# Colonia Dignidad



## notimp (Mar 17, 2020)

A short story about 'humanity' gone wrong.

This is problematic to post in a forum like this, where people are prone to still take concepts out of context, hugely disturbing and not fun to watch at all. (Watching broken people talk for the better part of four hours.)

But so many societal principals are condensed in it in such a short time, through semistructured interviews (method), that I have to at least re-share that its out there.

Arte co-created a four hours long documentary on Colonia Dignidad ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_Dignidad ) that is simply astonishing.

Only available in German and French as always with Arte stuff.

https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/RC-018565/colonia-dignidad/

Availability (to download from arte) should still last for about a month.


----------



## Veho (Mar 17, 2020)

Here's a somewhat shorter piece on the place, to get you started. 
You may feel it's a tad sensationalist but there's no easy way to condense 45 years of bizarre, ugly history into a 10 minute pop-sci bit without a slant, and if it grabs your attention I urge you to research further on your own. 

​


----------



## notimp (Mar 17, 2020)

The youtube clip you posted is a tad somber preachy and ostentatious, and american still being a little too fascinated with Nazi ideology in parts, while the Arte documentary is not.

I dont say this to confront, but simply to say how astonishing the four hour documentary piece in that regard is. It shows and develops everything. From transformation of personal ambition into action, from societal systems not knowing yet how to deal with the situation or person even early on in germany correctly, from his own mother warning others and not being heard - and from the transformation of the colony into a project with political backing, which methods where used, press strategies, how they worked inside and outside the colony, how germany ultimately was guided into officially pronouncing 'this is is not our problem' - and there Im not even touching the personal abuse stories (over 36 years), and how he kept people in that mindset yet. This is truly astonishing in how all encompassing, and relentlessly honest in presentation of a work it is. I would not have posted it otherwise.

The last thing this is is 'just a Nazi revival' issue story (guy was basically in a 'counter' movement to give germans in post war germany 'hope and perspective' for a while (was a 'preacher without concession')), this is psychopath 'makes his world'. And world succumbing to his lure. And by that I dont only mean the people he preys on - but societal structures, political elites, everyone.

(Real talk, this is not how this normally works, this is just a cautionary tale for idk. peoples preselection biases on certain behavior to them registering as 'entrepreneurial' and therefore good.).

There is even a layer hinted at - how to get a certain type of government not to act or talk about it (in revolutionary times), by burying bigger secrets, and being a willing helper... this thing goes, and goes and goes, from layer to layer - in four hours.

Again, dont get drawn into this if you are in a particularly funky mood, this is very, very hard stuff. Dramaturgically it is offset by shots of natural beauty and a somber but lighter scoring, that help you to get through this, without it feeling entirely out of place. But still this is probably something best watched after you've got a psychology degree and not because you like murder mystery thrill on late night tv.

There is no 'truth' found in this other than about how humans work. And by work I mean fail. What they are capable of. (Not always - this is not a generalization, the world is a much different place than this in general. Dont bend over looking into the Abyss watching this particular piece. And dont feel compelled to keep watching, there is no larger lesson, just a ruthless exploration of what happened in that place over a timespan of 36 years.)


----------



## Deleted User (Mar 17, 2020)

notimp said:


> A short story about 'humanity' gone wrong.
> 
> This is problematic to post in a forum like this, where people are prone to still take concepts out of context, hugely disturbing and not fun to watch at all. (Watching broken people talk for the better part of four hours.)
> 
> ...


Another documentary is now on the arte youtube channel.


----------

