The Two Germanys and the Chilean Putsch of 1973

In view of the high and ideologically charged expectations with which the socialist government of salvador allende in chile had been accompanied abroad and especially in europe, the worldwide outcry provoked by the bloody end of his unidad popular coalition came as no surprise. In divided germany, the news from chile in september 1973 caused a sensation. How did the two german governments and civil societies react to the overthrow? What were the similarities and differences? What factors differentiated the reception in germany from other cases? What role did the competing political situation between the federal republic and the gdr play and how did it affect reactions and perceptions?

Stefan Rinke is professor of history at the institute for Latin American studies and the Friedrich-Meinecke-institute at the free university in berlin. His work examines Latin America in global history, with a particular emphasis on cultural globalization, World War I, and governance. Rinke has published numerous monographs, collected volumes, and articles, including conquistadors and Aztecs. A history of the fall of Tenochtitlan (oxford university press, 2023) and Latin America and the first world war (Cambridge university press, 2017). He was awarded the Premio Alzate by the Mexican academy of sciences as well as the Einstein research fellowship. From 2009 to 2018, he was speaker of the collaborative research center "governance in areas of limited statehood," and has been speaker of the German Mexican graduate school "between spaces" since 2019.