Before World War II these four settlements in the province of Samara consisted of a total of approximately 35 villages, and a population of 6,750 with an acreage of 176,580. Samara and Saratoff were the provinces on the Volga River in which large non-Mennonite German settlements were established, which under the Soviets were organized for a while as the German Volga Republic. According to available information, most of these German settlements, including those of the Mennonites, disintegrated before and during World War II. Most of the population was sent beyond the Ural Mountains.
