Features of Social Mobility of Lutheran Germans in Saint Petersburg in the Conditions of the Frontier (Based on the Materials of Metric Books of the Early 20th Century)

The post-reform period in the history of the Russian Empire was marked by significant transformations across various spheres of state and societal life. Many of these changes were prompted by the “Great Reforms” of the 1860s–1870s. One of the defining features of this era was social mobility, which manifested differently across social groups. The aim of this study is to identify and characterize the main forms of social mobility among the Lutheran German population of St. Petersburg in the early twentieth century. The primary source for the analysis consists of original data extracted from the parish registers of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. The preserved personal records were processed using Microsoft Access 2016. A comprehensive analysis of entries related to births, baptisms, and marriages reveals that, while traditional social norms persisted, there was a growing incidence of inter-class and interfaith marriages within the Lutheran German community. This indicates a gradual decline in the insularity of the church congregation. The increase in the number of parishioners was driven less by natural population growth and more by the migration of Germans from other regions of the Russian Empire, as well as from Germany and Austria-Hungary. This article will be of interest to scholars of social history, historical demography, ethnic minorities, and those engaged with the study of early twentieth-century Russia.