The Germans in Guatemala 1820-1944

In case you didn’t know, in Guatemala we had a large influx of Germans for over a century. Regina Wagner, a Guatemalan of German ancestry, takes us through a magical and mystery tour through history in her book Los Alemanes en Guatemala 1828-1944 and she explains how the Germans were brought to Guatemala through government-sponsor campaigns, where they lived and tell us about their trials and tribulations in Chapinlandia. In her book, Regina also describes why the sudden stop occurred in 1944. Los Alemanes en Guatemala 1828-1944 is a great book and it should be in the library of anybody interested in understanding the complexity of Guatemala.

See, the Guatemalanness is complex and the mixtures just gets even richer with each new ingredient. Ha, no wonder we don’t even understand ourselves. 🙁

Did you know about this large German immigration to Guatemala?

28 Responses to "The Germans in Guatemala 1820-1944"

janna says:
February 15, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Rudy, this is very interesting, I had no idea! Perhaps this would explain some of the very unSpanishlike apellidos (like Monroy). Thank you for the history lesson!
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dg says:
February 15, 2011 at 1:45 pm
My grandmother had a run in with the wife of a german when she was a child in the 1920’s. Something happened and the woman slapped my gradmother thinking she would get away with it, as she had in the past. My grandmother ran home to her mother, who was a formidable woman. She called her sons and she and her sons went on horseback to the German’s hacienda where they proceeded to shoot out his windows. The German’s wife became a lot more humble after that incident.
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Begonia says:
February 15, 2011 at 3:55 pm
I would love to read that book!
My suegra’s last name is German in origin, but you wouldn’t guess it by looking at her. She is from a tiny village in San Marcos. As far as I can gather, her grandfather was a German who settled in San Marcos and apparently married a local woman. Things did not go well for his descendents, though…my suegra’s father killed himself by throwing himself off a peña.
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sheila says:
February 15, 2011 at 4:21 pm
My grandmother told me that there was a German count in our family background. And ofcourse we all know about some of the German foods that influenced our cuisine.
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Eric says:
February 16, 2011 at 9:25 am
I knew about a large influx of Germans into Latinamerica en general, but didn’t realize the extent of their presence in Guate. Que interesante !
Maybe there is a place in Guatemala for a ‘mutt’ like me ? 😀
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rworange says:
February 17, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I have the book noted to buy as soon as I get near a city with a bookstore (The joy of living in Escuintla).
As you know, I got interested in the German influence through the German food that appears on menus and in stores … schnitzel is almost as ubiquitous as chow mein, showing up at restaurants that have not one other thing to do with German food, like Gaia or La Escudilla,
There are the the nearby influences such as Austrian Swiss, etc that show up at such diverse places as La Antigua Vineria which has geschnetzeltes and goulash (another common dish), Chez Christophe has Swiss bread and its Monday night Swiss rachellete (excellent), Todo Baru with its Dutch croquettes, Weiner with its kaiserschmarm (Austrian pancakes).
I’m guessing the Germans have something to do with zeplins and all those whipped cream cakes.
Of course, the Germans started up the coffee plantations to wash it all down.
Then there are lots of German restaurants such as Jardin Bavaria which has its roast suckling pig Saturdays (the next one is Sat Feb 26th).
Anyway, thanks for the reccomendation on the book. I’m looking forward to buying it.
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1. Rudy Girón says:
  February 18, 2011 at 3:52 pm
  @rworange, I am afraid you might not be able to buy such book. Often these books are rare finds with tiny printings 300 to 500 books. 🙁
  Reply
  1. Ingrid Gonzalez says:
    June 20, 2023 at 9:18 am
    Yes. I’ve been trying to locate a copy and as of this posting, it’s $260 on the cheapest listing I could find. 🙁 If anyone knows where we can find a copy for less and/or a reference copy in a library, please let me know. My family is from Huehuetenango and we have coffee fields. I’m trying to do some research into my family history as my maternal great, great grandfather is allegedly German (but I’m hitting a dead end for the momment). Any insight is appreciated!
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Carlos Garcia Reckholder says:
February 18, 2011 at 8:59 pm
i was able to purchase this book in the US at http://www.piedrasanta.com/tienda2.asp?step=3&id=1086&catid=850
the store is located in Guatemala but they ship books to affiliated bookstores in the states so you don’t have to pay really expensive shipping rates.
my great-grandfather went to Guatemala in the early 1900’s from Munich but my family has been living in the US since the late 1970’s.
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Jersey Girl says:
February 23, 2011 at 8:32 am
This is so interesting. I am a German-American and my daughter is Guatemalan. I come to this site to learn more about Guatemala and I do learn a lot here. I have noticed the German influence (especially in the foods) and German names and wondered, now this clears it up.
I also saw a TV show that traces the roots of famous people here in the States where in the 1700s Germans from one area of Germany were given land in the US to settle in areas west of the colonies. So this sounds like the same thing. A very large population of Germans came over to the US during that time.
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Doris says:
February 24, 2011 at 8:58 am
Thanks for this. My mom’s side of the family have always claimed that their grandmother or my great grandmother was German. Which I guess explains all the blue, green,and gray eyes in my mom’s side of the family. My mom says she hardly knew this German Grandmother of hers but everyone always said she was German and I always thought Lol really. I guess this book could explain some things! lol
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Tom L. says:
February 26, 2011 at 4:30 am
Si pues. The first Guatemalan I ever met (it was here in the U.S.) was named Otto. That struck me as rather curious, and he explained that he was named after a grandfather from Deutschland. Interestingly enough, the second Guatemalan I met (again in the U.S.) had an Italian first name, and a Chinese surname! Being a New Yorker of dual immigrant ancestry, this of course is normal to me.
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A. Roman says:
February 28, 2011 at 11:47 pm
I wonder if there’s a place in Guatemala where you can trace your family and your ancestors like in the U.S. but I doubt that they keep records.
(This is very interesting though, I’ve always been fascinated by this)
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C Linares says:
March 10, 2011 at 4:53 am
I am currently working on my German-Guatemalan ancestry on my father’s mother’s side the Gunthers. Who also owned a coffee plantation. And it has not been easy finding any kind of information on them. I was told about the author and her book by my cousin who happens to live in Guate. And knows her personally. On one of his trips to San Francisco he brought with him one of her books as a gift for me. It has been a very interesting read.
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Egon Westerhausen says:
September 15, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Regina your book is really a good one . My grand father was a German living in Guatemala until Jan 05 1942 . In your book I could find valuable
information , and I could understand many things.
Thanks,
Egon Westerhausen – El Salvador
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Douglas Butz says:
October 5, 2011 at 10:16 pm
I was told my Great Grandfather owned a coffee plantation in Guatemala, this information helps confirm how he would have been involved in such an enterprise. I’ve looked up the book on Amazon but it is not available. If anybody knows where I may be able to obtain it, please let me know. Thx.
Douglas Butz
Salt Lake City, Utah USA
dougbutz@gmail.com
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Aaroncarrillo84 says:
February 9, 2012 at 6:27 pm
i love this book because im from guatemala but my ancesters
are from germany..
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Jose says:
October 14, 2012 at 4:27 am
Growing up in Guatemala we all had friends or would see blond or white Guatemalans all the time -spaniards, italians, etc- and we mistakenly called them gringuitos -US people- Now in retrospect I can remember some last names from classmates to business names such as Stahl, Bayer, Boechman, Schoenfeldt, Altenbach, Mayer, Erlich, etc. It all makes a lot of sense now. Plus the Mixtas, a Guatemalan dish consisting of Salchichas -Sausages and guacamole on tortillas- and of course, Gallo Lager Ale. Enough said. Felicidades a los Chapines Alemanes!!
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Rob says:
August 11, 2013 at 7:41 pm
I am trying to find my German relatives who migrated to Guatemala. My great great grandmothers name is Sofia, or Sophia.
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Sandy says:
March 23, 2014 at 2:42 pm
This is interesting. My great grandfather was German. All of my grandparents from my mother’s side are often confused with a Caucasian of some type. From my father’s side people often confuse them as Koreans, because my great-great grandfather was Chinese and my grandfather from my father’s side is of Spanish descent. All in all, I’m often confused with Hawaiian. I burn super easily, tan a day after, but I’m normally pale, this confused me so much because I am Guatemalan, but a huge huge mix. No one can tell where I’m from.
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Jose Byron Gonzalez says:
March 25, 2014 at 11:54 am
I did. As a matter of fact, until WW2, Germany was Guatemala’s largest and most influential trading partner. The first intelligence to come to the allies from Germany after the start of hostilities was from a Guatemalan married to a German lady, his name lost to history. To this day, it cracks me up to hear my friends (whose maternal surname is Klee) claim to be “German” though they don’t speak a lick of the language, much less know much about Germany itself. My girlfriend claims her great-grandmother’s last name was Weiss and therefore, that makes her “German” as well. It’s cute. At least she speaks some German. It also points to the dark side of Guatemala and its racism.
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1. Rudy says:
  March 27, 2014 at 11:15 am
  This is great additional information for this post, José Byron, thanks for enhancing the entry with interesting feedback.
  Reply
Oscar says:
December 5, 2014 at 7:53 am
Yes, I actually did since my family is part German and other euro mixtures living in Guatemala.
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Juan Coy says:
April 1, 2021 at 7:41 pm
Is this a romantic book, or it offers a look at the bad things that these Germans did to indigenous people?
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1. Alan Ortiz-Morales says:
  June 5, 2021 at 3:34 pm
  Why would a german descendent write about the things they did to our people?
  Reply
  1. Rudy Giron says:
    June 6, 2021 at 7:01 pm
    Well, German descendants are also Guatemalans by birth and upbringing in the Guatemalan culture.
    Reply
Sharon Ferman says:
October 2, 2021 at 6:32 pm
I am currently working on my genealogy tree. My grandfather was born in 1903 in Sta. Barbara Suchitepequez and it’s said that his parents were from Germany but I have not been able to find much about the Ferman prior my grandfather. I wonder if there is a registry of the names and year of the German immigrants coming to Guatemala prior to 1903?
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Monica says:
December 28, 2021 at 10:51 pm
My great great grandfather was German, my grandpa and all his brothers and sisters have green eyes they were born and raised in Guatemala. My uncle has green eyes my mother didn’t get them though.. our last names are Vega. I was almost born in Guatemala also, my mother was pregnant when she moved here to California. I love how Guatemala looks I wish to visit someday… but I was shocked when my grandpa told me his grandpa was German. All his uncles where white with blue eyes
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