Excess Deaths in the USSR among Russian-Germans 1918-1948

The Soviet government killed hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans through shootings, deportations, in camps, and by hunger. Between 1918 and 1948 excess deaths among Russian-Germans in the USSR due to repression and man made famine were at least 480,000 (Krieger 2013, p. 3). This is an absolute minimum figure and is equal to around a third of their 1939 population. Below is a breakdown of a very conservative estimate of the number of Russian-German victims of the Lenin and Stalin regimes made by Viktor Krieger.

Civil War and Famine 1918-1922

Volga Region - 108,000
Black Sea Region - 50,000-60,000

Total for former Russian Empire 180,000-200,000

Holodomor 1932-1933

100,000

Great Terror 1937-1938

55,000

Deportation, Special Settlements, and the Labor Army

Labor Army - 60,000-70,000
Special Settlements 1941-1945 - 70,000-80,000
Special Settlements 1946-1947 - 15,000-20,000

Total for USSR 1941-1948 - 150,000-160,000

Total for USSR 1918-1948 - 480,000-515,000

Source:

Viktor Krieger, Bundesburger russlanddeutscher Herkunft: Historische Schlusselerfahrungen und kollektives Gedachtnis (Munster: Lit Verlag, 2013), pp. 240-242.