When I was born in February, 1942, the Second World War was facing a very special moment. Pearl Harbor attack had happened just two months before. The Soviet Union was going to defeat Germany at Stalingrad three months later, marking the turning point of the war in Eastern Europe. In June, 1944, American and Allied troops would land in Normandy, France, on D-Day to begin the liberation of Western Europe.

From the time I can remember, my parents had a big map on top of the dinning table and carefully followed with colored pins every movement of the Allied troops that they heard about on the radio.

I was privileged much later in my life to visit Pear Harbor in Hawaii, the north beaches in France where D Day took place and the complete mile-long monument to the Battle of Stalingrad, now named Volgograd, in Russia. It was so overwhelming!

Every time the Allied forces gained ground, my father would make me do the “V” sign for Victory. He admired Winston Churchill so much that he would tell me that I was going to marry Churchill’s son.

In January, 1943, Chile’s president, Juan Antonio Rios, announced that the country had suspended relations with Germany, Italy and Japan. In a radio broadcast to the Chilean people, Rios explained Chile’s support to the Allied nations. According to President Rios in 1943, the decision to disassociate from the Axis powers was to show solidarity with the Americas and the spirit of democracy. Rios said that the lives of Germans, Italians and Japanese living in Chile would not be disturbed as long as they did not attempt espionage. (The New York Times 1943)

Chile initially remained neutral because they had trading links with Germany. There was also an area in the south of Chile that was concentrated with German immigrants. This meant that there was support for both Allied and Axis powers. When Hitler came to power, a local Nazi Party was started in Chile and many powerful leaders of the German Lutheran Church were openly anti-Semitic. However, this also was the time when, not only Nazis escaping from Germany came to Chile, but also many German-Jews who contributed positively to the Chilean economic growth.

The Germans in Chile are descendants of the 30,000 immigrants who arrived between 1846–1914, following the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. From the middle of the 19th century, Germans, who kept their culture and language intact through generations, played a significant role in the economic, political and cultural development of the Chilean nation. Still today when you visit the Lakes Region in the south of Chile you find cities that make you believe you are in Germany.

In September, 1945, when the war ended, my family got together and celebrated with a big lunch. My Belgian grandfather, who lived through the German invasion of Belgium during the First World War, told us again how the Germans had cut the right hand of his brothers so they could not fight against Germany ever. My grandfather was away from home when that happened because, at four years of age, he secretly had left home and hid in the ship of his uncle at Ghent. The uncle only discovered him after departing to Holland. It was fun to hear my grandfather doing mathematical operations, each in a different language. He had school in the places where the ship of his uncle stayed long enough. He spoke eight languages plus several African dialects.