Nazism in Chile

Nazi assembly of men, women, and children (including Hitler Youth); [1] photograph from the National Archives of Chile
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Nazism in Chile formally occurred via the 1930s National Socialist Movement of Chile, with later movements following over subsequent decades.

National politics

The National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNSCH) was founded in 1932. After it was dissolved in 1938, some of its notable former members migrated into the Agrarian Labor Party, obtaining high charges.[2] Other former MNSCH members formed new parties of that kind until 1952.[2]

Between 1937 and 1944, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile. After the Navy discovered their presence via radio, in 1941 the Chilean General Directorate of Investigations established the International Confidential Section (or "Department 50"), which investigated local Nazi activities until 1947.[3][4] The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Intelligence Service assisted Chilean officials in their efforts.[5]

A new Nazi Party was formed in 1964 by school teacher Franz Pfeiffer;[2] it organized a "Miss Nazi" beauty contest and formed a Chilean branch of the Ku Klux Klan[2] before disbanding in 1970. Pfeiffer attempted to reboot the party in 1983 amid a wave of protests against the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.[2]

Nazism had also detractors in Chile. An example of this is the telegram sent by Salvador Allende and other members of the Congress of Chile to Adolf Hitler after the Kristallnacht (1938) in which they denounced the persecution of Jews.[6]

German Chilean community

Even before the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933 there was a German Chilean youth organization with strong Nazi influence. Nazi Germany pursued a policy of Nazification of the German Chilean community.[7] These communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world by Nazi Germany. It is widely known that, though there were discrepancies, most German Chileans were passive supporters of Nazi Germany. Nazism was widespread among the German Lutheran Church hierarchy in Chile. A local chapter of the Nazi Party was started in Chile.[7]

While Nazi Germany did pursue a policy of nazification of overseas German communities[8] the German community in Chile did not act as an extension of the German state to any significant degree.[9]

Racial ideologies

Nicolás Palacios considered the "Chilean race" to be a mix of two bellicose master races: the Visigoths of Spain and the Mapuche (Araucanians) of Chile.[10] Palacios traces the origins of the Spanish component of the "Chilean race" to the coast of the Baltic Sea, specifically to Götaland in Sweden,[10] one of the supposed homelands of the Goths. Palacios claimed that both the blonde-haired and the bronze-coloured Chilean Mestizo share a "moral physonomy" and a masculine psychology.[11] He opposed immigration from Southern Europe, and argued that Mestizos who are derived from Southern Europeans lack "cerebral control" and are a social load.[12]

Colonia Dignidad

This section is an excerpt from Colonia Dignidad.[edit]
Colonia Dignidad ("Dignity Colony") was an isolated colony established in post-World War II Chile by emigrant Germans which became notorious for the internment, torture, and murder of dissidents during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s while under the leadership of German emigrant preacher Paul Schäfer.[13] Colonia Dignidad has been described as a "state within a state".[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Hitler Youth Hiking". Facing History & Ourselves. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Etchepare, Jaime Antonio; Stewart, Hamish I. (1995), "Nazism in Chile: A Particular Type of Fascism in South America", Journal of Contemporary History, 30 (4): 577–605, doi:10.1177/002200949503000402, S2CID 154230676
  3. ^ "Transferencia de Archivos del Departamento 50 de la Dirección General de Investigaciones". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  4. ^ Documentos Dpto.50 (II parte) (in Spanish). Archivo Nacional de Chile. 11 January 2018. Event occurs at :30. Retrieved 8 April 2024 – via Youtube.
  5. ^ "Descifrando las redes de espionaje nazi: historia del Departamento 50 (1)". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Telegram protesting against the persecution of Jews in Germany" (PDF) (in Spanish). El Clarín de Chile's.
  7. ^ a b Nocera, Raffaele (2005), "Ruptura con el Eje y el alineamiento con Estados Unidos. Chile durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial", Historia (in Spanish), 38 (2): 397–444
  8. ^ Paula, Rogério Henrique Cardoso de (2017). "As comunidades alemãs frente ao nazismo no Brasil e noChile: uma História comparada" [The germans communities against nazism in the Chile and in the Brazil: comparative History]. Revista Trilhas da História (in Portuguese). 5 (10): 72–93. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  9. ^ Penny, H. Glenn (2017). "Material Connections: German Schools, Things, and Soft Power in Argentina and Chile from the 1880s through the Interwar Period". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 59 (3): 519–549. doi:10.1017/S0010417517000159. S2CID 149372568. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  10. ^ a b Palacios 1918, pp. 35–36
  11. ^ Palacios 1918, p. 37
  12. ^ Palacios 1918, p. 41
  13. ^ Brown, Stephen (7 May 2012). "Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past". Reuters.
  14. ^ Rotella, Sebatian (25 June 1997). "Siege may force colony to yield its secrets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  15. ^ Hevia Jordán, Evelyn (2022). "Colonia Dignidad: Lights and Shadows in the Recognition of the Victims". In Elizabeth Lira; Marcela Cornejo; Germán Morales (eds.). Human Rights Violations in Latin America. Peace Psychology Book Series. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 223–236. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97542-5_16. ISBN 9783030975418. Retrieved 24 July 2022.

Bibliography

  • Identidad, ideología y política en el Movimiento Nacional Socialista de Chile, 1932-1938*
  • El nacionalismo chileno entre el fascismo y el autoritarismo conservador
  • Documentos sobre actividades nazi en Chile (1937 y 1944)