Nueva Germania
Nueva Germania (New Germania, ) is a district of San Pedro Department in Paraguay. It was founded as a German settlement on 23 August 1887 by Bernhard Förster, a German nationalist, who was married to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, sister of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Förster's idea was to create a model community in the New World and to demonstrate the supremacy of German culture and society. Förster committed suicide after the settlement's initial failure. It is located about 297 kilometres from Asunción, capital of the Republic of Paraguay. History. Nueva Germania was founded in 1886 on  the banks of the Aguaray-Guazú River, about 250 kilometres from Asunción by five, later fourteen, largely impoverished families from Saxony. Led by Bernhard Förster and his wife, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the German colonists emigrated to the Paraguayan rainforest to put to practice utopian ideas about the superiority of the Aryan race. It was the declared dream of Förster to create an area of Germanic development, far from the influence of Jews, whom he reviled. The colony's development was hampered by the harshness of the environment, a lack of proper supplies and an overconfidence of the colonist's own  supposed "aryan supremacy". Most settlers soon died of starvation and disease. Those who survived malaria and the sand-flea infections rushed to flee Nueva Germania. Those who stayed, convinced of their founder's teachings, married among themselves as to preserve the racial stock. Förster, who had negotiated the town's titles of property with General Bernardino Caballero, committed suicide in 1889 in the city of San Bernardino after abandoning the settlers. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche returned to Germany in 1893. According to Gerard L. Posner, writing in "Mengele: The Complete Story", Josef Mengele, a major German war criminal, spent some time  in Nueva Germania while he was a fugitive after World War II; However, the evidence that Mengele ever passed through is shaky at best. Nueva Germania became a quiet community in San Pedro, dedicated to agriculture and specializing in the cultivation of yerba mate. Beginning in 2004 the American writer David Woodard embarked on a series of expeditions to the erstwhile colony. As of 2013 pockets of German culture remained. Most of the population in the area still speak a mixture of German and Guaraní. Immigration increased in 2021, fueled by fears including vaccination. Economy. One of the most important  products of the district is yerba mate, along with sugarcane, cotton, manioc (cassava), tobacco, sunflower, soy, wheat, banana, sweet and sour orange, Paraguayan lemon verbena and sesame. Transportation. A branch of Route No. 3 "General Elizardo Aquino", a paved road, is the main access to the town, which connects it with Asunción and other localities of the department. Also, Route No. 11 "Juana Maria de Lara", an unpaved road, connects the town with the Amambay Department. Other unimproved roads (of sand or pebbles) connect with different districts and the capital of the department. Climate. The climate is tropical, with abundant  rains, a maximum temperature of about 35 °C, a minimum of 10 °C and an average of 23 °C, with a humidity of 80%. Precipitation exceeds 1300 millimeters, especially in summer. Language. About 80 percent of the population speak the Guaraní language. The rest speak a combination of German and Spanish. Population. The General Directorate of Statistics, Polls and Census has reported the following: As of 2002, about 10 per cent of Nueva Germania's inhabitants were of mainly German origin. Borders. Nueva Germania borders on Hydrography. Nueva Germania district is watered by the rivers Aguaray Guazú  and Aguaray mí, and the streams Tutytí and Empalado. Demographics. Main social and demographic indicators: