The Nazi Legacy in Zaragoza: Revelations of a German colony.

The story of a German colony in Cameroon that later found refuge in Zaragoza during the First World War is an unknown chapter for many, both for Peruvians and for Spaniards, Germans, and even Cameroonians unaware of their colonial past. This tale was unearthed by the writer Sergio del Molino, who came across Nazi propaganda leaflets written in Spanish and printed in Zaragoza, which led him to discover the presence of a delegation from the German National Socialist Party in his own neighborhood. This discovery triggered an investigation that revealed the presence of an influential German colony in Zaragoza, which, despite their defeat and humiliation in Africa, managed to thrive rapidly in a poor and backward Spain. Sergio del Molino, author of the award-winning novel "Los alemanes" (The Germans), delved into the history of the Schuster family, descendants of those early German migrants, to explore the sense of identity and the burden of family history. In his previous works, such as "Lo que a nadie le importa" (What Nobody Cares About) and "La España vacía" (The Empty Spain), Del Molino has deeply explored the theme of identity, and now he brings this reflection to the center of the Schuster family conflict, whose identity rift leads to monstrous consequences. In "Los alemanes," the author raises the question of whether every family is based on a lie, recalling Tolstoy's phrase about unhappy families. Del Molino argues that our lives are built on fictions and that human relationships are based on myths, making us narrative beings who construct stories about our lives, sometimes unconsciously. The novel unfolds between two funerals, where the presence of the dead is crucial in shaping the family myth and defining the characters in relation to the past. Regarding historical memory, Del Molino reflects on the importance of leaving the past behind in order to establish democratic coexistence and avoid falling into divisions and conflicts that hinder our empowerment as citizens. In relation to the mutations of Nazism and the emergence of far-right parties today, the author points out that, although today's far-right movement moves away from historical Nazism, they share a common thread of questioning democracy and a messianic tendency that seeks to undermine the democratic model. In "Los alemanes," the past catches up with the last generation of the Schuster family, children of Nazi promoters, in the form of extortion linked to Jewish influence in the academic world, a phenomenon reflected in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in American universities. Del Molino explores the ambiguity of the relationships between victims and perpetrators and raises the complexity of addressing sensitive topics such as the Holocaust and current Israeli politics. The novel "Los alemanes" has been compared to the film "The Zone of Interest," which portrays the life of Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss, and which highlights a collective sensitivity that makes us reflect on the Nazi danger and the Holocaust. Del Molino emphasizes the importance of assimilating the magnitude of these historical events, although he acknowledges that culture has been slow to deeply address the Holocaust, and there is still much to explore on this topic that continues to be the subject of aesthetic and intellectual obsession. In conclusion, "Los alemanes" is a novel that invites us to reflect on the burden of the past in the construction of family identity, the importance of leaving certain aspects of the past behind to move towards democratic coexistence, and the complexity of addressing sensitive topics such as Nazism, the Holocaust, and current politics from a critical and reflective perspective.