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Bernhard Förster | |
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| Born | Ludwig Bernhard Förster 31 March 1843 |
| Died | 3 June 1889 (aged 46) |
| Known for | Founder of Nueva Germania |
| Spouse | Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche |
Ludwig Bernhard Förster (31 March 1843 – 3 June 1889) was a German teacher and anti-Semitic activist. He was married to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the sister of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Life
Förster became a leading figure in the anti-Semitic faction on the far right of German politics and wrote on the Jewish question, characterizing Jews as constituting a "parasite on the German body". [1] In order to support his beliefs he set up the Deutscher Volksverein (German People's League) in 1881 with Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg. [2]
In 1883, Förster left Germany in order to emigrate to Paraguay, when his anti-Semitic belief system resulted in social ostracization and the loss of his teaching job. [3] After searching the country for many months, Förster found a suitable site to establish a settlement. It was 600 square kilometres and almost 300 kilometres north of Asunción. The settlement was to become known as " Nueva Germania". Förster returned to Germany in March 1885 and married Elisabeth Nietzsche on 22 May. The couple assembled a group of 'pioneers' who shared their anti-Semitic views and wished to live in a new ' Fatherland' where an Aryan could prosper. They travelled to Paraguay from Hamburg in February 1886.
The initiative was a failure for many reasons, not least the harsh environment. Förster, with unserviceable debts, drank heavily and became depressed. [4] He eventually committed suicide by poisoning himself with a combination of morphine and strychnine in his room at the Hotel del Lago in San Bernardino, Paraguay, on 3 June 1889. He was buried in San Bernardino. [5] After his death, his widow Elisabeth wrote a book entitled Bernhard Förster's Colony New Germany in Paraguay. Intended to salvage Förster's reputation by portraying him as a hero, the book first appeared in print in 1891.
References
- ^ Hannu Salmi (1994). "Die Sucht nach dem germanischen Ideal" (in German). Also published in Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 6/1994, pp. 485–496.
- ^ Karl Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship, 1970, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Felicori, Bianca (7 October 2019). "Nueva Germania Community". Elle Décor. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ^ Forgotten Fatherland by Ben MacIntyre ISBN 978-1-4088-3815-0
- ^ Kracht, C., & Woodard, D., Five Years ( Hanover: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011).
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