Bergtal (renamed Rotfront in 1927) is an originally German settlement 60 km east of Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan near the border of Kazakhstan that still contains a large German minority today. Bishkek cityscape Bishkek (Бишкек) is the capital of Kyrgyzstan. ...

History

At the end of the 19th century, German settlers from the Russian Empire moved to Central Asia to obtain new land. The majority of these settlers were Mennonites. The village Bergtal, one of several originally German settlements in Kyrgyzstan, was established on very rich black soil in the Chui Valley at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains by Baptist and Mennonite families, who had emigrated from East Frisia 300 years earlier, to escape forced military service, and at the end of the 19th century moved to central Asia from the Volga and Crimea. Anthem: God Save the Tsar! Russian Empire in 1913 Capital Saint Petersburg Language(s) Russian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1721-1725 Peter the Great  - 1894-1917 Nicholas II History  - Established 22 October, 1721  - February Revolution 2 March, 1917 Area  - 1897 22,400,000 km2 8,648,688 sq mi Population  - 1897... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... The Russian Mennonites are a group of Mennonites descended from Dutch and mainly Germanic Prussian Anabaptists who established colonies in South Russia (present-day Ukraine) beginning in 1789. ... The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山; Pinyin: Tiān Shān; celestial mountains) mountain range is located in Central Asia, in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of western China. ... A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church or any follower of Jesus Christ who believes that baptism is administered by the full immersion of a confessing Christian. ... The landscape to the north of Greetsiel, in East Frisia. ... For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Capital Simferopol Largest cities Simferopol, Eupatoria, Kerch, Theodosia, Yalta Official language Ukrainian. ...

With the Stalinization of the Soviet Union the village was renamed Rotfront in 1927 and all religious practice was forbidden. During the Third Reich the ethnic Germans of Rotfront were subject to much suspicion and discrimination. They tried to explain that they did not identify with the Germans, referring to their distant Polish ancestry or relatives.^[1] Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

With the onset of Perestroika under Gorbachev the residents could again freely practice their religious faith. After the end of the Soviet Union many of the Germans emigrated from Kyrgyzstan to Germany, as the collapse of the collective farms and other state enterprises many employment opportunities were lost. In 1990 about 900 people of German background lived in the village; today their number is down to about 500. Rotfront/Bergtal is likely is the only village in central Asia with a substantial remaining German minority. As strict Mennonites, the residents continue to reject alcohol use, television, motion pictures and dancing. Poster showing Mikhail Gorbachev, with the slogan perestroika Perestroika ( , Russian: IPA: ) is the Russian term (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... Collective farming is an organizational unit in agriculture in which peasants are not paid wages, but rather receive a share of the farms net output. ...

Today

After Kyrgyzstan's independence in 1991, the remaining German residents received permission to have the original name, Bergtal, displayed on their village signs, underneath the official designation Rotfront. A small museum, established with financiaL support from the German government, in the school house displays letters and photographs recounting the migration of the ancestors to Kyrgyzstan and past life in the village. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the German government has also provided a German teacher for the community. Generous financial and material aid from the German government for the local agricultural cooperative has, however, for the most part been wasted or misused.

In 1995 a film entitled Milch und Honig aus Rotfront (Milk and Honey from Rotfront) depicting the life of the German residents of Bergtal.^[2]

Today Bergtal/Rotfront is the second largest community of German background in central Asia, although a majority of the population is of Kyrgyz descent. Kyrgyz (also spelled Kirghiz) are a Turkic ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan. ...

Notes

1. ^ Laabs, Laura, 2004, Weiße Gipfel, rote Sterne (German)
2. ^ Milch und Honig aus Rotfront (German)