Klaus Schnellenkamp

Klaus Schnellenkamp (born 1972) is a German Chilean author. Schnellenkamp escaped from Colonia Dignidad community to Germany in December 2005. His book, Geboren im Schatten der Angst; Ich überlebte die Colonia Dignidad. (Born in the shadow of fear; I survived Colonia Dignidad), details his escape and life during the Military dictatorship of Chile.[1]

Background

Schnellenkamp was born in Colonia Dignidad, Chile. His parents, Kurt Schnellenkamp Nelaimischkies (1927 – 2017), and Elisabeth Witthahn Krüger (1936 – 2009), were co-founders of Colonia Dignidad. In 1961, they followed the leader Paul Schäfer to Chile in order to establish and grow the colony.[2]

The parent's vast power led to the paradoxical enrolment of the son in the paramilitary sect school Colonia Dignidad where he first received premilitary drill, presided over by the ‘AAG’ (an unofficial nongovernmental alliance of reciprocity, in German ‘Außerstaatliche Allianz auf Gegenseitigkeit’, dissolved in 2000).[3] Schnellenkamp attended a private elite school within Colonia Dignidad, sponsored by the ChilAlRotary, where he studied natural and social sciences, in cooperation with the alliance known as AAG (a German-Chilean spin-off of the HIAG, a lobby group and a denialist veterans' organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany). This, in combination with his secretly written poems and ballads, led to repeated punishment and social isolation within the community.[4]

After graduation Schnellenkamp became active in the business management of the sect. In spite of his very rebellious position towards the sect leadership Schnellenkamp managed to develop and strengthen his position within the Colonia Dignidad. From this position he was able to get a good insight into the intrigues of the group which presented itself to the outside world as a charitable organisation. Due to his public criticism of the economic criminal activity of the sect, Klaus Schnellenkamp became several times a victim of murder attempts.[5][6][7]

Since December, 2005 Klaus Schnellenkamp has been living in Munich, Germany. His autobiography which appeared in spring of 2007 has attracted the public attention towards himself. Since 2008, he has been working as independent entrepreneur in a management consulting firm founded by himself in Munich.[8]

References
  1. "Two Germans sentenced in Chile for kidnappings under Pinochet dictatorship | DW | 20.10.2015". DW.COM. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  2. The First TV Program
  3. Auf den Spuren eines deutschen Verbrechens in Chile
  4. "Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past". Reuters. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  5. Klaus Schnellenkamp im Online-Portal Crossover September 2007 (Textbeitrag)
  6. Article from 2008 in the Chilean state newspaper LA NACIÓN
  7. Berliner Morgenpost 2007
  8. Freie Universität Berlin wbg Academic S. 143


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