German Paraguayans


The German minority in Paraguay came into existence with immigration during the industrial age. The "Nueva Germania" colony was founded in Paraguay in 1888; though regarded as a failure, it still exists despite being abandoned by many of its founders in the 1890s. Paraguay was a popular place for German leaders accused of war crimes to retreat after the second World War. There are large communities of German descendants living in the central Paraguayan department of Guairá, in a town called Colonia Independencia, in the northern Paraguayan department capital city of Filadelfia and in the southern Paraguayan cities of Encarnación, Obligado, Bella Vista, Fram, Pilar, San Ignacio, Coronel Bogado and Hohenau. Some recent immigrants from other countries to Paraguay also have German ancestry. Notable Paraguayans of German descent include the former president of Paraguay Alfredo Stroessner. The German Paraguayans are one of the most prominent and growing German communities in South America, with some 25,000 German-speaking Mennonites living in the Paraguayan Chaco.

Russian Mennonites

Another large group of Germanic people who immigrated to Paraguay are Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites, people of Dutch and Prussian ancestry who immigrated to Russia under the rule of Czarina Catherine the Great. The Paraguayan Mennonite community left Russia in two waves: the first in the 19th century when their exemption from military service ended, and the second to avoid Stalin's collectivization programs. Russian Mennonites are different from another German-Russian group, the Volga Germans, through religion, ethnicity, and reasons for immigrating to Russia. Russian Mennonites are religious Mennonites while the Volga Germans are religious Lutherans and Roman Catholics. Russian Mennonites are mostly of Flemish and Frisian origin.
When the Communists came to power in Russia, the German-speaking population were persecuted by the new government. Some Russian Mennonites saw Paraguay as a perfect place to settle because it looked isolated. The government of Paraguay wanted more people to settle in the Chaco region, which was under dispute with its southern neighbor Argentina and its western neighbor Bolivia. The move to Paraguay was difficult for the Russian Mennonites, because they were new to the climate. Some of them left Paraguay for neighboring Argentina, where they met many Volga Germans, who had decided to settle in Argentina to escape the persecution in Russia.
The Russian Mennonites settled in the Boquerón Department in Paraguay.

Education

German schools:
  • Deutsche Schule, Asunción
  • Colegio Aleman Concordia, Asunción
  • Colegio Gutenberg, Asunción
Historic German schools:
  • Deutsche Schulen Alto-Parana-Gebiet
  • Deutsche Schulen, Zentralschule Filadelfia, and Lehrerseminar Filadelfia Kolonie Fernheim
  • Deutsche Schulen and Zentralschule
  • Deutsche Schulen
  • Deutsche Schulen, Vereinschule Loma Plata, and Lehrerfortbildungsanstalt Loma Plata
  • Deutsche Schulen and Zentralschule Halbstadt
  • Deutsche Schule and Zentralschule Tiefenbrunn