Colonia Dignidad - a quest for justice

Children and young people were subjected to harrowing abuse inside the Colonia Dignidad compound. The community led by the ex-Nazi pedophile Paul Schäfer was heavily guarded and sealed off from the outside world. Under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the enclave was also used by the Chilean secret police as a center for the torture and murder of political prisoners and opposition activists. But today, nothing testifies to the colony’s dark past. Instead, it has reinvented itself as a tourist destination. Human rights activists have been fighting to establish memorials on the site for years, whilst, more recently, former cult members have begun to speak out about their experiences as they seek compensation and justice.