German Bolivians

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = German Bolivians
Deutsche Bolivianer

| image =

| caption =

| population = Different estimates:

57,000 mennonites
(Kopp, 2015).{{cite book |url=http://www.ftierra.org/index.php/publicacion/libro/147-las-colonias-menonitas-en-bolivia |year=2015 |author=Adalberto Kopp |title=Las colonias menonitas en Bolivia |pages=57 |publisher=Fundación Tierra |isbn=978-99974-821-6-7}}
150,000 mennonites until 2023
(Mongabay, 2023).[https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/expansion-of-mennonite-farmland-in-bolivia-encroaches-on-indigenous-land/]
60,000 plautdietsch speakers
(Salminen, 2007; in Ethnologue, 2019).{{cite web |author=Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, & Charles D. Fennig |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |title=Plautdietsch |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pdt |year=2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402192648/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pdt |access-date=2 April 2019|archive-date=2019-04-02 }}

| genealogy = 430,000

| regions = Santa Cruz Department, Beni Department, La Paz, and Tarija.

| langs = Bolivian Spanish, German, and Plautdietsch. Yiddish is spoken by German-Jewish communities.

| rels = Christianity (Protestantism, Lutheranism, Reformed, Mennonite, Amish, Roman Catholicism) and Judaism.

}}

German Bolivians are Bolivians of full, partial, or predominantly German descent, or German-born people residing in Bolivia.

Waves of immigration

German immigrants began to arrive in Bolivia in the 18th century, and many more arrived in the 19th century.{{cite news|title=Los alemanes hicieron industria de la grande|url=http://www.wradio.com.mx/nota.aspx?id=836273|work=La Razón|date=June 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716144203/http://www.wradio.com.mx/nota.aspx?id=836273|archive-date=July 16, 2011}} During World War II, Bolivia ceased diplomatic relations with Germany and expelled many Germans. Many German Jews immigrated to Bolivia during the war.{{cite web|title=El Refugio en Latinoamerica|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007828|website=Holocaust Encyclopedia|publisher=U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum|access-date=22 May 2015}} Inti SA, Bolivia's largest pharmaceutical company, was founded by German immigrant Ernesto W. N. Schilling Huhn.{{cite news|last1=Oblitas|first1=Mónica|title=Stege: 100 años, un buen comienzo|url=http://www.lostiempos.com/oh/actualidad/actualidad/20100207/stege-100-anos-un-buen-comienzo_56725_101359.html|access-date=May 22, 2015|work=Los Tiempos|date=February 2, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522042916/http://www.lostiempos.com/oh/actualidad/actualidad/20100207/stege-100-anos-un-buen-comienzo_56725_101359.html|archive-date=May 22, 2015|url-status=dead}}

A substantial and growing part of the Germanic population in Bolivia are Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites from Russia, who are of Dutch and Prussian descent. These Mennonites started to immigrate in the 1950s, with large waves of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly from Mexico and Paraguay. In 2012 there were 23,818 church members in congregations of these Mennonites, indicating a total population of about 70,000.http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bolivia&oldid=103617 Bender, Harold S., Martin W. Friesen, Menno Ediger, Isbrand Hiebert and Gerald Mumaw. "Bolivia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2013. Web. 11 Feb 2014. The total population of German Mennonites in Bolivia was estimated at 60,000 by Lisa Wiltse in 2010.{{Cite web|url=http://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2010/08/lisa-wiltse-the-mennonites-of-manitoba-bolivia/|title = Lisa wiltse – the mennonites of manitoba, bolivia|date = 26 August 2010}} See also: Mennonites in Bolivia.

Education

German schools:

Historic German schools:"[http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/04/036/0403672.pdf Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672]" ( {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312191648/http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/04/036/0403672.pdf |date=2016-03-12 }}). Bundestag (West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 18-19/51.

Deutsche Schule Oruro
Deutsche Schule Sucre

Notable German Bolivians

Ronald Rivero Kuhn, footballer
Hugo Banzer, military officer, twice President
Germán Busch, military officer and President
Luciano Durán Böger, writer and poet
Enrique Hertzog, physician and President
Pato Hoffmann, actor and theater director
Noel Kempff, biologist and environmentalist
Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon, classical guitarist and composer
Alberto Natusch, military officer and dictator
Erwin Sánchez Freking, footballer
Achim von Kries, German military officer
Blanca Wiethüchter, writer and poet
Jorge Wilstermann, aviator
Lidia Gueiler Tejada, politician (the first female President of Bolivia, and the second woman in the Americas to ever become chief of state).
Luis Gamarra Mayser, singer and songwriter
Rodrigo Mendoza Heinrich, American War Hero
Pedro Kramer, Historian and diplomat

References

German

Bolivians

Category:German diaspora in South America

Category:Bolivia–Germany relations