Germans, Costa Ricans, or a question of dual nationalist sentiments? The German community in Costa Rica, 1850--1950

This dissertation examines the immigration and community formation of German settlers in Costa Rica from the mid-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries and the extent to which they became integrated in their host society. It stipulates that German Costa Ricans established a dichotomous position in Costa Rica, as members of the local economic, social and political elite, yet proud members of a Costa Rican German community. Even the earliest German immigrants to Costa Rica in the mid- to late-nineteenth century established themselves as owners of large commercial firms that helped to expand Costa Rica's international trade. German Costa Ricans also branched out with large commercial agricultural enterprises involved in the production and processing of coffee and sugar, the nation's two most important export products. Participation in these economic enterprises aided German Costa Ricans in forging marriage ties and business partnerships with Costa Ricans that perpetuated their integration into an incipient Costa Rican agricultural elite.; German Costa Ricans worked at the same time to establish a local German community. They founded a German Club, School, and Welfare Society, that helped them to maintain their language and culture and perpetuated a strong sense of “Germanness,” which they then passed on to their Costa Rican born children. This powerful foreign community had a significant impact on this history of the Central American nation. I argue that the perpetuation of “Germanness” combined with the connection of influential members of the German community to the Costa Rican government, led directly to the infiltration of Nazi propaganda and influence in Costa Rican in the 1930s. The penetration of Nazism among some members of the German community in turn created the fear of a local “Fifth Column” movement. These fears then forced the Costa Rican government to take action against local Germans after Costa Rica entered World War II on the side of the allies. I further explain that the pre-World War II perpetuation of Deutschtum and the government actions this warranted led Germans to shed their “Germanness,” and to become more fully assimilated into Costa Rican society, after the end of the war.