Jorge González von Marées
Jorge González von Marées at a march of the Popular Socialist Vanguard.
Deputy of the Republic of Chile
In office
May 15, 1937 – May 15, 1945
Preceded byAndrés Escobar Díaz
Succeeded byLuis González Olivares
Personal details
Born(1900-04-04)April 4, 1900
Santiago, Chile
DiedMarch 14, 1962(1962-03-14) (aged 61)
Santiago, Chile
Political partyNational Socialist Movement of Chile (1932–1939)
Popular Socialist Vanguard (1939–1942)
Liberal Party (1948–1958)
Residence(s)Ñuñoa, Chile
Alma materInstituto Nacional
Universidad de Chile
OccupationPolitician

Jorge González von Marées (4 April 1900 – 14 March 1962), also known as El Jefe (Spanish: The chief, analogous to the Führer) was a Chilean political figure and author who served two terms as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and as mayor of Ñuñoa.

On 5 April 1932 he founded the National Socialist Movement of Chile to oppose democratism, americanism, and communism.

González von Marées organized a failed coup d'état attempt on 5 September 1938, in which 60 young nacista members were shot to death by carabineros, in what became known as the Seguro Obrero massacre. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but subsequently pardoned by president Pedro Aguirre Cerda. After this, he became leader of the far-right Popular Socialist Vanguard until 1943, when the Chilean Nazi movement disbanded due to the country cutting off all relations with Germany in World War II.[1]

Family

edit

Born in Santiago to Sofía von Marées Sommer, a German noble mother and niece of Hans von Marées, and Marcial González Azócar, physician and founder of Clínica Alemana.[2]

He married Laura Alliende Wood, with whom he had 5 children; Consuelo, Jimena, Jorge, Laura and María Inés González Alliende.

Education and career

edit

He studied at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera and later at the Law School of the Universidad de Chile ( Chile's most prestigious public university), where he graduated in May 1932 with his dissertation: El problema obrero en Chile, demonstrating his interest in politics, which he deepened in two subsequent publications: El mal de Chile and El problema del hambre, where he criticized the economic and social systems of the country.

González served in the Local Police Court of Ñuñoa and wrote publications in law. Later, he participated as secretary and mayor of the same commune, appointed by President Juan Esteban Montero between 1931 and 1932.

Ideology

edit

His ideology was based on the national-corporativist doctrines of the German NSDAP, Italian fascism and the Portales's ideological conception. Influenced by the ideas of the philosopher and historian Oswald Spengler, González declared himself anti-capitalist, anti-democrat, anti-liberal and anti-Marxist, among other definitions, and considered work as a fundamental value of human beings.

He would later declare himself a leftist and anti-fascist, to later end his days embracing the ideas of the liberal right.

Political development

edit

Nazism

edit

Following the rise of the Nazi movement in Germany and other countries, mainly in Europe, on April 5, 1932 González von Marées, together with economist Carlos Keller and retired military officer Francisco Javier Díaz, founded the National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNS), where he quickly became one of its leaders.

At the beginning, the members of the MNS, known as Nacistas, clashed with members of opposing political currents, both from the liberal right and from Marxist and Stalinist groups, so in 1933 they created the "Nacistas Assault Troops" -inspired in the German Sturmabteilung (SA) - whose main task was the protection and dissuasion of the attacking forces; four of their militants died in violent street clashes.

Although in the beginning González von Marées also declared himself an anti-Semite, over time he was in charge of eliminating the racism of Chilean Nazism, which he considered the "materialist equivalent of the class struggle driven by Marxism and capitalist consumerism".

Shortly after being founded, this group managed to penetrate syndicates, as well as middle and upper class groups in Chile, counting in 1935 with more than 20,000 militants throughout the country and with an important presence in university student federations, even occupying the presidency of the FECH. Its means of dissemination were the newspaper Trabajo (1933) and the magazine Acción Chilena (1934). He also collaborated in newspapers and magazines such as Debates, El Estanquero, El Mercurio and Zig-Zag. He also founded the newspaper La Raza.

In the 1937 parliamentary elections they won three deputies: the "boss" Jorge González von Marées was elected for Santiago, Fernando Guarello Fitz-Henry for Valparaíso and Gustavo Vargas Molinare for Temuco. However, Keller was defeated in his candidacy for Osorno. They obtained a total of 2.04 % of the votes at the national level. González obtained the first majority in Santiago by a narrow margin, receiving 4238 votes. Von Marées in the period 1937-1941, was a member of the Permanent Commission of Industries.

On the opening day of the sessions of the National Congress, there was an altercation among the parliamentarians, as a result of the strong political polarization existing at the time. On that occasion, González von Marées drew a revolver and fired a shot, being immediately arrested; however, he was released a few hours later. Finally, he was disqualified in June 1938.

In spite of the rejection they generated in the National Congress and the early dismissal of Gonzalez, the nacistas actively participated in some bills.

Seguro Obrero massacre

edit

Tensions at the end of Arturo Alessandri's government increased as the 1938 presidential election approached.

The MNS, one of the main opposition groups to Alessandri and his candidate Gustavo Ross, tried to provoke a coup d'état to overthrow the president so that General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, an independent presidential candidate supported by the nacistas, could take office. For this purpose, on September 5, 1938, about 60 young nacistas took over the Central House of the University of Chile. However, the seizure was a failure and after an arduous shootout, the youths gave up their resistance and surrendered to the police. The insurgents were taken to the Caja del Seguro Obrero located nearby, where they were shot. González von Mareés was later arrested, accused of instigating a coup d'état.

To the members of the National Socialist Movement, who with so much fervor and abnegation followed me unconditionally for several years and who with exemplary stoicism faced the cowardly and dastardly struggle with which our adversaries tried to annihilate us, I express my deepest gratitude for the faith and trust never denied that they were able to show me, I express to them my deepest gratitude for the faith and trust they were able to show me, and if today they feel disappointed by my performance, I beg them to believe that I am sincere when I tell them that at all times I did everything humanly possible to keep our ideals intact and lead them to triumph.

— Fragment of a letter written by Jorge González von Marées. Published by 'El Diario Ilustrado, Santiago, September 8 1938., El Diario Ilustrado

The fact provoked public commotion, especially among the opponents of the Alessandri government. Ross victory, as a result of the division of the opposition forces after the candidatures of Ibáñez and the radical Pedro Aguirre Cerda supported by other leftist groups, was practically imminent. However, the repudiation resulting from the Seguro Obrero massacre and Gonzalez's request for an alliance among the opposition led Ibañez to renounce his candidacy. Finally, Pedro Aguirre Cerda was elected with 51% of the votes, equivalent to a difference of less than 5,000 votes. Considering that the MNS had a vote of close to 20,000 votes, its alliance with Aguirre Cerda was vital for the latter's victory.

After the radical took office, those arrested for the Seguro Obrero Massacre were pardoned, among them González von Marées.

After the massacre

edit
 
Jorge González von Marées parades with members of the VPS in 1940.

Left turn and anti-fascism

edit

In 1941, the MNS became Vanguardia Popular Socialista (VPS) and González von Marées was again elected deputy for the Seventh Departmental Grouping for the period 1941-1945. He was substitute deputy in the Permanent Commission of Internal Government; and in the Commission of Finance. He was a member of the Standing Committee of Constitution, Legislation and Justice.

However, in the midst of World War II, the differences between the nacistas and the radicals escalated into serious clashes, which ended with one dead and several wounded. The police once again arrested Gonzalez von Marées to determine his involvement in the events, but he responded with a shooting. After Gonzalez was arrested on May 24, 1941, he was sent to an insane asylum, from which he was released when his term as deputy expired.

After the rupture of diplomatic relations between Chile and Nazi Germany, according to British intelligence information, several movements, including Gonzalez von Marées, would have initiated plans to provoke a coup d'état against President Juan Antonio Rios, who would have been supported even by part of the Argentine military government. The plot was disarmed by the government and the United States sent the cruiser Trenton to the coasts of Valparaíso to intimidate those who would try to overthrow the Chilean government.

The German defeat in the war in turn caused the Nazi movement to go into sharp decline, until the demise of the VPS.

Turn to liberalism

edit

Finally, González von Marées joined the Liberal Party, of which he was appointed general secretary in 1950, reason for which he was seen as a "traitor" among his former National-Socialist comrades; his best-known Nazi detractors were Carlos Keller, Miguel Serrano and Ricardo Boizard. In 1952, he became manager of the firm "Constructores González von Marées y Cía." and, in 1958, he finally resigned from the Liberal Party when this party decided to support Jorge Alessandri as presidential candidate.

Finally, González von Marées died in Santiago on March 14, 1962, at the age of 61.

Works

edit

Some texts written by González von Marées are:

  • González von Marées, Jorge (1932). La concepción nacista del Estado. Santiago, Chile.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1936). Nacismo o comunismo. Santiago, Chile: Editorial El Esfuerzo.
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1937). El problema del hambre (Sus causas y solución). Santiago, Chile: Editorial Ercilla.
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1937). La Hora de la Decisión. Santiago, Chile.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1939). Pueblo y Estado. Santiago, Chile.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1939). La violencia nacista y los partidos políticos. Santiago, Chile.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • González von Marées, Jorge (1940). El mal de Chile: (Sus causas y sus remedios). Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Diego Portales.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Nazis y Movimiento Nazi en Chile, 1931-1945" (PDF). Archivo Chile (in Spanish).
  2. ^ "Jorge González Von Marées; Reseñas parlamentarias BCN". Library of the National Congress of Chile. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.

Further reading

edit
edit



Category:1900 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Politicians from Santiago Category:Writers from Santiago Category:Chilean people of Spanish descent Category:Chilean people of German descent Category:National Socialist Movement of Chile politicians Category:Popular Socialist Vanguard politicians Category:Liberal Party (Chile, 1849) politicians Category:Deputies of the XXXVIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Category:Deputies of the XXXIX Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Category:Chilean essayists Category:Chilean political writers Category:Chilean politicians convicted of crimes Category:Chilean prisoners and detainees Category:German untitled nobility Category:20th-century essayists Category:Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera alumni Category:University of Chile alumni Category:Nazis convicted of crimes Category:Prisoners and detainees of Chile Category:Recipients of Chilean presidential pardons