Between "the old" and "the new" Motherland: perceptions of Russian-Germans in Germany

The paper investigates the concept of motherland and aspects which form that vision of the Russian-speaking Germans, i.e. late resettlers (Spataussiedler), who came to Germany from the former USSR countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) in 1990s. Analysis of Russian historiography devoted to the issues of Russian-speaking Germans' emigration to Germany, integration of emigrants into German society, transformation of their self-consciousness, the experience of re-emigration (M.S. Savoskul, E.V. Kazartseva, I.V. Lebedev, M.A. Efremov, V.D. Popkov, etc.) confirms insufficiency of special works devoted to the issues of transformation of the motherland concept within the conscious of German resettlers. The problem which is raised in the study is considered within trans-nationalism methodology which enables not to analyze the migration phenomenon in terms of national state and to consider emigrants as those possessing two and more identities. Micro-historical approach is used in the study which is centered on the definite person, his or her inner world and social practices. The method of linguistic discourse-analysis is used as additional one and it allowed tracing the respondents' directive towards the motherland concept on a verbal level. The study is based on the empirical material (semi-structured in-depth group and individual interviews, overt observation) collected in Villingen-Schwenningen (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) in 2014. The data from questionnaire conducted in 2018 was used as supplementary materials. The paper analyses several plots: the reasons for moving to Germany and discussions on the loss of "the old" motherland, the concept of motherland within the context of home-sickness on USSR and the country of origin, the problem of identity and the role of perceptions of Russia while formation of that identity, the concept of motherland considering integration and social adaptation problems, attitude of respondents to modern Russia and Germany. The concludes. The respondents of the group under study are marked by the tendency for transformation of the perception of "historical" motherland. Prior to emigration they considered Germany as historical motherland, since then - USSR and Russia. At the same time the concept of "two motherlands" is developed. Germany, being "the new" motherland is entitled with such characteristics as social and economic stability, legal safeguards, predictability. "The old" motherland is accepted as the source of significant individual senses and inner psychological satisfaction. The factors for establishing the visions described above are the reasons for emigration and the former country of living, ethnic origin and the age of respondents, family policy towards the country of origin and host country, personal experience of integration, development of communicative environment and open state boundaries, foreign-policy developments.

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