Colonia Dignidad

==History==
The first inhabitants of Colonia Dignidad arrived in 1961, brought by German citizen [[Paul Schäfer]]. Born in 1921 in the town of [[Troisdorf]], Schäfer's first employment in Germany was as a welfare worker for children in an institution of the local church. He was fired from that post at the end of the 1940s and faced accusations of sexual abuse against children in his care.<ref name=NaziCult>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/07/01/what-happened-in-colonia-inside-the-terrifying-nazi-cult-that-in/ |title=What happened in Colonia? Inside the terrifying Nazi cult that inspired Emma Watson's new film |last=Hannaford |first=Alex |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=2016-07-03 |access-date=2019-05-28}}</ref> While these first reports led to his dismissal, no criminal proceedings were initiated.

Schäfer had been following the ministry of [[William Branham]] from Germany, and was very excited when Branham made a personal visit to Germany in 1955. Schäfer and other members of his church served as William Branham's personal security detail on his 1955 European tour.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|page=8}}</ref> One sermon during his visit to Karlsruhe, Germany, left a deep impression on Schäfer. Schäfer claimed to experience a healing in the meeting, and thereafter began to strongly teach some of Branham's key doctrines.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|page=11}}</ref> Following the 1955 meetings with Branham, Schäfer began to put more of William Branham's doctrines into practice in his group, and began to insist to his followers that they were the "only faithful ones" to William Branham's teachings.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|page=8}}</ref>

Working as an independent preacher, Schäfer formed a community in Gronau dedicated to working with children at risk.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} He quickly acquired great influence over his members, who had to perform hard farm work without pay. Shortly thereafter, stories reemerged relating to the earlier allegations of pedophilia against him.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} As a result, in 1961, Schäfer organized the emigration of several hundred members of their community to Chile.

"Strong ties were forged" between Schäfer, William Branham, and Ewald Frank during Branham's time in Germany.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|page=53}}</ref> Schäfer may have been influenced to move to Chile by Branham's doomsday prophesies that predicted the imminent destruction of western democracies. Schäfer continued to promote Branham's teaching throughout his life, and many escapees and the current members of Colonia are still affiliated with the teachings of Branham.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect/insight-german-sect-victims-seek-escape-from-chilean-nightmare-past-idUSBRE8480MN20120509|title=Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past|author=Brown, Stephen|date=May 7, 2012|publisher=[[Reuters]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67352|title=Colonia Dignidad and Jonestown|author=Collins, John|date=September 23, 2016|publisher=San Diego State University}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://ciperchile.cl/2009/09/03/ex-hombre-de-confianza-de-schafer-habla-por-primera-vez-pide-su-parte-tras-millonario-acuerdo-entre-villa-baviera-y-el-cde/|title=Schäfer's former henchman speaks for the first time: asks for his share after a millionaire agreement between Villa Baviera and the CDE|publisher=CIPER|date=March 9, 2009|author=Basualto, Rebecca}}</ref>

Ewald Frank was a key figure in helping Colonia establish its weapons factories by contracting with German arms producers to assist the colony in setting up their operations. Frank also played a role in assisting in the sale and transport of the materials and supplies for the operations in Colonia. When investigations were launched into Colonia in later years, many members of the colony fled back to Germany where they found refuge with Frank.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|pages=57–59}}</ref> Schäfer maintained connections to Branham until the time of his death in a car accident in 1965.<ref>{{cite book|title=La Secta Perfecta|author=Basso, Carlos|date=4 October 2022 |isbn=9789566063650|publisher=PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL|language=Spanish|page=53}}</ref>

=== Allegations against the colony ===
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2019}}
To the outside world, the colony portrayed itself as a prime example of German efficiency, cleanliness and communal work. The profitable agricultural production and an attached charity hospital helped preserve this image for a long time. The colony had its own press operations which recorded and broadcast videos showing their happy residents amid celebrations and commemorations: men dedicated to farm work, women and girls embroidering or preparing butter. Diplomats at the German embassy ignored reports of the violence and crime and praised it as a “model colony”.<ref name=":4" />

However, Schäfer's propaganda efforts were again and again overshadowed by allegations of people escaping from the colony and obtaining asylum in Germany. The earliest known example was Wolfgang Müller, who fled in 1966 and first exposed the atrocities that occurred within the colony. Müller obtained German citizenship and worked for a newspaper, soon becoming an activist in Germany against the leaders of ''Colonia Dignidad''. He <ref>{{Cite web |title=Google |url=https://www.google.com/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=www.google.com}}</ref>eventually became the president of a foundation dedicated to the support of Schäfer's victims in Chile.

In 1967, Schäfer freed another inhabitant of the colony, Heinz Kuhn, who confirmed the allegations previously made by Müller, and provided more information on abuses. However, these first allegations were rejected by politicians and were emphatically denied due to their ties with the management of the Colony in their preparation of the [[military coup of September 11, 1973]], as demonstrated later in Chilean court cases.

In 1988, Georg and Lotti Packmor escaped and testified in a parliamentary hearing in [[Bonn]], Germany, that German citizens were forced to live in the enclave against their will.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-05-09 |title=Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 |access-date=2022-10-28}}</ref>

=== Secret detention camp ===
{{See also|Human rights violations in Pinochet's Chile}}
Before officially moving his organization to Chile, Paul Schäfer requested that the Chilean government exempt him from paying taxes and grant him asylum as long as he helped with gaining political intelligence.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Cassigoli |first=Rossana |date=May 2013 |title=Sobre la presencia nazi en Chile |url=http://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/ras/article/view/38779 |journal=Acta Sociológica |language=es |volume=61 |pages=157–177 |doi=10.1016/S0186-6028(13)70994-0|doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Rettig Commission]] noted a wealth of information supporting the accusations of the use of the land owned by Colonia Dignidad for detention and [[torture]] of political detainees during [[Augusto Pinochet|Pinochet]]'s military dictatorship. Among these sources are spokesmen for the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The Rettig Commission ultimately based its conclusions on evidence that it examined directly.

In these underground prisons, the captives were tortured in numerous ways, including [[Attack dog|mutilation from dogs]] and [[Electric shock torture|electric shocks]]. Some torture victims allege that Schäfer was directly involved in their torture.<ref>''A Sinister Sect: Colonia Dignidad'' 2021</ref> There is speculation that the extent of Schäfer's involvement with Pinochet has not yet been fully disclosed.<ref name=Fiefdom/> Schäfer's 2005 arrest saw more than 500 government files of missing detainees hidden in the ‘bodega de las papas’ (‘potato cellar’ in English). Each of these files contained details of severe [[Human rights violations in Pinochet's Chile|human rights violations]] committed under Schäfer's supervision in collaboration with Pinochet. In the late 1970s, Pinochet allegedly ordered for the mass graves containing hundreds of murdered detainees to be unearthed and for the bodies to be either thrown into the sea or burned.<ref name=":3" />

=== Claims of German Intelligence Service assistance ===
Journalist [[John Dinges]] has suggested<ref>{{cite book| isbn= 9781565847644 | pages = 129 |  title = The Condor Years  |  publisher = The New Press  |  place = New York  | date = 2004}}</ref> that there was some degree of cooperation between the [[German Intelligence Service]], German [[arms dealer]] [[Gerhard Mertins]], and Colonia Dignidad, including creation of bunkers, tunnels, a hospital, and runways for the decentralized production of armaments in modules (parts produced in one place, other parts in another). This subject was proactively hidden, because of the problems experienced at the time associated with [[Argentina]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

=== Army Base ===
Because of Colonia Dignidad's close association with the Chilean military and strategic proximity to the [[Argentina–Chile border]], the Colonia served as a base for the Chilean military during the 1978 [[Beagle conflict]] between Chile and Argentina. The hospital at Colonia Dignidad also served as a laboratory for the manufacture of weaponized [[sarin]] as part of the Pinochet government's [[Project Andrea]].<ref>Colonia Dignidad: Eine deutsche Sekte in Chile (TV Mini Series). 2021</ref>

=== Democratic transition ===
Chile turned to democracy in 1990 after 17 years of dictatorship, but ''Colonia Dignidad'' remained unchanged. Allegations of abuses and humiliations that occurred inside the colony increased. National and international pressure intensified, but each time the police tried to conduct an investigation at the site they were greeted with a wall of silence. ''Colonia Dignidad'' authorities remained powerful and also had allies in the army and among the Chilean far right, who would warn them in advance when the police were preparing to visit the site.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Mostrador |first=El |date=2014-06-12 |title=Colonia Dignidad: los políticos de derecha y amigos del enclave que Paul Schäfer mandó a fichar |url=https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2014/06/12/colonia-dignidad-los-politicos-de-derecha-y-amigos-del-enclave-que-paul-schafer-mando-a-fichar/ |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=El Mostrador |language=es}}</ref>

Slowly, Chilean public awareness began to change, creating a growing feeling of resentment towards the place, which many began to perceive as an [[independent state]], or an [[enclave]] within Chile.<ref name=":6" />