Within a few years of founding the German colonies along the Volga, the colonists began moving to other locations in Russia. In the documents of the 1798 Census, there are many references to colonists being or having been in other areas, primarily the Caucasus. The colonists also moved into neighboring Russian villages, towns, and cities.
As new lands opened up in Siberia at the end of the Nineteenth Century, many Volga German families moved there in search of additional farmland.
Following the deporation decree of 28 August 1941, the entire Volga German population was resettled to Siberia and Kazakhstan. After the lifting of the travel restrictions on the Special Settlements in 1956, Volga Germans again began moving within Russia.