German Chileans ( es, 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
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
,
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
and the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
, and also from
Bohemia in present-day
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, which were traditionally Catholic. A smaller number of Lutherans immigrated to Chile following the failed
revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
.
[Los colonos](_blank)
/ref>
From the middle of the 19th century to the present, they have played a significant role in the economic, political and cultural development of the Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an nation. The 19th-century immigrants settled chiefly in Chile's Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions in the so-called ''Zona Sur
Zona Sur (''Southern Zone'') is one of the five natural regions on which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the Bío-Bío River, which separates it from the Central Chile Zone. The Southern Zone borders t ...
'' of Chile, including the Chilean lake district
The Chilean Lake District is a zone in Southern Chile defined by its many lakes in the Andean foothills. The term is primarily used in tourism literature and advertising, in Chile Zona Sur is preferred as a geographical concept. The Chilean Lake ...
.
History
Germans in the Spanish colony
The first German to feature in the history of what is now Chile is Bartolomé Blumenthal (Spanish ''alias'' Bartolomé Flores) during the 16th century who accompanied Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, wh ...
. The latter conquistador ousted the indigenous population and founded the city of Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
. Valdivia also arrested and took hostage the Cacique (tribal leaders and chiefs) to weaken the society of the local Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
people. Blumenthal took part in the defence of the Spanish settlement of Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
when the Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
launched a counter-offensive on 11 September 1541 in attempt to free their caciques held hostage by the conquistadores
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...
.
Later Blumenthal took part in the consolidation of the Spanish settlement that would become the Talagante Province
Talagante Province ( es, Provincia de Talagante, ) is one of six provinces of the Santiago Metropolitan Region in central Chile. The capital is the city of Talagante, located approximately southwest of the national capital of Santiago. The most ...
; 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.
Johann von Bohon (known in Spanish as Juan Bohón) was also part of Valdivia's expedition and was ordered to establish the city of La Serena in 1544.
19th century
Hamburg and Valparaíso
In 1818 Chile became independent from Spain and began to engage in trading with more nations. The port city of Valparaíso
Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
became a major center for trade with Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, with commercial travellers and merchants from Germany staying for lengthy periods of time to work in Valparaíso
Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
. Some settled there permanently.
On 9 May 1838 ''Club 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 organize literary
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, 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. During World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the German Club of Valparaiso welcomed Admiral Maximilian von Spee
Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee (22 June 1861 – 8 December 1914) was a naval officer of the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy), who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in ...
's East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...
after they fought the Battle of Coronel
The Battle of Coronel was a First World War Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (''Ostasiengeschwader'' or ''Kreuzergeschwader'') ...
off the Chilean coast.
Colonization of Southern Chile
The Chilean government encouraged German immigration in 1848, a time of revolution in Germany. Before that Bernhard Eunom Philippi
Bernhard Eunom Philippi (September 19, 1811, in Charlottenburg – September 6, 1852) was a German naturalist, explorer and colonization agent for Chile. He played an important role in the Chilean colonization of the Strait of Magellan and th ...
recruited nine working families to emigrate from Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
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 between Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
and Puerto Montt. The process was administered by Vicente Pérez Rosales
Vicente Pérez Rosales (; 5 April 1807 – 6 September 1886) was a politician, traveller, merchant, miner and Chilean diplomat that organised the colonisation by Germans and Chileans of the Llanquihue area. Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park ...
by mandate of the then-president Manuel Montt
Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar. He was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861.
Biography
Montt was born in Petorca, Valparaíso R ...
. The German immigrants revived the domestic economy, and they changed the southern zones. The leader of the first colonists, Karl Anwandter, proclaimed their goals:
The expansion and economic development of Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
were limited in the early 19th century. To stimulate economic development, the Chilean government initiated a highly focused immigration program under Vicente Pérez Rosales
Vicente Pérez Rosales (; 5 April 1807 – 6 September 1886) was a politician, traveller, merchant, miner and Chilean diplomat that organised the colonisation by Germans and Chileans of the Llanquihue area. Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park ...
as government representative. Through this program, thousands of Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
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.
For ten years after the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
, numerous liberal immigrants came from Germany, exiles of the revolutions. They settled primarily in the Llanquihue in the towns of Frutillar, Puerto Octay
Puerto Octay is a town and commune in Osorno Province located on the north shore of Llanquihue Lake in Los Lagos Region in the south of Chile. It was settled by German colonists in 1852. Puerto Octay was an important port with regular traffic ...
, Puerto Varas
Puerto Varas, also known as "La ciudad de las rosas" or “the city of roses”, is a city and commune located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region.
The city is famous for its German traditions, its natural env ...
, Osorno and Puerto Montt.
Around 1900 Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
prospered with industries, including the Hoffmann Gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
and the Rudloff shoe factory.
20th century
By the mid-1930s, most of the farming land around the towns of Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
and Osorno had been claimed. Some German immigrants moved further south to places such as Puyuhuapi
Puyuhuapi (Puyuguapi) is a village in southern Chile in the Aysén Region. It is located on Route 7, the Carretera Austral, where the Rio Pascal enters the head of the Puyuhuapi fjord, a small fjord off the Ventisquero Sound. Its harbor on the f ...
in the Aysén region (settled by Sudeten Germans from present-day Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
); Sudeten German settlers from Broumov (called Braunau in German and located in present-day Czech Republic) also stayed and lived in Puerto Varas
Puerto Varas, also known as "La ciudad de las rosas" or “the city of roses”, is a city and commune located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region.
The city is famous for its German traditions, its natural env ...
, wherein the village was called Nueva Braunau.
Subsequently, a new wave of German immigrants arrived in Chile, with many settling in Temuco
Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The city ...
, and Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
. Many founded businesses; for example, Horst Paulmann
Horst Paulmann Kemna (born 22 March 1935) is a German-Chilean billionaire entrepreneur. He is founder and chairman of Cencosud, the largest retail chain in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. According to ''Forbes'', as of July 2022 ...
's small store in the capital of the Araucanía Region
The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( es, Región de La Araucanía ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Te ...
grew into Cencosud, one of the largest businesses in the region.
Even before the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933, a German Chilean youth organization was established with strong Nazi influence. Nazi Germany pursued a policy of Nazification
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
of the German Chilean community. These communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world by Nazi Germany. 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
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
was started in Chile.[
During World War II, many ]German Jews
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
fled to Chile before and during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
. For example, the families of Mario Kreutzberger and Tomás Hirsch
Tomás René Hirsch Goldschmidt (born 19 July 1956) is a leftist Chilean politician and businessman. He was the Together We Can Do More pact candidate for the 2005 Chilean presidential election, winning 5.4% of the vote.
Biography
Hirsch wa ...
came to Chile during this time.
Shortly after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, former members of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
tried to take refuge in South America, including Chile, fleeing trials against them in Europe and elsewhere. Among these was SS Standartenführer and war criminal Walter Rauff
Walter (Walther) Rauff (19 June 1906 – 14 May 1984) was a mid-ranking SS commander in Nazi Germany. From January 1938, he was an aide of Reinhard Heydrich firstly in the Security Service (''Sicherheitsdienst'' or ''SD''), later in the Reich Sec ...
. Paul Schäfer
Paul Schäfer Schneider (4 December 1921 – 24 April 2010) was a Nazi, child rapist, German-Chilean Christian minister and the founder and leader of a sect and agricultural commune of 300 German immigrants called Colonia Dignidad (''Dignity ...
, a former army medic
A medic is a person involved in medicine such as a medical doctor, medical student, paramedic or an emergency medical responder.
Among physicians in the UK, the term "medic" indicates someone who has followed a "medical" career path in postgra ...
, founded Colonia Dignidad
Colonia Dignidad ("Dignity Colony") was an isolated colony of Germans 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 ...
, a German enclave in the Maule Region, in which abuses against human rights were allegedly carried out. The precise number of Nazi refugees hidden in Chile after WWII remains unknown.
German Chileans today
The exact number of Chileans of German descent is unknown but one source puts the number at about 1,000,000, living mostly in the central and southern portions of the country.
en, 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 500,000. 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. According to the last census, there were 8,000 German citizens living in Chile.
An estimated 20,000 Chileans speak the German language. There are also German schools and German-language newspapers and periodicals in Chile (e.g., Cóndor – a weekly German-language newspaper).
Education
German schools:
* Deutsche Schule Sankt Thomas Morus Santiago
* Deutsche Schule Santiago
''Deutsche Schule Santiago'' (DS; es, Colegio Alemán de Santiago) is a German international school in Santiago. Years 7 through 12 and the school administration are at the Las Condes campus. Years one through six are at the Vitacura Campus. P ...
* Deutsche Schule Concepción
* Deutsche Schule Valdivia
* Deutsche Schule Valparaiso
Historic German schools:[Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672]
Archive
. Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
(West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 20-24/51.
* Deutsche Schule Chillán
* Deutsche Schule Frutillar
* Deutsche Schule La Serena
* Deutsche Schule La Unión
* Deutsche Schule Los Ángeles
* Deutsche Schule Osorno
* Deutsche Schule Puerto Montt
* Deutsche Schule Puerto Varas
* Deutsche Schule Punta Arenas
* Deutsche Schule San Felipe
* Deutsche Schule Temuco
* Deutsche Schule Villarrica
* Deutsche Schule Los Leones und Wilh.-v.-Humboldt-Seminar für Lehrer und Kindergärtnerinnen
* Colegio Chileno-Aleman de Macul
* Liceo Aleman (Santiago)
* Colegio Santa Ursula (Santiago)
* Instituto Santa Maria (Santiago)
* Colegio Mariano (Santiago)
* Deutsche Marienschule Santiago- La Florida
* Deutsche Schule Santiago- Nuñoa
* Deutsche Schule Ancud
Ancud () is a city in southern Chile located in the northernmost part of the island and province of Chiloé, in Los Lagos Region. It is the second largest city of Chiloé Archipelago after Castro. The city was established in 1768 to function as ...
- Chiloe
* Instituto Aleman Frutillar
* Deutsche Schule Gorbea
Gorbea () or Gorbeia () is a mountain and massif in the Basque Country, Spain. It is the highest summit in Biscay and Álava, with a height of above sea level. The massif covers a wide area between the two provinces. The main summit is a round ...
* Deutsche Schule Llanquihue
* Escuela Aleman Huefel-Comuy ( Paja-Maisan)
* Deutsche Schule Paillaco
Paillaco is a city and commune in southern Chile. It is located in Valdivia Province of Los Ríos Region, and is about 48 km southeast of Valdivia, Chile , Valdivia.
Demographics
According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute ...
* Deutsche Schule Pucon
* Colegio Aleman Purranque
Purranque is a city in the Chilean Los Lagos Region, which lies on the Pan-American Highway about north of Puerto Montt. It is part of the Osorno Province.
History
The first ethnically identifiable inhabitants of the area were Huilliches, an ind ...
* Colegio Aleman Quilpe
* Colegio Aleman Tomé
Tomé () is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is bordered by Coelemu to the north, Ránquil and Florida to the east, Penco to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The local economy is based mainly on textile ma ...
* Deutsche Schule Traiguen
* Deutsches Internat Villa Alemana
* Deutsche Schule Viña del Mar
Notable German Chileans
* Marlene Ahrens
Marlene Ahrens Ostertag-Ebensperger (July 27, 1933 – June 17, 2020) was a Chilean athlete. She won the silver medal in Javelin throw at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne with a distance of 50.38 metres. She was the mother of jo ...
, Olympic athlete, the only Chilean woman to have won an Olympic medal.
* Ena von Baer
Ena Anglein von Baer Jahn (born 28 November 1974 sge in Temuco) is a Chilean journalist, political scientist and senator.
In December 2009, von Baer lost a very tight race for a seat in the Senate of Chile, Senate. In March 2010 she became Minis ...
, ex-minister, political scientist and senator.
* Claudio Bunster, scientist, theoretical physicist, won the Chilean National Science Award in 1995, and contributed to the foundation of the Centro de Estudios Científicos (Center for Scientific Studies) in Valdivia.
* Otto Dörr Zegers
Otto Dörr Zegers (born December 25, 1936, Curicó, Chile). Medical Surgeon of the University of Chile (1961), Psychiatrist, (Graduate School of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile (1968); Doctor of Medicine Heidelberg University (1972); ...
, psychiatrist, intellectual and writer, translated the work of Rainer Maria Rilke into Spanish.
* Nina Frick Asenjo, classical pianist.
* Óscar Hahn, poet, former faculty at the University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
, and 2012 winner of the Chilean National Award of Literature.
* Klaus Junge, chess master.
* José Antonio Kast Rist, founder of the Republican Party of Chile.
* Felipe Kast Sommerhoff, founder of the Political Evolution Party.
* Fernando Matthei
Fernando Matthei Aubel (11 July 1925 – 19 November 2017) was a Chilean Air Force general who was part of the military junta that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, replacing the dismissed Gustavo Leigh as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air ...
, former commander of the Chilean Air Force. Member of the military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
that ruled Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, Matthei was the first to admit that the regime had lost the referendum to elect Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
in 1988. One of his children, Evelyn Matthei
Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born November 11, 1953) is a Chilean politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Security under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera until July 2013. She was the Independent Democrat Union Party's nominee fo ...
was a candidate in the presidential elections of 2013.
* Manfred Max Neef, economist and academic, winner of the Right Livelihood Award in 1982.
* Joaquín Niemann
Joaquín Niemann (born 7 November 1998) is a Chilean professional golfer. He has won twice on the PGA Tour. He was the number one ranked amateur golfer from May 2017 to April 2018.
Amateur career
Niemann was the number one ranked golfer in the ...
, Chilean professional golfer.
* Diego Paulsen
Diego Alfredo Paulsen Kehr (born 1 August 1987) is a Chilean politician who served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2020 to 2022, and as has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2020, representing District 22 of Ara ...
, politician, member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile.
* Alfredo Perl, Chilean-German classical pianist, conductor of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Germany.
* Raúl Rettig Guissen, politician, chairman of the Rettig Report
The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the ''Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting in dea ...
, documenting human rights abuses and disappearances during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
.
* Chris Watson, third prime minister of Australia.
* Egon Wolff
Egon Wolff (April 13, 1926 – November 2, 2016) was a Chilean playwright and author. Born in Santiago, he was educated in Chile and the United States.
Early life
Egon Wolff was born into a middle-class family of German immigrants, to parents w ...
, Chilean playwright, author and faculty member of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...
. His work has been produced in 29 countries and translated into 19 different languages.
* Allison Göhler, meterologist and part-time TV host
* Carlo von Mühlenbrock, famous chef
First generation immigrants
* Carlos Anwandter
Carlos Anwandter (1 April 1801, in Luckenwalde, Prussia – 10 July 1889, in Valdivia, Chile) was a German political exile who emigrated to Valdivia, Chile in 1850 after participating in the Revolutions of 1848.
Biography
He migrated to Valdi ...
, 19th-century settler, helped developing the city of Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
.
* Juan Brüggen Messtorff, contributed to the development of geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
in Chile.
* Hermann Eberhard
Hermann Eberhard (27 February 1852 in Ohlau, Silesia – 30 May 1908) was a 19th-century German explorer credited with western discovery of considerable lands in Patagonia, Chile. Eberhard journeyed by boat up the Seno Última Esperanza to inve ...
, explorer, founder of the first settlements in western Patagonia and discoverer of the Giant sloth
Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbea ...
fossils at Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument in Chile.
* Emil Körner
Emil Körner Henze (10 October 1846 in Wegwitz – 25 March 1920 in Berlin), sometimes called Emilio Körner Henze in Spanish, was a German officer (Hauptmann) of the Prussian Army and Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army with the rank of Ins ...
, German-born Chilean army commander, veteran of the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War, invited by the Chilean government to retrain the Chilean Army in the German military doctrine in 1900, and commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army during the Chilean Civil War.
* Rodolfo Armando Philippi, naturalist, director of the Chilean National Museum of Natural History
The Chilean National Museum of Natural History ( es, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, links=no or ) is one of three national museums in Chile, along with the Museum of Fine Arts and the National History Museum. It is located in Quinta Normal P ...
and founder of the first Chilean Botanical Garden.
* Max Westenhöfer
Max Westenhöfer (February 9, 1871 – September 25, 1957) was a German pathologist and biologist who contributed to the development of the anatomic pathology and the reform of public health in Chile.
Education
Maximilian Joseph Johann Westenhö ...
, scientist, physician and pathologist; disciple of Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...
. Westenhöfer is considered the founder of Chilean anatomic pathology
Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross examination, macroscopic, Histopathology, microscopic, biochemical, immu ...
and social medicine
The field of social medicine seeks to implement social care through
# understanding how social and economic conditions impact health, disease and the practice of medicine and
# fostering conditions in which this understanding can lead to a health ...
.
* Otto von Moltke, German-Danish military officer who fought in the Franco-Prussian War and, after emigrating to Chile, in the War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...
. He was killed in the last war.
Religious affiliations
Many Germans who migrated to Chile practice Roman Catholicism, but also Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
. Many German Chilean Roman Catholics now attend and belong to Lutheran churches.
See also
* Chile–Germany relations
* German influence in Chile
German people, culture, science and institutions have greatly influenced Chile. Following Chilean independence in 1818, German influence increased gradually with Imperial Germany effectively displacing France as the prime role model for Chile in th ...
* List of Chileans of German descent
* Swiss Chilean
Genealogy of German Chileans
in Genealog.cl
References
External links
* Short documentary with English subtitle
Short documentary about German migration in Southern Chile, "Germans and Chilotes in Patagonia" Atlas vivo
{{Ethnic groups in Chile
Chilean