A Sinister Sect: Colonia Dignidad

This gentleman isn't capable of any evil.

No evil! We are all witnesses.

Yes!

There are many stories about you.

That you are brainwashed,

that you all have to follow strict rules about how to act, how to live.

Isn't it true?

-No! -Absolutely not!

My name is Salo Luna Garrido.

I first went to Colonia Dignidad when I was eight.

When will that night come?

When everything will shine

With lanterns and torches

With justice, love, and peace

To me, it was paradise.

Or something very similar to paradise.

They helped us, they gave us food,

and we learned a lot.

It never occurred to me that, in time,

this would become a nightmare.

During the 1960s, specifically in 1961,

this group of Germans had arrived in Chile.

Honestly, few people believed they would be able to grow anything.

The soil was very rocky.

But of course.

Being Germans, they managed to make the soil flourish.

Paul Schäfer was their spiritual leader.

They worshiped him as if he were Jesus.

If God is involved in your life, hate becomes love.

Desperation becomes peace.

Restlessness becomes calm.

Everything moves away from darkness and comes close to God.

He was the devil.

For years.

For decades.

Colonia Dignidad wasn't what it appeared to be.

It was a horrific place.

The Kartoffelkeller,

also called the "potato cellar."

There was a torture school there.

General Pinochet,

our president back then,

was a good friend of Schäfer's.

We didn't come here to commit a crime.

We came here to help the children.

That's how it was.

I became a kind of spokesman for Chilean youth.

Which meant that I was directly involved with Schäfer.

Constantly.

The first time Schäfer saw me,

he became obsessed with me.

He would look at me almost lasciviously.

Until one day,

a group of young Germans caught me

and took me to his bedroom.

Then, I swore I would get revenge on Paul Schäfer.

I didn't know how,

but I had to get revenge at some point.

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES

I live in San Fabián,

a town at the base of the Andes.

Not too far from the colony.

Serve!

I work in the commune's administration,

and I'm in charge of the sports department.

Get it!

Go!

Go, Lucas!

I keep in touch with the colonists,

at least with some.

Nowadays, Colonia Dignidad is called Villa Baviera.

It's a corporation.

Despite all that happened,

they still have a great amount of power.

I don't see you clapping!

Yes.

A big applause for our friends from Villa Baviera!

The descendants of the founders

revived the German culture.

Like Anna Schnellenkamp, for instance.

She is part of the management of the new colony.

She manages the tourism area.

Anna is the daughter of the former financial director of the colony.

When I found out my father was one of the guilty ones, it was very difficult.

CAUQUENES PRISON, CHILE

It's not like I don't care about what he did,

but it's my family, I can't turn my back on him.

My father believed blindly in Schäfer.

I don't understand it, I can't explain it.

I regret having been so cruel. Cold as ice.

I kept going, I would go on with my chores.

COLONIA DIGNIDAD'S FINANCIAL DIRECTOR

I just realized now the kind of man he was.

Really. I was crazy.

-And couldn't you change the system? -I couldn't.

All I could've done was run away.

Escape.

And why didn't you escape?

First of all,

because I wanted to take my wife, Elisabeth, with me, right?

And she would always tell me,

"If we leave, we'll get away from God."

He once told me how he met Schäfer

after World War II.

FRANCE, 1945

I was only 17 years old.

And I was already in the front.

We went on a mission with 150 other soldiers

from the company.

And only six of us survived.

Only six!

I implored God, I said,

"Lord, protect me. Take me out of this hell."

"I will make a promise to You, and I will always keep it."

"I belong to You."

I couldn't--

I couldn't take it anymore.

Then we found out there was one man

that preached the Gospel and maintained its teachings.

We found out he was at the Elbe River, on the border between East and West.

He was Paul Schäfer.

Paul Schäfer shows up one day…

penniless.

He once told me

that his two older brothers had died in World War II.

He had been a stretcher-bearer in this war.

GARTOW, GERMANY

It was precisely there

where Schäfer's first mission began.

He started gathering his first followers.

The church admitted him as a youth worker.

And that brought a great change into our lives.

We were never bored. There was always something.

There was nothing else to do in Gartow.

We were happy to have a youth group.

We made trips to the forest, we did all those things.

We sang. We used to sing a lot.

He was always in a good mood.

PAUL SCHÄFER'S FOLLOWER

I never saw him sad.

Always in a good mood.

The kids did everything he said.

And they would go see him at night.

That was--

Yes, that was suspicious.

But it was swept under the rug.

Just like it's done today.

And soon afterwards,

Paul Schäfer approached me

and told me, "They fired me. Effective immediately."

I couldn't believe it.

He was such a pious man, how could they fire him?

After Schäfer was fired,

he lived for a while in Gartow's forest.

He said he had a direct encounter with Jesus there.

And that Jesus

had chosen him for a mission:

founding something like a community of true Christians.

Everything shines intrinsically.

PAUL SCHÄFER'S VOICE

Everything that's created under God's light and spirit.

The power of God Almighty permeates all creation.

Schäfer used to travel throughout Germany.

Visiting free churches.

He preached in many Baptist communities

with the purpose of getting members for his own group,

which was quickly growing.

What's comparable To the happiness of the hunter

For whom the chalice of life

Spills over?

There was youthfulness, freshness, happiness.

And that showed in everything.

Following the deer Through bushes and ponds

It's a magnificent joy It's a masculine desire

It strengthens the limbs It seasons the meat

When someone preaches, sometimes their words don't come through,

but sometimes they do.

And they reached my deepest self.

"If a branch grows in me

which bears no fruit,

He takes it away."

It's clear, isn't it?

If you don't bear fruit,

you will be taken away.

It's crystal clear!

PAUL SCHÄFER'S VOICE

"And the vines

that do bear fruit

are harvested," aren't they?

What does that mean?

That everything that's withering within you will be trimmed.

Do you understand?

-Did you understand? -Yes!

I had never lived something like that with any other group or youth gathering.

PAUL SCHÄFER'S FOLLOWER

When he talked, you could hear a pin drop.

Repent. Change.

PAUL SCHÄFER'S VOICE

Move away. Ask God to forgive your sins.

So it's not too late.