German Eastern Europe City Names

[Cato the Elder]

I think I'm no exception in this forum when I say I'm quite interested in history, both real and realistic alternative. And something which has interested me in this mod is the origin of the German city names of Eastern Europe.

I'm talking about the like of Faustindorf, Scholtoi, Katharinenstadt, etc. Wikipedia doesn't give me any relevant answers of a city with that name being built or having been planned to be built in Eastern Europe, so I'm wondering where the names come from.

Anyone have any idea?

 

[AnotherPacifist]

I know that Faustindorf is a village in the county of Zhitomyr (which is the city built 1W of where Faustindorf/Kiev is). Maybe Rhye chose it for its "Germanic" sounding name rather than Kiev.

A few random searches on Google:

According to newer findings Scholtoi was founded in 1864. So far, the foundation year was assumed to be 1865.

The village is located about 100 km straight northwest from Kishinev, and southeast of the city Falesti.

The settlers were German colonists who came from Galicia to Bessarabia, as well as Germans from other communities in northern Bessarabia that were dissolved.

At the time of the resettlement on October 2, 1940, about 300 inhabitants lived there on 57 farms.

Today the village is called Soltoaia.

And Katharinenstadt was founded by both Protestant and Roman Catholic colonists on 27 June 1766 by Baron Caneau de Beauregard--this from a supposedly "Volga German studies" page.

 

[Verily]

Prior to WWI and (especially) WWII, there were many ethnically German peoples living all over what are now Ukraine, Poland, etc. They often had their own separate villages from the various Slavic groups surrounding them, and most of the town names Rhye uses are names of particularly prominent German towns that existed in the area. Almost all the ethnic Germans left or were driven out in the final stages of WWII, and most of the German towns were abandoned or destroyed by the Soviet Union.

 

[onedreamer]

there were still many russians with german origins living in Russia after the WW2 actually. In fact in the last years, to fight the demographic problems, the German gov. invited all these people back to Germany with facilitations for the permit to stay and consistent financements for studies at schools or while waiting to find a job. There are now towns in Germany with huge russian communites, much the same as the situation you described above in the opposite direction. To name one I know of: Dillingen on the Danube in Bavaria.

 

[Rod]

This move of the German government was not so much inspired by the demographic problem.
In fact the law that any Russian with a proven German heritage can freely migrate into Germany was introduced in 1990 (and partly abandoned in 2005) in a time when there was no talk of demographic issues. This discussion only started in the end of the 90s.

The inspiration was drawn from sentimental feelings of the conservative government in 1990, who wanted to give all Germans the chance to live in their prosperous motherland after the fall of the Iron curtain. Hence the former GDR (Eastern Germany) was assimilated and the Germans living in Russia were given the option to freely immigrate into Germany.

Over the years more than 2 mio Russian Germans used their chance which lead to a huge drain on the German social benefit system as systematic integration of non-native Germans (and other foreigners) is unheard of in Germany.

Germany has no coordinated immigration or integration policy as such. The real issue is that Germany has no need for immigrants on a micro-economic level and hence doesnt provide them opportunities. The German economic system is tailored only for the needs of the established German population, who have a grip of the German language and a German education. Foreign degrees are not accepted or known to German HR personnel, foreign work experience is not compatible with the way small and medium enterprises are run in Germany. Small and Medium Enterprises are the only ones who generate jobs as German multinational companies are decreasing their staff in Germany due to the shift of their operations and focus abroad.

Hence the 2 mio Russian Germans who normally lived in small villages in the underdeveloped regions of the Soviet Union are nowadays mostly impoverished as especially the men dont speak German, have often no higher education and there are hardly any jobs in factories and in agriculture left in Germany.

So in 2005 the German government put a stop to this policy and demanded a range of criterias to be fulfilled by the applicant, which put an effective stop on the whole immigration from Russia.

The demographic issue is still there and will not be solved which such stops on immigration , but as long as the German economy is not changing significantly there are simply to less opportunities for young immigrants in Germany.

 

[Dumanios]

Germany likes to expand Russiaward so Rhye gave them Eastern European City names.

 

[TDK]

What about Lemberg(Lvov in Polish or Lviv in Ukraine), is that on in the settler map? It should be, lot's of German/Austrian culture there.

 

[BurnEmDown]

Yes it is there, I think it is about 4 tiles south of Riga, about 2 west of Kiev.

 

[Mekajiki]

It is. I settle Lemberg often.

 

[blizzrd]

As Germany, I prefer Anielowka (spelling is bad, sorry) on the Deer instead. Fits in more neatly with Budapest and Danzig.