Hempel had previously lived in the hermetically sealed settlement around 350 kilometers south of the capital Santiago de Chile.

The officials maintain a good relationship with the colonists and help the settlement management to recapture «runaways» – and to keep unwanted visitors away. The former classified information of the Foreign Office (AA) also contains a psychological assessment of the pedophile sect leader Paul Schäfer. It was drawn up by the AA commission that traveled to Chile at the end of 1987: The outlook that has now been published and recorded is frightening: «Although [Schäfer’s] fear signals to him that he has already gambled away, he does not accept his defeat. His madness leads him to the cusp of a war that he says will be waged in order to win or to perish.

But that means that the alternative is already clear to him. The only question is how many people he wants to take with him into a downfall and who will allow that. «Schäfer only left Colonia Dignidad permanently in 1997, first checked into a hotel in Bariloche, Argentina, under his own name, but was able to escape and go into hiding. He was arrested in Argentina and extradited to Chile in 2005. He died in a Santiago prison in 2010.

For Schäfer and his leaders, such as «sect doctor» Hartmut Hopp, the German passports are extremely important. Should the political tide turn in Chile, they could easily leave for Germany – because German authorities are not allowed to extradite their own citizens to other countries. For Hopp, the cultivated contacts are paying off to the present day. The 71 year old, who acted as «Foreign Minister» for the CD, now lives in Krefeld.

In Chile, Hopp was sentenced to five years imprisonment in absentia for aiding and abetting child abuse. Enforcement has been requested in Germany. The examination is finished, at the moment the result is «poured in word form», says the Krefeld public prosecutor’s office at the request of n-tv.de. A first judgment could be given by the end of the year. The documents that have now been released show that there was at least one leak at the German diplomats in 1986.

The Colonia Dignidad leadership quoted in a complaint about Haller from an embassy report to the Foreign Office in Bonn. The CD wants to justify that Haller is «tendentiously directed against our society». Schäfer wants to get rid of the penetrating consul. «We cannot rule out that other pieces of writing are also in the hands of the CD,» the message has to admit: «How the CD came about is initially inexplicable.» There has to be a mole. The upheaval is also reaching Germany.

In the Foreign Office there is interest in increasing not only diplomatic but also public pressure on Colonia Dignidad. Suddenly, secret documents are leaked to journalists. The dual strategy is successful.custom biology essay services Two years after reports by the couple Baar and Packmor, an open consular consultation finally took place in the isolated facility in November 1987. What the diplomatic delegation of the Federal Republic experienced there deeply disturbs them, reports the «Spiegel»: The German colonists seemed perfectly conditioned . «This expressionlessness of the faces, this complete depersonalization, it was like in a concentration camp,» one of the German officials is quoted as saying.

An incident that makes the rethinking of German diplomats particularly clear is the following scene described: Everything will be decided democratically, sect leader Schäfer lies in the face of Ambassador Kullak-Ublick, who is also present. The diplomat reacts indignantly: «There is only one will here, and that is yours.» And: «You will experience something that you have never experienced before. You are up to your neck.» Schäfer replies: «I know that.

I fight for all or nothing. «Kullak-Ublick judges that the colony is» a mixture of Metropolis and Theresienstadt, «which has» made him sleepless. «But according to the Foreign Office, the problem is that still no one Can prove violations of the law and human rights. So the ministry sends an independent commission of inquiry to Chile to take a look around. The report, which has been kept under lock and key, reads like a thriller: The CD also rejects the negative «Spiegel» article about the consular consultation day The ambassador announced that he would only arrive by plane with a clergyman and a Chilean police general, and the CD guide announced that the runway had been flooded.

The visitors take the helicopter – and find a dry runway that is blocked with cars. The helipad was «made unusable in a life-threatening manner». The delegation managed to land anyway, but Hopp personally denied them access to buildings or even a tour. The «Foreign Minister» made his influence in the highest circles of the dictatorship clear: «Hopp threatened the general that he would be ‘deposed’ for trespassing,» reports Kullak-Ublick to Bonn. The three of them have to leave again. Sect leader Paul Schäfer after his arrest in 2005 On the basis of previous testimony and conversations in Santiago, the commission nevertheless drafts a status report – this, too, was previously secret. It says that the younger residents in particular have developed into «communication and behavioral robots».

A «systematic dehumanization» is taking place, personal identity has been lost and exchanged for a colony identity. Part of it is the work as a church service. The German group of experts fears a collective suicide, triggered by sect leader Schäfer, if he should stand «passed out against the wall». The sadist is still protected by his «excellent contacts» with the Chilean military and «relationships with personalities in national and international politics,» the paper says. «A prerequisite for progress is a trusting and, if possible, undisturbed atmosphere of cooperation with the Chilean government.» But they are the ones who protect their torture and weapons depots. In the Chilean press, which is close to Pinochet, the rumors about the somewhat strange but hardworking Germans are dismissed as «legend». In Germany, things look different: In February 1988 the Bundestag Human Rights Committee meets to determine whether German citizens are actually against their will in the Colonia Dignidad to be held. According to the protocol, this is a highly emotional encounter.

Genscher’s ambassadors Strätling and Holzheimer have been summoned but do not appear. For this purpose, Hopp traveled from Chile to defend the CD in the Bundestag. Also present are people who fled the settlement, such as Hugo Baar and Wolfgang Kneese, who at times can hardly contain themselves because of their anger. When Hopp claims that reports about 16-hour work every day are not true because nobody has to work, Kneese bursts the collar: «I’m glad that I don’t have a glass in my hand, that I can throw Hopp on the head!» He has to be warned several times because he interrupts Hopp’s extravagant remarks («Everyone has voluntarily decided to become a member»). At the same time, Schäfer, who officially has no function on the CD, has the German embassy covered with administrative complaints.

The Foreign Office rejects them all. When a bomb attack was carried out on a residential building managed by the CD in Santiago de Chile, the leadership complained that Consul Haller was jointly responsible for creating negative public opinion against the settlers. The sound becomes sharper. «Your untenable assertion that Mr. Haller was guilty of a campaign that culminated in a bomb attack is probably only your conclusion,» the Foreign Office wrote to the sect. In the same year Haller returned to Germany. The importance of the Colonia Dignidad for the military regime became clear again in March 1989: The Chilean judiciary stopped investigating the statements made by the escaped couples Baar and Packmor. The German diplomats were also leaked that their telephone lines were bugged by the Chilean secret service. A computer-controlled system monitors all phone calls and reacts to key words, they report in a dispatch that has now been released.

For example, if someone says «Colonia Dignidad», start a recording. The diplomats now only want to communicate with code words and request a «chopper», a device that is supposed to make conversations incomprehensible. A year later, Pinochet is deposed as president in Chile and a left-center coalition takes over power. The military dictatorship is officially over. When the German diplomats want to discuss with Interior Minister Enrique Krauss how legal action can now be taken against Colonia Dignidad, they are slowed down.

There is the «overwhelming appearance of serious offenses», says the minister – but no evidence that can stand up in court. Instead of extensive criminal prosecution, the colony is deprived of its charitable status. Formally it has now been dissolved, but the settlement still exists.

It is now called «Villa Baviera» – a Bavarian village. What omissions were there on the part of German diplomats, why did it take so long for the silence to end? Those who made decisions or were involved in them could contribute to the detailed clarification. But ex-ambassadors Erich Strätling and Hermann Holzheimer are dead, Horst Kullack-Ublick died like their boss Hans-Dietrich Genscher in March. Immediately afterwards, Foreign Minister Steinmeier opened the files. Source: ntv.de «Gauck visiting the Museum of Remembrance and Human Rights in Santiago.

Many victims of the Pinochet dictatorship were tortured and killed in the Colonia Dignidad. (Photo: dpa) The crimes of the «Colonia Dignidad» were the focus of President Gauck’s visit to Chile. Now it turns out: At the reception of the German Embassy there was a guest who stunned victims’ associations. A convicted accomplice of the former sect settlement Colonia Dignidad attended the reception of the German Embassy for Federal President Joachim Gauck in Chile. Several participants, including the film director Florian Gallenberger, confirmed that Reinhard Zeitner, who was sentenced to three years in prison in a child abuse trial, was present at the reception during the state visit. The sentence for Zeitner, who is said to have worked as a security guard in the settlement, was suspended on probation.

The probation period was set for four years, as confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2013. In the same trial, Hartmut Hopp, a former doctor at Colonia Dignidad, was sentenced to five years. He evaded a prison sentence initially by fleeing to Germany, but is now supposed to serve it in a German prison. Victims of the Colonia Dignidad reacted with sharp criticism to Zeitner’s presence at the reception. «I have no words for that,» said attorney Winfried Hempel. Hempel himself had previously lived in the hermetically sealed settlement around 350 kilometers south of the capital Santiago de Chile.

The Colonia Dignidad was a fortified camp with sect-like structures under its founder Paul Schäfer. In 1991 it was renamed «Villa Baviera» (Bavarian village). Schäfer emigrated to South America from Siegburg near Bonn in 1961 with followers of his sect «Private Sociale Mission». At that time Zeitner was walking around the premises with a pistol, «and was part of Paul Schäfer’s security group,» said lawyer Hempel. The Federal President’s Office regretted the invitation. «We attached great importance to a careful selection of the guests – especially with regard to the history of Colonia Dignidad,» said a spokeswoman for the Federal President. “With regard to the victims, we very much regret that this standard was not met.” During the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973 to 1990), the colony became a torture center for the secret police.

Schäfer died in a prison in Chile in 2010, and director Gallenberger said he had an argument with Zeitner about his presence. Gallenberger accompanies Gauck on his journey. His film «Colonia Dignidad» with Daniel Brühl and Emma Watson in the leading roles was shown in the presence of Gauck’s partner Daniela Schadt in Santiago. Hempel also emphasized in a message that it was disappointing that Gauck had not spoken to a single victim during his visit . «The Federal Republic of Germany is jointly responsible because it knew what was going on in Colonia Dignidad and still did nothing to stop the crimes,» criticized Hempel.

The Federal Foreign Office prematurely released its files on Colonia Dignidad at the end of April. Gauck has since traveled on to Uruguay, the second stop on his trip to South America, where in Chile he had rejected Germany’s legal responsibility for the crimes of Colonia Dignidad. Gauck said on Wednesday in Santiago de Chile that this was different from countries in which the German state was responsible for injustice, terror and murder. “That’s a different story.” Source: ntv.de, bdk / dpa “Founded by the German Paul Schäfer, the Colonia Dignidad became a place of abuse and torture. Chilean sect settlement «Colony Dignity» normality.

Collection of articles on the subject of «Colonia Dignidad» in the overview.picture alliance / dpa On his Latin America trip, Steinmeier catches up with history. During the military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile, German diplomats did not behave as they should. You want to learn from mistakes. Some had hoped for more.

Paul Schäfer fled Germany because he was charged with rape of minors. In Chile he founded the sect settlement Colonia Dignidad, where he played God for decades. Schäfer was convicted ten years ago.

By Roland Peters For decades the German sect Colonia Dignidad has been up to mischief in Chile. Despite the reports of forced labor, violence and abuse, Germany does nothing for a long time. Surviving victims demand recognition and money. Torture, labor camps, child abuse – the Colonia Dignidad is a horrific chapter of German-Chilean history.

The sect settlement is protected by the military dictatorship. So far secret papers show the fight of German diplomats against the pedophile despot Paul Schäfer. By Roland Peters In the German-Chilean cult settlement «Colonia Dignidad» children were abused and people tortured. «At best looked the other way,» with human rights «lost orientation», «too little done» – Foreign Minister Steinmeier finds clear words.