Volga Germans

The article is devoted to the research of family structure of German settlements in the Volga Region in the middle of XIX-th century, based on the analisys of "Gnilushka" colony in the Kamyshin district of Saratov province. Family structure model of the colony is being studied by the enumeration lists from the point of view of demographic analysis and J. Handzhnal's theory of existence of a unique European-type marriage.

The author analyzes a short Saratov period of the course of life of a well-known German social democrat Ernst Reuter. According to the directive of the RSFSR Council of Peoples Commissars Chairman V. I. Lenin and Peoples Commissar on Nationalities J. V Stalin a German war prisoner and communist Ernst Reuter was sent to Saratov Volga Region in April 1918 where he became the leader of the Volga Region Commissariat on the Germans.