Hotel Sabaneta, Fusagasugá, Colombia
INTERNMENT CAMPS
Ruins of Hotel Sabeneta Fusagasuga, Colombia (courtesy of Rosita Welcker)
German internees in the area of Fusagasugá, Columbia were held in the Hotel Sabaneta. Unlike some Latin American holding facilities, conditions were relaxed. In 1944 around 100 Germans were interned there. A fence was created around the hotel, but some local Germans were able to rent rooms in town and merely report in to the guards periodically.(Friedman, Nazis and Good Neighbors, 149.)
the Mantel Family Story
My father's name was Herbert Erich Mantel. He was a diesel mechanic, born in Hamburg, Germany on August 17, 1898. He traveled to Barranquilla, Colombia in the 1920’s, I think. He was Chief Engineer on a riverboat on the Magdalena River at first, and later he managed...
the Welcker Family Story
The Welcker Family Story by Rosita Welcker My name is Rosita Welcker. I am German citizen and live in Bogota, Colombia. My father’s name was Friedrich Paul Welcker. He was born in Moenchengladbach, Germany on April 4, 1902. He moved to South America in 1931 and first...