In daily life maybe, but doesn't mean that German ethnicity doesn't exist, see Law of Return, where the state quite explicitly judges on who is German or not, based on ethnicity.
I know a few Germans whose ancestors were from Volga and who lived in Kazakhstan, they were able to claim German citizenship by the virtue of the state considering them of German ethnic descent (they never had German citizenship before).
I am from Kazakhstan, and the Germans who live there are pretty much Russians, yet the German state still would allow them to "return" by the virtue of their ethnicity.
I know a few Germans whose ancestors were from Volga and who lived in Kazakhstan, they were able to claim German citizenship by the virtue of the state considering them of German ethnic descent (they never had German citizenship before).
I am from Kazakhstan, and the Germans who live there are pretty much Russians, yet the German state still would allow them to "return" by the virtue of their ethnicity.