During the 2024 public account speech last Saturday, June 1, the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boricannounced the expropriation of land from Colonia Dignidad, a German settlement in the Maule region that was used as a detention, torture and extermination center during the military dictatorship.
“This is a relevant step to consecrate the place as a space of memory and thus, from the south of Chile to Germany, We say with one voice to the world: never again!”declared the President in his speech.
The measure, however, began to be implemented hours before the presidential message. Three days before the announcement, on May 28, the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, sent a letter to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning headed by Carlos Montes.
In the document, to which he had access The Third, is instructed exercise expropriation powers in six properties located within the Set of properties and sites corresponding to the former Colonia Dignidad, “in order to provide substantive protection to the facility given its status as a community facility.”
It is immediately detailed that the expropriation points to the house of Paul Schäfer (Freihaus), the restaurant (Zippelhaus), the administration building/hotel, the potato cellar (Kartoffeller), Hospital (Krankenhaus) and the goal/access.
“Considering the aforementioned category of historical monument, a next step for the advancement of the consecration of the settlement of Colonia Dignidad as a site of memory makes it necessary to begin the expropriation process,” the letter adds.
Within the document, the Minister of Justice highlights that the expropriation request is also based on the “contributory work that your Ministry has developed in terms of protection of sites of historical memory”, such as, for example, the case of expropriation of the property located in street Iran No. 3037commune of Macul, “as stated in Exempt Decree No. 19, of the year 2023 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.”
The negotiation table to expropriate the land of the former Colonia Dignidad has been operational since September 1, 2023 and representatives from the ministries of Justice, Minvu, National Assets and organizations representing human rights of relatives of the former have participated. Colonia Dignidad, Parral and Santiago.
In his message of June 1, the President also highlighted that the expropriation of the lands of the former Colonia Dignidad is the product of a “collaborative process” with the European country.
On July 12, 2017, Chile and Germany signed the Memorandum of Understanding which allows the creation of a mixed commission to address the historical memory of Colonia Dignidad and the integration of the victims into society, co-chaired by the Chilean side, by the Director of Human Rights of the Foreign Ministrywith the technical assistance of head of the Protection Division of the Undersecretary of Human Rights; and on the German side, on the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The topic will also be addressed by the President during the tour that begins this Sunday and that includes a visit to Germany, where he will seek to learn about the progress in reparation measures initiated by the government for the victims.
