Their memories testify to the Horror of the Colonia Dignidad. For the victims of the German sects-settlement in Chile, the visit to Berlin is not an easy journey. You also want to push the project of a memorial in advance.
Rafael Labrín, Astrid Tymm and Johan Cisternas (left to right)
Many of them are for the first Time in Germany. The visit triggers strong emotions: It is the country where it all began, is the country from which the sect’s founder, Paul Schäfer in 1961, fled before the abuse allegations, after Chile, to establish in a remote area together with his followers, a totalitarian-religious community, Colonia Dignidad.
For the victims of the German sects-settlement in Chile, Germany is also the country that has not responded for decades that, in this place terrible crimes were committed. Many of the former Confidant of Paul Schaefer, who were sentenced by the Chilean justice, the life of a criminal free and unmolested in Germany, including the doctor of the champagne community, and Hartmut Hopp.
“But it is my home, and that brings a lot of emotions,” says Astrid Tymm, who was born in Gronau and as a seven-year-old with her mother and her brothers and sisters in the cult settlement in Chile came. Twelve years ago she left the place and moved further into the South of Chile. It’s your first visit in Germany.
It belongs to a group of 14 Victims of Colonia Dignidad, which was a week long in Berlin. They took part in Workshops and seminars, visited memorial places, such as the concentration camp Sachsenhausen and the house of the Wannsee conference.
The trip was organized by Elke Gryglewski, the Deputy Director of the house of the Wannsee conference, and Jens-Christian Wagner, Director of the lower Saxony memorials Foundation,. Funding was channelled through the Foreign office.
The participants of the trip to the memorial site house of the Wannsee-conference
With this, for many of the Involved painful visit to the project of a memorial is to be driven on the site of the former Colonia Dignidad, which is now called “Villa Baviera”, forward.
“If they (the victims) to visit other memorial sites and the corresponding debates to listen to, you can gain experience, help them to define their own needs,” says Gryglewski.
“You have taken from me my Childhood”
The reports of the victims of Colonia Dignidad witnesses of a brutal System of domination and exploitation, which lasted for four decades: slave labor, flogging, torture, immobilization with drugs, sexual abuse of Minors and unlawful adoptions.
Some of the victims made two unsuccessful attempts to escape, until the 90s, when abuse allegations shook the reign of terror of Paul Schäfer. Schäfer fled to Argentina, in 2005, arrested, and died five years later in a Chilean prison.
“You have taken from me my Childhood. They remained in Germany. I had no youth. The separation of the families was very cruel. I have my personality, my I lost,” says Astrid Tymm in Spanish with an audible German accent.
The 46-year-old Chilean Rafael Labrín, it is easier to speak English. It is a further proof of how much the sparkling wine community in Chile, formed a state within a state. “I was born in the Colonia Dignidad. My mom was poor and told her that I was sick, and that I would die if you would take me home. So I stayed and grew up there and learned English. As my Chilean mother asked after me, told them I was dead,” he tells DW.
Victims of Colonia Dignidad in the memorial Sachsenhausen
Rafael Labrín was by a German settler pair adopted and raised as a Dieter Scholz, without knowing his true origin. “But I never had contact with my adoptive parents. Even as a child, I had to as a slave to work, so that my back was severely damaged,” he says. With 14, he left the cult settlement. Only five years ago, he first met his mother. Now he has accepted her name again.
“We expect compensation. What Germany has to offer, is not what we have hoped for,” he says, and refers to the recently announced commitment of up to Euro 10,000 for each victim.
A memorial for all the victims
The victims were just discussing about how a memorial could look like. For Astrid Tymm, it is important that today, in the “Villa Baviera” living people engaged in a rather tourist folklore Park, to understand the suffering of the victims.
“But also for those who have lost a relative and a candle or flowers to pass, would such a place is important. We need to meet and know that we are all victims,” says Tymm. It refers to the disappeared victims of the Pinochet dictatorship, have been tortured in Colonia Dignidad.
“It is clear that such a memorial is required to be an independent Management that respects the Suffering and stories of all the victims groups,” explains Elke Gryglewski. This challenge could be met, as in Sachsenhausen, by decentralized exhibitions in various places in the former Colonia Dignidad. The German expert will create a report on the findings of this trip and all of the Victims, which have not taken part in it. In September, the representatives of the various victims want to meet groups, to the final concept for a memorial to be determined.