German Fundamentalists in Russia

[FormerlyFundyLite]

I didn't see this anywhere else, but feel free to merge if I missed it. Radio Free Europe has an article about a German family with 10 kids (the father quotes the quiverfull verse) who moved to Siberia to get away from the "sexually permissive" West. They identify as Baptists and are homeschooling their kids (which is legal in Russia) in their 4-room, traditional Russian log house. Russian Baptists are not the same thing as American Baptists--there are differences in part due to the persecution experienced during Soviet times and the influence of Russian culture (and thus Russian Orthodoxy), and in part due to the fact that they trace their history not through English Separatism, but to German Mennonites and Lutherans from the Baltic coast. It's not clear which tradition they follow. http://www.rferl.org/a/german-family-moves-siberia-sexually-permissive-west/28259526.html

[Howl]

His version of  sex ed for very young children in German?  Pure b. s.   The guy is basically crazy. 

[lumpentheologie]

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing! 

Quote

"On the edge of our town, they built a residence for 20 refugees, young men," he continued. "They can't work, so what are these young guys to do? How can we let our children out onto the streets?"

So what, young mens' only pursuits are working and raping children?  If they can't work, we can't let our children outside?  These people are insane. 

[gustava]

I wonder how they got visas.  I had to have an invitation letter (purely bogus).  I wonder if it's easier for German citizens.

[SrMaryEloquentia]

Well, that's some people we won't miss around here. However, I'm really worried about the kids growing up in such isolation.

[JillyO]

2 hours ago, gustava said:

I wonder how they got visas.  I had to have an invitation letter (purely bogus).  I wonder if it's easier for German citizens.

Nope, we need an invitation letter too. However, it says in the article that the father is actually Russian. He moved to Germany in the '90s and now he moved back to Russia with his family. His wife is also originally from Russia.

Quote

[T]he Martens family decided late last year to take advantage of a Russian government program aimed at repatriating Russians who left the country or found themselves outside Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union two and a half decades ago.

 

[FormerlyFundyLite]

4 hours ago, gustava said:

I wonder how they got visas.  I had to have an invitation letter (purely bogus).  I wonder if it's easier for German citizens.

Like @JillyO said, needing a LOI isn't unusual. I've been to Russia 9 times and have always needed one. A travel agency that specializes in travel to Russia can often issue one-- that's how I get mine. And the parents are both Russian and they came back as part of a repatrioting program.

[hasunah]

9 hours ago, JillyO said:

Nope, we need an invitation letter too. However, it says in the article that the father is actually Russian. He moved to Germany in the '90s and now he moved back to Russia with his family. His wife is also originally from Russia.

 

He is what we call Spätaussiedler or Russlanddeutsche . Basically they are descendants of German people who didn't leave (now former) German territory immediately after World War 2  or fled while they could  or Volga Germans . After the fall of the iron curtain a lot of them moved to Germany .

 

[SrMaryEloquentia]

4 hours ago, hasunah said:

He is what we call Spätaussiedler or Russlanddeutsche . Basically they are descendants of German people who didn't leave (now former) German territory immediately after World War 2  or fled while they could  or Volga Germans . After the fall of the iron curtain a lot of them moved to Germany .

 

Actually, that's what surprised me about this story- I have been under the impression, that these decendants had been pretty unpopular in Russia. That is why a lot of them moved to Germany in the early nineties. 

The fundies we're talking about here could be just about the right age. Born in Russia, they moved to Germany as young teens with their parents, but never really arrived here. Now they reject this modern western society that has come to accept that Germans come in all colors, not just white, and there's more than one sexual orientation. So they go back to an ideal Russia that they hope will provide a  more wholesome environment.  

 

[hasunah]

When I read the headline I thought for a moment this was a post about the Griesbach family . But they aren't fundie, just normal Reichsbürger   (sort of Germany's answer to sovereign citizens ) crazy . They felt horribly oppressed in the dictatorship that is modern Germany ( children are getting chipped and CPS is kidnapping children as a business model ) and since Germany doesn't exist Russia is responsible for them (don't ask , they're nuts) and they drove there with their poor kids  to claim asylum which was denied , no idea what happened to them . 

For those of you who speak German , an article