Die Kirche unserer Vter

For many Germans who emigrated to South America in the 19th and 20th centuries, Germanness retained an identity-forming meaning. This is reflected in the German-speaking Protestant parishes in Chile. For many people, the pastors sent from Germany, the ecclesiastical traditions that were lived and the songs they sang represented a connection to their German homeland. In the 1930s and 1940s, the German discourse gained in intensity. As part of the German-speaking colonies, the parishes are close to the National Socialist organizations abroad. Many pastors become members of the NSDAP - in their sermons, speeches and letters the connection to homeland and Germanness is also legitimized theologically. After 1945, a critical view of National Socialism is largely absent. On the contrary: when Martin Niemoeller visited South America in 1950, there were open arguments about the interpretation of the past.