The Seguro Obrero massacre (Spanish: Matanza del Seguro Obrero) was the Chilean government's response to an attempted coup d'etat by the National Socialist Movement of Chile.
Background
The Seguro Obrero Massacre took place on September 5, 1938, in the midst of a heated three-way election campaign between the ultraconservative Gustavo Ross Santa Maria, the radical Popular Front's Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and the newly-formed Popular Alliance candidate, Carlos Ibanez del Campo. The National Socialist Movement of Chile supported Ibanez's candidacy, which had been announced on September 4. In order to preempt Ross's victory, the National Socialists mounted a coup d'etat that was intended to take down the rightwing government of Arturo Alessandri Palma and place Ibanez in power.
September 5, 1938
At around 12:30 PM on Monday, September 5, 1938, approximately thirty armed youths affiliated with the National Socialist Movement (MSN) occupied the Seguro Obrero building. Jose Luis Salazar, a carabinero who was on watch, upon observing the situation, thought that the coats concealed weapon and prepared to respond, but a nacista who observed the reaction of the carabinero started firing, mortally wounding Salazar.
In reaction, a short while later a crowd of carabineros gathered at the foot of the building. Heavy firing between the opposing sides began. Gerald Gallmeyer, a nacista youth, was killed. The nacistas resisted, but the carabineros forces forced them to retreat.
In the meantime, another 32 youths had occupied the central building at the University of Chile. This also culminated in shooting, beginning at 2:00 AM, when an assault by the carabineros surprised and captured members of the National Socialists crowd; those who surrendered were led with their hands up, toward the Seguro Obrero a few blocks away. There they were informed that the attempted coup had already failed, and were allowed to return to the crowds of the nacista young people to convince their comrades to lay down the arms on the condition that their lives would be respected. The young people accepted the promise and laid down their arms.
Although disarmed and captured, nearly 60 young people were then lined against a wall and shoot, breaking the promise to respect their lives. Only 4 youths managed to escape death. The bodies of the youths were facially and bodily disfigured by deep wounds from sabers and bayonets.
It remains unclear who ordered the shootings. Some attested that Arturo Alessandri Palma dispatched a presidential order to "Kill them all!" Alessandri wanted it to be believed that the nacistas had killed each other, but this allegation has been widely accepted as false. Nevertheless, the accusations against Alessandri are grounded in speculation rather than tangible evidence. There is no official history relating to this subject; it is and will continue to be highly controversial among historians.
Testimony
Many were killed on that day, including workers, clerks, lawyers, and students. Among them was Bruno Bruning Schwarzenberg, a 27-year-old accounting student at the Catholic University. His story was related by a carabinero who was on duty: I stood guard near the corpses. Suddenly, I saw that one of the bodies was moving. It was a blond, very pale young man, with clear blue eyes. I told him not to move. An officer scolded me, 'Perhaps you are trying to save him!' He fired at the wounded young man who fell on his side and, looking pointedly at the officer with those clear eyes, exclaimed: 'I die at peace with the Fatherland!'
While there are a great number of stories told about that day, undoubtedly one of the best-known is that of 19-year-old Pedro Molleda Ortega. While the carabineros tended to the wounded, he rose, shouting "Long Live Chile!" to which an official responded by shooting him at point-blank range. In spite of being wounded, Molleda attempted to arise and shouted with force "It does not matter, comrades. Our blood will save Chile." At this point the the harassed official attacked with saber strokes, leaving Molleda in pieces. Today “Our blood will save Chile" is the rallying cry among National-Socialists in Chile.
See also
- Jorge Gonzalez von Marees
- Carlos Ibanez del Campo
- Chilean political scandals
- History of Chile
External links
Other pages about Chilean political scandals
-2006–? -Alejandrina Cox incident -Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial -Burnt Alive case -Caso Degollados -Charles Horman -Cuban packages -Letelier case -List of major political scandals in Chile -Scorpion scandal -Seguro Obrero massacre
Other pages about History of Chile
-1925 Chilean coup d'etat -1973 Chilean coup d'etat -1992 Galvarino -2006–? -Alejandrina Cox incident -Alessandri family -Allende family -Allende stamps -Antonio Samore -Arauco War -Ariostazo -Army of the Andes -Burnt Alive case -Capture of Valdivia -Carrera family -Caso Degollados -Charles Horman -Chile under Allende -Chile under Pinochet -Chilean Civil War -Chilean Revolution of 1829 -Chilean coup d'etat -Chilean transition to democracy -City of the Caesars -Clemente de Lantano -Colonia Dignidad -Covadonga (ship) -Crossing of the Andes -Cuban packages -DINA -Death of Salvador Allende -Economic history of Chile -Errazuriz family -Esmeralda (BE-43) -Estadio Nacional de Chile -Estadio Victor Jara -Figueroa mutiny -First Ladies of Chile -Flach (submarine) -Forced disappearance -Frei family -Gabino Gainza -Garcia de Nodal expedition -Government Junta of Chile (1924) -Government Juntas of Chile -Heroes (Chilean miniseries) -History of Chile -History of Chile during the Parliamentary Era (1891-1925) -Huaso (horse) -Ines de Suarez -John E. Hamm -Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia -Kingdom of Chile -Leighton case -Letelier case -Liberal-Conservative Fusion (Chile) -List of archaeological sites in Chile -List of major political scandals in Chile -List of presidents of Chile -Lonco -Maitland Plan -Mapuche -Maria Callcott -Marusia massacre -Michael Townley -Missing (film) -Montt family -National Party (Chile) -Norte Grande insurrection -Nueva Extremadura -Occupation of the Araucania -Operation Colombo -Operation Condor -Operation TOUCAN (KGB) -Paul Schafer -Pedro de Valdivia -Project Cybersyn -Project FUBELT -Ranquil massacre -Rettig Report -Royal Governor of Chile -Saber noise -Sailors' mutiny -Schneider Doctrine -Scorpion scandal -Seguro Obrero massacre -Supreme director -Tacnazo insurrection -Tanquetazo -Timeline of Chilean history -Toqui -Valech Report -Valparaiso bombardment -Villa Grimaldi
Other pages about Massacres in Chile
-Caravan of Death -Marusia massacre -Ranquil massacre -Seguro Obrero massacre
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Seguro_Obrero_massacre
