For centuries these ethnic Germans lived abroad and were a relatively closed group of people. After the start of World War I the laws of liquidation were implemented. On the basis of these laws more than 200,000 German colonists were driven away. In 1922, after the October-revolution and civil war the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was founded. When the Nazi Party came into power in Germany the situation of the Germans in the USSR worsened. Seen as an internal enemy, Stalin restricted their rights. Soon after the German aggression against the USSR in 1941 the deportation of the German population started. Following Stalin’s decree about.
