US population redefined their ethnicity and forced something else on them, to be really careful with the people in the United States.

The problem here is that their feelings are intentionally enhanced, particularly hate, malice, vindictiveness, complusion to harm at any opportunity, and all those other harmful feelings that they practically run on. The schools here condition kids since early childhood to feel strongly about every little unimportant thing, and they are made believe that their survival somehow depends on these unimportant things.

This culture has many Nazi elements, especially when it comes to the human race. it's really sad, but people are willing to play along and most of them can't even tell right from wrong. They think harming people is fun, and they won't feel bad even if you're completely ruined. They'll simply laugh at your funeral. And it doesn't even matter to them, if you're a good person or not.

I'm sorry that some of you have had such negative experiences with people in the US. We're not all like that. In fact, the ugly Americans are despised by many of us. I apologize for the stupid and crude US citizens.

I just want to find lost relatives, those whose parents and grandparents were deported from Crimea.