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Deutsch-Chilenen · Germanochilenos | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| around 500,000 [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Valdivia,Valparaíso,Santiago,Temuco,Talca,Concepción,Viña del Mar,Osorno,Puerto Octay,Puerto Varas,Villarrica. | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish German Hunsrik Lagunen Deutsch | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic (majority) Lutheran (minority) Judaism Irreligion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Germans,German Americans,German-Argentinians,German-Brazilian,German Canadians,German Mexican,German-Paraguayan,German-Peruvians,German Uruguayans,German Venezuelans,German Australians,German New Zealanders |
German Chileans (Spanish:germanochilenos;German:Deutsch-Chilenen) are Chileans descended from German immigrants, about 30,000 of whom arrived in Chile between 1846 and 1914. Most of these were from traditionally CatholicBavaria,Baden and theRhineland, and also fromBohemia in the present-dayCzech Republic; even included wereAlsatians andPoles throughPartitions of Poland. A smaller number of Lutherans immigrated to Chile following the failedrevolutions of 1848.[2][3][4]
From the middle of the 19th century to the present, they have played a significant role in the economic, political and cultural development of theChilean nation. The 19th-century immigrants settled chiefly in Chile'sAraucanía,Los Ríos andLos Lagos regions in the so-calledZona Sur of Chile, including theChilean lake district.
The first German to feature in the history of what is now Chile isBartolomé Blumenthal (Spanishalias Bartolomé Flores) during the 16th century who accompaniedPedro de Valdivia. The latter conquistador ousted the indigenous population and founded the city ofSantiago. Valdivia also arrested and took hostage theCacique (tribal leaders and chiefs) to weaken the society of the localMapuche people. Blumenthal took part in the defence of the Spanish settlement of Santiago when theMapuche launched a counter-offensive on 11 September 1541 in attempt to free their caciques held hostage by theconquistadores.[citation needed]
Later Blumenthal took part in the consolidation of the Spanish settlement that would become theTalagante Province; he was the first engineer in the remote colony. Blumenthal's son-in-law,Pedro de Lisperguer (born Peter Lisperger in Worms, Germany), was appointed as mayor of Santiago in 1572.[citation needed]
Johann von Bohon (known in Spanish as Juan Bohón) was also part of Valdivia's expedition and was ordered to establish the city ofLa Serena in 1544.[citation needed]
In 1818 Chile became independent from Spain and began to engage in trading with more nations. The port city ofValparaíso became a major center for trade withHamburg, with commercial travellers and merchants from Germany staying for lengthy periods of time to work inValparaíso. Some settled there permanently.[citation needed]
On 9 May 1838Club Alemán de Valparaíso, the first German cultural organization was established in the city. German residents and visitors held cultural functions here. The club began to organizeliterary, musical and theatre productions, contributing to the cultural life of the city. Aquinas Ried, a physician, became widely known in the city for composing operas, and for writing poetry and plays. The club had its own orchestras and academic choir (singakademie) which would perform works composed by local musicians.[5] DuringWorld War I, the German Club of Valparaiso welcomed AdmiralMaximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron of theImperial German Navy after they fought theBattle of Coronel off the Chilean coast.[6]
The Chilean government encouraged German immigration in 1848, a time ofrevolution in Germany. Before thatBernhard Eunom Philippi recruited nine working families to emigrate fromHesse to Chile.
The origin of the German immigrants in Chile began with the Law of Selective Immigration of 1845. The objective of this law was to bring people of a medium social/high cultural level to colonize the southern regions of Chile; these were betweenValdivia andPuerto Montt. The process was administered byVicente Pérez Rosales by mandate of the then-presidentManuel Montt. The German immigrants revived the domestic economy, and they changed the southern zones. The leader of the first colonists,Karl Anwandter, proclaimed their goals:
We shall be honest and laborious Chileans as the best of them, we shall defend our adopted country joining in the ranks of our new countrymen, against any foreign oppression and with the decision and firmness of the man that defends his country, his family and his interests. Never will have the country that adopts us as its children, reason to repent of such illustrated, human and generous proceeding,...
The expansion and economic development ofValdivia were limited in the early 19th century. To stimulate economic development, the Chilean government initiated a highly focused immigration program underVicente Pérez Rosales as government representative.[citation needed] Through this program, thousands ofGermans settled in the area, incorporating then-modern technology and know-how to develop agriculture and industry. Some of the new immigrants stayed in Valdivia but others were given forested land, which they cleared for farms.[7]
Valdivia, situated at some distance from the coast, on the Calle-calle river, is a German town. Everywhere you meet German faces, German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish. There is a large German school, a church and variousVereine, large shoe-factories, and, of course, breweries...
For ten years after theRevolutions of 1848 in the German states, numerous liberal immigrants came from Germany, exiles of the revolutions. They settled primarily in theLlanquihue in the towns ofFrutillar,Puerto Octay,Puerto Varas,Osorno andPuerto Montt.Around 1900,Valdivia prospered with industries, including the HoffmannGristmill and the Rudloff shoe factory.
By the mid-1930s, most of the farming land around the towns ofValdivia andOsorno had been claimed. Some German immigrants moved further south to places such asPuyuhuapi in theAysén region (settled bySudeten Germans from present-dayCzech Republic);[8] Sudeten German settlers fromBroumov (called Braunau in German and located in present-day Czech Republic) also stayed and lived inPuerto Varas, wherein the village was calledNueva Braunau.[9]
Subsequently, a new wave of German immigrants arrived in Chile, with many settling inTemuco, andSantiago. Many founded businesses; for example,Horst Paulmann's small store in the capital of theAraucanía Region grew into Cencosud, one of the largest businesses in the region.
Even before theNazi takeover of Germany in 1933, a German Chilean youth organization was established with strong Nazi influence. Nazi Germany pursued a policy ofNazification of the German Chilean community.[10] These communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world by Nazi Germany. Many German Chileans were passive supporters of Nazi Germany. Nazism was supported by some in the German Lutheran Church hierarchy in Chile. A local chapter of theNazi Party was started in Chile.[10]
During World War II, manyGerman Jews fled to Chile before and during theHolocaust. For example, the families ofMario Kreutzberger andTomás Hirsch came to Chile during this time.
Shortly afterWorld War II, former members ofNazi Germany tried to take refuge in South America, including Chile, fleeing trials against them in Europe and elsewhere. Among these wasSSStandartenführer and war criminalWalter Rauff.Paul Schäfer, a former armymedic, foundedColonia Dignidad, a Germanenclave in theMaule Region, in which abuses against human rights were allegedly carried out. The precise number of Nazi refugees hidden in Chile after WWII remains unknown.
The criterion for belonging to the German-Chilean or Chilean-German group is not one of nationality, but purely linguistic and cultural. German ancestors came from various regions of the German-speaking area of Central Europe. Therefore, the descendants ofAustrians andGerman-Swiss people (readSwiss Chilean) and German Italians (Italian citizens of German descent and speak German language), among others, are also counted among this minority.[11]
The terms "Chilean Germans" and "German Chileans" generally refer to different groups that differ from one another in terms of their degree of integration. The term "Chilean Germans" is mostly used for Germans living abroad who themselves emigrated to Chile and usually still retain their former nationality. "German Chileans," on the other hand, are Chileans of German origin who hold Chilean citizenship —sometimes in addition to German or Austrian—and whose ancestors have lived in Chile for several generations; many of them have learned German only as a foreign language, whether second or third language.[12]
The exact number of Chileans of German descent is unknown but one source puts the number at about 500,000, living mostly in the central and southern portions of the country.[13] According to the last census, there were 8,000 German citizens living in Chile.[citation needed]
An estimated 20,000 Chileans speak the German language.[14] There are also German schools[15] and German-language newspapers and periodicals in Chile (e.g.,Cóndor – a weekly German-language newspaper).
German schools:[16]
Historic German schools:[17]
Many Germans who migrated to Chile practice Roman Catholicism, but alsoLutheranism andJudaism. It is claimed many Roman Catholics now attend Lutheran churches; however, they would no longer be Roman Catholics, so this claim is false.
Spanish:Hoy, el perfil de los alemanes residentes aquí es distinto y ya no tienen el peso numérico que alguna vez alcanzaron. En los años 40 y 50 eran en Chile el segundo mayor grupo de extranjeros, representando el 25% (213.000 alemanes). Según el último censo de 2002, en cambio, están en el octavo lugar: son sólo 5.500 personas, lo que equivale al 5% de los foráneos. Sin embargo, la colonia formada por familias de origen alemán es activa y numerosa. Según explica Karla Berndt, gerente de comunicaciones de la Cámara Chileno-Alemana de Comercio (Camchal), los descendientes suman 500.000. Concentrados en el sur y centro del país, donde encuentran un clima más afín, su red de instituciones es amplia. 'Hay clínicas, clubes, una Liga Chileno-Alemana, compañías de bomberos y un periódico semanal en alemán llamado Cóndor. Chile es el lugar en el que se concentra el mayor número de colegios alemanes, 24, lo que es mucho para un país tan chico de sólo 16 millones de habitantes', relata Berndt.
English:Today, the profile of the Germans living here is different and no longer have the numerical weight they once reached. In the 1940s and 1950s they were in Chile's second largest foreign group, accounting for 13% (13,000 Germans). According to the last census in 2002, however, they are in eighth place: they are only 5,500 people, equivalent to 3% of foreigners. However, the colony of families of German origin is active and numerous. According to Karla Berndt, communications manager for the German-Chilean Chamber of Commerce (Camchal), descendants totaled 1,000,000. Concentrated in the south and center of the country, where they find a more congenial climate, its network of institutions is wide. 'There are clinics, clubs, a Chilean-German League, fire companies and a German weekly newspaper called Condor. Chile is the place in which the largest number of German schools, 24 which is a lot for such a small country of only 16 million people', says Berndt.
