Paul schafer biography

Paul Schafer

Founder and Director – World Culture Project

Founder and Director of the World Culture Project based in Markham, Canada (worldcultureproject.org). He has worked in the arts and cultural field for more than five decades as an author, advisor, educator, administrator, and researcher.

He was Assistant Director of the Ontario Arts Council from 1967 to 1970, a founder and Director of York University’s Programme in Arts and Media Administration from 1970 to 1974, and Coordinator of the Cooperative Programme in Arts Administration and the Cooperative Programme in International Development at the University of Toronto from 1984 to 1990.
Paul has taught arts administration and cultural policy at York University and the University of Toronto, undertaken a number of missions for UNESCO, and executed many projects for Canada’s Department of External Affairs and other government departments and organizations in Canada. He was originally trained as an economist and taught economics for several years before entering the cultural field, specializing in international development, principles of economics, and the history of economic thought.

He has written many books on the arts, culture, and cultures, including Culture: Beacon of the Future, Revolution orRenaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age, The Age ofCulture, The Secrets of Culture, THE ARTS: Gateway to a Fulfilling Life and Cultural Age, and, most recently, THE WORLD AS CULTURE: Cultivation of the Soul to the Cosmic Whole published in 2022. He lives and works in Markham, Canada.

Paul Schafer (4 December 1921 – 24 April 2010) was a GermanBaptist religious leader and neo-Nazi who was infamous for his sexual abuse of children at his Colonia Dignidad agricultural commune in Chile.

Biography[]

Paul Schafer was born in Troisdorf, Germany in 1921, and he joined the Hitler Youth movement at a young age and served as a Wehrmacht medic during World War II. Following the war, he set up a children's home and a Baptist ministry, and he fled West Germany in 1959 with some of his followers after being accused of child sexual abuse. The conservativeChilean president Jorge Alessandri allowed him to create a Baptist and anti-communist community outside of Parral in 1961, and he and his followers founded Colonia Dignidad. A staunch neo-Nazi, Schafer allowed for Augusto Pinochet's right-wing military dictatorship to use Colonia Dignidad as a torture and detention center. On 20 May 1997, Schafer fled child sex abuse charges, and he was captured on 10 March 2005. In 2006, he was sentenced to 33 years in jail, and he died in 2010.

German criminal and founder of a sect and agricultural commune in Chile

This article is about the German sect leader. For the German politician, see Paul Schäfer (politician). For the inventor, see Schafer automation system. For the ice hockey player, see Paul Schaefer (ice hockey). For the musician, see Paul Shaffer.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Schäfer and the second or maternal family name is Schneider.

Paul Schäfer Schneider (4 December 1921 – 24 April 2010) was a German-Chilean Christian minister, convicted sex offender, and the founder and leader of a sect and agricultural commune of 300 German immigrants called Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony) (later renamed Villa Baviera) located in Parral in southernChile, about 340 km (210 miles) south of Santiago from 1961 to 2005. Schäfer led his followers in the teachings of William Branham.

Aside from human rights abuses against members of Colonia Dignidad, including rape and sexual and physical abuse (including torture) of young children, Schäfer maintained a relationship with Pinochet's military dictatorship (1973–1990) and was involved in weapons smuggling and the torture and extrajudicial killings of political dissidents. After the end of Pinochet's government, increased public awareness of the activities of Colonia Dignidad following testimony by former victims led to the issuing of a warrant for Schäfer's arrest. Living underground for eight years, he spent the last five years of his life in prison in Chile.

Early life and education

Schäfer was born the town of Troisdorf, near Bonn, Germany, to Anna (née Schneider) and Jakob Schäfer. He was described as a poor and clumsy student. Schäfer's family was Lutheran. In an accident with a fork, he lost his right eye. He joined a German YMCA-„Eichenkreuz“-Group.During World War II he served by carr

Canadian musician (born 1949)

For the United States military aide to Iran, see Paul R. Shaffer. For the French holocaust survivor, see Paul Schaffer. For the Chilean cult leader, see Paul Schäfer.

Paul Allen Wood ShafferCM (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, keyboardist, composer, actor, author, comedian, and musician who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) and Late Show with David Letterman (1993–2015).

Early years

Shaffer was born in 1949 in Toronto, and raised in Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley and Bernard Shaffer. He was raised in the Jewish faith; his mother volunteered with local charities, and donated to Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. His father, a lawyer, was a jazz aficionado while his mother loved show tunes. When Shaffer was 12, his parents took him on a trip to Las Vegas where they took in Nat King Cole and other shows; this was an experience Shaffer described later as "life changing" and led to his decision to become a performer. As a child, Shaffer took piano lessons, and in his teenage years played the organ in a band called Fabulous Fugitives with his schoolmates in Thunder Bay. Later, he performed with the "Flash Landing Band" a