Chilean History and Politics
About Chile section of the Daniel Sparler Lecture:
I am surprised that no one knows where the name "Chile" originates. That just fascinates me that you have no idea why your country is named "Chile." It's also surprising that Chile is the first in life expectancy, especially due to Sanitago having a pretty bad smog problem while having a third of the population. Chile being the 2nd in Literacy in Latin America doesn't shock me that they are so high because of the number of accredited novelist and poets Chile has.
The Geography section of the Daniel Sparler Lecture:
In previous lesson, I learned about the Atacama desert, but Sparler mentioned that some parts of the desert have no recorded rain fall. For me, that sounds horrifying to think that if you live there you would never see rain at all. Along those lines, I knew Chile was on the Ring of Fire and had volcanoes and earthquakes, but Chile had 34 active volcanoes. Which is so crazy. Sparler also mentioned that Chile has a "just right" temperature. I feel like this is very circumstantial because the north of Chile has a desert and the south has frigid and cold mountains. Everyone wears Patagonia jackets in Lynchburg, so I think that it's neat that we are going to the Country where Patagonia is named after.
Writer section of the Daniel Sparler Lecture:
Chile has a plethora of very intelligent academic writers. One is Nicanor Parra wrote about poems about Santiago, who is 100 years old now and still writing. Garbriel Garcia Marquez wrote about what was wrong with the Latin america during times of dictatorship. In it he mentions the dictator of Chile at the time, Salvador Allende. I think it's very telling to talk about the man that you are under a dictatorship about. Plus, very brave to put all the issues of Latin America at this time open for all the world to see.
Al Jazeera Correspondent
In Chile there was a colony that was established after WW11. It was bad but no one knew how bad it really was.Even after democracy wont let people in. Who covered it up? An Ex-Nazi nurse who was then a Preacher, Schaefer, would get people to go the Colonia Dignidad. He was accused of abuse and fled to Chile with 300 of his followers to go with him. To go with him he convinced them that Communism was taking over Germany. He built a community like the ones in the beginning of the biblical days. Families did not exist. The pastors guided the community. Babies taken by their mother by birth. This makes a lot of sense because its how Hitler gained the trust of Germany, they were left with nothing and had no outside contact. It just really shocks me how cynical Schaefer was and manipulating he was.
Werner Schmidtke, when he was 7 Schaefer wanted to see him in this bedroom. Scaefer threw him on the bed and started coddling him like a father. Then, Schmidtke sexually assaulted Schmidtke. This whole action is very manipulating and basically made the child trust him before assaulting him. The Colonia Dignidad was a place in which Schaefer used to sexual assault children and thrive on the manipulation he had on people. The worse part is that the kids didn't understand it because they were grown up knowing sex was bad but Schaefer could do it all he wanted too. When he did try to fight the abuse, he and other boys would be locked in a building and under go experiments to try to suppress sexual instincts. They would be naked and be electroshocked and prodded like cattle. Its so sick that someone would do this. It's so repulsive and chilling for how long this happened.
Winfred Hempel filed a law suit against Germany and Chile for the Colonia Dignidad.
Winfred did not know his parents until he was 10 years old. He was forced into labor when he was 7 years old. It was 24/7 labor that was hard and ruthless. I feel like Scaefer did this to mentally and physically wear down the people who lived there. It's just disgusting that this happening with no one speaking out about it. He lives in Santiago now and is now a Lawyer. I think that really shows how something so negative become something, not necessarily positive, but rather pushes you to do something right for others.
I am surprised that no one knows where the name "Chile" originates. That just fascinates me that you have no idea why your country is named "Chile." It's also surprising that Chile is the first in life expectancy, especially due to Sanitago having a pretty bad smog problem while having a third of the population. Chile being the 2nd in Literacy in Latin America doesn't shock me that they are so high because of the number of accredited novelist and poets Chile has.
The Geography section of the Daniel Sparler Lecture:
In previous lesson, I learned about the Atacama desert, but Sparler mentioned that some parts of the desert have no recorded rain fall. For me, that sounds horrifying to think that if you live there you would never see rain at all. Along those lines, I knew Chile was on the Ring of Fire and had volcanoes and earthquakes, but Chile had 34 active volcanoes. Which is so crazy. Sparler also mentioned that Chile has a "just right" temperature. I feel like this is very circumstantial because the north of Chile has a desert and the south has frigid and cold mountains. Everyone wears Patagonia jackets in Lynchburg, so I think that it's neat that we are going to the Country where Patagonia is named after.
Writer section of the Daniel Sparler Lecture:
Chile has a plethora of very intelligent academic writers. One is Nicanor Parra wrote about poems about Santiago, who is 100 years old now and still writing. Garbriel Garcia Marquez wrote about what was wrong with the Latin america during times of dictatorship. In it he mentions the dictator of Chile at the time, Salvador Allende. I think it's very telling to talk about the man that you are under a dictatorship about. Plus, very brave to put all the issues of Latin America at this time open for all the world to see.
Al Jazeera Correspondent
Werner Schmidtke, when he was 7 Schaefer wanted to see him in this bedroom. Scaefer threw him on the bed and started coddling him like a father. Then, Schmidtke sexually assaulted Schmidtke. This whole action is very manipulating and basically made the child trust him before assaulting him. The Colonia Dignidad was a place in which Schaefer used to sexual assault children and thrive on the manipulation he had on people. The worse part is that the kids didn't understand it because they were grown up knowing sex was bad but Schaefer could do it all he wanted too. When he did try to fight the abuse, he and other boys would be locked in a building and under go experiments to try to suppress sexual instincts. They would be naked and be electroshocked and prodded like cattle. Its so sick that someone would do this. It's so repulsive and chilling for how long this happened.
Winfred Hempel filed a law suit against Germany and Chile for the Colonia Dignidad.
Winfred did not know his parents until he was 10 years old. He was forced into labor when he was 7 years old. It was 24/7 labor that was hard and ruthless. I feel like Scaefer did this to mentally and physically wear down the people who lived there. It's just disgusting that this happening with no one speaking out about it. He lives in Santiago now and is now a Lawyer. I think that really shows how something so negative become something, not necessarily positive, but rather pushes you to do something right for others.
The piece about no recorded rainfall in the Atacama desert stood out to me as well! I do not think much about it when it rains here. But to think about an area where it has never rained before is crazy to me.
ReplyDeleteIt really stood out to me that no one really knew about how bad the conditions in the colony were and it confused me how he kept all the abuse and violent acts hidden.
ReplyDeleteI thought the origin of the name of Chile was very interesting as well! I think it would be so awesome if an earthquake happened while we were in Chile! Obviously not a strong one but it would be so cool to feel! I would really feel like I was soaking up everything Chile has to offer ha ha! I also was disgusted to learn about Colonia Dignidad. I feel like so many countries have these crazy cults. The U.S. has had many as well. It's just crazy that horrible people like Schaefer really exist in the world and do such repulsive things. Really makes you wonder.
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