The flag of the Volga Germans is a more recent creation It has nothing to do with the flag of the former Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans. It shows the colours of Germany, three horizontal stripes in black, red and gold, and in the center a golden bordered black scutcheon with a golden wheat in the middle. The flag embodies the German nationality, and the rural working and living way, followed by the majority of the Volga Germans.
The Volga Germans are descendants of German immigrants who were brought into the country under Empress Catherine II, and they settled between 1763 and 1767 at the lower reaches of the Volga River. After the communists seized the power in Russia, they were threatened with starvation because their crops were confiscated. The settlement area of the Volga Germans got granted "autonomy" in 1918, and in 1924 was created, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans. In the Second World War the Volga Germans were suspected of collaboration and they were resettled to Sibiria or arrested in camps. Thousands were killed. Since 1970, most of the Volga Germans returned to Germany.
