Ludwig Bernhard Förster (31 March 1843 – 3 June 1889) was a German teacher. He was married to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the sister of the philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...

Life

Förster became a leading figure in the

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

faction on the

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

of German politics and wrote on the

Jewish question The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "national ...

, characterizing Jews as constituting a "parasite on the German body". In order to support his beliefs he set up the ''Deutscher Volksverein'' (German People's League) in 1881 with Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg. In 1883, Förster left Germany in order to emigrate to

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. His

belief system had resulted in social ostracization and the loss of his teaching job. After searching the country for many months, Förster found a suitable site to establish a settlement. It was 600 square kilometres and almost 300 kilometres north of

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

. The settlement was to become known as " Nueva Germania". Förster returned to Germany in March 1885 and married Elisabeth Nietzsche on 22 May. The couple assembled a group of 'pioneers' who shared their anti-Semitic views and wished to live in a new ' Fatherland' where an Aryan could prosper. They travelled to Paraguay from Hamburg in February 1886. The initiative was a failure for many reasons, not least the harsh environment. Förster, with unserviceable debts, drank heavily and became depressed. He eventually committed suicide by poisoning himself with a combination of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

and

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the ey ...

in his room at the Hotel del Lago in

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...

, Paraguay on 3 June 1889. He was buried in San Bernardino. Kracht, C., & Woodard, D.
''Five Years''
(

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011). After his death, his widow Elisabeth wrote a book entitled ''Bernhard Förster's Colony New Germany in Paraguay''. Intended to salvage Förster's reputation by portraying him as a hero, the book first appeared in print in 1891.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Bernhard 1843 births 1880s suicides 1889 deaths Antisemitism in Germany Far-right politics in Germany German emigrants to Paraguay German nationalists German schoolteachers People from Delitzsch People from the Province of Saxony Suicides by poison