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, and also from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohe ...

in present-day Czech Republic, 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 Europ ...

.Los colonos
/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.

History

Germans in the Spanish colony

Pedro De Valdivia Siedlungen in Chile 1540 bis 1553

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, whe ...

. 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, whose ...

. Valdivia also arrested and took hostage the

Cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Sp ...

(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 sh ...

people. Blumenthal took part in the defence of the Spanish settlement of

when the

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 n ...

; 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

. 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, 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 i ...

'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. Kaiser ...

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 Darms ...

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-Ca ...

and

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune sp ...

. 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 Par ...

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 ...

. 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

were limited in the early 19th century. To stimulate economic development, the Chilean government initiated a highly focused immigration program under

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 Frutillar is a city and commune located in southern Chile, Chilean Patagonia, in Llanquihue Province, within the Los Lagos Region, the lake district. The bay of Frutillar is placed on the banks of Lake Llanquihue, the largest lake entirely within ...

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 t ...

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 e ...

, Osorno and

. Around 1900

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 separated ...

and the Rudloff shoe factory.

20th century

By the mid-1930s, most of the farming land around the towns of

and Osorno had been claimed. Some German immigrants moved further south to places such as Puyuhuapi in the Aysén region (settled by

Sudeten Germans German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of ...

from present-day Czech Republic); Sudeten German settlers from Broumov (called Braunau in German and located in present-day Czech Republic) also stayed and lived in

, wherein the village was called Nueva Braunau. 1930s Clearning stumps

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

. 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. 1951 settler families

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 th ...

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; ar ...

. For example, the families of Mario Kreutzberger and Tomás Hirsch came to Chile during this time. Shortly after World War II, 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 __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

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 postgradu ...

, 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 G ...

, a German

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

in the

Maule Region The Maule Region ( es, Región del Maule, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a ...

, 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 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 Commons ...

(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 Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic v ...

Deutsche Schule Osorno Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic v ...

* 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

* 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 * 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 * Deutsche Schule Traiguen * Deutsches Internat Villa Alemana * Deutsche Schule

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located within the Valparaíso Region, and it is Chile's fourth largest city w ...

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 jou ...

, Olympic athlete, the only Chilean woman to have won an Olympic medal. * Ena von Baer, 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, psychiatrist, intellectual and writer, translated the work of

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...

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 coll ...

, and 2012 winner of the Chilean National Award of Literature. *

Klaus Junge Klaus Junge (1 January 1924 – 17 April 1945) was one of the youngest Chilean-German chess masters. In several tournaments during the 1940s he held his own among the world's leading players. An officer in the Wehrmacht, he died during the Batt ...

, 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 F ...

, 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 i ...

that ruled

, 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 was a candidate in the presidential elections of 2013. * Manfred Max Neef, economist and academic, winner of the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob ...

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 W ...

, 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 Arau ...

, 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 John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...

, 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

. * 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 Ear ...

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 inv ...

, 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 Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is a Natural Monument located in the Chilean Patagonia, northwest of Puerto Natales and north of Punta Arenas. The monument is situated along the flanks of Cerro Benitez. It comprises several caves and ...

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 In ...

, German-born Chilean army commander, veteran of the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

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 founde ...

. 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 macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination o ...

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.

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