After she displaced Peter III from the Russian throne, German princess Sophie Fredericke Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, a native of Stettin, took the vacant imperial throne, under the name of Catherine II the Great. Catherine II published some manifestos inviting Germans to immigrate and farm Russian lands, maintaining their language and culture.
The Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans (Autonome Sozialistische Sowjet-Republik der Wolga-Deutschen; Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика Немцёв Поволжья) was established from 1924 to 1942 with the capitals in Engels.