Germany and Chile agree to create a memorial in Colonia Dignidad

SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 30 Jan. (DPA/EP) -

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, have agreed this Sunday to create a memorial in the old Colonia Dignidad, a settlement founded by a former Nazi soldier who served as a torture center during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

For Scholz, the idea of ​​converting the place where the old colony was located into a commemorative monument "has the support of the Government": "We will participate accordingly," he assured, according to the DPA agency.

For his part, Boric thanked the German government for its willingness to "support the search for the truth." "We fully support this. The Chilean state is tirelessly fighting for all truth and justice," he declared.

Scholz's visit, which takes place on the 50th anniversary of Pinochet's coup, began with a visit to the Museum of Memory, which commemorates the victims of the dictatorship.

Colonia Dignidad was founded in 1961 by former Nazi Army NCO Paul Schaefer after he fled Germany after being accused of sexually abusing children in an orphanage. The enclave housed about 300 people.

The settlement, renamed Villa Baviera and converted into a hotel, was isolated from society, located about 350 kilometers south of Santiago and maintained its own rules of coexistence such as the segregation of men and women.

Schaefer was prosecuted for Human Rights violations during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, between 1973 and 1990, when his enclave was used as a prison camp and torture center.