"Transferring Ideal Goods of our People to New Ground" - The Colony Nueva Germania in Paraguay

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1886, Elisabeth Nietzsche and her husband Bernhard Förster founded the anti-semitic colony Nueva Germania. Up to 140 settler families took part in the endeavor to realize an utopian settlement in the heart of Paraguay. Some of the families wanted to leave the German Empire out of political discontent forever, others tried to escape industrialization and poverty. The government of war-ravaged Paraguay supported immigration from Europe and provided cheap land.

The utopian dream soon burst - the escape to a rural idyll with 'Germanic' and vegetarian ideals faced harsh living conditions and an unfavorable location. Bernhard Förster soon died, probably by suicide, and Nueva Germania could no longer be financed.

In our historical-archaeological research project, we examine push and pull factors of this emigration, as well as exploitation and oppression (both of the settler families by Förster-Nietzsche, and of the indigenous population), and its aftermath as contested heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow