581. The Colonia Dignidad cult

An isolated small community run by German immigrants were for decades a terrible place to grow up. People were not allowed to live as families. If the parents were against the government they were tortured and the children adopted into new families.

All controlled by a former priest which ended his days in prison after first having escaped Germany accused of abuse. He took control of this small community and turned it into a cult protected by the government in Chile. Electro shock and other kind of turture were used.

The government changed and the police raided the community in 2005. The priest tried to escape abroad but were caught and sentenced to prison where he died after having served 6 years of a 20 years sentence. He got off easy.

It could not have been fun to be there as teenager, while the priest were in charge.

A good movie called Colonia has been made about this community.

Sources:

• What happened in Colonia? Inside the terrifying Nazi cult that inspired Emma Watson’s new film (The Telegraph)
• Colonia Dignidad: A Secret Nazi Cult Hidden In The Mountains Of Chile (All day)
• How I survived Chile’s torture commune run by Pinochet’s paedophile Nazi pal (The Mirror)
• Cplonia (movie)0 (Wikipedia)