In the run-up to the most recent meeting of the “Mixed Chilean-German Commission to address the historical memory of Colonia Dignidad and the integration of the victims into society”, in November of last year, a hundred relatives of the Detained and Disappeared and activists of Human Rights of the Maule Region went to the former Colonia Dignidad to hold a commemorative event.
Next to the so-called Bodega de Fardos, which during the civil-military dictatorship was used as a place of detention and torture, they installed a plaque that symbolizes the first stone of the Colonia Dignidad Memorial Site. Two days later, they reported that it was vandalized by unknown persons in the wee hours of the morning.
Today, the Colonia Dignidad Association for Memory and Human Rights sent a letter to President Gabriel Boric, requesting an urgent hearing to discuss the recovery of the memory site located in the Maule Region and the “interventionism” of the German State in the decisions of the mixed commission.
In the letter, the association expresses its deep concern about the lack of significant progress in truth, justice, memory and reparation for the crimes perpetrated, despite the seven years that have passed since the Chilean State and the German State signed a memorandum of understanding to address these issues together.
The association denounces the work behind closed doors of the mixed commission, “marginalizing” memory and human rights organizations, and criticizes the “hegemony” of the German counterpart in the decisions, which according to them, ignores the experience of the Southern Cone in these matters.
In addition, they point out concern about the lack of transparency in relation to the history of the German State and its relationship with the hierarchs of Colonia Dignidad, as well as the involvement of Nazi officials in the disappearance of political prisoners. The association considers it unacceptable that the mixed commission “maintains a cloak of silence about these events,” which have been denounced by the media and human rights organizations.
The letter addressed to the President also highlights the protest actions initiated by former settlers of Colonia Dignidad due to the precarious conditions in which they live and the lack of information about the heritage of the place.
In this context, the Association for Memory and Human Rights Colonia Dignidad requests an audience with President Boric to discuss these concerns and advance in compliance with the country’s obligations with truth, justice, memory and reparation.
To date, no official response has been received from the Government regarding this hearing request.
At the end of last year, the Civil Society Working Group on Colonia Dignidad, coordinated by the Chair of Human Rights of the Vice-Rector’s Office for Extension and Communications of the University of Chile (VEXCOM), composed of organizations involved in the search for truth and justice for the crimes of the dictatorship presented a series of proposals to the Chilean-German commission. Among them, the implementation of a documentation center, the development of a research project and the formulation of a memory space project. Consult the document here.
