HOME AND BELONGING AMONG ETHNIC GERMANS IN NORTHEASTERN KAZAKHSTAN: NARRATIVES OF STAYING AND RETURNING

Abstract

This article examines how ethnic Germans in northeastern Kazakhstan explain why they remained in, or returned to, Kazakhstan after 1991. It presents an exploratory thematic analysis of summaries of six interviews conducted between March and October 2026 with three women and three men aged 45–70, including two participants each from Pavlodar, East Kazakhstan, and Abai regions. The analysis distinguishes attachment to place from the circumstances shaping migration trajectories. Four themes emerge: home as a network of familiar relationships; unrealized migration intentions; marriage and extended family connections; and return through the interaction of continuing attachment and new relationships. One participant describes an abandoned migration plan in 1997, while another returned after living in Germany from 1995 to 2005 and forming a relationship during a visit to Kazakhstan. These contrasting accounts show why residence cannot automatically be read as a preference to stay. The article argues that, in these cases, belonging is narrated primarily through family, friendship, and everyday life. Its contribution is a small-scale regional comparison of distinct trajectories, rather than a representative explanation of Kazakhstan's German population.