RUS-SARATOV-SCHILLING-L Archives
Archiver > RUS-SARATOV-SCHILLING > 2010-02 > 1266109235
From:
Subject: Re: [SCHILLING] Military service in the Russian Army
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:00:35 -0600
References: <4B75E724.22634.4A67891@gpmartens.sbcglobal.net>,<C79C377C.37BD%j0hnc316aa@filbertfamily.net>
In-Reply-To: <C79C377C.37BD%j0hnc316aa@filbertfamily.net>
What's called the 1857 census for Konstantinovka is currently being
translated by Brent Mai. The village was founded in 1859, and when the
census is done, we'll be able to see who moved from Schilling to
Konstantinovka.
Other settlers in Konstantinovka came from Jost, Merkel, Doenhof, Kutter
and Moor.
A GR man was drafted in October or November, after his 21st birthday, but
they were supposed to be single. In August Filbert's case, an exception
may have been made because he probably could speak fairly good Russian,
and being a clerk, the Army could use him in a similar manner.
Gary Martens
Schilling villages VC
On 13 Feb 2010 at 11:03, John Filbert wrote:
> It is our family's understanding that our grandfather, August Filbert II,
> was conscripted into the Russian army. He was born in 1870 and emigrated
> with his family (wife and three surviving children, parents and three
> siblings) in 1899 so it is probable that he served around 1890. Both he and
> his father (who emigrated with him) were "clerks", reading and writing both
> Russian and German. August II had a younger brother, Alexander, that lived
> to adulthood and also emigrated with the family. We have no record of
> Alexander's military service, or even if he served or not.
>
> Grandfather August Filbert II is believed to have been born in Neu-Schilling
> (or Konstantinovka), with his father having been born in Alt-Schilling.
>
>
> On 2/12/2010 9:41 PM, "Gary Martens" <> wrote:
>
> >
> > How many of you have heard stories about your male ancestors where they
> > were supposed to have served in the Russian Army, fought in wars, etc.
> > Here is information on the rules under which German-Russians in the Volga
> > were drafted.
> >
> > ====================================================
> >
> > This information is from the book "From Privileged to Dispossessed, The
> > Volga Germans, 1860 -1917", by James W. Long, Copyright 1988,
> > University of
> > Nebraska Press.
> >
> > The universal conscription law of 1874 was based on peacetime conditions,
> > and in fact, did not enroll many recruits. The number of men conscripted
> > each year depended on the contingent required by the military: in 1874 it
> > was 150,000; it rose in 1900 to 320,000. However, the law's shorter term of
> > service and maintenance of a large reserve component had tremendous
> > implications, in that many more individuals served in the armed forces.
> > Because the prosperity of peasant families, and therefore the state
> > depended
> > primarily on the number of workers, the 1874 conscription law drafted men
> > only from families with several workers. Also, the costs of equipping and
> > training every draft-age youth would have been prohibitive. Therefore, each
> > year approximately 54 percent of the draft-age men were exempted from
> > active
> > duty in the military service. Most exemptions (48 percent) were granted on
> > the basis of domestic or family reasons; 6 percent were based on failure to
> > meet physical standards. Sole surviving sons, married men, or sons and
> > grandsons who were the only workers in their households were
> > unconditionally
> > exempted from military service. Others, such as sons who were the second
> > workers in their households, next eldest sons with brothers on active duty,
> > and sons whose elder brothers had died while on active duty, received
> > conditional exemption. They would be drafted only if the number of
> > non-exempted recruits was inadequate to meet the military's annual
> > contingent. While sole surviving sons were never liable for military
> > service. The conditional exemptees could be called up in time of war.
> >
> >
> >
> > The annual conscription levy took place in the fall after the harvest. Any
> > young man having his twenty-first birthday before October 1 of that year was
> > subject to the draft. On November 12, 1874, the first Volga German draft
> > lottery occurred in the colony of Linevo Ozero. The colonies had ten draft
> > centers, all except one including both Russian and German settlements.
> >
> >
> > Data from the Saratov and Samara provinces indicate that between 1874
> > and
> > 1914 the Volga Germans annually supplied 800 to 1500 recruits to the
> > Russian
> > military, depending on the annual levy set by military authorities. Thus,
> > every year about one of every five draft-eligible, twenty-one year old male
> > colonists entered the Russian Army. By 1914, then, conservatively
> > speaking,
> > 50,000 Volga Germans had spent time in the ranks.
> >
> >
> >
> > Mobilization of reservists, not conscription, drove more Volga Germans from
> > Russia, and until 1904-three decades after the introduction of the
> > draft-their reservists had never been activated. The Russo-Japanese War
> > of
> > 1904-5 generated such consternation and dismay among the Volga
> > Germans
> > because it represented the first encounter with mobilization; at the time
> > of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 no Volga German reservists existed,
> > for
> > one had completed the six-year term of active duty.
> >
> >
> >
> > Beginning in 1904, many Volga German reservists-men between the ages
> > of
> > twenty-five and forty-three, some of whom had been discharged as far back
> > as
> > 1886-decided to emigrate illegally rather than face being reactivated to
> > fight in some distant war of no concern to them.
> >
> >
> >
> > My grandfather was in the Russian Army from approximately November
> > 1906
> > until sometime before May 1910. A picture of him in his Russian Army
> > uniform is here: http://www.germanrussian.org/
> >
> >
> >
> > Gary Martens
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> > with the word 'unsubscribe' without
> > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
> >
>
>
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
This thread: