Paul Schäfer
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Paul Schäfer Schneider (December 4, 1921 - April 24, 2010) was the leader of a Chilean commune for German immigrants who collaborated with the Pinochet regime in the internment, torture and murder of dissidents until he was forced to go into hiding following the collapse of the regime. He fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest over allegations of child sexual abuse, was convicted in absentia and was later captured. He was then charged with involvement in the disappearance of an activist named Juan Maino but died in custody before he could be convicted.
Biography edit
Paul Schafer was born on December 4 1921 in Germany. He lost his right eye in an accident. Later in life, this injury would prevent him from joining the German special forces, but it did not prevent him from joining the Hitler Youth at a young age. During the Second World War, he served as a medic and later claimed that this was how he lost his eye.
After the war, he set up a ministry that he claimed was a charitable organization but was in fact a front for a radical Christian cult, inspired by the same writer who influenced Jim Jones. However, he was forced to flee with his congregation to the Middle East after being exposed as a child sex abuser and was later invited to come to Chile by the ambassador. While there, he was allowed to set up a commune founded on anti-Communist principles that would later develop into the cult community of Colonia Dignidad.
After returning from hospital following an accident, Schafer returned to the commune and began separating boys and girls, he would then rape the boys. One teenage boy, Wolfgang Kneese, escaped to the German embassy, but no action was taken against him due to Schafer convincing a student named Hartmut Hopp to smear him in return for letting him study medicine.
When a socialist named Salvador Allende came to power, Schafer had weapons illegally smuggled in from Germany to defend the commune in case the government tried to shut it down. He also began keeping the boys at the commune in check by giving them electroshock therapy to their genitals.
When a fascist named Augusto Pinochet came to power, Schafer allowed him to use the compound as a secret detention centre where dissidents were tortured and executed. He also helped Pinochet get weapons after the US imposed a trade embargo by doing business with a former Nazi member named Gerhard Mertins who would smuggle weapons into the compound.
After Pinochet stepped down, the government revoked the charitable status of Schafer's hospital. Around this time, Schafer began raping Chilean boys as well as the immigrant children. To stop them resisting, he had Hartmut Hopp, who by this point had become a full doctor, prescribe him sedatives he could use to subdue them. However, several of the compound children escaped and a warrant for his arrest was issued. In his absence due to him fleeing the country, he was tried and found guilty and was also wanted for crimes committed during the Pinochet regime. Eventually, he was found in Argentina, extradited and imprisoned. He died in prison awaiting trial over charges relating to the deaths of political activists on his compound.