Famine
American Relief Administration (ARA) Transport column on the frozen Volga River at Tsaritsyn (Volgograd) in the early 1920s
The Volga Germans experienced periodic famines caused by both natural and man-made causes.
According to an article titled The Famine in Russia [The Century; a popular quarterly. Volume 46, Issue 4, Aug. 1893] written by Jonas Stadling, in the winter of 1892 the mortality rate in the Volga German colonies was about five times the normal rate or 200 in 1,000. Stadling states "Persons who try to ameliorate the condition of the masses are suspected persons, and are lucky if they do not see the inside of a prison, or even Siberia." - Read the entire article on the Cornell University website.