Chile–Germany relations

Last updated
German-Chilean relations
Chile Germany Locator.png
Flag of Chile.svg
Chile
Flag of Germany.svg
Germany
Diplomatic mission
German Embassy, Santiago de Chile Chilean Embassy, Berlin
Envoy
Ambassador Hans Blomeyer-BartensteinAmbassador Jorge O'Ryan Schutz

German-Chilean relations are foreign relations between Germany and Chile. During the last 150 years, many Germans have settled in Chile, for several different reasons. Thousands of Chileans sought refuge in Germany during Pinochet's dictatorship.

Contents

In 1810, when Chile became independent from Spain, Hamburg traded with Valparaiso. From 1848, as Chile encouraged Germans to emigrate, more and more German settlers arrived in Chile.

History and immigration

Chilehaus in Hamburg Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Blick von Osten.2.29132.ajb.jpg
Chilehaus in Hamburg

The origin of the massive immigration of Germans (includes Poles due to Partitions of Poland) to Chile is found in the so-called "Law of Selective Immigration" of 1845. The "law's" objective was to bring middle and upper-class people to colonize regions in the south of Chile, between Valdivia and Puerto Montt. More than 6,000 families arrived in Chile during this period alone. [1]

The German immigrants succeeded in creating vigorous villages and communities in virtually uninhabited regions, completely changing the landscape of the southern zones. In 1851, Carlos Anwandter, a leader of these early German immigrants, expressed the colonists' goals to the Chilean diplomat who invited them, Vicente Pérez Rosales:

We will be Chileans, as honorable and hardworking as ever there were, we will defend our adopted country united in the ranks of our new compatriots, against all foreign oppression and with the resolve and fortitude of the man that defends his country, his family, and his interests. [2]

The prestige of Germany and German culture in Chile remained high after the First World War but did not return to its pre-war levels. [3] [4] Indeed in Chile, the war bought an end to a period of scientific and cultural influence which writer Eduardo de la Barra scornfully called "the German bewitchment" (Spanish : el embrujamiento alemán). [5]

Among Chileans of German descent are the architect Mathias Klotz, tennis players Gabriel Silberstein and Hans Gildemeister, the athletes Sebastián Keitel and Marlene Ahrens, the musicians Patricio Manns, the economist Ernesto Schifelbein, the politicians Miguel Kast and Evelyn Matthei, the entrepreneurs Jürgen Paulmann and Carlos Heller, the actors Gloria Münchmeyer and Antonia Zegers.

Today, the current Chilean migration is made up by students who attend German universities, Chileans whose partners live in Germany, and a temporary migration of professionals who work for German companies. [6]

Culture

German values have influenced Chilean culture and economic development and vice versa. For example,

Trade

Germany is Chile’s principal trading partner within the European Union and continues to rank fifth worldwide among suppliers of Chilean imports. In 2013, Germany exported $3.2bn to Chile and Chile exported $2.1bn in goods to Germany and it is expected that the trade between both nations will continue to increase. [8]

Resident diplomatic missions

Other

A weekly German - Chilean newspaper called "Condor" exists in Germany as well as several fraternities, the so-called "Burschenschaften" [11]

See also

References

  1. Discurso del presidente alemán Johannes Rau con ocasión de la concesión del doctorado honoris causa en la Universidad Austral de Chile Archived 2009-06-11 at the Wayback Machine , 25 de noviembre de 2003.
  2. Haring, Clarence Henry (1920). The Germans in South America: A Contribution to the Economic History of the World War. Oxford University Press (American Branch). p. 121.
  3. Sanhueza, Carlos (2011). "El debate sobre "el embrujamiento alemán" y el papel de la ciencia alemana hacia fines del siglo XIX en Chile" (PDF). Ideas viajeras y sus objetos. El intercambio científico entre Alemania y América austral. Madrid–Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana–Vervuert (in Spanish). pp. 29–40.
  4. Penny, H. Glenn (2017). "Material Connections: German Schools, Things, and Soft Power in Argentina and Chile from the 1880s through the Interwar Period". Comparative Studies in Society and History . 59 (3): 519–549. doi:10.1017/S0010417517000159. S2CID   149372568.
  5. Sanhueza, 2011
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2014-05-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Revistas Universidad de Chile (In Spanish)
  8. "Auswärtiges Amt - Bilaterale Beziehungen zu Deutschland". www.auswaertiges-amt.de. Archived from the original on 2011-06-16.
  9. Embassy of Chile in Berlin
  10. Embassy of Germany in Santiago
  11. "Deutsche Burschenschaft : Freundschafts- und Arbeitsabkommen mit Chile". Archived from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2014-05-03.