Being German in Russia: I had two native languages and but spoke only one I Then and now part 1

Some time ago I was very inspired to share my story on steemit. A story about growing up in two very different words. The story about finding myself in a world that is growing together as fast as it is growing apart. I was inspired by this post by @arthuradamson. Pay him a visit you will find wonderful posts. I love them, they bring me so many aha-moments.
My post today is about having two native languages as a way to describe how I my journey began. Part of this post is a translation of a post I wrote in German, yesterday.

One language at a time

My mother tongue is German, because my mother is German. Nevertheless, my first language was Russian, because I was born in the Soviet Union, in Kazakhstan. When I was born, no one thought of the fall of the Wall, and a disintegration of the Soviet Union seemed unthinkable despite the bad economic situation. My family has lived in Kazakhstan since 1973. All were glad to have left cold Siberia. Even if the winter in Kazakhstan was cold, winter there easier to bear here than in poor Russia. Also, the summers were much hotter and more beautiful than in the Russian forests where my family used to live. In our little village with arrount 1000 souls, we were the Germans. Even if we spokenext to no German. My mother learned German from her grandmother, because my great-grandmother did not speak a word of Russian in her life. When I was born, my great-grandmother had unfortunately already passed away. In Kazakhstan I did not hear my mother speak German, only when we moved to Germany. But this is a topic for another post.

German settlers in Russia

I grew up in a German family in which German was no longer spoken and not passed down to my generation. In order to explain why, I have to take a little time to report on the history of the Germans in Russia. It all began when Katharina the Great invited the Germans to Russia in 1763. Russia was a huge country . Plenty of land was not used, was not populated. German settlers should come to help Russia´s development, . The settlers received special privileges. They did not have to serve in the military and were allowed to live autonomously in German settlements. They also had enough land to feed themselves. This was a very good offer for those who did not want to go to war because of their faith. In return, the Germans had to hand to the land, build houses and give a good portion of their income and produce to Russia.
The Germans lived in their own settlements, had their own schools and even spoke only German, because there was no need to learn Russian. One was satisfied in one's own diaspora, until the first world war broke out and the Russians were suddenly regarded as an "inner enemy". There were first demonstrations against Germans in Russia, 200,000 Germans were expropriated and expelled from their settlements. Here, they had to interfere with the Russian population for the first time. The situation easier after the First World War was over. After the October Revolution Germans even had their own territory at the Volga. It all changed drasticly with the Second World War. Germans in Russia became enemies. It was not long before the German language was forbidden. Germans were finally deported from their settlements and lived under in labor camps.
My grandfather grew up in such a gulag in Siberia. As a six-year-old he had to leave his settlement and was deported into the woods of Siberia. Speaking German could bring my grandpa a lot of trouble, so he learned Russian.
As soon as it was legaly allowed my grandfather left Russia with his family and went to Kazakhstan. In our small Kazakh village lived about 1000 people with 16 different nationalities. In a small community lived Kazakhs, Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Tatars and Germans, Turks, Belarusians and some more nationalities. Together they spoke Russian.
Even though we were still singing German songs and practicing German customs, for example on weddings. I did not listen to the German language as a child in everyday life. My grandparents had experienced too many reprisals. They were afraid to pass this language on. Moreover, no one would even have dreamed that we would one day actually return to Germany.

Being a Russiangerman today

Today I am very happly speaking German and Russian as my native tongues. Both languages enriched my life so much. I almost lost the ability to speak Russian while I was trying to integrate in Germany the best way I could, but I found my way back to it. I am very glad I did. Learning about the history of my family helped me to find my way in life and now my profession is to help others finding their way. I will write more on that in my future posts here on steemit.
How about you? Did you grow up with more than one language? I would love to know!