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Published Sunday,
HERMAN SCHMIDT
Leader of controversial colony in ChileAssociated Press
SANTIAGO, Chile -- Herman Schmidt, the leader of a secretive German colony once accused of being a torture center, has died of a heart attack. He was 81.Schmidt died Friday at a hospital near Dignity Colony, 200 miles south of Santiago.
The colony was established in 1961 by German immigrants and quickly grew as a modern agricultural operation. It also operated a hospital and a school.
Former members claimed that the colony was used as a torture and execution center for the secret police after the 1973 coup that brought Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power.
They also claimed that many residents were held against their will.
Colony leaders denied the accusations, calling them part of a Communist-inspired smear campaign.
After civilian rule was restored in 1990, the government ordered the colony dissolved after a court indicted its leaders on charges of evading taxes.
Authorities allowed some of the members, including Schmidt, to continue to live in the farm after Dignity Colony ceased to legally exist.
Funeral plans were not announced.
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