Did you know that thousands of miles from Germany or Austria, there is an Austro-German colony in Peru? Yes, just 480 kilometers from Lima, in the heart of the central Peruvian jungle, lies a small and peaceful town called Pozuzo. Upon entering the town, a sign welcomes us with a warm "Willcommen in Pozuzo," which means "Welcome to Pozuzo" in Spanish. This is the first stop for all tourists visiting this unique town, which transports us briefly to the Germanic land.
But that's not the only thing that catches our attention when we visit and realize that one of its oldest neighborhoods is called "Prussia" and then you come across European-looking settlers eating sausages and dancing typical dances of their ancestors in the middle of the Amazon jungle, then everything is out of the ordinary, but how did they get here? And why?
During the 19th century, especially under the mandates of Presidents Ramón Castilla and Rufino Echenique, Peru enacted various laws encouraging European immigration to the Peruvian jungle in order to colonize this enormous and rich area, but the promoter for the arrival of Austro-German peasants, workers and artisans to Peru was the distinguished German nobleman Baron SHUTZ VON HOLZHAUZEN, better known in high circles as Baron COSME DAMIAN.
It was this German nobleman who made a contract with the Peruvian government to bring 10,000 Austro-German citizens to Peru in the span of 6 years. As a counterpart, the Peruvian state agreed to cover the costs of the passage and food of each settler as well as build a road that reaches the town of POZUZO. The land that was going to be granted to the settlers was 140 square leagues so that they could live while they would become owners of these lands free of taxes.
In 1856 an advertisement was published in a German newspaper asking for those who wanted to travel to the New World to colonize the jungle of Peru, when the Augustinian priest SCHERER learned of the benefits of this project in his crowded masses he told his parishioners who felt attracted by the dream of emigrating to America and even more so that this would not cost them any money and many accepted, this religious contacted the priest of the parish of WALD, a town in the Austrian region of TIROL, Father JOSEPH EGG to be the one to accompany this group of settlers to Peru.
That distant March 16, 1857, the time of departure had arrived, a large group of settlers had gathered in the SLISZ square in an event never seen before in this peaceful Bavarian town, that cold morning hundreds of young people said goodbye to their parents and relatives. These settlers were about to begin a long and epic journey to the distant and unknown Peru, a country of which they knew almost nothing except that it was located in South America, however they left with great faith and hope of building a future far from their homeland and their loved ones.
On that first voyage, 300 settlers set out, of which 200 were from the Tyrol region in Austria and 100 were Prussians, who had been rigorously selected (they had to be young and preferably Catholic). The group was led by two priests, Father Joseph Egg and Joseph Uberlinger. It is known that they had barely set out and in the middle of the high seas, 23 young couples asked Father EGG to confer upon them the sacrament of marriage and they married. They were determined to start a new life and have children when they arrived in their new lands.
After several months of travel, the English ship called NORTON finally arrived at the Peruvian port of CALLAO on July 25, 1857. The trip had been long and painful...unfortunately, it had cost the lives of 7 settlers (5 children and 2 adults). This would only be the beginning of a long journey. 5 days after arriving, the Peruvian authorities embarked the settlers on a Peruvian ship called EL INCA to the port of Huacho, south of Lima, and from there they began the journey by land to Pozuzo.
From Huacho the group of settlers clinging only to their faith and perseverance began a long and complicated journey full of adventures and difficulties, when climbing the high mountains of the Andes they suffered from the relentless SOROCHE (altitude sickness) their lack of knowledge of the area and the geography of this new country exposed them to avalanches and tropical diseases and the worst was that the Peruvian authorities did not fulfill the promise to help them get to Pozuzo and abandoned them, all these events would cost the lives of many settlers as well as some settlers decided to abandon the journey and return by their own means to the coast.
Finally, on that historic July 25, 1859, which coincidentally coincided with the feast day of St. James, patron saint of pilgrims, they arrived at that place they had heard about back in their country long ago. Now they were there in Pozuzo; they couldn't believe it; an atmosphere of nostalgia and joy permeated their hearts at that special moment. From now on, a new life would begin for them. Of the 300 settlers who left Germany, only 172 had arrived, including those born during this long journey. As soon as they arrived, Father Egg offered a thanksgiving mass, and thus began a new life full of challenges and dreams to fulfill.
Today there is a replica of the English ship that transported these first settlers from Europe called NORTON (later a second group of settlers would arrive in 1868) in the main square of Pozuzo to remind future generations of how a handful of settlers set sail to an unknown world with nothing more than their hands and their knowledge, many lost their lives in their attempt to reach their destination and most never returned to their hometowns.
This had been a journey that would mark their lives forever, and history would forever speak of how this group of settlers, defying the inclement weather, the high Andes mountains, the language, and tropical diseases, fulfilled their goal of creating a new world in a distant country while maintaining their traditions, which they practice to this day.
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