Ludwig Bernhard Förster (31 March 1843 – 3 June 1889) was a German teacher and

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

activist. He was married to

Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche (10 July 1846 – 8 November 1935) was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894. Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brother ...

, the sister of the philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

Life

Förster became a leading figure in the

faction on the

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

of German politics and wrote on the Jewish question, characterizing Jews as constituting a "parasite on the German body". In order to support his beliefs he set up the ''Deutscher Volksverein'' (German People's League) in 1881 with Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg. In 1883, Förster left Germany in order to emigrate to

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, when his antisemitic beliefs resulted in ostracism and loss of his teaching job. After searching the country for many months, Förster found a suitable site to establish a settlement. It was 600 square kilometres and almost 300 kilometres north of

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

. The settlement was to become known as " Nueva Germania". Förster returned to Germany in March 1885 and married Elisabeth Nietzsche on 22 May. The couple assembled a group of "pioneers" who shared their antisemitic views and wished to live in a new "

Fatherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic nation ...

" where an

Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

could prosper. They travelled to Paraguay from Hamburg in February 1887. The initiative failed for many reasons, not least the harsh environment. Förster, beleaguered with debts, drank heavily and became depressed. He eventually committed suicide by poisoning himself with

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

and

strychnine Strychnine (, , American English, US chiefly ) is a highly toxicity, toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, ...

in his room at the Hotel del Lago in San Bernardino, Paraguay, on 3 June 1889. He was buried in San Bernardino. Kracht, C., & Woodard, D.
''Five Years''
(

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011). After his death, his widow Elisabeth wrote a book entitled ''Bernhard Förster's Colony New Germany in Paraguay''. Intended to salvage Förster's reputation by portraying him as a hero, it was published in 1891.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Bernhard 1843 births 1880s suicides 1889 deaths Antisemitism in Germany Far-right politics in Germany German emigrants to Paraguay German nationalists German schoolteachers People from Delitzsch People from the Province of Saxony Drug-related suicides Proto-fascists Proto-Nazism