Chile's government to expropriate land tied to Pinochet-era torture

Rudiger Schmidtke leaves his house riding his electric tricycle in Villa Baviera, formerly Colonia Dignidad, a settlement created by German immigrants that served as a secret prison during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, on the outskirts of Parral, Chile July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza

VILLA BAVIERA (Reuters) -Chile plans to expropriate a settlement founded by a German cult leader where torture took place during former dictator Augusto Pinochet's military regime as the government takes another step to shine a light on a dark period of the past.

The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schafer, a former Nazi medic turned evangelical preacher who kept the isolated community under tight control and was later jailed for sexually abusing children.