Germans of Kars

Kars Germans, a small but influential German-speaking immigrant community that settled in the Kars region and its surroundings during the period of Russian administration from 1878 to 1918, left a mark on the demographic structure rural settlement patterns and especially dairy production of Kars.

Kars was occupied by Russia in 1828 1855 and 1877 and was ceded to Russia under the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. Under Russian administration Kars was granted the status of a vilayet subordinate to the general governorship of Zakafkasya with its center in Tiflis and the railway line was extended from Tiflis through Gümrü to Kars.^【1】 The 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk transferred Kars Ardahan and Batum to the Ottoman State but due to the actual situation following the Russian withdrawal the Turkish army entered Kars on 23 April 1918. ^【3】 After the Armistice of Mudros Kars was evacuated and the process culminated in the recapture of Kars in 1920 and subsequent border adjustments following the 1921 Moscow and 1921 Kars treaties.^【4】

Within this broader context the Russian occupation period significantly altered Kars’s population composition. In line with Russian colonial policy non-Muslim communities such as Germans Ossetians Greeks Molokans Armenians and Poles were resettled in the region while the decline in the Muslim population is associated with migrations toward Anatolia during the Russian occupation.^【5】

The presence of Germans in Kars emerged as part of a broader movement linked to German colonies in southern Transcaucasia. The history of the German community in Kars traces back to a group of descendants of Evangelical Germans who migrated from Württemberg to southern Transcaucasia between 1817 and 1818 and who in 1891 founded the village of Petrovka approximately 5 km west of Kars from the Borçalı and Signagi/Signahuyezd districts of the Tiflis guberniya.^【6】 The village was named in honor of Peter Tomiç the governor of Kars at the time.^【7】

According to the first general census conducted in the Russian Empire in 1897 there were 429 people of German origin in the Kars vilayet of whom 370 were male.^【8】

At its founding Petrovka housed a German immigrant community of 58 individuals in 15 households.^【9】 By 1911 the village was reported to have a German population of approximately 200 individuals living in 12 families.^【10】 Petrovka is associated with the present-day neighborhood of Paşaçayırı in Kars.^【11】

In academic studies on the Kars Germans the names of settlements and their historical transformations are considered a significant element. The village of Nova Estonka established in 1892 is recorded to have been known throughout its history as Paulinenhof in German Nemis köy meaning German village Karacaviran and Karacaören a fact that has led to conceptual confusion in some works.^【12】 The village name was changed to Karacaviran in 1921 and to Karacaören in 1960.^【13】

Although this settlement was originally founded as an Estonian village it is particularly notable that after the First World War it came to be recognized as a German village.^【14】 This may be linked to the local population’s identification of German language use and German cultural influence with Germanness and/or to a search for protective state support. In the context of the village the fact that Estonians spoke German and were under German cultural influence is especially emphasized.

Settlements in the Kars and Ardahan regions where traces of Germans and Estonians have been identified include Paşaçayırı (Petrovka) Karacaören (Paulinenhof) Kümbet/Kars Zavod (Boğatepe/Kars) and Alagöz/Ardahan.^【15】 Additionally the Russian word zavot meaning factory or workshop is noted to have shifted in the Kars region to mean dairy.^【16】

During the Russian administration of Kars the increase in the non-Muslim population is associated with the resettlement of various communities. The population growth observed in the 1897 census of the Kars sanjak is explained by the Russian colonial policy of settling non-Muslim communities including Germans in the region while the decline in the Muslim population is linked to migrations toward Anatolia during the Russian occupation.^【17】

The record of 429 people of German origin in the Kars vilayet in the 1897 census is one of the key indicators of the numerical scope of the Kars Germans.^【18】

The economic visibility of the Germans in Kars is primarily explained through dairy and dairy product production. The Germans are credited with introducing Gruyère cheese to the region. With the arrival of Molokans Estonians and Germans in the region Montafon (Zavot/Malakan) cattle a breed from the Swiss Alps began to be raised in Kars.^【19】

From the early 1900s Russian entrepreneurs who opened butter and cheese factories in Kars created conditions for Swiss and German cheese producers to achieve higher quality and more efficient production. In 1901 ten households from the village of Malaya Vorontsovka (İncesu) established a zavot (dairy) on the Bazarcık land parcel of what is now Boğatepe village.^【20】 David Moser who arrived in Kars in the same year and later brought his family became one of the region’s major Gruyère producers purchasing milk from the Molokans and expanding his business. However after the 1917 revolution he was forced to leave Kars as he could no longer sustain his trade.^【21】

In terms of production data a dairy established in the Suludüz area of Ardahan produced 17.6 tons of cheese and 5.7 tons of butter in 1904 with 54 workers. In 1907 nine major dairies in the Kars vilayet produced more than 36 tons of butter and over 87 tons of cheese. A report from 1910 noted that the number of major dairies in the vilayet had reached 24.^【22】

This trend illustrates the institutionalization of dairy production in Kars. After the departure of Orthodox Russians and Swiss Germans in 1917 and of Greeks Armenians and Molokans in the early 1920s Gruyère production in Kars was continued by the Karapapaks from Borçalı.^【23】

The Boğatepe Cheese Museum established in 2011 through the restoration of a dairy in Boğatepe village was supported by the United Nations Development Programme and holds the distinction of being Turkey’s first environmental museum.^【24】

In addition to cattle breeding the Germans and Estonians in Kars also raised small livestock such as pigs and sheep. Community members engaged in hunting and fur processing while women distinguished themselves in carpet weaving.

Germans living in Kars largely married within Christian communities or with members of the Muslim population. Emilia Kaiser from Petrovka village adopted the name Emine after marrying Semistan Koçulu one of the few wealthy individuals in Kars and Ardahan and died in 1984.^【25】 Emilia Kaiser’s sister Sofya also married into the Koçulu family while Lidya Senta and Anna Maria (Kevser) married Turks.^【26】 The daughters of Karl Kaiser who settled in Boğatepe village of Kars also married Turks. This family which sustained itself through cheese production later adopted the surname Koçulu and gradually became Turkified.^【27】

In Paşaçayırı village (Petrovka) of Kars there stands a single-story detached building known as the “German House” (Deutsches Haus). Built in 1910 by the Württemberg German clergyman Pfeiffer the building served as both a school and a place of worship until the First World War.^【28】 After the Germans left Kars the building was purchased by the Şükrü Tekel family. With the initiative of Dr. Eckart Cuntz the German ambassador to Ankara the building was partially restored in 2010 with support from German companies such as Robert Bosch and Daimler Mercedes.^【29】 Nevertheless it is noted that interior wall inscriptions and decorations urgently require intervention a fact communicated by Yılmaz Kuskay the Honorary Consul of the Germans of Kars.^【30】

While the Molokans and Dukhobors maintained their musical life primarily through religious choral traditions the Germans turned toward dance music and used instruments such as the violin and accordion.^【31】

Unlike other non-Muslim groups in Kars Germans serving in the Russian army were occasionally honored by Russian tsars. For example during his visit to Kars in 1916 Tsar Nicholas II awarded the Georgi Heroism Medal to several Germans.^【32】

The Vohrer family which owned enterprises in the German colony of Azerbaijan established intensive commercial ties with Kars. Christoff Vohrer and his sons founded the family business in Yelizavetpol in 1870 and by 1914 had sold approximately 350000 liters of wine.^【33】

The Kars Germans are viewed as part of the multi-layered demographic and economic transformation that occurred during the period of Russian administration in Kars. Their inclusion among the communities resettled in the region under Russian colonial policy as reflected in the population increase recorded in the 1897 census establishes their presence as one of the fundamental elements in the modern demographic and settlement history of Kars.