Editing Colonia Dignidad (section)

==History and Operations==
Founding (1961): Paul Schäfer, born in 1921 in Germany, joined the Hitler Youth and served as a medic in the Wehrmacht during World War II. After the war, he founded a religious organization and religious orphanage in Germany but fled in 1959 to avoid child molestation charges. In 1961, using funds from his German congregation which he relocated to Chile, Schäfer purchased a 4,400-acre ranch 350 miles south of Santiago, Chile, establishing Colonia Dignidad with about 10 German settlers. Post WW2 the colony grew to 300 residents, mostly German immigrants, and operated as a self-sufficient “state within a state” with a school, hospital, two airstrips, a restaurant, and a power station. Schäfer, a charismatic and tyrannical leader, enforced strict control, following the teachings of American preacher William Branham.

Internal Abuses: The colony functioned as a cult, with Schäfer imposing brutal discipline, including beatings, psychopharmaceutical abuse, and systematic child sexual abuse. Residents, including German and Chilean children, were subjected to slave labor and psychological manipulation. Former member Wolfgang Müller reported harsh beatings and molestation by Schäfer. Escapes were rare, and dissenters faced severe punishment, often in sound-proofed underground bunkers discovered later that were used as torture chambers.

Pinochet Era (1973–1990): After Pinochet’s U.S.-backed coup against President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973, Colonia Dignidad became a key site for DINA’s repression. It served as a detention, torture, and extermination center for political prisoners, with estimates of hundreds “disappeared.” The colony’s isolation, barbed wire, and electrified fences made it an ideal clandestine facility. Schäfer’s alliance with Pinochet granted the colony autonomy and privileges, such as mining licenses, in exchange for its services.

Post-Dictatorship and Decline: With Chile’s return to democracy in 1990, investigations intensified. Schäfer fled in 1997 after new child abuse charges, was arrested in Argentina in 2005, and died in a Chilean prison in 2010 at age 88, serving a 20-year sentence. In 2004, Schäfer and 26 cult members were convicted of child abuse. The colony, renamed Villa Baviera, continues as a tourist destination and German-Chilean community, but its dark history remains under scrutiny. In 2017, Chile and Germany agreed to create a joint commission to document the crimes, and in 2024, President Gabriel Boric announced plans to expropriate six sites (e.g., Schäfer’s house, the hospital) for a memorial, set to be completed by 2026.