German Chileans (; ) are Chileans descended from German immigrants, about 30,000 of whom arrived in Chile between 1846 and 1914. Most of these were from traditionally Catholic

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

and the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

, and also from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

in the present-day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. A smaller number of Lutherans immigrated to Chile following the failed

revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

.Los colonos
/ref> From the middle of the 19th century to the present, they have played a significant role in the economic, political and cultural development of the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an nation. The 19th-century immigrants settled chiefly in Chile's Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions in the so-called ''

Zona Sur Zona Sur (''Southern Zone'') is one of the five natural regions on which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the Bío-Bío River, which separates it from the Central Chile Zone. The Southern Zone borders the ...

'' of Chile, including the Chilean lake district.

History

Germans in the Spanish Empire

Pedro De Valdivia Siedlungen in Chile 1540 bis 1553

The first German to feature in the history of what is now Chile is Bartolomé Blumenthal (Spanish ''alias'' Bartolomé Flores) during the 16th century who accompanied

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and the first royal governor of Chile. After having served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in ...

. The latter conquistador ousted the indigenous population and founded the city of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. Valdivia also arrested and took hostage the

Cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

(tribal leaders and chiefs) to weaken the society of the local

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

people. Blumenthal took part in the defence of the Spanish settlement of Santiago when the

launched a counter-offensive on 11 September 1541 in attempt to free their caciques held hostage by the

conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

. Later Blumenthal took part in the consolidation of the Spanish settlement that would become the Talagante Province; he was the first engineer in the remote colony. Blumenthal's son-in-law, Pedro de Lisperguer (born Peter Lisperger in Worms, Germany), was appointed as mayor of Santiago in 1572. Johann von Bohon (known in Spanish as Juan Bohón) was also part of Valdivia's expedition and was ordered to establish the city of La Serena in 1544.

19th century

Hamburg and Valparaíso

In 1818 Chile became independent from Spain and began to engage in trading with more nations. The port city of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

became a major center for trade with

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, with commercial travellers and merchants from Germany staying for lengthy periods of time to work in

. Some settled there permanently. On 9 May 1838 ''Club Alemán de Valparaíso'', the first German cultural organization was established in the city. German residents and visitors held cultural functions here. The club began to organize

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

, musical and theatre productions, contributing to the cultural life of the city. Aquinas Ried, a physician, became widely known in the city for composing operas, and for writing poetry and plays. The club had its own orchestras and academic choir (''singakademie'') which would perform works composed by local musicians. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the German Club of Valparaiso welcomed Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

after they fought the Battle of Coronel off the Chilean coast.

Colonization of Southern Chile

The Chilean government encouraged German immigration in 1848, a time of revolution in Germany. Before that

Bernhard Eunom Philippi Bernhard Eunom Philippi (September 19, 1811, in Charlottenburg – c.August 1852) was a German naturalist, explorer and colonization agent for Chile. He played an important role in the Chilean colonization of the Strait of Magellan and the ...

recruited nine working families to emigrate from

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

to Chile. The origin of the German immigrants in Chile began with the Law of Selective Immigration of 1845. The objective of this law was to bring people of a medium social/high cultural level to colonize the southern regions of Chile; these were between

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder, Pedro de Valdivia, and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and ...

and

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune ...

. The process was administered by

Vicente Pérez Rosales Vicente Pérez Rosales (; 5 April 1807 – 6 September 1886) was a politician, traveller, merchant, miner and Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world ...

by mandate of the then-president

Manuel Montt Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar. He was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861. He was the first civilian to serve a full term as Presi ...

. The German immigrants revived the domestic economy, and they changed the southern zones. The leader of the first colonists, Karl Anwandter, proclaimed their goals: The expansion and economic development of

were limited in the early 19th century. To stimulate economic development, the Chilean government initiated a highly focused immigration program under

as government representative. Through this program, thousands of

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

settled in the area, incorporating then-modern technology and know-how to develop agriculture and industry. Some of the new immigrants stayed in Valdivia but others were given forested land, which they cleared for farms. For ten years after the

Revolutions of 1848 in the German states In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...

, numerous liberal immigrants came from Germany, exiles of the revolutions. They settled primarily in the Llanquihue in the towns of Frutillar, Puerto Octay,

Puerto Varas Puerto Varas, also known as "La Ciudad De Las Rosas" or “The City Of Roses”, is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune located in the southern Chilean province of Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, in the Los Lagos Region ...

, Osorno and

. Around 1900

prospered with industries, including the Hoffmann

Gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

and the Rudloff shoe factory.

20th century

By the mid-1930s, most of the farming land around the towns of

and Osorno had been claimed. Some German immigrants moved further south to places such as Puyuhuapi in the Aysén region (settled by

Sudeten Germans German Bohemians ( ; ), later known as Sudeten Germans ( ; ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constitute ...

from present-day

); Sudeten German settlers from

Broumov Broumov (; ) is a town in Náchod District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,100 inhabitants. There are three important historic buildings, protected as national cultural monuments: the Benedictine monastery, the ...

(called Braunau in German and located in present-day Czech Republic) also stayed and lived in

, wherein the village was called Nueva Braunau. 1930s Clearning stumps

Subsequently, a new wave of German immigrants arrived in Chile, with many settling in

Temuco Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The cit ...

, and

. Many founded businesses; for example,

Horst Paulmann Horst Paulmann Kemna (22 March 1935 – 11 March 2025) was a German-Chilean billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of Cencosud, the largest retail chain in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. According to ''Forbes' ...

's small store in the capital of the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

grew into Cencosud, one of the largest businesses in the region. 1951 settler families

Even before the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933, a German Chilean youth organization was established with strong Nazi influence. Nazi Germany pursued a policy of Nazification of the German Chilean community. These communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world by Nazi Germany. Many German Chileans were passive supporters of Nazi Germany. Nazism was supported by some in the German Lutheran Church hierarchy in Chile. A local chapter of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

was started in Chile. During World War II, many

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

fled to Chile before and during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. For example, the families of Mario Kreutzberger and Tomás Hirsch came to Chile during this time. Shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, former members of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

tried to take refuge in South America, including Chile, fleeing trials against them in Europe and elsewhere. Among these was SS

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

and war criminal Walter Rauff. Paul Schäfer, a former army

medic A medic is a person trained to provide medical care, encompassing a wide range of individuals involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of health conditions. The term can refer to fully qualified medical practitioners, such as physic ...

, founded

Colonia Dignidad Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony' or 'Colony of Dignity') was an isolated colony established in post-World War II Chile by German Chileans, emigrant Germans which became notorious for the Human rights violations in Pinochet's Chile, internment, ...

, a German

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

in the

Maule Region The Maule Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,6 ...

, in which abuses against human rights were allegedly carried out. The precise number of Nazi refugees hidden in Chile after WWII remains unknown.

The terminology “German-Chileans” and “Chilean-Germans”

The criterion for belonging to the German-Chilean or Chilean-German group is not one of nationality, but purely linguistic and cultural. German ancestors came from various regions of the German-speaking area of Central Europe. Therefore, the descendants of

Austrians Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...

and German-Swiss people (read Swiss Chilean), among others, are also counted among this minority. The terms "Chilean Germans" and "German Chileans" generally refer to different groups that differ from one another in terms of their degree of integration. The term "Chilean Germans" is mostly used for Germans living abroad who themselves emigrated to Chile and usually still retain their former nationality. "German Chileans," on the other hand, are Chileans of German origin who hold Chilean citizenship —sometimes in addition to German or Austrian—and whose ancestors have lived in Chile for several generations; many of them have learned German only as a foreign language, whether second or third language.

German Chileans today

The exact number of Chileans of German descent is unknown but one source puts the number at about 1,000,000, living mostly in the central and southern portions of the country. According to the last census, there were 8,000 German citizens living in Chile. An estimated 20,000 Chileans speak the German language. There are also German schools and German-language newspapers and periodicals in Chile (e.g., '' Cóndor'' – a weekly German-language newspaper).

Education

German schools: * Deutsche Schule Sankt Thomas Morus Santiago * Deutsche Schule Santiago * Deutsche Schule Concepción * Deutsche Schule Valdivia * Deutsche Schule Valparaiso Historic German schools:Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672

Archive
.

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

(West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 20-24/51. * Deutsche Schule Chillán * Deutsche Schule Frutillar * Deutsche Schule La Serena * Deutsche Schule La Unión * Deutsche Schule Los Ángeles * Deutsche Schule Osorno * Deutsche Schule Puerto Montt * Deutsche Schule Puerto Varas * Deutsche Schule Punta Arenas * Deutsche Schule San Felipe * Deutsche Schule Temuco * Deutsche Schule Villarrica * Deutsche Schule Los Leones und Wilh.-v.-Humboldt-Seminar für Lehrer und Kindergärtnerinnen * Colegio Chileno-Aleman de Macul * Liceo Aleman (Santiago) * Colegio Santa Ursula (Santiago) * Instituto Santa Maria (Santiago) * Colegio Mariano (Santiago) * Deutsche Marienschule Santiago- La Florida * Deutsche Schule Santiago- Nuñoa * Deutsche Schule Ancud- Chiloe * Instituto Aleman Frutillar * Deutsche Schule Gorbea * Deutsche Schule Llanquihue * Escuela Aleman Huefel-Comuy ( Paja-Maisan) * Deutsche Schule

Paillaco Paillaco is a city and commune in southern Chile. It is located in Valdivia Province of Los Ríos Region, and is about 48 km southeast of Valdivia. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Paillaco spans ...

* Deutsche Schule Pucon * Colegio Aleman Purranque * Colegio Aleman Quilpe * Colegio Aleman Tomé * Deutsche Schule Traiguen * Deutsches Internat Villa Alemana * Deutsche Schule

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...

Notable German Chileans

Anton Reisenegger Anton Reisenegger von Oepen (born 21 January 1969) is a Chilean musician who is the guitarist and vocalist of the thrash/death metal band Criminal as well as guitarist and vocalist of death metal band Pentagram Chile. He is also the host of t ...

, founding member of the bands

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

and

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

* Christiane Endler, professional football athlete * Marlene Ahrens, Olympic athlete, the first Chilean woman to have won an Olympic medal. * Ena von Baer, ex-minister, political scientist and senator. *

Bastián Bodenhöfer Bastián Lorenzo Bodenhöfer Alexander (Santiago, July 1, 1961) is a Chilean actor, theater director, musician and cultural manager. He served as cultural attaché of the Chile embassy in France between 2000 and 2002, during the government of p ...

, Chilean actor. * Miranda Bodenhöfer, Chilean ballet dancer and actress. * Claudio Bunster, scientist, theoretical physicist, won the Chilean National Science Award in 1995, and contributed to the foundation of the Centro de Estudios Científicos (Center for Scientific Studies) in Valdivia. * Don Francisco (television host), Chilean television host. * Otto Dörr Zegers, psychiatrist, intellectual and writer, translated the work of

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

into Spanish. * Julián Elfenbein, Chilean journalist, radio broadcaster and television presenter. * Nina Frick Asenjo, classical pianist. * Rodrigo Goldberg, Chilean former international football player. *

Óscar Hahn Óscar Arturo Hahn Garcés (born 5 July 1938) is a Chilean writer and poet, and a member of the literary generation of the 1960s. Hahn has won multiple distinguished awards, notably the National Prize for Literature (Chile) and the Pablo Neruda ...

, poet, former faculty at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, and 2012 winner of the Chilean National Award of Literature. * Rodrigo Hinzpeter, Chilean lawyer and politician. * Tomás Hirsch, Chilean politician and businessman. * Sali Hochschild, German-born Chilean businessman, the founder of Compania Minera y Comercial Sali Hochschild S.A. * Adriana Hoffmann, Chilean botanist, environmentalist and author. *

Klaus Junge Klaus Junge (1 January 1924 – 17 April 1945) was a Chilean-German chess master who was among the world's leading players during World War II. An officer in the Wehrmacht, he died during the Battle of Hamburg (1945), Battle of Welle shortly bef ...

, chess master. * José Antonio Kast Rist, founder of the Republican Party of Chile. * Felipe Kast Sommerhoff, founder of the Political Evolution Party. *

Fernando Matthei Fernando Matthei Aubel (11 July 1925 – 19 November 2017) was a Chilean Air Force general who was part of the military junta that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, replacing the dismissed Gustavo Leigh as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air ...

, former commander of the Chilean Air Force. Member of the

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

that ruled

, Matthei was the first to admit that the regime had lost the referendum to elect Pinochet in 1988. One of his children,

Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born 11 November 1953) is a Chilean politician, who served as mayor of Providencia, Chile, Providencia, a commune in Santiago, from 2016 to 2024. She previously served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, C ...

was a candidate in the presidential elections of 2013. * Manfred Max Neef, economist and academic, winner of the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...

in 1982. *

Joaquín Niemann Joaquín Niemann Zenteno (born 7 November 1998) is a Chilean professional golfer who plays on the LIV Golf League. He won twice on the PGA Tour, before joining LIV Golf in 2022. Prior to turning professional, he held the number one position in t ...

, Chilean professional golfer. * Julio Numhauser, Chilean musician of the Nueva Canción-movement. * Diego Paulsen, politician, member of the

Chamber of Deputies of Chile The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of Chile's Bicameralism, bicameral National Congress of Chile, Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current Chilean Constitution of 1980, ...

. * Alfredo Perl, Chilean-German classical pianist, conductor of the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Germany. * Raúl Rettig Guissen, politician, chairman of the

Rettig Report The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report (), is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the '' Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting i ...

, documenting human rights abuses and disappearances during the dictatorship of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

. * Denise Rosenthal, Chilean singer and songwriter. * Claudio Spies, Chilean-American composer. *

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia from April to August 1904. He held office as the inaugural federal leader of the Au ...

, third prime minister of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. * José Weinstein, Chilean politician, sociologist and scholar who served as President of the National Council of Culture and the Arts during Ricardo Lagos' government (2000−2006). * Egon Wolff, Chilean playwright, author and faculty member of the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

. His work has been produced in 29 countries and translated into 19 different languages. * Allison Göhler, meteorologist and part-time TV host * Carlo von Mühlenbrock, famous chef * Jenny Pérez Schmidt, veteran journalist and host in DW Español * Karin Ebensperger, veteran journalist & host of

CNN Chile Cable News Network Chile (known as CNN Chile and abbreviated as CNN CL) is a Chilean pay television news channel and news website launched on 4 December 2008. It was originally a joint venture between VTR Chile and WarnerMedia. The channel is bas ...

, daughter of Marlene Ahrens * Marlén Eguiguren, veteran journalist & host of

, daughter of Karin Ebensperger & granddaughter of Marlene Ahrens * Beatriz Hevia, public official and politician * Guillermo Kuschel, entomologist

First generation immigrants

Carlos Anwandter Carlos Anwandter (1 April 1801, in Luckenwalde, Prussia – 10 July 1889, in Valdivia, Chile) was a German political exile who emigrated to Valdivia, Chile in 1850 after participating in the Revolutions of 1848. Biography He migrated to Valdi ...

, 19th-century settler, helped developing the city of

. * Juan Brüggen Messtorff, contributed to the development of

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

in Chile. *

Hermann Eberhard Hermann Eberhard (27 February 1852 in Ohlau, Silesia – 30 May 1908) was a 19th-century German explorer credited with western discovery of considerable lands in Patagonia, Chile. Eberhard journeyed by boat up the Última Esperanza Sound to invest ...

, explorer, founder of the first settlements in western Patagonia and discoverer of the

Giant sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. ...

fossils at

Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is a Natural Monument located in the Chilean Patagonia, northwest of Puerto Natales and north of Punta Arenas. The monument is situated along the flanks of Cerro Benitez. It comprises several cave ...

in Chile. * Emil Körner, German-born Chilean army commander, veteran of the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

and the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

, invited by the Chilean government to retrain the Chilean Army in the German military doctrine in 1900, and commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army during the Chilean Civil War. * Rodolfo Armando Philippi, naturalist, director of the Chilean National Museum of Natural History and founder of the first Chilean Botanical Garden. * Max Westenhöfer, scientist, physician and pathologist; disciple of

Rudolf Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow ( ; ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder o ...

. Westenhöfer is considered the founder of Chilean

anatomic pathology Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination ...

and

social medicine Social medicine is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the profound interplay between socio-economic factors and individual health outcomes. Rooted in the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, it seeks to: # Understand how specific soci ...

. * Otto von Moltke, German-Danish military officer who fought in the Franco-Prussian War and, after immigrating to Chile, in the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

. He was killed in the last war.

Religious affiliations

Many Germans who migrated to Chile practice Roman Catholicism, but also

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. It is claimed many Roman Catholics now attend Lutheran churches; however, they would no longer be Roman Catholics, so this claim is false.

References

External links

* Short documentary with English subtitle
Short documentary about German migration in Southern Chile, "Germans and Chilotes in Patagonia" Atlas vivo
{{Ethnic groups in Chile Chilean Chilean people of German-Jewish descent Jewish Chilean history