The history of Germans in Georgia dates back to the 19th century, when they first arrived as part of the Russian Empire's settlement policy. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Catherine the Great of Russia invited ethnic Germans to settle in the empire, offering land and privileges. Many of these settlers, known as the "Volga Germans" or "German colonies," moved to Georgia. They established farming communities and contributed to the local economy.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the German community in Georgia flourished, engaging in agriculture, industry, and commerce.

During the brief existence of the Georgian Democratic Republic (1918-1921), the government sought to integrate various ethnic minorities into the national framework, ensuring their civil rights. Under the Georgian Democratic Republic, ethnic Germans were granted the same rights as other citizens, and their communities maintained a degree of cultural autonomy. The constitution of 1921, adopted shortly before the Bolshevik occupation of Georgia, guaranteed civil rights for all citizens, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, including Germans.

However, with the Soviet invasion in 1921, the independence of the Georgian Democratic Republic ended, and the German population, like other ethnic minorities, faced repression under Soviet rule. In the 1940s, under Stalin's regime, many ethnic Germans were deported from Georgia (and other parts of the Soviet Union) to Siberia and Central Asia, accused of being potential collaborators with Nazi Germany during World War II.

The legacy of German settlements in Georgia is still evident in some local traditions, architecture, and place names.

The full text of the draft law of the First Republic of Georgia – On the Cultural Autonomy of Germans Living in the Democratic Republic of Georgia – is here.

The Central Historical Archive of Georgia, Fond №1833, Inventory №1, Item №181 (pages 154-156)

On the Cultural Autonomy of Germans in the Georgian Democratic Republic

The Central Council of the Union of Transcaucasian Germans presents the cultural autonomy of Germans in Georgia as follows:

1) In the spiritual and scientific sphere, Germans expect recognition of the following rights:

1. a) The right to limited use of their own, i.e., the German language, in their homes, schools, and public life. The latter also refers to conducting affairs within their own self-governing institutions, including lower (rural) judicial institutions.
2. b) The right to preserve and develop the overall spiritual state in the area of German culture, primarily implying a connection with German science, with the possibility of disseminating it among the younger generation in the relevant educational institutions, specifically starting from elementary schools to higher educational establishments, including agricultural, technical, and commercial schools.
3. c) The right to disseminate knowledge among Germans of all ages concerning the laws of life and citizenship, such as, for example, public health, decency, economics, social order, the task of universal cultural progress, ways to achieve true goods of life, etc. This would be done through the establishment of people's universities, libraries, reading rooms, and other educational institutions, using the German language and German methods and theories, preferably over non-German languages, methods, and theories, as well as the right to distribute all kinds of newspapers and magazines promoting the perception of German spiritual-scientific thought.

2) In the religious and moral sphere, Germans claim the following rights:

1. a) The right to freely practice their religion, primarily the Evangelical Lutheran faith, both in the church, in school, and at home, using the German language and rules derived from the Transcaucasian Evangelical Lutheran Synod, as the highest ecclesiastical institution for Evangelical Lutherans in Georgia. According to the decision of the majority of German parishes in Transcaucasia, including all colonial parishes, or those few, predominantly urban, or rather, exclusively urban parishes that have not yet joined the aforementioned synodal union, the rules provided by law (Св. Зак. Т. XI, Уст. Иностран. Исп.) for such parishes should apply. Moreover, the teaching of the Law of God as a compulsory subject in school education should not be restricted for Evangelical Lutherans under state-legislative order.
2. b) The right to preserve and strengthen the moral consciousness characteristic of the German people in their own circle and the resulting respect for German traditions in their distinct identity in terms of morality. This manifests primarily in the invocation of God as the beginning of all existence, in the honoring of parents and authorities, in the respect for the opinions of others, in observing the existing state and legal orders, and in fulfilling moral duties traditionally acknowledged in the German family.

3) In the artistic and literary sphere, the following rights should be recognized for the Germans:

1. a) The right to stage German plays in public theaters and the right to organize exhibitions of both German fine arts and German industrial art, including German handicrafts.
2. b) The right to publish books and other literary works in German, as well as newspapers and magazines in the German language.
3. c) The right to deliver public lectures on various topics, to organize literary, dramatic, and musical evenings, to show films, and so on, using the German language as a means of explanation, or, in the latter case, German inscriptions.

4) In the economic and technical sphere, the Germans require the following rights:

1. a) The right to freely apply their own economic methods and practices, including watering gardens, fields, and other types of land, as long as this use does not contradict the general state interests (Cp. Зак. Т. Xll, Уст. Сельск. Хоз., прил. К ст. 223). The methods and practices would primarily follow those applied in Germany and other countries with a predominant German population, in accordance with local conditions.
2. b) The right to freely apply their own technical methods in agricultural life, as well as in other sectors of practical work, from handicrafts and craftsmanship to factory production, giving preference in this regard to methods tested in the countries mentioned in the previous subsection (literature a).

5) In terms of state and public affairs, the Germans claim the following rights:

1. a) The right to establish a specific order in the relations of Germans living in groups, such as colonies, or separately from them, but not losing contact with them and remaining members of these communities, with respect to the state, i.e., the Georgian Democratic Republic, municipal and district self-government bodies, movable and immovable property owned by them by right of exclusive or shared ownership, etc. This would be in accordance with the legal order established by the „Положением о колониях в Закавказье“("On Colonies in the Caucasus")Св. Зак. Т. IX, 3aк. Сост. Прил. К. ст. 680 (прим 2). This law remains in force in Georgia to this day.
2. b) Rights resulting from this general right:
3. aa) The right to exercise all personal and property rights assigned by law to the citizens of the Georgian Democratic Republic throughout the territory of Georgia.
4. bb) The right to self-taxation for the fulfillment of their cultural needs within the autonomy granted to the Germans.
5. cc) The right to self-government in public affairs, both for rural and urban residents, within the widest democratic limits, as long as it does not contradict the general state interests (self-management, independent courts for minor matters as determined by law).
6. dd) The right to establish small local government units from the general district organization in agreement with local districts and county authorities, as well as relevant government institutions.
7. ee) The right to the inviolability of property rights guaranteed by the current special law, i.e., the Regulation on Colonies in the Caucasus, concerning the land owned by German settlers ("colonists") by right of public ownership, as long as the restriction of these rights is not necessitated by the state.
8. ff) The right to modify the existing land use regulations in German colonies, as outlined in the previous point (dd), in a modern spirit of democratization, while preserving the fideicommissum (hereditary) character of such land use, with the aim of maintaining the integrity of colonial ownership for the benefit of the entire republic (German colonists being the most reliable taxpayers for required taxes and duties, benefitting local neighboring communities, for whom German landowners are to serve as examples).
9. gg) The right to establish German schools throughout Georgia, irrespective of their type and level, into a separate educational system, led by a German instructor or inspector chosen by the representatives of the Union of Transcaucasian Germans (at the delegate assembly), with the approval of the Georgian Government. The Germans would bear the costs of the instructor's salary and the maintenance of all German schools, provided they are exempt from taxes and duties designated for the school system in the Republic at large.
10. hh) The right to preserve the existing Union of Transcaucasian Germans and its executive body, the Central Council, according to the statute developed and approved by the delegate assembly of the Union at the congress on December 15-18, 1919. The Union currently includes 18 separate groups (2 urban and 16 rural), as well as the group "Union of Transcaucasian German Teachers," which follows a specific statute agreed upon with the Union's statute and approved at the same congress.

Chairman of the Central Council Council of Transcaucasian Germans

"3" March 1920 Tbilisi City

Original document (in Russian):