Russian attitudes toards Germans (Baltic & otherwise)

[Slivkin, Yevgeniy A.]

"I wonder why he drew this distinction between Ostsee 
Germans and good, loyal "Russian Germans," when so many of the latter group 
were also Ostsee Germans. "

Dear Richard,

It was the Ostsee Germans who most successfully competed against Russians in state and military services, thus generating hatred in the Russian nobility. Oleg Proskurin in his book "Literaturnye skandaly pushkinskoi epokhi" (The Literary Scandals of Pushkin's Epoch) argues that the Third Section of His Majesty's Chancellery (the secret political police) was created mostly to defend the interests of the powerful ethnic group within the Russian elite, that is the Ostsee Germans. The Third Section indeed was headed by representatives of this group (Benkendorf, Von Voks, Dubelt).

Sincerely,

Yevgeny Slivkin 

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Vera Beljakova [atacama at GLOBAL.CO.ZA]
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:08 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Russian attitudes toards Germans (Baltic & otherwise)

"ostzeiskii vopros" -
Since Richard doesn't read/know Russian

"ostzeiskii vopros" - Ostsee Question / Ostsee Frage
"ostzeiskii nemetz" - Ostsee Gerrman (Baltic)

On the other hand the Baltic Germans were the mainstay of the
Russian Empire (military & civil service ...or are these now counted as
'russified Germans' ?

A very good publication is that by Dr Michael Katin-Yartsew who wrote
his doctoral thesis on the 'Baltic German (nobility) in the Service of the
Russian Empire".

Vera Beljakova
Johannesburg



  Subject:Re: [SEELANGS] A poem of Apollon N. Maikov






 Dear Richard,

Since you are researching "late Imperial Russian attitudes towards Germans", I thought you would be interested to know that years ago I came across a little known brochure by the historian and journalist M. P.
Pogodin (editor of “Moskovskii vestnik”and “Moskovitianin”) entitled
“Ostzeiskii vopros” (1869). In this pamphlet, the author addresses
Professor Shirren, an “ostzeiskii nemets” who occupied the position of Dean
of the Department of History and Law at the University of Derpt (Tartu).
Below I quote a characteristic passage in my clumsy translation:
“For us, all Germans fall into three categories: 1) The German Germans, the
residents of Germany – we honor and respect them as a first class European
nation. 2) The Russian Germans, those Germans who became russified, who
serve our state and live among us – we love them and are grateful to them
for the many services they have rendered to us. 3) The ostzeiskie Germans,
those who are the most viciously antagonistic to us. Their existence and
attitude to us well justify the proverb: “One could not make an enemy for
himself unless one gave him food and drink with his own hand.” You, the
ostzeiskie Germans, hate us in your hearts. And this hatred is the most
convincing proof of your own malady.”

Regards,

Yevgeny Slivkin, Ph.D.
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
University of Oklahoma



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