The situation of St. Petersburg (Petrograd) Germans at the initial stage of the First World War

The article, based on the analysis of the materials of the capital's newspapers, attempts to characterize the situation of German citizens in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in the initial period of the First World War. During this period the government and political parties sought to use the periodical press to solve socio economic and sometimes political problems. We analyzed newspapers in several directions and paid special attention to the most frequent publications: the anti German pogrom in St. Petersburg, the attitude to German subjects, the situation of German teachers and schools, the perception of Russian society of the renaming of the capital, the struggle against “German domination” in industry. As a result, it was found that regardless of the political coloring of the publication, in the first few weeks the outrage of the newspapers was directed directly against Germany and the Germans. The Germans of Russian subjects were mentioned in connection with their donations to the army, but then the tone of the newspapers becomes less favorable. On the pages of the newspapers the image of the “inner German” is painted, which must be fought against. This phenomenon becomes especially noticeable after the renaming of the capital, when there are calls to remove all German place names. Then came the turn of German schools, which were breeding grounds for anti Russian views. The first period of the war ends with the beginning of the development of “liquidation legislation”, the expulsion of German craftsmen, engineers, and sometimes colonists from Petrograd to the interior of the country. However, not everyone in Russian society supported the actions of the authorities, but their voices were drowned in the anti German campaign that had been unleashed.