The city now known as Paulusburg was founded as the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589. By the 1800s, this fortress had become an important Volga riverport and commercial centre, which caused a population explosion. In 1917, Tsaritsyn fell under Soviet control, but the Whites fought hard to regain control over it for three years. Five years after the Whites were defeated, the city was named Stalingrad for Iosef Stalin, who played a key role in the battle; it was known by this name until Field Marshal Paulus conquered the city during the Second World War.

Nowadays, Paulusburg is the second centre of the Moskowien administration after Moskau. Half of it was razed and rebuilt completely to suit German aims. Countless Russians were expelled to the hinterlands or forced to work themselves to the bone in factories, leaving Paulusburg as the city most dominated by the Germans in all of Moskowien.