"You will die under ruins and snow": The Soviet repression of Russian Germans as a case study of successful genocide

Journal of Genocide Research

Volumn 4, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 327-356

  Schmaltz, Eric J ^a   Sinner, Samuel D ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85089745520     PISSN: 14623528     EISSN: 14699494     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14623520220151943     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. Kinzer, Stephen. 1999. "Tidy Germans cling to Central Asia,". The New York Times International, October 11: A4 Yet in the former USSR even the German surnames may not survive much longer, and it is attributable to something more than the natural dropping of German maiden names in marriages to non-Germans. According to Rick Rye, who is the Translations Coordinator of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (Lincoln, NE), a growing number of the former USSR's remaining ethnic Germans are replacing their German surnames with Russian ones in order to conceal their ethnic identity or ancestry and aVold possible discrimination. In one documented case, an ethnic-German man even took his Russian wife's maiden name so that people would not know that he was German. Cf
2. Eisfeld, Alfred. 1996. "Rossiyskie nemtsy v poslevoennykh sovetsko-germanskikh otnosheniyakh," ”. In Rossiyskie nemtsy. ProUemy istorii, yazyka i sovremennogo polozheniya: Materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii, Anapa, 20-25 sentyabrya 1995g, Edited by: Pleve, Igor. 458–465. Moscow: IVDK, Gotika.
3. Rubio-Marin, Ruth. 2000. Immigration as a Democratic Challenge: Citizenship and Inclusion in Germany and the United States, 11–14. 227Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In the years following the passage of Soviet emigration reform in 1987, the entire former USSR is witnessing the ethnic Germans' historic dissolution. Among those few deciding to stay in post-Soviet Eurasia, many tens of thousands fearing ethnic violence and discrimination have chosen since 1990 to relocate from the break-away Central Asian republics to western Siberia in the Russian Federation, remaining there at least until they can determine whether to proceed with emigration to Germany. Although the topic of recent ethnic-German immigration to united Germany deserves more attention, here it is most important to note that in the early 1990s the German government set a closing date for future ethnic-German immigration. On January 1, 2011, ethnic Germans born after December 31, 1992 will no longer have the right to make a request for immigration to Germany. For more on this subject
4. Sinner, Samuel D., 2000. The Open Wound: The Genocide of German Ethnic Minorities in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1915-1949 and Beyond/Der Genozid an Rußlanddeutschen 1915-1949, Edited by: Schmaltz, Eric J., and Stricker, Gerd. Fargo, ND: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries.
5. Pohl, J. J. Otto. 1999. Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949, Contributions to the Study of World History, No 65 Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. and London
6. Dietz, Barbara, and Hilkes, Peter. 1992. Rußlanddeutsche. Unbekannte im Osten. Geschichte, Situation, Zukunftsperspektiven, 17–18. Munich: Olzog Verlag.
7. Giesinger, Adam. 1974. From Catherine to Khrushchev: The Story of Russia's Germans, 279–284. Battleford, Saskatchewan: Marian Press.
8. Long, James W., 1988. From Privileged to Dispossessed: The Volga Germans, 1860-1917, Edited by: Stricker. 251145–148. 152–162. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. and London
9. Samuel D. Sinner's English translation of Herbstgedanken (Autumn Thoughts) in The Open Wound, piii.
10. Sinner, Samuel D., 1879-1935. "'Mein Teil ist, ganz in Asche aufzugehen' ”. In Johann Peter Sinner (Petr Ivanovich Zinner) Peter Sinner's extensive and groundbreaking biography, consult
11. 2001. “ Rußlanddeutscher Autor und Stalinopfer. Sein Werk und Schicksal' ”. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. PhD Dissertation in Modern Languages and Literatures, forthcoming
12. Schmaltz, Eric J., 1998. "Reform, 'rebirth,' and regret: the rise and decline of the ethnic-German nationalist Wiedergeburt movement in the USSR and CIS, 1987-1993,". Nationalities Papers, 26 (2): 215–247. This conceptual framework has evolved from previous and continuing studies by
13. 2001. "Reform, 'rebirth,' and regret: the ethnic-German minority's quest for national self-determination and the specter of group disintegration in the USSR and CIS, from 1964 to the present" ”. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. PhD Dissertation in History, forthcoming
14. Taranovski, Theodore, ed. 1995. On the broader issue of Russia's cycles of reform and "thaw," refer to Reform in Modern Russian History: Progress or Cycle?, Washington, DC, and New York: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press.
15. Schmidt, Gerlind, and Kruger-Potratz, Marianne, eds. 1999. Bildung und nationale Identität aus russischer und russlandeutsche r Perspektive, 47–90. Münster, New York, Munich and Berlin: Waxmann Verlag. Consult a number of Russian Federation nationality policy decrees from the mid-1990s in
16. Fleischhauer, Ingeborg. 1992. "The ethnic Germans in the Russian revolution," ”. In Revolution in Russia: Reassessments of 1917, Edited by: Frankel, Edith Rogovin. 274–284. 192–245. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Long
17. Mrdjenovic, Aleksandr. 1976. "The Volga-German 'Gemeindeschaft' and political autonomy amidst domestic turmoil, 1914-1922" ”. University of Kansas-Lawrence. MA Thesis in History
18. Eisfeld and Herdt, Victor, eds. 1996. Deportation, Sondersiedlung, Artbeitsarmee. Deutsche in der Sowjetunion 1941 bis 1956, Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik.
19. 1997. Aussiedler zwischen Tradition und Moderne, Frankfurt am Main and New York: Campus Verlag. As a corollary to the article's main themes, another of the group's "regrets" may be the unanticipated (and presumably temporary) social alienation and cultural dislocation in "Paradise" Germany of the hundreds of thousands of "Russified" and "backward" ethnic-German immigrants called the Spätaussiedler ("late settlers from abroad"). The unique remnants of Russian-German heritage will also disappear in "Westernized" Germany, the so-called "historical homeland" (Urheimat). Regardless of long-standing cultural, religious, and linguistic affinities with Germany, a distinct Russian-German ethnos had evolved out of more than 200 years of experiences in the East. In the long term, however, the group's relocation to the West may be the next best thing to achieving autonomy in the East. For more information on the Sptaussiedler's current status, consult Heinz Ingenhorst, Die Rußlanddeutschen
20. Courtois, Stéphane. 1999. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Edited by: Murphy, Jonathan, and Kramer, Mark. 2SSCambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. and London
21. Koch, Fred C., 1977. The Volga Germans: In Russia and the Americas, from 1763 to the Present, 289University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. On September 17, 1955, a general amnesty decree already was given to all Soviet citizens placed under confinement for wartime "collaboration" with the enemy. Refer to
22. Buchsweiler, Meir, ed. 1991. A Collection of Soviet Documents Concerning Germans in the USSR, Research Paper No 73 SJerusalem: Marjorie Mayrock Center for Soviet and East European Research, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
23. Aumann, Vladimir, and Chebotareva, Valentina, eds. 1993. "Ukaz Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR [December 13, 19SS]," ”. In Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh (1763-1992 gg.), 177Moscow: MIGUP.
24. Illarionova, T., 1999. "Reabilitatsiya: trudny put' iz tupika. Problema rossiyskikh nemtsev v sovetsko-zapadnogermanskik h peregovorakh 1957-1958 gg.," ”. In Nakazanny narod. Repressiiprotiv rossiyskikh nemtsev, Edited by: Shcherbakova, I. L., 237–252. Moscow: NIPTS "Memorial". Some recent historical debate has centered on whether there would have been a chance for the West German government in the late 1950s to press the Kremlin for a solution to the problem of ethnic-German "rehabilitation." Adenauer never pursued this diplomatic course, however, as Bonn's plan would have entailed the ethnic Germans' emigration to the West. The Kremlin would have found such a West German proposal unacceptable
25. 1763-1992. "Ukaz Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR o vnesenii izmeneniy v Ukaz Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR ot 28 avgusta 1941 goda [August 29, 1964]," ”. In Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev i dokumentakh 178–179.
26. 1763-1992. "Ukaz Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR [August 28, 1941]," ”. In Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh 159–160.
27. Buchsweiler, S. 1999. Eisfeld, Die Russlanddeutschen, rev. ed., 139–141. Munich: F. A. Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung.
28. Sheehy, Ann. 1973. The Crimean Tatars, Volga Germans and Meskhetians: Soviet Treatment of Some National Minorities, Report No 6 26London: Minority Rights Group.
29. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 142–144. Buchsweiler, p S
30. 1763-1992. "Ukaz Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR [November 3, 1972]," ”. In Istoriya rossiskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh 179
31. Heitman, Sidney. 1980. The Soviet Germans in the USSR Today, 69Cologne: Bundesinstitut fur ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien.
32. Karklins, Rasma. 1986. Ethnic Relations in the USSR: The Perspective from Below, 213–218. Boston: Alien and Unwin.
33. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 144–145.
34. Pinkus, Benjamin. 1986. "The Germans in the Soviet Union since 1945," ”. In The Soviet Germans: Past and Present, Edited by: Frankel. 111–113. New York: St. Martin's Press.
35. For more information on the proposed late 1970s autonomy plan for Germans in Kazakhstan, consult several Soviet SSR documents in Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh (1763-1992 gg.), pp 185, 194-195. See also the mid-1979 KGB memo and corresponding Russian-German samizdat letter attachment in "Zapiska S. Tsviguna v CK KPSS o rasprostranenii sredi sovetskikh nemtsev avtonomistkikh materialov" and "Spravka [Initsiativnaya gruppa sovetskikh nemtsev]," both in Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh (1763-1992 gg.), pp 198-199.
36. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 137–140. Giesinger, pp 325-329; Pinkus, pp 125-133
37. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 151
38. Kaiser, Robert J., 1994. The Geography of Nationalism in Russia and the USSR, 265Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39. Rosenberg, Peter. 1995. "New research on the status of the German language in the Soviet Union,". Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 18 (l): 1521–22. Christine Clayton, trans., An irony of the Soviet passport system was its inadvertent reinforcement of ethnic classifications (a subjective identification choice for individuals), but it did not objectively measure linguistic abilities and cultural retention either
40. Wormsbecher, Hugo. 1990. "Haben die Sowjetdeutschen eine Zukunft?". Osteuropa Heft, January: 8
41. Hot Wind Over the Volga: Or Do the Germans from Russia Have Any Future? VHS video, two-hour, English- and German-language documentary produced by Prof. Eugen N. Miller (Ulyanovsk, Russia: Yazyk i Literature Publishers in association with the Editorial House of the All-Russia German-language weekly Rundschau/Proeii "The Germans of Russia at the close of the 20th century," copyright 1999, 2000). A copy is located at the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia archives, Lincoln, NE.
42. Kampen, Johann. 1994. "Hugo Wormsbcher ruft zum Verbleib in Rußland auf,". Volk auf dem Weg (Stuttgart, Germany), 10: 14
43. Stricker. 1999. "Schlechte Chancen für das Deutschtum in Rußland,". Volk auf dem Weg, 8-9 August-Septempter: 16 In mid-June 2000, Dr. Wolfgang Döke, the Director of Moscow's German-Russian House, discussed at the 31st International Convention of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia held in Lincoln, NE, the issue of the actual lower figure of Russian Germans remaining in the East
44. 1991. "Kto est' kto,". Neues Leben, 18 May 1: 2 We need only consider the birth years and professions of several current and former prominent "Rebirth" and affiliated ethnic leaders of the late 1980s and much of the 1990s: Adolf Bersch, secondary school educator (1915); Viktor Rauschenbach, member of Soviet Academy of Sciences (1915); Eduard Airich, noted USSR hockey trainer and coach (1918); Eugen N. Miller, professor, journalist, publisher (1929); Vladimir Aumann, Chief Secretary of the CC CPSU (ca. 1930s); Kurt Wiedemaier, publicist (ca. 1936/1937); Hugo Wormsbecher, writer and Pravda editor (ca. 1937/1938); Juri Haar, assistant professor (ca. 1940s); Waldemar Weber, poet and essayist (1944); Konstantin Ehrlich, philosopher (1948); Robert Kern, scholar (1948); Jakob Maurer, mathematician (1948); Valeri Weinhardt, physicist (1948); Heinrich Martens, educator (ca. late 1940s/early 1950s); Viktor Diesendorf, economist (1951); Heinrich Groth, biologist (1951); Peter FaIk, Lt. Col. in Soviet Air Force (ca. 1951/1952). Although this biographical information came from many diverse sources, much is contained in:
45. 1991. "Kto est' kto,". Neues Leben, 19 May 8: 2 "Spisok chlenov Orgkomiteta po podgotovke i provedeniyu S'ezda sovetskikh nemtsev [1990]," in Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh (1763-1992 gg.), pp 320-321
46. Moytl, Alexander J., 1987. Will the Non-Russians Rebel?: State, Ethnicity, and Stability in the USSR, 133–138. 166–170. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. and London: Within the Russian-German autonomy movement during the Gorbachev-Yeltsin years, however, some insincere individuals from the group's elite turned into KGB operatives, informants, and subversives
47. Beissinger, Mark R., 1992. "Elites and ethnic identities in Soviet and post-Soviet politics," ”. In The Post-Soviet Nations: Perspectives on the Demise of the USSR, Edited by: Moytl. 141–169. New York: Columbia University Press.
48. Gellner, Ernest. 1992. "Nationalism in the vacuum," ”. In Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities: History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR, Edited by: Moytl. 243–254. New York: Columbia University Press.
49. Kluge, Rolf-Dieter. 1990. Perestrojka-von innen gesehen. Beobachtungen, Erfahrungen, Perspektiven, 146–147. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. See also Rosenberg, p 21. Cf. Heitman, pp 14, 49, 62-81
50. Dietz and Hilkes, pp 77-102;
51. Eisfeld, Die Russlanddeutschen, pp 154-155.
52. 1993. "KGB unterwanderte Organisation der Rulanddeutschen,". Zeitung für Dich (Slavgorod, Russia), 27-28 (2594) July 10: 8 In 1993, former KGB chief Alexander Kitschichin in Moscow publicized this fact. On the KGB's infiltration and subversion of the "Rebirth" autonomy movement, see
53. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Peter Hilkes of Munich, Germany, sent e-mail on this matter to author Eric J. Schmaltz. Most recently, Dr. Alfred Eisfeld and Dr. Irma Eichhorn discussed this issue with both authors in Lincoln, NE..
54. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 140–142.
55. Warkentin, Johann, ed. 1992. Rußlanddeutsche-Woher? Wohin?, Berlin: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag. Concerning the struggle for a new Volga-German republic, the delegates of 1964-1965 did not necessarily represent all ethnic Germans. For instance, Ann Sheehy has discussed the differences between some Black Sea (Ukrainian) and Volga Germans. Although the Black Sea Germans formerly had several autonomous rayons, they never had a republic to call their own. Some of them thus believed that a new republic was potentially dangerous to the group's collective well-being. The Volga republic in 1941 exemplified the dangers involved. If trouble again arose between them and Moscow, they argued, then having a scattered German populace or emigrating to the West was preferable to deportation and repression. As for emigration opportunities, the Black Sea Germans had better claims to family living in West Germany than did the Volga Germans. Consult Sheehy, pp 28-29. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of Russian-German activists within the autonomy movement again criticized the supposed "Volga-German fixation," emphasizing the necessity of also taking into account the other German sub-groups' political, cultural, and territorial demands
56. Kloberdanz, Timothy J., and Kloberdanz, Rosalinda. 1993. Thunder on the Steppe: Volga-German Folklife in a Changing Russia, SLincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia.
57. Aumann and Chebotareva, eds. 1994. "Materialy vtoroy delegatsii sovetskikh nemtsev (iyun'-iyul', 1965 g.)," ”. In Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh. Tom II. Obshchestvenno-vosstanoyleni e natsional'noy gosudarstvemosti (1965-1992 gg.), 20–50. Moscow: Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland.
58. Cohen, Stephen F., and Saunders, George, eds. 1982. "A deported nation appeals to President Mikoyan," ”. In An End to Silence: Uncensored Opinion in the Soviet Union: From Roy Medvedev's Underground Magazine "Political Diary, ", 240–244. New York and London: Norton.
59. 1972. "'Sind die Sowjet-Deutschen ein Sowjetvolk?' [June 1965 samizdat document]". Der Spiegel, 50 December 4: 124
60. Haynes, Emma S., 1973. "The restoration of the Volga-German republic,". American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, April: 16 Work Paper No 11
61. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 144
62. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, about 12,000 Russian Germans went to Communist East Germany where German-language institutions were available, along with some employment opportunities for Germans, chances for professional advancement for Germans, and a relatively familiar social safety-net for Germans. When prospects to move West seemed dim, the alternative was to apply for emigration to East Germany. In this way, the Soviet regime sought to divert the stream of Russian-German immigration into another Communist nation. After arriving in East Germany, many émigrés tried to apply with the Bonn government for entry into the West. Reluctant to let their country become an open door to the West, East German officials by the late 1970s began refusing such requests. In any event, the USSR's ethnic Germans seriously considered finding a cultural "refuge" on either side of the Iron Curtain. Consult Eisfeld, Die Russlanddeutschen, pp 187-188.
63. Eisfeld. Die Russlanddeutschen 144–145. Dietz and Hilkes, pp 97-99;
64. 1983. "The desperate struggle of the Soviet Germans for their human rights and for permission to emigrate to Germany [consisting of three documents from ca. 1973],". Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 6 (1): 1–8. trans. from the Russian by Alexander Dupper, In 1980, Sidney Heitman suggested that the ethnic Germans' ostensibly random and uncoordinated activities really claimed a ground swell of popular support. In the face of repression, the group had to exert considerable effort in secretly organizing regional delegations and presenting numerous petitions that contained many thousands of signatures. See also Heitman, pp 14, 49, 62-81
65. Bosch, Anton, and Lingor, Josef. 1990. Entstehung, Entwicklung und Auflosung der deutschen Kolonien am Schwarzen Meer: am Beispiel von Kandel von 1808 bis 1944, 289Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland.
66. Eisfeld. Die Rußlanddeutschen 139–145. 216
67. Kmpen, Johann. 1989. "Der Oberste Sowjet der UdSSR empfiehlt Autonomie für die Wolgadeutschen,". Volk auf dem Weg, 11 November: 3
68. 1989. "Deklaration des Obersten Sowjets der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepublik. Über die Qualifizierung der Repressalien gegenüber den gewaltsam ausgesiedelten Völkern als gesetzwirdig und verbrecherisch sowie über die Gewährleistung ihrer Rechte [November 14, 1989],". Neues Leben, 49 November 29: 2
69. "Postanovlenie Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR [November 28, 1989],". Istoriya rossiyskikh nemtsev v dokumentakh (1763-1992 gg.), 267
70. 1990. "Politburo in Moskau verwirft Wolgarepublik,". Die Welt, July 6
71. Groth, Heinrich. 1994. "Zur Pressekonferenz von Dr. Heinrich Groth anläßlich der Niederlegung seiner Vollmachten,". St. Petersburgische Zeitung (Russia), 37 (l): 1–3.
72. "Konföderation repressiver Völker gegrundet,". Neues Leben, 511
73. 1991. "Zakon Rossiyskoy Sovetskoy Federativnoy Sotsialisticheskoy Respubliki [April 26, 1991],". Savetskaya Rossiya (Russia), 90 (10541) May 7: 3
74. Wormsbecher. 1990. "Emigration or revival,". Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 42 (41): 27
75. Miller. 1997. "Germans in Russia: their present situation (and their road to the future),". Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 20 (3): 28 Compare Eugen N. Miller's statement in 1997: "[One of the Wiedergeburt autonomy movement's mistakes] had its roots in the communist past-the belief in inherited, unlimited centralism. Local organizations were expected to follow the statutes and direction of the Moscow Wiedergeburt… Like a chain reaction the disunity which divided the Germans spread from Moscow to Saratov, Omsk, Novosibirsk, etc., and paralyzed the German movement for a long time. The people felt the futility and a mass exodus to Germany began." Ursula Moessner, trans., William M. Wiest, ed.
76. Dizendorf (Diesendorf), Viktor, ed. 1997. Chrezvychayny s'ezd nemtsev SSSR Moskva, 12-15 Marta 1991 goda. Dokumenty i materialy, Moscow: Mezhgosudarstvenny Sovet rossiyskikh nemtsev. Consult both the compiled documentation and the memoirs of a leading "Rebirth" member in Russia:
77. Dizendorf. 1997. Proshchal'ny vziët. Sud by rossiyskikh nemtsev i nashe natsional'noe dvizhenie, Moscow: Mezhgosudarstvenny Sovet rossiyskikh nemtsev i Sovet nemtsev Rossii.
78. 1991. "Punished Peoples" of the Soviet Union: The Continuing Legacy of Stalin's Deportations: A Helsinki Watch Report, Sept. 1991, 11–19. Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch. Besides the Wiedergebun/Vozrozhdenie ("Rebirth"), which was the largest ethnic-German umbrella organization with about 170,000 members at its peak, several other regional ethnic-German associations, including numerous local groups and networks, emerged in the 1990s: the Kaliningrad Oblast's Eintracht ("Harmony") and Freiheit/Svoboda ("Freedom"); Siberia's Heimatliche Weiten/Rodnie Prostori ("Native Expanses"); the former USSR's Internationaler Verband der Rußlanddeutschen, the former USSR's Moscow-based Internationaler Verband der Deutschen Kultur (IVDK); Russia's Foderale Nationale Kulturautonomie, and Russia's "Russian-German Writers' Union." Some of these organizations were associated at one time or another with the "Rebirth."
79. 1991. "Appell an das sowjetische Volk und die sowjetische Öffentlichkeit,". Neues Leben, September 11: 2 Authors' mid-June 2000 conversation in Lincoln, NE, with Dr. Irma Eichhorn of Los Gatos, CA. Over the past several years, Dr. Eichhorn, a retired Russian history professor from the California university system, has traveled to the former USSR, interviewing prominent Russian-German leaders. Compare the published statement made by Heinrich Groth's political faction in
80. Mandelstara, Nadezhda. 1980. Hope Against Hope: A Memoir, Max Hayward, trans, 42–43. New York: Atheneum.
81. Gelb, Michael. 2000. The Russian Review, 59 (3): 473
82. In the Gorbachev era, one episode clearly demonstrated the Soviet government's general refusal to take ethnic-German "rehabilitation" too seriously. Around 1989 or 1990, Soviet Minister Viktor Gusev, the Saratov official appointed to lead a special government investigation of the issue of ethnic-German "rehabilitation," decided to modify his task force's main function. As head of the "State Commission for the Solution to the Soviet-German Problem," he stated that its real mission should not be to "solve" the problem of autonomy, but rather "inquire about" or "look into" it. The change of purpose was subtle in emphasis, but nonetheless indicative of his less than supportive stand on the matter of "full rehabilitation." See Eisfeld, Die Russlanddeutschen, p 163.