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5 chile’s political and Economic systems under stress a “naci” party and the Jewish immigration pressures on chile came from many directions in the 1930s—from nature, foreign countries, and internal political and economic conditions. These also had serious implications for german Jews seeking a chilean haven. a natural disaster immediately challenged the new president in January 1939. pedro aguirre cerda had barely been sworn in when the chillán earthquake hit. in that city alone more than ten thousand died, only two or three houses were left standing, roads and railroad tracks had cracks five meters deep, and there was no food, electricity, or water. chillán was reduced to rubble. in concepción there were hundreds dead—it was impossible to calculate the exact number—and there were tragic food shortages. The number of wounded in the entire country hit twenty thousand and people spoke of the destruction of twenty cities.1 dr. marcos Weinstein, one of the many doctors who went to offer his services , initially commented that all the victims were congratulating themselves because at this time of year—chile’s summer—it didn’t rain, which would have made this catastrophe much worse. When these doctors returned to santiago after leaving the city of talca, they encountered caravans of trucks going south; one doctor started to count them and soon counted over one hundred . They could not imagine what was happening. The next morning, they read in the newspaper that it was raining heavily in the earthquake zone. The government, they learned, had requisitioned all the trucks to help the victims.2 on January 27, 1939, the naci newspaper Trabajo reported on its front page that the capital of maule had disappeared, rescuers had found 8,500 bodies in chillán, five cities had been totally destroyed, and millions of people had died. The north american red cross promised to give $10,000 to its chilean partner. Help came from argentina, perú, and Belgium. The ger- 74 / chapter 5 man colony promised fifty thousand pesos to the chilean government. german hospitals in santiago and valparaíso also offered help. german households in the capital offered to put up victims who could come to santiago. The german airline lufthansa sent airplanes from río de Janeiro and Buenos aires. mexico promised to send money. costa rica, perú, the united states, great Britain, and Japan also sent aid.3 This great tragedy meant the government had to devote itself to reconstructing the country instead of dedicating itself to social programs or immigration . The president needed 2.5 billion pesos and asked congress for approval . This amounted to half the yearly budget and would have to be taken from taxes on farms, industries, commerce, inheritances, and other sources.4 another problem was the commercial exchange between chile and germany , which began even before World War i and explains their friendship and the increasing infiltration of nazi philosophy into chile and all of latin america during the 1930s.5 chile received machinery, hospital equipment, medical supplies, chemical products, drugs, and agricultural implements from germany while sending back copper and nitrates and 52 percent of its agricultural exports. But the germans paid with “compensated marks”—that is, they did not pay with currency but with manufactured products, which presented a problem for chile.6 if chile wanted to buy other items it couldn’t get from germany it had to first sell what it received from that country in order to get cash to buy the products it needed. chile and germany also exchanged farmers, businessmen, university professors , and doctors, who were all targeted for nazi indoctrination.7 The newspaper El Imparcial announced in september 1935 that germany had invited a group of chilean pilots to go to Berlin. it was then only natural for chile to acquire german planes, so the chilean air Force bought them from germany and italy for 100 million pesos, thirty “Breda” and nine “arado” machines . They also bought twelve “Junkers” from germany.8 The commercial exchange was interrupted when the war began and trade intensified with the united states. on october 1, 1939, the newspaper Trabajo reported a commercial agreement between chile and the united states, which was convenient for both, since chile would be exporting a large part of what it previously sent to germany and other European countries that were now at war.9 cultural contacts with the united states were also intensified, because the north americans were interested in exchanging...

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