Guatemalans of German Descent
Ethnic group
A
German Guatemalan
is a citizen of
Guatemala
whose ancestors were
German settlers
(along with other settlers from
Belgium
) who arrived in the 19th and 20th century.
Guatemala
had a massive immigration of
Germans
in the nineteenth century.
[2]
The government of Justo Rufino Barrios provided them with farmlands for coffee in the departments of
Quetzaltenango
,
Alta Verapaz
and
Baja Verapaz
,
[3]
and by the early 20th century Germans populated
Guatemala City
,
Zacapa
and
Jutiapa
. Guatemala currently has a strong community of Germans who make up the majority of European immigrants in the country, and it is also the most numerous German community in all Central American countries.
[4]
In the 1940s, 8,000 German immigrants lived in Guatemala.
[5]
During World War II several hundred Germans were expelled to the United States by the Guatemalan government as part of the
deportation of Germans from Latin America during World War II
.
German colonization
[
edit
]
Coffee plantation estates built by the Germans
The first German colonists arrived in the mid-19th century, and soon German settlers acquired land and operated coffee plantations in
Alta Verapaz
and
Quetzaltenango
. Coban became an important center for German settlers. Other German operations cultivated tea, cocoa, and vanilla.
[6]
While most Germans went to Coban, others went to
San Juan Chamelco
and
Xelaju
(
Quetzaltenango
).
Coban
later came to be monopolized by German trade in wholesale stores, but they and, to a greater extent, the
fincas
dispersed throughout almost the entire region of
Alta Verapaz
. They paid workers with
coins minted by each owner
. These currencies could only purchase in the company store of the finca, whereby the employer obtained extra pecuniary gain.
[7]
The first German immigrant to Guatemala was
Rodolfo Dieseldorff
, in 1863, whereof he spoke very well of the place, and many Germans followed. According to the book
The Germans in Guatemala, 1828-1944
by Regina Wagner, what attracted Germans to Verapaz was its "natural insulation, mild climate and fertile soil, and the possibilities of agricultural and commercial development." By the end of 1890, two-thirds of coffee production in that region was in hands of Germans.
[8]
Delivery of coffee on a German farm.
With the passage of time, the economy of
Alta Verapaz
became entirely headed by Germans, and formed its own world in
Alta Verapaz
, organized in a very united and supportive community. They had social activities at the German Club, or Deutsche Verein, in
Coban
, founded in 1888, later renamed the Charitable Society. Initially, this group had only German members. The Coban German Club was improved upon, being equipped so as to lend a pleasant environment where Germans could feel at home. A library was formed with donated books and magazines brought back by those who traveled to
Germany
. Today it is the Charitable Society.
[7]
Dieseldorff formed a complex of farms over three periods: between 1890 and 1898 it acquired the Seacte, Chiachal, Click, SECAC-Ulpan, Santa Margarita, Paija, Panzal and El Salto farms; between 1898 and 1910 became the Raxpec, Santa Cecilia, Cubilguitz, Chamcarel and Sacchicagua of Secol, San Diego-Yalpemech, Chichochoc, Chichaic Santa Margarita, Rio Frio Pocola and estates; and, after 1924, it acquired the Sachamach, Tzimajil, Chiquixji Raxaha and haciendas. At the same time, it became Dieseldorff of many indigenous plots and to fully utilize the facilities of its coffee benefit and increase the volume of its exports, buying coffee cherry to small producers in the region of San Pedro Carcha by ratings or cash advances, and also received other parchment coffee farmers as the German Brothers Sterkel, for processing into gold.
[9]
The Germans were organized in a close-knit and supportive community. In 1938, every Sunday in Coban, a group of young Germans using traditional shorts, notes the book Soul Mates, "marched in military form of Magdalena farm to the club, singing songs extolling Deutschland and its mission in the world ", which at that time included the enslavement and occupation of Eastern Europe, the sterilization of the disabled and the internment and eventual slaughter of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals.
[7]
Demography
[
edit
]
In Guatemala, according to the embassy, there are more than 5,000 Germans living permanently in Guatemala, as well as several thousand more of German descent.
[1]
This is the largest German community in
Central America
.
It is difficult to know exactly the number of Guatemalans of German descent, counting only in
Alta Verapaz
,
Zacapa
and
Guatemala City
there are a large number of descendants of German (and without other strong areas of
Quetzaltenango
,
Baja Verapaz
,
El Peten
,
Sacatepequez
and
El Progreso
). It should be taken into account that in Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz many German settlers were mixed with indigenous Q'eqchi' women, and German settlers in the capital and eastern were mixed with mestizo or white/Spanish origin women. In conclusion, the number of Guatemalans of full German origin is very low. Currently, there are still people with German last names like Winther, Euler, Buechsel, Henstenberg, Quirin, Kouffer,Wellmann, Noack, etc.
Guatemalans with German ancestry share
Spanish language
and
German
.
[1]
The majority professes
Protestantism
or
Catholicism
followed by those who are
Atheists
,
Agnostics
and
Jews
. Many kept German traditions and holidays. The descendants of the Gregg and Dieseldorff family still have several fincas in
Alta Verapaz
where coffee is still grown.
[7]
Notable Guatemalan Germans
[
edit
]
- Luis von Ahn
, CEO and co-founder of
Duolingo
. He is of Jewish descent
- Jacobo Arbenz
, president of Guatemala (1951–1954).
- Arabella Arbenz
, actress and model.
- Eduardo Suger
, politician. He has
German
and
Swiss
ancestry.
- Alcina Lubitch Domecq
, writer.
- Alfred Jensen
, abstract painter.
- Gert Rosenthal Konigsberger
, politician and diplomat of German -Jewish origins, was Foreign minister between 2006 and 2008
- Soluna Samay
, singer. She has
German
and
Danish
ancestry.
- Dieter Lehnhoff
, orchestra conductor.
- Friedrich Nottebohm, subject of the
Nottebohm case
heard before the
International Court of Justice
- Fritz Garcia Gallont
, mayor of Guatemala City (2000?2004). He has a
German
and
Swiss
ancestry.
- Alvaro Arzu
, former president of Guatemala (1996?2000), mayor of
Guatemala City
(2004?2018). He had
German
and
Spanish
ancestry.
- Otto Langmann
, Nazi evangelical pastor, was coming from
Germany
but was nationalized
Guatemalan
, and then
Uruguayan
.
- Efrain Recinos
, architect, muralist, urbanist, painter and sculptor.
German missionaries in Guatemala
[
edit
]
Otto Langmann was in Guatemala in 1930.
Several Lutheran German missionaries arrived in Guatemala
[
when?
]
. Some of these belonged to the
Nazi Party
.
[
citation needed
]
Otto Langmann
[
edit
]
The arrival of Pastor Otto Langmann (1898?1956) in 1930 in Guatemala can be described as the beginning of the Nazis in the German Colony. He supported an evangelical community in Guatemala; a year later he joined the NSDAP and founded the first Nazi groups abroad,
[10]
Shortly after his arrival in Guatemala, which came with some members of the congregation, Langmann was the founder of the Epiphany of the Evangelical Church in Guatemala, Langmann had a very important role in rural areas of Guatemala and Guatemala City
[11]
Dieseldorff family
[
edit
]
The Family Dieseldorff in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
The name Dieseldorff means a lot to the people of Alta Verapaz. Besides having several coffee farms in the region, were the first Germans who came to the department. In 1934, when the German consul invited all members of the community to receive the new German ambassador; the Dieseldorff family were not invited, because they were not considered as pure Aryans, as they had Jewish blood.
By the end of his long career at sea, Dieseldorff Gualan chose, Zacapa as his place to retire. There, he experimented with the cultivation of cotton, but lost his crops due to pests. This forced him to start a new trade (coffee) which brought him to Alta Verapaz, where he settled.
The descendants of this family still have several farms in Alta Verapaz where coffee is still grown.
[12]
Nazi sympathizers
[
edit
]
Among Germans who immigrated in the 1930s were followers of
National Socialism
. Not all immigrants were followers. The older, present generations in Alta Verapaz were not demonstrably attracted to the movement nor the
Nazi Party
. In 1933, with the accession of
National Socialist Movement
in Germany, Nazi patriotic and cultural anniversaries began to appear in the small confines of Coban and Alta Verapaz, and a local National Socialist Party formed among Germans there.
[
citation needed
]
It has been claimed that in the mid-1930s all
Germans
in
Alta Verapaz
were
Nazis
;
[
citation needed
]
however, this claim is unfounded, as it is only anecdotal, and not all of German descent were in effect also Nazi.
In 1935?1936, a seminal event impacted the German community in
La Verapaz
:
Nazi Germany
asked their expatriate citizens to vote on the German annexation of
Austria
, the
Anschluss
. Some Germans in
Guatemala
held dual citizenship. A German boat anchored in
Puerto Barrios
to facilitate the vote. Those who attended were designated as sympathizers of
Adolf Hitler
.
[7]
In 1936, 381 Germans in Guatemala voted for Adolf Hitler.
[
citation needed
]
Subsequently, most of the German landowners were deported, under pressure from the
United States
, for supporting the
Nazi Party
.
[6]
Cabinetry-maker Heinrich Gundelach and
Protestant
pastor
Otto Langmann
were founders of the Party's organization in
Coban
. According to the book
Los Alemanes en Guatemala
by Regina Wagner, that same year (1938) the long-since present German School formed a
Hitler Youth
, practiced the salute, and discussed
National Socialist
race theory, disregarding that the German school also had students of
Jewish
descent. Thomas M. Leonard notes in
The General History of Guatemala
that the
Buenos Aires
newspaper
Critica de Buenos Aires
reported in 1938 that
Germany
was building airfields in
Guatemala
. This claim was found to be untrue, but nonetheless garnered
Washington
's alarm, considering Guatemala to be the core of Nazi
propaganda
in
Central America
, as three quarters of the German population of the entire Central American isthmus at the time lived in Guatemala.
[13]
German culture in Guatemala
[
edit
]
The Germans introduced much of their culture in Guatemala Christmas traditions, one of which was the Christmas tree introduced in the late nineteenth century, according to a belief that Germans traian Christmas tree is: "It is said that St. Boniface evangelized Germany, downed tree representing the god Odin, and in the same place planted a pine, a symbol of enduring love of God and adorned with apples and candles, giving a Christian symbolism: apples represented the temptations, original sin and sins of men candles represent Christ, the light of the world and receive the grace that men who accept Jesus as their Savior." This custom spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages and the conquests and migrations came to America. Christmas carols and hymns were composed by German missionaries arrived in Guatemala then by inserting it to principios twentieth century German Guatemala introduced the tradition or belief in Santa Claus or Nicolas, which is currently very popular.
[14]
The German teacher Eddy Vielman introduced in 1995
Nutcracker
in Guatemala, currently he direct this work that appears in every Christmas, also contributes to the culture of Scenic Arts in Guatemala.
[15]
The beer industry in Guatemala City and Coban had much cooperation of German immigrants. The representatively iconic Gallo beer of Guatemala has German roots of national flavor to the brewery industry.
[16]
In other traditions, the Oktoberfest is held in
Guatemala City
,
Coban
,
San Juan Chamelco
,
Zacapa
,
Quetzaltenango
and
Antigua Guatemala
, this celebration was introduced by the Germans and became very popular.
Today in
Coban
, the
Alta Verapaz
departmental governmental seat, extant 19th century German stylistic and cultural tastes can be noted in houses, cathedrals, parks, clock towers, in the administrative palace, and as well in other
Alta Verapaz
cities such as
San Juan Chamelco
.
[17]
German festival in Guatemala
[
edit
]
In October 2014, the German school in Guatemala and special guest the German Ambassador to Guatemala,
Matthias Sonn
, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 24 years of German unification. The students sang hymns and participated in a presentation symbolically tearing down a wall decorated with drawings.
[18]
Oktoberfest, introduced by the first German immigrants, is celebrated in
Guatemala City
,
Antigua Guatemala
and
Alta Verapaz
.
[19]
German language in Guatemala
[
edit
]
The
Alexander von Humboldt
Association created a German school in
Coban
, followed by schools in
Quetzaltenango
and
Guatemala City
. After
World War II
, the school was closed since it was associated with the Nazis, but reopened for 1958.
[20]
The Asociacion
Alexander von Humboldt
runs the German School, the German Language Institute, the German Cultural Institute and the Club Aleman. After twelve years of instruction, the more than 1,000 students attending the German School. The people of interest in studying in Germany has constantly grown in recent years. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has seconded an academic teacher to Guatemala.
[1]
Die Zivilisationsbringer
(documentary film)
[
edit
]
In 1998, documentarians Uli Stelzner and Thomas Walther filmed a documentary,
The Civilizer
(Die Zivilisationsbringer), interviewing members of current German entrepreneurial elite in
Alta Verapaz
and
Guatemala City
and finding claims to have "unmasked the German racism", that the offspring of scions of the first Germans who came to
Guatemala
in the 1880s are "still convinced of belonging to a superior culture".
[21]
German communities and contributions in Guatemala currently
[
edit
]
Guatemala is one of the partner countries with which Germany enjoys close development cooperation based on intergovernmental agreements. Germany is one of the country's largest donors. Cooperation focuses on the priority areas of "democratic governance with equity" and "education". Germany also contributes to the economic, industrial development, and contributes to security in the country. Germany is the main trading partner of Guatemala in Europe, also is the European country that more has diplomatic relations in Guatemala.
[22]
Associations and cooperations
[
edit
]
The German Embassy in Guatemala assert that there are approximately more than 10,000 Germans living permanently in Guatemala in 2010,
[22]
also asserts that these are German citizens who are made to live in Guatemala tourism, business, and cooperatives.
- The German Embassy to Guatemala
- the German-Guatemalan technical cooperation.
- German farmers cooperative in Guatemala.
- German club of Guatemala
- Economic cooperation
German industries in Guatemala
[
edit
]
- Industrias Salchichas Bremen (this industry is Guatemalan and their owners are descendants of the German family Bremen)
- Industria Alemana de Alimentos, S.A. en Guatemala
- Camara de Comercio e Industria Guatemalteco-Alemana
- Multinacional Alemana-Guatemala
- Ventanas Alemanas, S.A
- AHK Guatemala
- Henkel Guatemala
- Hamburg Sued Guatemala, S.A. (formed in 2009 when Sven Rose was appointed its first managing director)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Federal Foreign Office
Auswartiges-Guatemala
.Retrieved on 7 November 2014.
- ^
"The Germans in Guatemala 1820-1944"
. 2011-02-15.
- ^
Schoonover, Thomas (1936).
Germany in Central America: Competitive Imperialism, 1821-1929
(1998 ed.). United States: The University of Alabama Press. pp. 88+316.
ISBN
978-0-8173-8489-0
. Retrieved
2014-10-28
.
- ^
Schoonover, Thomas (October 1947). "German investment in Guatemala".
The Journal of Business of the University of Chicago
.
20
(4). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: 212?219.
doi
:
10.1086/232832
.
JSTOR
2350054
.
- ^
Schoonover, Thomas (2008).
Hitler's Man in Havana: Heinz Luning and Nazi Espionage in Latin America
. United States of America: The University Press of Kentucky. p. 35.
ISBN
978-0-8131-2501-5
. Retrieved
27 May
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Encyclopædia Britannica
Coban(Guatemala)
Retrieved, 07-11-2014
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Revista D
Deutschland en la Verapaz
Archived
October 28, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved, 07/12/2014.
- ^
Wagner, Regina (November 2001).
Historia del cafe de Guatemala
. Bogota, D,C, Colombia: Anacafe. pp. 203, 207.
ISBN
978-958-96982-8-0
. Retrieved
2014-10-27
.
- ^
Caso IGSS: se toco al poder economico
- ^
In:
Die Deutschen in Guatemala 1930-194
, 30. November 2009,
Ein Pfarrer fur Guatemala
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"La cara Europea de Guatemala: Un pastor Germano en Guatemala"
. December 2009.
- ^
Sandoval, Julieta.
"Deutschland en la Verapaz"
.
Revista D - D fondo
. La huella alemana. Archived from
the original
on 2015-06-26
. Retrieved
2014-10-27
.
- ^
Gemma Gil
Fascismo en Guatemala
Archived
2015-01-22 at the
Wayback Machine
Revista D
Guatemala, 18/12/2007. Retrieved, 07/12/2014.
- ^
Tradiciones y Costumbres Navidenas de Guatemala
Retrieved on, 7 November 2014.
- ^
El Cascanueces llega al Teatro Nacional
Prensa Libre
.
- ^
Cerveza Gallo
Historia de la cerveceria guatemalteca
Retrieved on, 7 November 2014.
- ^
As a consequence of expropriation of indigenously owned land, which were deemed putatively as
ejidos
in the 19th century, dire poverty continues to affect indigenous peoples in
Alta Verapaz
- ^
Prensa Libre.
Celebran dia de la unificacion alemana
, Guatemala, 25 October 2014. Retrieved on 1 November 2014.
- ^
Prensa Libre
Oktoberfest el sabor de Alemania
Retrieved, 7 November 2014.
- ^
AVH-Colegio Aleman de Guatemala
Retrieved, 07/12/2014.
- ^
Carlos Chavez.
La cara alemana de guatemala
Archived
2015-06-30 at the
Wayback Machine
La prensa grafica
. Guatemala, 24 January 2009. Retrieved on, 7 November 2014.
- ^
a
b
Deutsche Botschaft Guatemala
Archived
2016-01-14 at the
Wayback Machine
German Embassy of Guatemala
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and others)
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