Let's talk: Women's protocols from the Colonia Dignidad
Adult education centre: Reading and discussion, 2 November, 7 to 8.30 p.m., event hall in the TIETZ, 3rd floor
On Thursday, 2 November, from 7 to 8.30 pm, interested parties are invited to the presentation of a book dedicated to the cruel conditions of the former Colonia Dignidad in Chile. Author Heike Rittel will be reading from her book entitled "Lasst uns reden: Women's Protocols from Colonia Dignidad". The contemporary witnesses Edeltraut and Michael Müller will also be present for the subsequent discussion.
Participation is free of charge. Registration is possible at www.vhs-chemnitz.de/kurs/W2310150 or by e-mail to info(at)vhs-chemnitz.de.
Heike Rittel has set out on the trail of the women of the former sect of lay preacher Paul Schäfer. Their fate has so far received little or no public attention. Heike Rittel lived with women in Colonia Dignidad, got to know their everyday lives, their relatives and the places with which they associate their memories. The book was created from all these sources.
In the 1960s, lay preacher Paul Schäfer abducted almost two hundred children abroad in Chile. He founded a brutal sect there in which the children concerned were abused sexually and as labour slaves for decades - Colonia Dignidad (Spanish for "colony of dignity"). Later, numerous Chilean children also fell into Schäfer's clutches.
After the coup in 1973, the sect also placed itself at the service of the Pinochet dictatorship. Together with the secret service DINA, Chilean opposition members were imprisoned, tortured and killed here. Only the gradual democratisation of Chile in the 1990s made it possible to put an end to it all. Hundreds of people were left behind, characterised by fraud and oppression on an unparalleled scale.
The event is a co-operation between the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre.