My ancestry is entirely the " Germans from Russia"
These were Germans that moved eastward, first to Poland and then on into western Russian,
Volhynia during the 1800's.
I have not been able to trace mine back to Germany because records in western Russia are very
difficult to get. Many were destroyed during the war.
If I could get back to a 3rd great grandparent, I probably would find them in Germany.

Many of them said they were from Germany because especially in the cold war period, they were
ashamed that they came from Russia.
Many of my relatives Obits. said they were from Germany.
My grandmother requested that it not say
she was born in Russia.
My relatives did not talk about where they came from. It was pretty rough for them in those last few
years there. I have relatives that were sent to Siberia and never heard from again.
They just wanted to forget and since they spoke German, people assumed they were from Germany.

I knew nothing of this Polish/Russian history.. I thought they were Germans from Germany until
I developed an interest in Genealogy about 20 years ago.

My DNA is 31 % Eastern Europe, 27% BI, 22% Scandinavian, 13% Finnish Volga-Ural and 7%
central Europe. I don't have the new DNA breakdown.

Could this possibly be the situation on your husband's mother's side?