Bernardo Timmermann
Bernardo Francisco Timmermann Buschung (18 August 1912 – 1 November 1986), was a Chilean politician, mountaineer, and photographer of German origin, who was prosecuted for espionage during World War II for sending information to Nazi Germany. He was part of a spy ring with other German Chileans. The group was dismantled by the Chilean police, with the help of the FBI. Decades after serving his prison sentence, he served as mayor of Cabrero, being appointed by the Government of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Also recorded as Bernardo Francisco Timmermann Buschung
Bernardo Timmermann

Archivo Nacional de Chile · CC BY 4.0
- Name
- Bernardo Timmermann Buschung
- Born
- 18 August 1912
- Birthplace
- Concepción, Chile
- Died
- 1 November 1986
- Place of death
- Santiago de Chile
- Spouse
- Gertrudis Bethke Bade
- Nationality
- Chile
- Occupation
- photographer · mountaineer · spy · politician
- Languages
- Spanish · German
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Documentary summary
Bernardo Francisco Timmermann Buschung (18 August 1912 – 1 November 1986), was a Chilean politician, mountaineer, and photographer of German origin, who was prosecuted for espionage during World War II for sending information to Nazi Germany. He was part of a spy ring with other German Chileans. The group was dismantled by the Chilean police, with the help of the FBI. Decades after serving his prison sentence, he served as mayor of Cabrero, being appointed by the Government of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Bernardo Timmermann Buschung • Born — 18 August 1912 • Birthplace — Concepción, Chile • Died — 1 November 1986 • Place of death — Santiago de Chile • Office — Mayor of Cabrero • Term Start — 1976 • President — Augusto Pinochet Ugarte • Predecessor — Manfred Suiter Hertlein • Successor — Luis Rivas Palma • Term End — 1981 • Party — NSDAP (1945) Independent, nearby to National Party (1966–1986) • Spouse — Gertrudis Bethke Bade • Children — Five
Early life
Early life
Bernardo Francisco Timmermann Buschung was born in Concepción, on August 18, 1912. He was the son of Richard Timmermann and Adelhaide Bouschong, two German immigrants who arrived in Chile at the time of the German colonization of Valdivia, Osorno and Llanquihue.
Life at war
Life at war
• Illustration — Timmermann (left) being interrogated by the Chilean police, accused of espionage While World War II was taking place in the rest of the world, Timmermann lived in Chile, a country that did not have direct participation in the conflict until its end in 1945. At that time, according to the Investigations Police of Chile's FBI-supported Department 50, some German-Chilean circles supported the Nazi regime by carrying out a process of Nazification of the resident German community. Those involved maintained a radio network, where they maintained communication of secret information to Germany. The officials disrupted the network and arrested some of its members, including Timmermann.
After the war
After the war
After the war, Timmermann moved to Yumbel, where he acquired a series of properties between 1957 and 1963, adjacent to Laja Falls, some of which suffered expropriation in 1968, during the Chilean land reform; and in addition, he suffered a series of attempts to illegally appropriate his land, when the reform became radicalized, during the Unidad Popular government of Salvador Allende. After the Allende government was overthrown in 1973, Timmermann approached the new dictatorial government of Augusto Pinochet. He was appointed mayor of Cabrero in 1976, as successor to Manfred Suiter, renowned racing driver, also German Chilean. He died on November 1, 1986, in Santiago, Chile. He is buried in Monte Águila, Cabrero.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Yumbel
Residences
Concepción.
Birth place
Santiago.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Bernardo Timmermann”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q124628990: Bernardo Timmermann
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Chilean Foxterrier. 001-002. 2021.
- 2.CUADERNO 1: Cuaderno de investigación judicial por infracción a la Ley de Seguridad Exterior del Estado. Archivo Nacional.
- 3.Los documentos del Departamento 50: Descifrando el espionaje nazi en Chile Archivo Nacional. www.archivonacional.gob.cl.
- 4.Descifrando las redes de espionaje nazi: historia del Departamento 50 (1) Archivo Nacional. www.archivonacional.gob.cl.
- 5.Ley 17.059: Autoriza a la Municipalidad de Yumbel para expropiar los lotes de terrenos que señala: Ministerio de Tierras y Colonización. 19 December 1968.
- 6.Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile – BCN. www.bcn.cl.
- 7.Figueroa Mora, Tito. Cabrero, Una aproximación histórica. Universidad de Concepción; Universidad del Bío-Bío; I. Municipalidad de Cabrero. 1999. 956-288-329-9.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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