In Filadelfia, Paraguay

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Since I read the children’s book called “Henry’s Red Sea” (1955) by Barbara Smucker as a youngster I’ve been fascinated by the place where these refugees settled fleeing from Stalin’s cruelties and the terror of World War II. Mennonites settle many places and move again, but one the strangest places where they made a community is in the Chaco Region of Paraguay. It’s 250 miles into the wilderness and then the wilderness continues another 500 miles across the border and into Bolivia.

Filadelfia is the place I’m staying in the Mennonite Colonies in Paraguay. Some pioneers first came from Canada to the Chaco in 1927 to nearby locations, but Filadelfia was settled by German speaking refugees from the USSR starting in 1934. A flood of refugees joined them fleeing the suffering of World War II, and many already had their families devastated in Stalin’s gulag.

What I see now is a surprising developed place in the middle of the wilderness. It supplies many of the agricultural products for Paraguay. The agricultural production is run as a cooperative and the German speakers dominate the organization and run the town. The local museum for Filidelfia is located in several of the early buildings of the town and tells the story of the flight from Russia, trekking into the Chaco, and developing the community and the business.

As the travel guide to Paraguay suggests, the residents of these towns tend to be formal and reserved. It’s from their isolation for from their heritage—who knows? The homes in the town are nice mostly brick structures and built suited to a warm climate with metal roofs and wide verandas and flowers and trees everywhere. Only one street in the town is paved and the other streets are dusty and uneven.

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Photos

Koloniahaus
One of the original building in Filidelfia, the museum served as an administrative building, a worship place, and part of a school in the past.

In Filadelfia
Part of the Museum area.

One of the Churches in Filadelfia
A simple building to worship in is what the settlers wanted.

The Curch Interior
Inside the same church building.

Another Church in Filadelfia
In the early morning.

The Seventy-fifth Anniverary Memorial for Filadelfia
Marking 75 years since the founding of the colony.

At the Entrance to Loma Plata
Loma Plata is colony town.

A Cooperative in Loma Plata
The cooperative is named for a colony if the USSR where some of the refugees who settled in the Chaco came from.

A Small Locomotive that Transported some of the Settlers
In a display in a park.

Comments

[Karen]

How interesting!
Gary, I too, have wanted to visit there since reading the book. Such great pictures! It is amazing to think of these thriving colonies after the many years of suffering to get them started.