Did a Great Colombian Hide a Nazi Past?

Gerardo Reichel, during his second life. 

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff holds a well-earned place in Colombian academics.

After emigrating here in 1939 he pioneered research on indigenous peoples throughout the country. In 1946, he and his wife Alicia Dussan founded the Ethnological Institute of the Magdalena and in 1963 they founded Colombia's first department of anthropology, at the University of the Andes in Bogotá. Reichel-Dolmatoff was also a member of the Colombian and United States academies of science, received many awards and wrote an astonishing 33 books and hundreds of scientific articles, according to his Wikipedia entry. Reichel-Dolmatoff is, deservedly, called the 'father of Colombian anthropology'.

However, if research by a Colombian academic working for a United States university is accurate, the Austrian-born Reichel-Dolmatoff, who died in 1994, was also hiding a horrific past. 

Prof. Oyuela-Caycedo motions to a photo of Nazi
leaders during his talk at the Americanists conference.
(Image from YouTube)

There had previously been hints of links to the Nazis in Reichel-Dolmatoff's youth in Austria, but they were apparently ignored or brushed off as attacks by his enemies. However, in preparation for the 54th International Congress of Americanists, held in July 2012 in Vienna, Austria, University of Florida Associate Prof. of Anthropology Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo began researching the youth of Reichel-Dolmatoff, under whom he had studied. Presumably, the Colombian-born Oyuela-Caycedo expected to fill in some gaps and produce yet another laudatory piece about this 'great man of Colombian academia.'

But, instead, what Oyuela-Caycedo found, with the assistance of researchers in Germany, has threatened the legacy of Reichel-Dolmatoff and perhaps even shaken the foundation of Colombian anthropology.

'The German Revolution,' a dissident Nazi newspaper
 which published alleged extracts from
Reichel-Dolmatoff's diary. (Image from YouTube)

Poring thru pre-World War II newspapers, old Bundestag records and even the Nazi Party's own documents, Oyuela-Caycedo and the Geman researchers compiled strong documentary evidence that the Reichel-Dolmatoff who accomplished great things for Colombian science had between the ages of 14 and 25, been a member of the Nazi Party and the SS, murdered Hitler's enemies and  trained guards at the notorious Dachau Concentration Camp. Oyuela-Caycedo's talk at the Americanists Conference is here, in Spanish, on YouTube.

In his talk, Oyuela-Caycedo read a chilling account, allegedly copied by dissident Nazis from Reichel-Dolmatoff's own diary, describing Reichel-Dolmatoff gunning down of an old man in 1934 during the 'Night of the Long Knives,' the mass murders of Hitler's opponents in the German government. The next year, Reichel-Dolmatoff worked as a guard and trained other guards in the notorious Dachau Concentration Camp, the model for Hitler's system of mass murder, according to Oyuela-Caycedo.

The current issue of Arcadia
magazine reports the story.

But in 1936 Reichel-Dolmatoff suffered something of a nervous breakdown and was briefly institutionalized, Oyuela-Caycedo found. Soon after, Reichel-Dolmatoff was declared 'inapt' to serve in the SS. The current edition of the magazine Arcadia reports that Reichel-Dolmatoff left the SS complaining of head pains. By 1937, Reichel-Dolmatoff was living and studying in France and working with anti-Nazi organizations, according to Arcadia (but the German researchers found no evidence of such anti-Nazi activities). In 1940, Oyuela-Caycedo found, the Nazi Party expelled and blacklisted Reichel-Dolmatoff.

The story seems incredible. But Oyuela-Caycedo found so many coincidences of time and place between the Reichel-Dolmatoff who was an outstanding anthropologist and the Nazi killer with the same name that his case is solid.

"It hurts me to read this," Oyuela-Caycedo says during his talk, "because I knew Gerardo Reichel."

My lingering doubts about whether this was the same Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff were mostly cleared away by one line in the Arcadia article: Reichel-Dolmatoff's family had no response to the findings. That suggests that they have reason to believe the account's truthfulness.

A notice issued by the Nazi party seeking
Reichel-Dolmatoff  after he had left Germany.

The story invites reflections about human nature: how malleable and changeable and even unprincipled it can be - concepts which perhaps influenced Reichel-Dolmatoff's own anthropology researches. It also makes me ask what drove Reichel-Dolmatoff out of the SS - was it a core of decency, a kind of weakness of will, or an inability to tolerate terrible crimes? Did he invent his headaches to leave the organization? Certainly, his later anti-Nazi activities and even his studies of Colombia's decidedly non-Aryan indigenous peoples were rejections of everything that Naziism stood for. 

Did Reichel-Dolmatoff leave his family an autobiography to be released 50 years after his death? We can only hope so. It would be yet another contribution to science and the study of man. But we can also regret that Reichel-Dolmatoff kept this part of his life story secret. Perhaps his turn from darkness to light could have provided answers for resolving Colombia's own conflict.  

El Tiempo interviewed two German researchers who are reconstructing the history of Reichel-Dolmatoff and other participants in the Nazi Party. They don't believe that Reichel-Dolmatoff left the movement for ideological or moral reasons, but simply because he came from an elite background and didn't feel comfortable among the Nazi soldiers, who were mostly unsophisticated men. They found no evidence of repentance in his writings or of his reported work for the anti-Nazi resistance.

The researchers don't find Reichel-Dolmatoff's dramatic transformation from apparent Nazi killer to respected humanist at all surprising: they've seen many such cases.

To me, it's yet another indication of the plasticity of human nature. Reichel-Dolmatoff was clearly an intelligent, dynamic person. But he just as easily conformed in a group of vicious murderers as in an elite academic environment.

"We are German historians and are accustomed to cases such as this one and even more jarring ones. We understand that Reichel's history in Germany has caused stupor in Colombia because of his later career. But here it is just one more such case among many," researcher Holger Stoecker told El Tiempo.

Related posts:

Shoa Remembrance in Bogotá

German Immigrants in Colombia

The Sinking of the Resolute

Karl Buchholz, Brave Bookseller

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Protesting Against Progress

Protesters charge that the new public transit arrangement will raise charges for users. That may be true, but is a problem of design, not the concept. 

A few dozen people marched today down Seventh Ave. protesting against the planned Integrated System of Public Transit, or SITP, which is supposed to coordinate the existing TransMilenio system, private buses, planned subway and other transit systems.

It's a clear necessity, as a glance at Bogotá's chaos and traffic jams will show. But as the reforms remove some old buses from the streets - which is a necessity - some people will lose incomes. And those people are protesting to keep the existing, dysfunctional system in place.

'Higher bus fares, more crowded buses, more unemployment.'

Also out demonstrating, and with good reason, were the Bicitaxistas, the operators of big pedicabs. Altho they fill a great need, don't pollute and contribute little to traffic congestion, these vehicles aren't legal, and police sometimes confisticate them from their owners. Why doesn't this change? The only reason I can think of is political pressure by owners of the regular, polluting, traffic-jamming taxis, who fear losing business.

'We demand that they let us work!'

Finally, a few shots I took today of the existing, inefficient, terribly polluting bus system, which today's marchers are defending:

Chronic congestion on Carrera 10. When will the TransMilenio line finally start functioning here?

 

With traffic at a standstill, this guy used time to wash his bus. 

It's not often that you capture two buses side by side belching different colored smoke.

This man apparently decided he'd move faster on foot. 

The other day El Tiempo observed that the old buses poison us with their fumes 'with total impunity.'

A cyclist rolls past cars. 

A woman covers her mouth against bus fumes. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Viva Fest in the National Park

A member of 'Drummers for Peace' showed up. 

Scenes from today and tomorrow's Viva cultural festival in Bogotá's National Park. The festival included a salsa band, part of the city-wide Salsa al Parque event, as well as an eclectic and sometimes quirky mix of displays by neighborhood do-gooder organizations, including indigenous, LGBT and childrens organizations, as well as community radios and arts groups.

Scary monster.

Dead scary monster.

 

A salsa band performs.... 

...and these kids get down. 

A bicycle tourist tastes a fermented quinua drink. 

Posing in a dirty image. 

Traditionally-dressed señoritas. 

These older women were getting down to the music. 

Tumbling boys. 

These bicycles generated electricity for loudspeakers. 

Traditional handicrafts.

The LGBT community. 

I thot 'How charming, these traditional dancing girls.' But from another angle, there was something undtraditionally masculine about them.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

'If the media didn't exist, then there wouldn't be terrorism.'

'If the media didn't exist, then there wouldn't be terrorism.'

That was a surprising and disturbing comment from Pres. Santos, reminiscent of some of ex-Pres. Uribe's ideas. Santos was speaking in Cartagena, when he made the very true observation that terrorists live off of the attention they receive, mostly from the media. But Santos then went on suggest that some journalists arrived at the scenes of guerrilla terrorist attacks suspiciously quickly - suggesting that they had foreknowledge of the crimes.

It may certainly be true that some media organizations here - most prominently Venezuelan-run Telesur - may sympathize or even support the guerrillas, the president shouldn't toss out such grave accusations without offering evidence. It's particularly surprising coming from Santos, whose family is the historical owner of the El Tiempo newspaper, which of course reports fully on terrorist attacks.

While it is true that such groups would probably lose much of their motive for causing terror if nobody heard about it, that's only possible in a dictatorship. Santos has his own motive for wanting coverage limited - the attention is hurting his popularity and his chances for a second term. The real solution to this violence is addressing its sources: poverty and the illegal drug trade. For that, the world should give serious consideration to another of Santos' proposals: drug decriminalization.

Santos must be particularly and understandably frustrated by recent guerrilla attacks near the Pacific Coast town of Tumaco, which have left the area without electricity for a week. In fact, several workers sent to repair power poles bombed by the FARC were killed by land mines apparently laid by the guerrillas.

Tumaco is a small, most Afro-Colombian town, whose humble residents are exactly the sort of people whom the guerrillas say they are defending, not terrorizing. But the region is also a valuable cocaine-exporting region, and guerrillas, narcos and paramilitaries all want to wrest its control away from each other and the state.

The region's long-suffering residents, who also include many indigenous people, are caught in the middle.

"We don't understand why our region has been hit so hard by violence," Tumaco Mayor Victor Gallo Ortiz, "we don't know what to do."

Everybody should sympathize with Mr. Ortiz and the people of Tumaco. But intimidating the press is not the solution.



By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Colombia Scores a 'C' on Coastal Health

Colombia's Coast: Not so well managed.

An index of nations' coastal health just released by Conservation International and the National Geographic Society ranks Colombia 94th out of 171 coastal regions, with a score of 52 out of a possible 100.

The study ranked countries and coastal regions on 10 measures including 'Clean Waters,' 'Tourism and Recreation,' 'Biodiversity,' 'Coastal Protection,' and 'Food Provision,' as well as the less clear 'Sense of Place.'

Doing pretty well: An artesanal
fisherman on Colombia's coast.

Colombia did best on 'Artisanal Fishing Opportunities,' with a score of 85, and 'Coastal Livelihoods and Economies,' where it scored 69. Both are indications of the still strong artisinal fishing communities on Colombia's coasts. It also did alright, with a 68, on 'Biodiversity,' 'Coastal Protection,' at 66, and 'Clean Waters' at 67, but got a poor 47 score on 'Natural Products,' which can mean either that Colombia is not exploiting marine resources sustainably as much as it could, or that it is exploiting them unsustainably. judging by the state of world marine resources, it seems most likely that they are being overexploited. Another discouraging number, related to the previous one, was Colombia's score of 51 on 'Carbon Storage.' That rating measures trends in the amount of carbon stored by Colombia's coastal ecosystems, such as marshes and mangrove forests. As environmental destruction degrades coastal ecosystems, biodiversity is lost and carbon gets released, accelerating global warming.

Doing very badly: Finned sharks. 

Overall, Colombia's scores are a reflection of its relatively low population and level of industrialization, which have given some protection to marine resources, or at least delayed some human impacts. But, increasingly industrialization, coal and other shipping, port construction and the expansion of urban areas both on the coast and inland, will increase impacts unless the country takes strong protective measures. And, no matter what Colombia does, its marine resources will still be under siege from fishing boats exploiting nearby international waters, since fish are no respectors of political boundaries - and marine resources are collapsing all over the globe, under pressure from trawlers and things like the Chinese hunger for shark fin soup.

Colombia took steps forward recently in marine protection with decisions not to expand the port of Buenaventura and to ban petroleum exploitation around the San Andres Archipelago. It also made an agreement with Costa Rica to work against shark massacres like one which took place last year in Colombian protected waters. Colombia's score of 0 (yes, that's a zero) on 'Tourism and Recreation' suggests that there's lots of room for Colombia to expand this sector sustainably, which would make Colombia's biodiversity more visible and increase motivation for protecting its resources.

A world-wide marine crisis is taking place. But it's happening mostly out of sight. And as long as seafood shelves remain stocked, few people but fishing families take notice.

Regionally, Colombia did better than neighbors Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, but the South American leader was Brazil, with its huge Atlantic coastline.

For the complete report, see: http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

How Britain Created Colombia

Daniel O'Leary, a soldier from Ireland
who also preserved Simon Bolivar's personal
documents for history. 

Of course, that's probably an exaggeration. But I thought about it while looking at some English miniatures now on display in the National Museum in Bogotá.

The technique of creating miniatures probably came to Colombia with the Royal Botanical Expedition of 1783 to 2016, led by Celestino Mutis, which created miniatures to record plants encountered during the travels. After the expedition's end, artists sought other ways to earn money, such as making portraits of the wealthy.

One of the tiny portraits on display shows Irishman Daniel Florence O'Leary. He was an aide-de-camp under Simon Bolivar and perhaps the most famous member of the British Legion, a volunteer force which fought alongside Bolivar against the Spanish empire. The British effort was not altruistic, of course: they wanted to weaken a rival empire and rule the world - which they eventually accomplished.

England's King George IV: A dissolute,
unprincipled man, but nevertheless
admired by Colombians.

Even after the colonies had broken away from Spain's rule, their real independence wasn't assured. France, which practically controlled Spain, considered trying to reconquer the colonies. And a coalition of Europe's conservative monarchies talked of sending members of European royal families across the ocean to rule the New World. (The only place where this was actually tried was Mexico, where the French installed the Austrian Maximilian I. Maximilian lasted only three years, however, before being overthrown and executed by Benito Juarez.)

An unidentified member of the British Legion. 

Latin America's independence was tentative and uncertain until the British Empire, pushed by Foreign Secretary George Canning, recognized Colombia, Argentina and Mexico. Canning, naturally, did not act out of altruism. He wanted to weaken France, which controlled Spain, and open the Latin American markets for the British Empire's trade. Canning made no bones about this:

British Foreign Secretary George Canning,
whose recogintion of the nations of
Latin America made their independence certain.

"Spanish America is free," he said, "and if we do not mismanage our affairs she is English ... the New World established and if we do not throw it away, ours."

"I resolved that if France had Spain it should not be Spain with the Indies," Canning explained the next year. "I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old."

The British Cemetery in Bogotá,
created for the British Legion veterans.

But if Canning acted out of Britain's interests, he evidently did have liberal, progressive sentiments. He had also opposed tyrranical governments in Naples and the Netherlands, advocated expanded rights for Britain's Catholics and opposed slavery.

A plaque on Plaza Bolivar in Bogotá
comemorating the British Legion.

Previously, the United States had recognized Colombia in 1822 and the next year U.S. Pres. James Monroe issued his famous doctrine opposing further European colonization or interference in the Americas. But the U.S. was a weak nation: It was Britain that mattered.

A tomb in Bogotá's Central Cemetery carries the surname O'Leary - possibly a descendent of revolutionary hero Daniel O'Leary, who is buried in Caracas, Venezuela?

A plaque in the British Cemetery says that a fence was built from the British Legion's muskets. 

Related post: A Patch of England in Bogotá.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours