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GERMAN SOULS – LIFE AFTER THE COLONIA DIGNIDAD

Director: Matthias Zuber / Martin Farkas

92 minutes| Germany| 2009| Subtitled| Colour| Digibeta


Villa Baviera (Bavaria Village), formerly known as Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony), is a hamlet located in central Chile. It was founded in 1961 by a group of German immigrants led by ex-Nazi Paul Schafer. For over forty years members of this sect lived cut off from the rest of the world. The colony was secretive, surrounded by barbed wire fences, searchlights and a watchtower. Drugs were administered as a form of sedation and child molestation was a regular occurrence.

Following decades of abuse, perpetrators and victims continue to live next door to one another, bound together by a vow of silence. Parallels with recent German history abound in this excellent documentary study of the colony and its people.

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