Hohenau is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and district of the Itapúa Department,

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, located 8 kilometers away from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and 365 kilometers away from

Asunción Asunción (, ) 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 of Asunción in the north ...

. It has extensive cultivation fields and streams nearby like the Capi'ivary, Poromocó, Mansisovy, Santa María and others.

Name

The name comes from its elevated position sloping slightly downhill to the Paraná river, from the German ''hoch'' 'high' and ''Au(e)'' 'floodplain'.

History

The city was founded on March 14, 1900 by Carlos Reverchon, Guillermo Closs, Ambrosio Scholler and Esteban Scholler, helped by German colonists. Founder Wilhelm (Guillermo) Closs, who was of German descent, was born on 31 October 1841 in Baumschneis, Brazil (today's Dois Irmãos). Closs established a place called "Serra Pelada" in the state of Río Grande do Sul. Later, he decided to move to

, where he met Hohenau's future co-founder Reverchon. Together, they drafted plans for a massive wave of German immigrants to settle in the region. Aided by the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n consul to Paraguay, they successfully persuaded the government to allow for the construction of a colony. By a decree dated September 12, 1898, the Paraguayan government gave Closs and Reverchon a share of 16 square leagues in the then Alto Paraná, Encarnación Department. On March 14, 1900, the first settlers arrived from Encarnación. In August 1900, the arrival of 8 more families (a total of 55 people) set the stage for mass migration to the colony. Some of these first families were the Dresslers, Kuschels, Fritzes, Jachows, and others. These families faced many problems, such as disease, scarcity of resources, and a lack of communication, which were gradually overcome. The town's status was elevated to an official district in 1944. In the 1930s and '40s, the colony began to attract many non-Germans, such as Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians, and to a lesser degree Belgians and French. Later, in 1958, a large wave of Japanese arrived. These settlers then went on to found the district of La Paz.

Geography

The city is 220 square kilometers in area. It is bordered on the north and the east by the Obligado district, on the south by the

district, and on the west by the Jesús,

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

, and San Pedro del Paraná districts. It is located in a zone rich in hydrographic resources, with the

Paraná river The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...

and the Capi'ivary stream.

Climate

The climate is sub-tropical, ideal for agriculture, with temperatures ranging from 3-4 °C in winter to 37-38 °C in summer.

Demography

Hohenau has a total population of 7,987 inhabitants.

Economy

The inhabitants are mainly focused on agriculture, specifically on the cultivation of soy,

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

manioc ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

yerba mate Yerba mate or yerba maté (), ''Ilex paraguariensis'', is a plant species of the holly genus native to South America. It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. The leaves of the plant can be steeped in hot water to make a bev ...

, tung, sorgo, citric,

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

, and

watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...

, and the stock breeding of cows, pigs and poultry. There are also some small industries including flour mills,

mills, wineries, brick factories, bakeries, saw-mills, carpentry shops, and

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

factories. According to the General Directorate of Statistics, Polls, and Census, the Hohenau district has the second-highest living standard in Paraguay, behind the capital,

Tourism

An important tourist attraction is the

Alto Paraná Alto Paraná (; ''Upper Paraná'') is a Department (subnational entity), department in Paraguay. The capital is Ciudad del Este (formerly known as Puerto Presidente Stroessner, originally Puerto Flor de Lis). The Alto Paraná department has exper ...

Hunting and Fishing Club, where traditional dorado fishing takes place. Among the other attractions this city offers are the German and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese colonies, where visitors can see unique architectural characteristics, typical foods, and cultivated fields. Hohenau can be reached by the ''Ruta Sexta Doctor Juan León Mallorquín'', a road that crosses the urban center of the city and connects it with the cities of Encarnación and

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortened as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km east of Asunción, the capital, and i ...

. A network of local roads connects Hohenau with other places in the surrounding area.

Institutions

The city has a dance school, culinary arts academy, tailoring academy, barber academy, and other institutions that teach computer science and typewriting. Medical institutions in the city include SOS Aldea de Niños, founded August 21, 1971 on land donated by the German Association of Hohenau with 17 buildings housing 160 children; the Mother and Child Hospital; the SOS Hospital with 40 beds and 2500 monthly consultations; and the Adventist Clinic that started its medical assistance service to the district and the department in 1963.

Neighborhoods

Center: *San José *San Blás *Cerro Corá *CONAVI *Primavera *Obrero *Santa Lucía Rural zone: *Hohenau 1 (Puerto Hohenau) *Hohenau 2 (Centro Urbano) *Hohenau 3 (Campo Ángel) *Hohenau 4 (Caguarené) *Hohenau 5 (Santa María)

Notable residents

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

war criminal

Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (; 16 March 19117 February 1979) was a Nazi German (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, often dubbed the "Angel of Death" (). He performed Nazi hum ...

lived in hiding in Hohenau between 1959 and 1960.

References

* Reportaje al País. Tomo 1. Edición 2001. Asunción Paraguay. * Geografía Ilustrada del Paraguay - - Distribuidora Arami S.R.L. * La Magia de nuestra tierra. Fundación en Alianza. Asunción. 2007.

External links

Government Official Website

Official Tourist Information Website SENATURWorld Gazeteer: Paraguay
– World-Gazetteer.com {{Authority control Districts of Itapúa Department Populated places established in 1900