German-speaking colonists entered the approximately 23,000 km2 area of Dobruja around 1840 and mostly left during the relocation of 1940.

Dobruja is a historical region on the west coast of the Black Sea.

[2] They were farming families from the neighboring areas of Bessarabia and Cherson, who immigrated because of an economic recession in their home territories.

During this period, Dobruja still belonged to the Ottoman Empire and the colonists were subject to colonization regulations from Turkey.

[3][4] 325 Germans left Ali Anife Kalfa to relocate to Germany in 1943.