<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/08/chile-torture-paul-schafer-villa-baviera>
"With its Germanic crosses and colourful toy-town facades, the village square
of the tiny Chilean settlement of Villa Baviera gives little indication of the
horrors of its past.
Until 1991, this cattle town of a few hundred people was a compound known as
Colonia Dignidad. Its leader, Paul Schäfer, a former Nazi and weapons smuggler,
bought a swathe of land in the valley in 1961, eventually holding as many as
300 people in a fenced enclave with minimal contact with the outside world. He
sexually abused and even tortured the children in the camp.
During the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet, Colonia Dignidad was used as a
clandestine torture centre where at least 100 people are thought to have been
murdered by state security forces.
Schäfer was eventually sentenced after a conviction on child abuse charges to
20 years in prison, where he died in 2010.
Attempts to excavate and investigate the commune proceeded fitfully but
relatives of the disappeared took heart last year when then president Gabriel
Boric signed a decree to expropriate 117 hectares (289 acres) and create a
memorial to the victims.
Now the government of Chile’s new far-right president, José Antonio Kast, has
announced plans to “reverse” the expropriation, which included residential
areas of Villa Baviera and Schäfer’s former home, where key documentation
linking the site to its role as a detention centre was found.
“Colonia Dignidad must be treated as what it is: a site where crimes against
humanity were committed,” said Margarita Romero, the president of the
Asociación por la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos Colonia Dignidad, whose sister
was detained at the site under the Pinochet dictatorship.
“It is not just about preserving a place, but about ensuring the material
conditions for the search for truth and the advancement of justice.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
