I will cite the headlines of some newspaper articles: “Russian Germans are returning from Germany to Russia”, “Crimea awaits the return of German colonists”, “Tavrida calls for colonists from Germany”, “About 500,000 Russian Germans who moved to Germany want to return to Russia”, “German politician: ‘More and more German citizens are thinking about moving to Crimea’” and so on and so forth.
What happened? Why did hundreds of thousands of my compatriots suddenly start packing their bags? Who are these people? And why, finally, did I learn about this not from friends and acquaintances, not from local newspapers, but from Russian mass media?
From bureaucratic games to the Olympic…
As Mr. Rempel explained in numerous interviews, “Russian Germans have thought about moving to Russia because of the difficult situation in Germany itself, primarily related to the influx of refugees.” And further: “Therefore, a targeted comprehensive program is needed, because some people are leaving quite chaotically and face certain problems on the ground when obtaining a residence permit and health insurance. If such a program is approved, the number of people will be comparable to the figures we announced.”
And now I will quote some comments from Russian journalists and political technologists: “Panic is spreading across Germany, attacks by refugees from Arab countries and North Africa occur almost daily. Frightened expats from the CIS are uniting on social networks and no longer hope that the German authorities will be able to restore order with migrants. People do not want to live in an atmosphere of constant danger, robbery and violence. They say they are ready to leave their European homes and return to the ‘Russian Motherland’ if the series of attacks continues.”
“Rosenthal and Neusatz, Friedental and Heilbrunn – these and other richest colonies will be revived on the territory of the Crimean Federal District. Sources in the government of the Republic of Crimea report on the development of a special Program for the Development of Historical German Settlements.”
“There is another promising area for applying German talent. The colonies of Sudak and Kronental – the eastern and western coasts of Crimea. A magnificent resort area that still remains a cluster of plywood chicken coops… Years of talk about ‘Yevpatoria Antalya’ have remained a bluff. It's not even about investment. A fundamentally different human approach is needed. The contribution of Crimean Germans to the development of the modern resort and tourism industry could be invaluable.” “The chairman of the Crimean German society ‘Wiedergeburt-Renaissance’ receives calls daily from those wishing to return. Most often, descendants of the deported are interested. There are already two thousand families on the list.”
“It is reported that the Simferopol Program for the Development of Historical German Settlements has already been taken under control by the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. A characteristic coincidence – following this, participants of the European Jewish Congress complained to Vladimir Putin about the anti-Semitism of Muslim migrants.”
Do you feel the intensity of passions and the rapid development of events? It turns out that not only about half a million Russian Germans intend to return to the Russian Federation (mainly to Crimea, and also to… the Far East, closer to China), but also a certain number of French Jews will move there. Exactly how many has not yet been announced.
And that's not all! As Dmitry Rempel told the press, a real new Pierre de Coubertin, “…a project is now being developed to hold the World Olympic Games of Russian Germans on the territory of Crimea.” In short, “Vasyuki, which will become the center of ten provinces,” and “a blow by motor rally to off-road and carelessness” are gaining a second wind in modern Russia.
Naturally, I wanted to learn more about the “father” of these grandiose projects and his party.
According to information gleaned from the Russian and German press, “The German Party of Resettlers and Migrants ‘Unity’ (Aussiedler und Migranten Partei Deutschland – EINHEIT) was formed in Cologne in the spring of 2013. The party chairman is a resettler from Ukraine, Dmitry Rempel. By the end of last year, it had more than 4,000 members. The party is registered in three federal states, but founding meetings were also held in other states of Germany.”
“We are a German party, we do not rely on Russian help, and we do not want it, otherwise it will be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Germany,” Mr. Rempel told journalists. At the same time, he repeatedly emphasized that “the main goal of the party is to protect and represent, first of all, the interests of our compatriots,” i.e., Russian Germans and members of their families of other nationalities, as well as “as far as possible, to contribute to the stabilization of relations between Germany and Russia.”
As we can see, the goals are quite noble and not at all connected with Crimea, let alone the resettlement of compatriots there.
From Hempel to Rempel
It is noteworthy that this is not the first attempt to start resettling, even if only in words, Russian Germans to the peninsula. It was first voiced by the chairman of the Crimean German society Wiedergeburt, Yuri Hempel (Juri Hampel), back in 2014. But if he can still be understood – he lives in Crimea, is a member of the United Russia faction in the Crimean parliament – then a citizen of Germany, the leader of a German party, Dmitry Rempel, even with all due desire, I refuse to understand. Moreover, note that he voiced the alleged desire of his compatriots to exchange Germany for Crimea almost on the same day as Vladimir Putin's decree, which deprived Russian Germans of even the faint hope of restoring their illegally liquidated autonomous republic.
However, it is time to recall the scam about "relocating Germans to Paraguay", when thousands of compatriots were deceived and fleeced. Or the "hoax" about a "mass return of Russian Germans from Germany to Siberia and specifically to the Omsk region", launched by the Russian press in 2013. Or the provocative idea of "creating an autonomy for Russian Germans on the territory of... the Kaliningrad region", which, born in one of the departments of the CPSU Central Committee, was first launched back in the late 1990s, with the aim of splitting the all-Union movement of Russian Germans Wiedergeburt, which had as its main goal the restoration of autonomy in the Volga region. And much becomes clear.
If Mr. Rempel and his associates were really concerned about the problems, troubles, and aspirations of their compatriots and the country in which they live, would they be "trying to free up territory for the flows of refugees streaming into Germany from Africa and Asia"? That is exactly how many of my friends and readers assessed the statements of the leader of the Unity party about the alleged desire of thousands of Russian Germans to move to Crimea. Would he, even if not directly but allegorically, recommend that compatriots move to "disputed territories", let alone submit to the Crimean government a proposal to create a representative office of the autonomous republic in Germany?
It is interesting, who authorized him to do this and for what purpose? After all, it would be much more reasonable for Mr. Rempel and his party comrades, if they really think they represent the interests of the immigrants, to appeal to the Bundestag, the German government, leading German-language media, personally to the Chancellor with a clearly reasoned request to resume accepting Russian Germans into Germany. And urgently at that.
Well, as a basis they could cite not only the Kremlin's decision to refuse to restore autonomy, thereby depriving Russian Germans of the opportunity to preserve their national identity. But instead, Dmitry Rempel, likened to the great schemer, began to fool Russian officials with a "new resource of influence – the party of compatriots abroad."
True, they don't take him seriously there. This was directly stated by the editor-in-chief of the Moscow-based magazine "Russia in Global Affairs", Dmitry Lukyanov, who called the party led by Rempel a "marginal organization that has no influence whatsoever on the political landscape of Germany." I will add from myself: and on the Russian Germans living in Germany as well.
Alexander Fittz.
"Russkaya Germaniya"