A new home for the "Aryan race." That was what German emigrants envisioned when they founded Nueva Germania in Paraguay in 1886. It failed back then but a version of the town still exists today.
A utopia in South America He already had an idea of where such a place might exist. "I will transplant German culture into 'new and promising soil'," he'd proclaimed — to Paraguay , where the Aguaray-mí and Aguaray-Guazu rivers meet.
Only Germans were allowed to settle in "Nueva Germania." After the War of the Triple Alliance (1864–1870) between Paraguay and the three nations Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, Paraguay had not only lost 50% of its territory but, even worse, around 70% of its population. That was why settlers eager to invest in the country were welcomed with open arms.
In an agreement with the Paraguayan government, the Försters committed to settling at least 140 families within two years. Before leaving for Paraguay in 1886, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche and Bernhard Förster ran advertisements in newspapers and at public lectures to attract settlers — preferably artisans and farmers — and to raise funds.
"We know which plots of land they received and where they lived," says Mehler, but little is known about the emigrants' motives. "They were mostly people who had little to no money. They were certainly discontented in the German empire, left behind by industrialization." Perhaps youngest sons left out of the inheritance, she suggests. "And so, they simply put their faith in Bernhard Förster's promises, scraped together their last savings, if you will, to buy a passage on the ship and acquire a plot of land, before setting off for Paraguay with their families." Paradise in peril The settlers quickly became disillusioned. They realized that Förster's promises of exceptionally fertile soil and a favorable climate did not reflect reality.
Two years after the colony was founded, only 40 families had settled in Nueva Germania, far fewer than the 140 promised in the agreement with the government.
Bernhard Förster found himself deeply in debt and desperate. He passed away on June 3, 1889. While it's thought he may have committed suicide, this was never proven. Förster-Nietzsche had German newspapers report that her husband died as a result of his great efforts on behalf of the colony. She attempted to keep the colony running for a few more years but eventually returned to Germany.
"Sometimes I felt that they were thinking: 'We have completely different problems here. I need to ensure my tractor and my chicken farm are running smoothly and that my road won't wash away in the next rainy season. And yes, maybe my grandpa or my great-grandpa had some nationalist leanings, but for us today, all of that seems very distant'," says Mehler.
Through her research, Mehler discovered a striking parallel to the present day. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, many German anti-vaxxers declared Paraguay as their destination. We actually found a written source from Bernhard Förster, who vehemently opposed the introduction of mandatory smallpox vaccination in the German empire. He wrote, 'come with me to Paraguay; there's no mandatory vaccination there, so you can do whatever you want'." Mehler was seated alongside anti-vaxxers on a flight to Asuncion. At the airport, she noticed promotional posters for "El Paradiso Verde" or "the Green Paradise," a German-speaking colony for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
"I was very surprised to see how dramatically history has repeated itself in just 140 years," says Mehler.
The German anti-vaxxers in Paraguay To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This article was originally written in German.
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