page_title: Colonia Dignidad
section_title: Villa Baviera era
hierarchical_section_title: Colonia Dignidad / Villa Baviera era
caption_attribution_description: Español: Laguna artificial en Villa Baviera
context_page_description: Colonia Dignidad was an isolated colony of Germans and Chileans established in post-World War II Chile by emigrant Germans which became infamous for the internment, torture, and murder of dissidents during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s while under the leadership of German fugitive Paul Schäfer.
  The main legal economic activity of the colony was agriculture; at various periods it also was home to a school, a hospital, two airstrips, a restaurant, and a power station.
  Colonia Dignidad's longest continuous leader, Paul Schäfer, arrived in the colony in 1961. Schäfer was a fugitive, accused of child molestation in West Germany. The organization he led in Chile was described, alternatively, as a cult or as a group of "harmless eccentrics". The organization was secretive, and the Colonia was surrounded by barbed wire fences, and featured a watchtower and searchlights, and was later reported to contain secret weapon caches. External investigations, including efforts by the Chilean government, uncovered a history of criminal activity in the enclave, including child sexual abuse.
context_section_description: In 1991, the name of the settlement was changed to "Villa Baviera". There is still a colony on the site, but its current leaders insist that changes have taken place. The colony has been modernized, residents are allowed free ingress and egress, and some study at university. As of 2019 Villa Baviera is operated as a tourist resort.
caption: Laguna
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