Before the Russian conquest of 1873, society and technology in the Silk Road kingdom of Khiva had changed little in hundreds of years. The Mennonite community of Ak Metchet, founded in 1884, played an instrumental role in the khanate’s transition into the modern world. The Khan and his closest advisors relied on the Mennonites for their understanding of modern agricultural techniques and new technologies, as well as their example as entrepreneurs. Their contributions had a lasting impact on the region. This presentation will highlight important contributions by Mennonites in Khiva, including the introduction of photography and filmmaking, modern cotton harvesting, and electricity to the khanate. It will also highlight their role as model business owners in the kingdom prior to the introduction of Communism. The community of Ak Metchet is most often remembered for its connection to the millennial hopes of Claas Epp Jr. and his followers. After Epp’s prophecies failed, a majority of the community rejected his teachings and remained in Khiva for more than fifty years. Their close relationship with Khiva’s power brokers and Muslim reformists helped ease the khanate’s transition from a traditional society to a modern nation on the fringes of the Russian empire.

1. The Mennonites of Khiva
A Modernizing Community

2. Main Points
Time Period
Three Cultural Keys to Mennonite
Influence
Significance

3. Time Period
1882 – 1884: Settlement in Lausan
Relative isolation, little influence in the Khanate

4. Time Period
1884 - 1901: Ak Metchet
Mennonites used as craftsmen, day-laborers
Royal construction project (c.1900)

5. Time Period
1884 - 1901: Ak Metchet
Emil Riesen and Herman Jantzen study languages and
Islamic literature in the palace
Emil Riesen Herman Jantzen

6. Time Period
1882 – 1884: Settlement in Lausan
Relative isolation, little influence in the
Khanate
1884 - 1901: Ak Metchet
Mennonites used as craftsmen, day-laborers
Emil Riesen and Herman Jantzen study
languages and Islamic literature in the palace
1901 – 1918: Peak of Mennonite influence

7. Three Cultural Keys
Key 1: Khiva had a history of drawing
upon outside influences

8. Three Cultural Keys
Muhammad Murad - Former Afghan Slave

9. Three Cultural Keys
Islam Khodja - Khivan Reformer

10. Three Cultural Keys
Key 1: Khiva had a history of drawing
upon outside influences
Key 2: Mennonite values and talents
provided a path to influence in the palace

11. Three Cultural Keys
Key 2: Mennonite Values and Talents
Nonviolence
Craftsmanship
Talents for languages
and cross-cultural
communication

12. Three Cultural Keys
Key 1: Khiva had a history of drawing
upon outside influences
Key 2: Mennonite values provided a path
to influence in the palace
Key 3: Mennonite cultural and kinship
contacts kept new ideas coming into the
khanate.

13. Three Cultural keys
Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship
Contacts
Photography
Cotton
German equipment
Entrepreneurship

14. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship
Contacts
Photography
Khudaybergen Divanov & Wilhelm Penner

15. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Cotton: American relatives
Exchanged seed, ideas

16. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Cotton: Exclusive ginning contract

17. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Cotton
By 1904, half of Khiva’s harvest was high-yield
American cotton
By 1914, it consisted of two-thirds of the kingdom’s
cotton
At the same time in Bukhara, low-yield local cotton
still outnumbered American varieties 30:1

18. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Electricity in the palace
German generators from AEG
Criticized by Russians

19. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Electricity in the palace
Russian officer: “Mennonites are very
important to the khanate of Khiva since the
natives see the model order in the German
village, value the rational, business-like
intellect of its residents, esteem their industry,
their entrepreneurship and their skills and
thus they try to learn from and imitate the
Mennonites in all these traits and values . . . No
doubt, every German appears to the natives
as a very clever and virtuous person.”

20. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Entrepreneurship
Otto Toews and Family

21. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Entrepreneurship: Toews and Schmidt
Carpentry
Carriages
Western-style furniture
Employed and trained local artisans

22. Key 3: Mennonite Cultural and Kinship Contacts
Entrepreneurship: Toews and Schmidt
Carpentry
Carriages
Western-style furniture
Employed and trained local artisans
These two workshops generated 25,000 to
30,000 rubles per year for Ak Metchet’s
economy

23. Significance
Mennonites had much more influence than
previously thought

24. Significance
Mennonites had much more influence than
previously thought
Mennonites were “rooted cosmopolitans”

25. Significance
Mennonites had much more influence than
previously thought
Mennonites were “rooted cosmopolitans”
Example of Muslim-Christian cooperation and
partnership