Page 123 -
P. 123
Abstracts in English
Hans Knoll. "El Chaco Después de la Primera Guerra Mundial: Los Colonos Ale-
manes en el 'Salvaje Oeste' de la Argentina". (The Chaco after the First World War:
German colonists in the Argentinian "Wild West"). This paper is a follow up of my
essay on German migration policies in the Argentinian Chaco between 1919 and
1925, published in volume 4 of this journal in 2018. Only a few of the topics common
to both essays, including political and economic interests of the Weimar Republic,
are discussed here. This time, the focus is on various aspects of the settlement
process: the public and private projects to settle German colonists in the Chaco, and
the way in which the settlers established themselves; their various rights in the con-
text of fluctuating cotton prices on the world market and the commercialization of
their products; the creation of cooperatives and the interaction with Argentinian
authorities and German-Argentinian institutions. This essay also takes a closer look
at the causes and consequences of the 1925-1927 crisis, which did not bring German
colonization in the Chaco to an end but caused a severe crisis for the migrant group.
Regula Rohland de Langbehn. "Cissy von Scheele-Willich. Vita". Franziska
("Cissy") von Scheele, née Willich (1888-1970) was born and educated in Olden-
burg, Germany. She studied to become a teacher and went to work as a private
tutor in the German colony, Southwest Africa (now Namibia). She remained there
when the First World War began and stayed until 1916. Then she managed to
return to Germany, published a book on her war experiences in Southwest Africa,
and worked as a nurse in military hospitals. Before the end of the war, she married
the aviator Alexander von Scheele, who was a prisoner of war in Holland at this
time. Together, they emigrated to Argentina and settled in Charata, in the Chaco
National Territory. While there, she wrote numerous papers about life in Chaco
for right-wing German-language periodicals in Buenos Aires. In 1934, they remi-
grated to Germany where A. von Scheele enrolled again in the army. He fought
in the Spanish Civil War in the Condor Legion, and died in an accident after the
end of this war. Cissy had followed him to Spain, and during the Second World
War she worked in the German Embassy in Madrid. After the end of the war, she
returned to Germany, and from there she made several long journeys to Charata.
Cissy von Scheele-Willich. Five texts translated into Spanish by Beatriz Romero.
"Nosotros, los colonos del algodón" (We, the cotton planters), "Sobre las dotes
necesarias para ser un buen colono" (On the necessary talents of a good colonist),
"Nuestros vecinos 'los negros'" (Our "black" neighbours), "Velorio" (Velorio), "La
noche sagrada de los difuntos" (The sacred night of the dead) The first paper
reveals the author to be a keen observer of the social and economic problems
confronting the immigrants, who struggled amid the harsh climate and plagues
which beset cotton planters. In the second text, she argues that the spirit of
organization and innovation is more essential for a colonist than farming experi-
ence in Europe, because the conditions in Europe and the Chaco are vastly dif-
ferent. The next two articles describe native burials and cemeteries, and the final
essay explores immigrants' prejudices against the indigenous population.

