How many Germans live in Chile and Argentina? How many Welsh?

We hear often about the potato famine of Ireland, but not of Germany and elsewhere in Europe. I didn't become aware of the large numbers of German immigration to Chile until previous to my cruise from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires a couple of years ago. What surprised me more than anything is the large numbers of Italian immigration to Argentina. I always thought most were of Spanish and native Indians.

your information is correct but I wouldn't call Viña Del Mar a "town" it's a big city and a beautiful one!
Located next to Valparaiso, the main port of Chile; if you are driving from Valparaiso to Viña del Mar or the other way round, you don't notice that you have entered one of those cities; right now they form one.
German surnames are very common in Chile, and there are German schools, German sport places, German restaurants, German Shops, German institutes etc...
Regards.
Xavier

My previous answer was for Mr. Walter.
Regards.
Xavier

When we arrived in Santiago for our cruise, the bus provided us with a short tour through Del Mar to Valparaiso, and we waited at the race track in Valparaiso. They served us snacks and refreshments during our wait. I remember the drive from Del Mar to Valparaiso, because we were on a hill overlooking the bay, and we could see our ship. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that our cruise had many Germans on board. One day, I sat with a couple from Germany, and I asked them if they had relatives in Chile. The man told me he was a sea captain all his life, and traveled the world, but never went around Cape Horn, and he wanted to do that at least once in his life.

I do know about the seize of Viña Del Mar, but I just was referring to its historical background :wink:

I visited Cape Horn also, and 2 years ago I was again in that region, I went to Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine National Park, I cruised Maggelan strait from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and back; we stopped at Magdalena island full of penguins and a National Park also. I think that Chile has a lot to offer.
As for Viña del MAR, I found this link in the internet. http://www.chile-travel.com/vinamar.htm
Regards.
Xavier

I am trying to locate relatives in Argentina. They had moved to Argentina about 1952 (plus or minus a year or two) They had lived in the Ilow area of Poland, and then probably were relocated to Germany just before going to Argentina. The family name is KOPP. The names were Gustav KOPP, Edmund KOPP and Julius KOPP. I believe it was Gustav that had four sons at that time (their names are unknown as yet). If anyone is aware of a site or an office in Argentina that could assist with this research please let me know.

I only know that many immigrants from Italy now live in Buenos Aires. There is also a port town on the coast of Argentina where the Welsh settled. I have heard about Germans moving to Argentina, but have no personal knowledge about any of their settlements in Argentina.

You should try looking up those names in Buenos Aires - through the internet or by trying to find a phone book on the web.

Here's a sample on Google: http://www.google.com/search?q=buenos+aires%2C+KOPP%2C+gustav&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS310US311

c.i. :
just picked up on your interesting topic now .
i know that members of our (german) family settled in chile in the 1920's - but no contact .
also remember one of my brother's friends sailing to argentina (with many other germans ) in 1946 or 47 .
and on our 2006 south-america cruise we met many "german" settlers in chile and brazil - some families had come to chile after the 1848 represssion of the early social movement in germany - other families and even whole villages had gone to texas . when we spend several weeks in texas in 1979 we found that many of those families wre still speaking a very respectable german - there is even a german museum in new braunfels/texas

http://www.sophienburg.org/


we were told that german scouts would usually be sent ahead of the settlers and negotiate a land-purchase with the native indians - and thereby avoid warfare .

we stayed for two night in santiago before sailing . there was a big society wedding at the sheraton and we read the guest list : one german name after another - it was pretty amazing .

many german settlers went to puerto montt - where we had lunch in a "schwarzwald restaurant" - operated by the german club .

in brazil , about 10% of the population have german ancestors .
the best known german settlement in brazil is BLUMEAU (founded in 1850 ) - a textile and crystal producing centre .
http://www.v-brazil.com/tourism/foreigner/blumenau.html

you find 'em all over the place - even in canada <GRIN> .
hbg

c.i. :

if you are looking for german settlers in argentine :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-Argentines

NESTOR KIRCHNER is currently probably the best known arg from a "german" family .



we'll include the swiss and croats with the germans .

Thanks for the Wiki link, hbg. I "knew" Germans lived in Argentina, but didn't realize their history or impact in their numbers. Quite impressive, because that's what Germans did when they came to the states, brought education and music here. I believe the home hosted dinner we had in Buenos Aires were a German family. The grandfather used to be a scientist with IBM.

c.i. :
the argentine city of BLUMENAU was well known in germany (and canada) for producing fine textiles - and i believe they are still are .

since i grew up in hamburg , i knew of the EMIGRANT STATION that had been set up close to the port about 1900 .
as a counterpart to ELLIS ISLAND , it was set up to house and feed emigrants from europe waiting for the ships to take them overseas .
while the station was no longer used after about 1935 , the streetcar stop was still called EMIGRANT STATION - and the station has now been turned into a museum keeping many of the lists of the emigrants transferring through hamburg .

an old picture - ROLL CALL - with the emigration officer standing in the centre



btw our guide in brazil had a german background . while he was a practicing lawyer , he told me that he preferred to guide german tourists to hone his german language skills . apparently he did very well being the intermediary between brazilian and german businesses .
of course , i took advantage of him and we engaged in some german talk - evn though it was an "english" tour .

when i compare the conditions on those old emigrant ships (they called them "coffins" ) , with our style of crossing the ocean - 12 passengers , dinner with the captain and officers every night - i am not surprised that we took up cruising for the enjoyment of it .
most of the other immigrants (even those that came by ship in the late 40's and 50's) never wanted to set foot on a ship again !
hbg

Isn't it strange how some people's bad experience on a ship can detest any kind of ship travel again? They really don't know what they're missing. LOL

With so many bargains out there today, it's really difficult to say "no." I get several emails and brochures every day on cruise deals. Some are really amazing! Some close to $70/day, but that doesn't include government fees and taxes. LOL

c.i. : most of the european immigrants that came over in the first 15 years after the war , came in retro-fitted liberty ships .
the conditions were absolutely horrible . my brother , his wife and their friends came on one of these ships in 1954 (the SEVEN SEAS) , there were no individual cabins , decks were simply assigned for either men or women and children - and there wasn't much fresh air coming into the decks , just about everyone got seasick and toilets were sparse and filthy .
my brother never set foot on a ship again but did like flying - and driving his own car from canada to florida , texas and california - he also owned his own sailboat for some years , but a "ship" was not for him .
hbg

july 1956 - aboard PRINS WILLEM II of the dutch oranje/fell line
we thought we were lord and lady plushbottom and owned the world !
but only had a few hundred dollars in our pockets - enough for a return ticket in case things wouldn't work out .

the goal keeper during the argentina italy match during italia 90 was not pompedu. it was sergio goychochea. pompedu was injured during the first match against camerooon and never played again in the world cup.


argentina has a lot of german settlers, many of whom have dubious past records (nazi, waffen ss etc). even the kingpin adolf eichman was holed up there. as for brazil, it has the highest population of people of german descent outside germany and usa.

That's also true for the Japanese; Brazil has the biggest concentration of Japanese outside of Japan.

There are many reasons why there have been waves of Germans emigrating to Brazil - mainly economic reasons.


Interestingly, there's still a variation of a German dialect alive in today's Brazil, Rio Grandenser Hunsrückisch (hunsriqueano riograndense).

yes and thats probably why samba and carnival are popular in japan.

I am in America, and may have information about this family. My grandfather's name was Julius Kopp, and he and family were in Ilow Poland around the time you mention. May I contact you somewhere?

Hello:

I just got the message.

Please contact me at: [email protected]

Please give me details about where you live and some dates of this Julius Kopp.

His parents and siblings (Names).

Looking forward to hearing from you.