OJC to host Russian educator and Volga-German historian
Dr. Lyudmila Koretnikova, her husband Sergei, and daughter Lizzie from Volzhsky, Russia, will be at Otero Junior College during the month of June. Dr. Koretnikova will be teaching two classes during the 2003 Summer Academy for teachers. Koretnikova, a Volga-German descendent, will also be meeting with area Volga-German families to give a historical perspective of the emigration of Volga-Germans out of Russian in the early 1900’s. A large settlement of Volga-Germans was established in the Arkansas Valley in the early 1900’s as a result of that emigration.
LA JUNTA – Otero Junior College will be offering a unique opportunity during the month of June for residents of the area to meet and study with Dr. Lyudmila I. (Mila) Koretnikova, a Russian educator and descendent of a Volga-German family. Koretnikova will spend a month in the area teaching classes in American Studies from an international perspective and methodology for English as a second language during the 2003 Summer Academy for teachers. She will also be lecturing on the history of Volga-Germans and their immigration into the United States. A number of families in the Arkansas Valley are descendents of Germans who emigrated from the Volga Region of Russia. OJC hopes to facilitate a meeting between Koretnikova and many of the Volga-German families in the Arkansas Valley whose ancestors came to the area in the early 1900’s.
According to Jim Herrell, associate dean of instruction at OJC, Koretnikova has done extensive research about the emigration of Volga-Germans and recently translated a book on the events surrounding their mass exit from Russia. “The opportunity for the descendents of those emigrants to meet Koretnikova and learn more about the history of their homeland and the events that surrounded the emigration will be a unique experience,” said Herrell.
Koretnikova’s stay at Otero Junior College will be the final event of her visit to the U.S. having recently completed a nine-month sabbatical at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. The internship was through the Junior Faculty Development Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The goal of the program is for participants to further research their area of interest in order to enhance their curriculums once they return to the Russian higher education system.
According to Koretnikova, 96 educators from Russia and the NIS (Newly Independent States) are currently in the U.S. as participants with the program, each with a different area of interest. Koretnikova’s area of interest is American Studies and English as a Foreign Language. She spent the past nine months developing curricular at the University of Wyoming on those subjects and traveling throughout the United States to better understand the American culture and way of life. Upon returning to Russia, she will continue as an associate professor in the department of English Linguistics for Volzhsky Institute of Humanities, an affiliate of Volgograd State University in Volzhsky, Russia.
While in the United States, Koretnikova was able to pursue her interest in the historical emigration of the Volga-Germans by meeting with Volga-German groups in Wyoming, Nebraska and northern Colorado. According to Koretnikova, there are chapters of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russian in all 50 states.
“Volga-Germans began emigrating out of Russia in the early 1900’s after almost two centuries of occupying the steppes in the Volga Region. Some of those families returned to Germany, while others immigrated to the United States and other parts of the world,” explained Koretnikova.
German families were invited to occupy the Volga steppes of Russia in the 18th century by Catherine the Great. In exchange for the land, the Germans were required to provide protection of the steppes from the invading Mongolian and Tar-tar tribes. The Germans were given religious freedom in addition to no taxes for several years and exemption from military service. The Germans were excellent farmers and developed the region into thriving, prosperous communities. However, by the early 1900’s many of the promises made to the people by Catherine the Great were being broken, (e.g.) men were being called into the Russian military which could mean up to 25 years of service. Between 1890 and 1915, thousands of Volga-Germans left Russia due to increasing requirements from the Russian government. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the government established the Volga Soviet Socialist Republic of Germans in the Volga Region in 1923. Now under a strict communist regime, residents of the region were no long allowed to leave the country.
When Russia entered World War II in 1941, Volga-Germans became suspected of spying for fascist Germany and were deported to Siberia. According to Koretnikova, her mother’s family was among those deported. “Many Volga-Germans died on the way to Siberia, having been transported in cattle cars on the railroad, many other died after arriving from starvation and hard work. My grandmother was fortunate to have a child under the age of 3 years, and was not required to enter the labor force. All of my grandmother’s young nieces and nephews were entrusted in her care as her sisters were taken into the labor force,” said Koretnikova. “After the war, the Volga-Germans were allowed back into their home villages on the Volga steppes; however, their homes had been confiscated and their livelihoods gone. They were not allowed to hold good jobs or advance their education. It was not until 1970 that a few Volga-Germans were allowed to emigrate from Russia into Germany. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, many others left Russia. It is expected that by 2005, all Volga-Germans will have emigrated from Russia,” she said. Koretnikova said she and her husband Sergei and two-year old daughter Lizzie have applied for emigration and hope to someday be among those allowed to leave Russia.
Koretnikova and her family will be staying in La Junta and working at Otero Junior College until early July. They are then scheduled to return to Russia.
Dr. Koretnikova is available to speak to local groups and organizations during the month of June. To schedule a speaking engagement with Dr. Koretnikova, or for more information about the classes she will be teaching and the get-togethers with area Volga-Germans, contact Jim Herrell at OJC, 719-384-6885.
