<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><h1 class="gmail-css-1j5ig2m e1h9rw200" id="gmail-link-495df567" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:italic;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:2.5rem;line-height:3rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(18,18,18);width:600px;max-width:600px"><span class="gmail-balancedHeadline" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;max-width:586.363px">A Mennonite Town in Muslim Central Asia Holds On Against the Odds</span></h1></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">The Mennonite prayer hall in Rot Front, or Red Front, Kyrgyzstan, the easternmost outpost of the Mennonite exodus from Europe.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites1/merlin_153137160_17c04395-d0a2-4b80-8b3e-febfe63fd6e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-bsn42l" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1dv1kvn" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:1px;overflow:hidden;width:1px">Image</span><img alt="" class="gmail-css-11cwn6f" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites1/merlin_153137160_17c04395-d0a2-4b80-8b3e-febfe63fd6e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 945px; cursor: pointer;"></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">The Mennonite prayer hall in Rot Front, or Red Front, Kyrgyzstan, the easternmost outpost of the Mennonite exodus from Europe.</span><span class="emkp2hg2 gmail-css-1nwzsjy e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1dv1kvn" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:1px;overflow:hidden;width:1px">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-xt80pu e12qa4dv0" style="margin:0px auto 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:600px;color:rgb(18,18,18)"><div class="gmail-css-acwcvw epjyd6m0" style="margin:0px 0px 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-vp77d3 epjyd6m1" style="margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:600px"><div class="gmail-css-1baulvz" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block"><p class="gmail-css-16vrk19 e1jsehar1" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;letter-spacing:0.02em">By <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/andrew-higgins" class="gmail-css-1riqqik e1jsehar0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,51,51);display:inline"><span class="gmail-css-1baulvz" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;text-decoration-line:underline;text-decoration-color:rgb(204,204,204)">Andrew Higgins</span></a></p></div></div><ul class="gmail-css-1w5cs23 epjyd6m2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:none;display:flex"><li style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:none">May 12, 2019</li><li class="gmail-css-6n7j50" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline;list-style:none"><div class="gmail-" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-d8bdto" style="margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:17px;line-height:inherit;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(153,153,153);display:flex"><ul class="gmail-css-y8aj3r" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:none"><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline;width:100%;list-style:none"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=9869919170&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2019%2F05%2F12%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fkyrgyzstan-mennonites.html&smid=fb-share&name=A%20Mennonite%20Town%20in%20Muslim%20Central%20Asia%20Holds%20On%20Against%20the%20Odds&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:black"></a></li><li class="gmail-css-60hakz" style="margin:0px 16px 0px 0px;padding:10px 0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline;width:100%;list-style:none"><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnyti.ms%2F2WEUftM&text=A%20Mennonite%20Town%20in%20Muslim%20Central%20Asia%20Holds%20On%20Against%20the%20Odds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:black"></a></li><li class="gmai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;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">An old mini-bus takes the Mennonites to the prayer house for the Sunday morning service.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites2/merlin_153137535_a2390f05-7328-4587-afc8-989dbb1a4fdb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites2/merlin_153137535_a2390f05-7328-4587-afc8-989dbb1a4fdb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 945px; cursor: pointer;"></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">An old mini-bus takes the Mennonites to the prayer house for the Sunday morning service.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:87px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Rot Front, formerly known as Bergtal, or Mountain Valley, is the easternmost outpost of the Mennonite exodus from Europe, which also scattered believers westward to North and South America</p></div></div><div id="gmail-story-ad-1-wrapper" class="gmail-css-2ninbb" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1017px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-1-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.5625rem;line-height:0.5625rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(204,204,204);letter-spacing:0.05rem;text-transform:uppercase"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><div class="gmail-ad gmail-story-ad-1-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:270px;min-height:250px"><div id="gmail-story-ad-1" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_4__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;width:1017px;height:auto"></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:416px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The German community in Rot Front lived for generations in a closed world — entirely German-speaking, dominated by religion, fighting off modern intrusions like television. It is still wary of outsiders but, as residents began emigrating to Germany in the 1990s, and those left behind began using cellphones, interaction with the wider world has grown.</p><div class="gmail-css-1o6jhnk" style="margin:25px auto;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:15px;line-height:19px;font-family:nyt-franklin;vertical-align:baseline;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:600px;text-align:center"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-1od6ynp" style="margin:0px auto 18px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:72px"></div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">You have <span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">3 free articles</span> remaining.</div></div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/multiproduct/lp8PRPR.html?campaignId=7QW8R" class="gmail-css-1h74mhy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(50,104,145)">Subscribe to The Times</a><div class="gmail-css-16858bh" style="margin:18px auto 0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:72px"></div></div><div class="gmail-css-10klw3m gmail-optimizelyOK gmail-vi_inline" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:0px"></div></div><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Out of a village with more than 1,000 people, only 10 German families are left. The German bakery closed years ago and the local primary school dropped mandatory lessons in German. The teaching is now all done in Kyrgyz and Russian.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">Local Kyrgyz shepherds at the entrance to the village.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites3/merlin_153137208_68169113-5ebc-43b3-bf6b-ab14f1df46b9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites3/merlin_153137208_68169113-5ebc-43b3-bf6b-ab14f1df46b9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">Local Kyrgyz shepherds at the entrance to the village.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:58px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But the Sunday morning bus helps keep alive the religious faith at the heart of the German residents.</p></div></div><div id="gmail-story-ad-2-wrapper" class="gmail-css-1r07izm" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-2-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.5625rem;line-height:0.5625rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(204,204,204);letter-spacing:0.05rem;text-transform:uppercase"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><div class="gmail-ad gmail-story-ad-2-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:250px;min-height:250px"><div id="gmail-story-ad-2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_5__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;width:970px;height:250px"></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:310px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Driven by Nikolai Pauls, an ethnic German car mechanic whose 11 siblings have now nearly all left for Germany, the bus collects worshipers — a mix of German Mennonites and Kyrgyz converts — from outside their homes and deposits them at the village’s biggest building, a prayer hall decorated with biblical verses in archaic versions of both German and Russian, written in Gothic script.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Irina Pauls, the bus driver’s wife and a singer in the church choir, said she and her husband had planned to move years ago for Germany but stayed put because their five children did not want to leave their friends.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">A Canadian Christian purchased three houses built by Germans, setting up a shelter for Kyrgyz orphans.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites4/merlin_153137307_d2994cde-2efb-4b2f-a106-9d719e8dba9c-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites4/merlin_153137307_d2994cde-2efb-4b2f-a106-9d719e8dba9c-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">A Canadian Christian purchased three houses built by Germans, setting up a shelter for Kyrgyz orphans.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:379px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Whether to leave, she said, “is a very painful question.”</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">She has often visited relatives in Germany, where nine of her own 11 siblings now live, and admires German order and neatness. “Here Kyrgyz people think we are crazy because we cut the grass,” she said.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Three of her grown children have moved to Germany, and she worries about the marriage prospects of the two daughters still in Rot Front. Mennonites rarely marry outside their faith, and while German believers sometimes marry Kyrgyz converts, Ms. Pauls said she would like her children to marry fellow ethnic Germans.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“There is still a line between us,” Ms. Pauls, 56, said. “The Germans are on this side, the Kyrgyz on the other.”</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-17ih8de gmail-interactive-body" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:top;box-sizing:border-box"><div id="gmail-g-05tk-for-webMENNONITES-DISPATCHmap-box" class="gmail-ai2html gmail-ai2html-box-v5" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;max-width:300px"><div id="gmail-g-05tk-for-webMENNONITES-DISPATCHmap-300" class="gmail-g-artboard" style="margin:0px auto;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden;width:300px;height:248.5px"><img id="gmail-g-05tk-for-webMENNONITES-DISPATCHmap-300-img" class="gmail-g-aiImg gmail-g-aiAbs" alt="" src="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2019/05/01/mennonites-map/497ef65811ced0a7821b64dabbf90b1d080b1cd6/05tk-for-webMENNONITES-DISPATCHmap-300.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; display: block; width: 300px;"><div id="gmail-g-ai0-1" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:103px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(102,102,102)">KAZAKHSTAN</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-2" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:67px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle1" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.02em;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Bishkek</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-3" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:58px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:800;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.02em;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Rot</p><p class="gmail-g-pstyle2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:800;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.02em;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Front</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-4" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:81px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle3" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:italic;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12px;line-height:13px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:13px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.02em;text-align:center;color:rgb(0,0,0)">TIAN SHAN</p><p class="gmail-g-pstyle3" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:italic;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12px;line-height:13px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:13px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.02em;text-align:center;color:rgb(0,0,0)">MTS.</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-5" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:67px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle4" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(102,102,102)">UZBEK.</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-6" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:101px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle5" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(0,0,0)">KYRGYZSTAN</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-7" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(102,102,102)">CHINA</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-8" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:89px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(102,102,102)">TAJIKISTAN</p></div><div id="gmail-g-ai0-9" class="gmail-g-LABELS gmail-g-aiAbs gmail-g-aiPointText" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:74px"><p class="gmail-g-pstyle6" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:9px;line-height:15px;font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:nowrap;height:15px;opacity:1;mix-blend-mode:multiply;letter-spacing:0.125em;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;color:rgb(0,0,0)">200 MILES</p></div></div></div></div><p id="gmail-interactive-credit" class="gmail-css-1g8gl4z gmail-interactive-credit" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em">By The New York Times</p><div id="gmail-story-ad-3-wrapper" class="gmail-css-1r07izm" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-3-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.5625rem;line-height:0.5625rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(204,204,204);letter-spacing:0.05rem;text-transform:uppercase"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><div class="gmail-ad gmail-story-ad-3-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:90px"><div id="gmail-story-ad-3" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_6__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:359px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">But finding a suitable spouse for her remaining children, she said, is growing increasingly difficult as emigration drains the pool of eligible grooms and brides who share her family’s faith and speak Plautdietsch, a dialect of Low German.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The Mennonites and Amish both belong to the Anabaptist tradition, a reformation movement dating to the 1500s that rejected aspects of the established Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. They share a commitment to pacifism and simple living.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The German Mennonites who settled in Kyrgyzstan started their journey east in the early 16th century from what is now the northern Netherlands.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">An ethnic Kyrgyz resident of Rot Front waited for the shuttle that will take her to Sunday service.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites5/merlin_153137523_e15915bd-d763-46b1-a0f6-effce5e2b232-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/13/world/13mennonites5/merlin_153137523_e15915bd-d763-46b1-a0f6-effce5e2b232-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">An ethnic Kyrgyz resident of Rot Front waited for the shuttle that will take her to Sunday service.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:301px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">After settling first in West Prussia, now part of Poland, they moved on to Russian-controlled Ukraine in the 18th century, and then to Kyrgyzstan, settling first in the west and then on rich farmland in the Chuy Valley east of the capital, Bishkek.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The original German names given their new settlements have mostly been lost. The German names that survive were imposed on towns by Moscow and given a Soviet slant, like Rot Front.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Of the approximately 100,000 ethnic Germans who lived in Kyrgyzstan when the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991, only 8,300 remain.</p></div></div><div id="gmail-story-ad-4-wrapper" class="gmail-css-2ninbb" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1017px;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-4-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.5625rem;line-height:0.5625rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(204,204,204);letter-spacing:0.05rem;text-transform:uppercase"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><div class="gmail-ad gmail-story-ad-4-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:288px;min-height:250px"><div id="gmail-story-ad-4" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_7__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;min-width:100%"></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">Old photographs of the Mennonite community in the basement of the prayer hall.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites6/merlin_153137460_5205c153-85c4-4379-bf35-579653c485e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites6/merlin_153137460_5205c153-85c4-4379-bf35-579653c485e5-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">Old photographs of the Mennonite community in the basement of the prayer hall.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:301px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">In Rot Front, the exodus to Germany has been accompanied by a wave of new arrivals, mostly Kyrgyz but also a few Westerners.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">A Canadian Christian purchased three houses built by Germans, setting up shelter for Kyrgyz orphans, a guesthouse and a farm.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Wilhelm Lategahn, a non-Mennonite schoolteacher, came to Rot Front from Germany on a government program to promote the German language. He intended to stay a year or so but, nearly a decade later, is still here. He set up a small museum to honor the village’s fading German heritage.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">Ethnic German Mennonite youths in one of the two streets of the village.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites7/merlin_153137163_15e4c9c9-b60a-481a-a3dc-82ca28b7b7fe-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites7/merlin_153137163_15e4c9c9-b60a-481a-a3dc-82ca28b7b7fe-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">Ethnic German Mennonite youths in one of the two streets of the village.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:223px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">At the prayer hall, built in 1987 after the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev relaxed restrictions on religion, female worshipers sit on one side while their husbands, fathers and sons sit on the other.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Germans and Kyrgyz mix constantly — in prayer, at school and at work in the fields, where residents grow their food and raise cattle. They communicate mostly in Russian, the one language everyone speaks fluently.</p></div></div><div id="gmail-story-ad-5-wrapper" class="gmail-css-1r07izm" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-5-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.5625rem;line-height:0.5625rem;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(204,204,204);letter-spacing:0.05rem;text-transform:uppercase"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><div class="gmail-ad gmail-story-ad-5-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:90px"><div id="gmail-story-ad-5" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_8__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:194px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The village also has a mosque, but it is much smaller than the Mennonite prayer hall.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">After attending prayers on a recent Sunday, German and Kyrgyz children gamboled together along the main street, chattering away in Russian. Lotti Schmidt, 12, said she missed friends who had moved to Germany but still wanted her own family to stay in Rot Front.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-css-79elbk" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-z3e15g" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-1emm6qk ehw59r12" height="630.3125px" width="945px" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:630.313px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;overflow:hidden"><div width="200px" height="524.53857421875px" class="gmail-css-1u8tfwu ehw59r11" style="margin:0px;padding:15px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;width:200px;height:524.539px;opacity:0"><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(102,102,102);display:block">The choir rehearsing at the prayer hall.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;display:block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;display:block">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:block">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div><div width="945px" height="630.3125px" class="gmail-css-yr4h89 ehw59r14" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;height:630.313px"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites8/merlin_153137175_f8dbacea-4b4f-4067-9383-5b68bfcb42f4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 630.313px; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><button class="gmail-css-1vkv6l7 ehw59r10" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"></button></div><button type="button" class="gmail-css-9bz651" style="margin:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:middle;padding:0px;border-width:initial;border-style:none;border-color:initial;height:60px;width:60px;opacity:0"><div class="gmail-css-b13v6j" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0.9"></div><div class="gmail-css-9yo1dj" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px;opacity:0"></div><div class="gmail-css-nvo30m" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:60px;height:60px"></div></button></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;opacity:1"><div class="gmail-css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Image</span><div class="gmail-css-8h527k" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:945px;background-color:rgb(247,247,245)"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;height:auto"><img alt="" class="gmail-css-1h6w7uo e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/04/22/world/22mennonites8/merlin_153137175_f8dbacea-4b4f-4067-9383-5b68bfcb42f4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font: inherit; vertical-align: top; height: auto; max-width: 100%; transition: opacity 300ms ease-in-out 0s; opacity: 1; display: block; width: 945px;"></div></div></div><span class="gmail-css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin:0px 7px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;vertical-align:baseline">The choir rehearsing at the prayer hall.</span><span class="gmail-css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.125rem;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;color:rgb(136,136,136);letter-spacing:0.01em"><span class="gmail-css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden">Credit</span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">Maxime Fossat for The New York Times</span></span></div></div><div class="gmail-css-1fanzo5 gmail-StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin:0px auto 1rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:flex;height:778px;width:945px"><div class="gmail-css-53u6y8" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px"><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Even many of those who have left still come back regularly on visits.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Adolf Koop, who moved to Germany in 2011, still keeps the house he and his wife built in 1958 in Rot Front and recently returned with a son and son-in-law to do some repairs.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">“I get so bored in Germany,” he said. “I miss all my friends here.”</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">His memories of Rot Front, however, are not all rosy. His father, the head of the village’s early Soviet-era collective farm, was arrested and executed at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror in 1938.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 turned ethnic Germans into enemies of the people. Much of Rot Front’s adult population was sent to labor camps, leaving German children to fend for themselves, often with help from local Kyrgyz, who sheltered and fed them in the mountains.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">The wartime experience broke down many of the cultural and language barriers that had previously separated ethnic Germans and the indigenous Kyrgyz population. It also made it difficult for Germans who survived the war in Rot Front to feel comfortable in Germany.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Their offspring, too, can find life in Germany problematic.</p><p class="gmail-css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.8125rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">Andrej Keller, a 59-year-old ethnic German who was born and raised in Rot Front, said he had tried moving to Germany in 2011, but was unable to find a job and returned to his Kyrgyz village after just 18 months.</p></div><div class="gmail-css-j64t31" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:130px;max-width:130px"><h2 class="gmail-css-ohexsw" style="margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px 0px 12px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(226,226,226);border-left-color:initial;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:14px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0);letter-spacing:0.02em">Editors’ Picks</h2><a class="gmail-css-1sj6bre gmail-gtm-tagged" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/t-magazine/greece-ithaca-visit.html?fallback=0&recId=1LEKxvmkeEO4SXrQTBSTudZ3UMG&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=NJ&recAlloc=story&geoCountry=US&blockId=home-featured&imp_id=623655684" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:black;height:68px;display:flex"><h3 class="gmail-css-1p08cbr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 16px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(226,226,226);border-left-color:initial;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;font-family:nyt-cheltenham-small,georgia,"times new roman";vertical-align:baseline;width:130px;color:rgb(51,51,51)">A Journey Into Greece’s Land of a Thousand Stories</h3></a><a class="gmail-css-1sj6bre gmail-gtm-tagged" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/dining/drinks/aperol-spritz.html?fallback=0&recId=1LEKxvmkeEO4SXrQTBSTudZ3UMG&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=NJ&recAlloc=story&geoCountry=US&blockId=home-featured&imp_id=684711068" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:black;height:51px;display:flex"><h3 class="gmail-css-1p08cbr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 16px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(226,226,226);border-left-color:initial;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;font-family:nyt-cheltenham-small,georgia,"times new roman";vertical-align:baseline;width:130px;color:rgb(51,51,51)">The Aperol Spritz Is Not a Good Drink</h3></a><a class="gmail-css-1sj6bre gmail-gtm-tagged" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/nyregion/nxivm-cult-allison-mack.html?fallback=0&recId=1LEKxvmkeEO4SXrQTBSTudZ3UMG&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=NJ&recAlloc=story&geoCountry=US&blockId=home-featured&imp_id=446521313" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:black;height:85px;display:flex"><h3 class="gmail-css-1p08cbr" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 16px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(226,226,226);border-left-color:initial;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;font-family:nyt-cheltenham-small,georgia,"times new roman";vertical-align:baseline;width:130px;color:rgb(51,51,51)">From ‘Smallville’ to a Sex Cult: The Fall of the Actress Allison Mack</h3></a><div id="gmail-pp_edpick-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div class="gmail-ad gmail-pp_edpick-wrapper" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-align:center;height:250px;min-height:250px"><div id="gmail-pp_edpick" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/world/asia_10__container__" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;width:130px;height:auto"></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="gmail-story-ad-6-wrapper" class="gmail-css-1r07izm" style="margin:43px auto;padding:12px 0px 30px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(243,243,243);border-left-color:initial;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);text-align:center"><div id="gmail-story-ad-6-slug" class="gmail-css-l9onyx" style="margin:0px 0px 9px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style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martmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>