Paul Schäfer

==Colonia Dignidad==
In January 1961 Schäfer surfaced in Chile, where the government at the time, led by conservative [[President of Chile|President]] [[Jorge Alessandri]], had granted him permission to create the "Dignidad Beneficent Society" on a farm outside of [[Parral, Chile|Parral]]. Schäfer  purchased a 4400 acre ranch which he and 10 of his followers began to prepare for his congregation. In 1963, 230 members of his congregation traveled to Chile in the first wave of immigrants. Another 15 families immigrated in two more waves in 1966 and 1973. Schäfer may have been influenced to move to South America by prophecies of William Branham who repeatedly predicted an imminent nuclear war that would devastate the western nations. Schäfer founded his new community on principles espoused by William Branham, including [[anti-communism]], and the society gradually evolved into the [[Colonia Dignidad]] cult community.<ref name = "sdu"/>

Schäfer kept children away from their parents in a children's house. He said, "the problems in child education aren't the children; they are always the parents because the parents are responsible for the sins of the children" (original recording).<ref name=ard>''Colonia Dignidad. Aus dem Innern einer deutschen Sekte.'' Documentary by Annette Baumeister und Wilfried Huismann. [https://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/sendung/colonia-dignidad-aus-dem-innern-einer-deutschen-sekte-folge-1-102.html Part 1: Aus dem Paradies in die Hölle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328111522/https://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/sendung/colonia-dignidad-aus-dem-innern-einer-deutschen-sekte-folge-1-102.html |date=28 March 2020 }}. ARD, 16 March 2020.</ref>{{rp|28:19}} With the sale of the German children's home, he bought a German stonecrusher, which he used in a quarry. The latter proved profitable in business with Chileans and after six years the first wheat could be harvested, barracks turned into houses and a hospital could be built. When Chilean children were treated and survived, their rescue brought fame to Schäfer in the region.<ref name=ard/>{{rp|35:52}}

After a nocturnal hunting accident with a gun, Schäfer was treated in a Santiago hospital for several months.{{when|date=August 2021}} Upon his return, he forbade all festivities, and separated boys from girls and men from women. In 1966, teenage fugitive Wolfgang Kneese hid in the German embassy in Chile and later talked to the press.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Evelyn |last=Finger |url=https://www.zeit.de/2016/10/colonia-dignidad-interview-wolfgang-kneese |title= Colonia Dignidad: Der Zeuge |work=Die Zeit |access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref> Schäfer induced another teen named [[Hartmut Hopp]] to smear Kneese, accusing him of sexual misconduct at a trial. Kneese managed to flee to Germany. As a reward, Schäfer allowed Hopp to study medicine, because he needed a physician in his hospital.<ref name=ard/>{{rp|1:02}}

After [[Salvador Allende]] came to power in 1970, Schäfer's community turned the compound into a fortress in fear of dispossession. Knowing that containers for his charitable organization were not checked by customs, Schäfer began smuggling weapons from Germany to the colony, including machine guns which were soon copied in his machine shops.<ref name=ard/>{{rp|1:22}} He invited political dissidents including [[Roberto Thieme]], the leader of the neo-Fascist group [[Patria y Libertad]], to the Colonia and offered it to them as a base to plan a coup against Allende.<ref name=ard/>{{rp|1:25}} During this time, Schäfer also started punishing children with electric shocks to their bodies, including to their genitalia, to keep them in line.<ref name=ard/>{{rp|1:30}}

After [[Augusto Pinochet]] came to power in 1973, Colonia Dignidad became one of the secret [[Detention (imprisonment)|detention]], torture and execution centers of the Chilean [[secret police]], the [[Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional]] (DINA), the National Intelligence Directorate during the [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90)]].<ref name="falc"/>

In 1974, Pinochet visited Schäfer at Colonia Dignidad. Schäfer received the right to dig for gold and uranium, and Pinochet  a Mercedes-Benz limousine. After the US weapon embargo against Chile, Schäfer dealt with [[Gerhard Mertins]], who supplied Pinochet with weapons including rockets, tanks and equipment to produce biological weapons.<ref name=ard2>''Colonia Dignidad. Aus dem Innern einer deutschen Sekte.'' Documentary by Annette Baumeister und Wilfried Huismann. Part 2: [https://programm.ard.de/TV/daserste/colonia-dignidad---teil-2/eid_281062801934856 Aus der Finsternis ans Licht]. ARD, 23 March 2020.</ref>
In 1976, the UN published a report about Pinochet and [[Amnesty International]] found evidence of torture at the colony, which was later verified by the Chilean [[Rettig Report|National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2013/10/tales-torture-2013103081121394171.html|title=Tales of torture A former member of Chile's national intelligence agency describes some of the methods used against political prisoners|date=15 December 2013|publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|AlJazeera]]|access-date=24 January 2014|archive-date=25 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225050627/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2013/10/tales-torture-2013103081121394171.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2013/11/colony-chile-dark-past-uncovered-2013114105429774517.html| title=The Colony: Chile's dark past uncovered| date=15 December 2013| publisher=AlJazeera| access-date=24 January 2014| archive-date=24 February 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224220644/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2013/11/colony-chile-dark-past-uncovered-2013114105429774517.html| url-status=dead}}</ref>
The German Embassy could no longer ignore the reports and sent a delegation to visit the colony, but said that the suspicions were without evidence. A delegation of the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria|CSU]] visited as well and was greeted with Bavarian folkdances.<ref name=ard2/>

In 1986, [[Norbert Blüm]] visited Chile to ask Pinochet to stop the torture. Schäfer did not allow Blüm to visit the colony, which Blüm later said was a "model farm of contempt for mankind".

In 1988, the German attorney general finally started proceedings against members of the colony.<ref name=ard2/>

In 1990, after Pinochet had stepped down, [[Patricio Aylwin]] cut off state funding for Schäfer's hospital, revoking its nonprofit and charitable status, then audited the colony's businesses.<ref name="falc"/> In 1991, Schäfer privatized his various enterprises. When German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Chile, he said that Chile needed to open the colony, but nothing further. Schäfer then mobilized the local residents to demonstrate against the closing of his hospital until the Chilean government reopened it. Chilean children were admitted to the colony, as the colony itself had no offspring. Schäfer started molesting Chilean boys; when they resisted, he used sedatives prescribed by the colony's physician Hartmut Hopp to rape them.<ref name=ard2/>