Inside Paraguay?s failed Aryan ?utopia?
In the late 1800s, Nietzsche?s sister tried to establish a paradise for the white race. It ended with a suicide Deep in the jungle of central Paraguay, a town announces itself with a wire sign suspended between two stone towers that look like freestanding Medieval turrets: ?Bienvenidos a Nueva Germania,? it reads. A few thousand people live in ?New Germany? today, but if the town?s founders had their way, it would have taken over the entire South American continent.
In the late 19th century, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche?sister of the famed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche?and her husband, Bernard Förster, embarked on a journey to establish a utopian colony founded on their ideas of ?racial purity.? It?s a patently absurd concept, and one that has fueled many of the most grave and destructive chapters in history. But that doesn?t stop some people who steadfastly hold that worldview. The Försters were avowedly anti-Semitic and preached the superiority of Northern European races. They also detested the ethnic and racial mixing that was happening in Europe at the time. So, they decided to start anew, in a place far, far away from Jewish people. Nueva Germania was about ?the purification and rebirth of the human race, and the preservation of human culture,? Förster wrote.
Förster-Nietzsche and Förster began spreading their campaign for racial ?purity? in Berlin, but were ostracized. In fact, Förster lost his job as a teacher for ?race agitation.? Stubborn, undeterred...
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Live talk with Hans Lensvelt | Virtual Design Festival | Dezeen |
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