Colonia Dignidad

=== 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" />