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A Four Year Odyssey The story of The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe/Children of the Prairie begins with the ascension of Catherine, later called "the Great", to the throne of Russia in 1762; and shows how her Manifesto, which promised free land, local self government, and freedom from military service to those willing to farm in Russia, brought large scale immigration of Germanic speaking settlers onto the steppes: first along the Volga in 1765; and then over the next half century, into an area along the fringes of the Black Sea.
To chronicle the historical journey of the Germans from Russia, Prairie Public production crews made long journeys of their own. They filmed, researched, and interviewed in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Germany, Alsace in France, California, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The making of the film was a four year odyssey that began with Michael Miller's suggestion that NDSU Libraries and Prairie Public work jointly on a Germans from Russia documentary. Miller who is Germans from Russia bibliographer at NDSU Libraries, and co-executive producer of the film says the completion of the documentary is a dream come true. He said that during his first visit to the former Bessarabia and Black Sea homeland villages in 1994, he felt it was very important to share the story of what the Germans from Russia had accomplished there.
Documentary producer Bob Dambach says the partnership with NDSU makes this a special project for Prairie Public. "By working together, we've been able to showcase part of the ethnic history of North Dakota, to illuminate the heritage of one third of North Dakotans, and to tell a good story. That's all very gratifying." The first part of the film illuminates the history of this ethnic group, tracing their movement from the original Germanic homeland, to their pioneer experience on the steppes. The second half of the film uses stories and anecdotes told by the descendants to show the experience of the German Russians on the American prairie.
Vossler says that the documentary The Germans from Russia explores this complexity by addressing a series of paired contradictions about this ethnic group; and he also says that it is in these contradictions -- "They were restless wanderers -- They had deep roots to home. They were practical -- They sought eternity. They tried to forget -- They always remembered." that the viewer of the film will learn about the ethnic group called the Germans from Russia. In telling the story, The Germans from Russia draws on the expertise of Dr. Timothy Kloberdanz, Fr. William Sherman, and Michael Miller of NDSU, Ron Vossler of UND, Dr. Shirley Fischer Arends, author of The Central Dakota Germans and Dr. Dona Reeves-Marquardt, professor emeritus at Southwest Texas State University, Buda Texas.
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Collectors
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The
film also shows why, as the original promises of the
Manifesto were rescinded in the late nineteenth
century, over 300,000 Germans from Russia obtained
passports, severed ties to their villages in Russia,
and began the odyssey to the new land. They settled in
almost every area of North America, but preferred the
open spaces of the Great Plains, where this ethnic
group maintained its culture and language the
longest.
Miller
added, "In light of the many changes in our global
society, we must preserve our history. This
documentary will be of much value in that regard, to
school, libraries and homes on the northern plains, as
well as the world-wide Germans from Russia
community.
The
film's writer, 
