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The History of the Bruun Family in Bolivia
By Arril Erasmus Bruun
Push here for the Spanish Version
Although the culture and the language of the Danish Vikings dates back more than 1000 years, the history of our family begins at the end of the 1800 with the marriage of Cristine Kjeldsen and Jens Engelhart Bruun, natives of the city of Ringsted in Denmark. They had five male children; Magnus (the oldest), Arild (my namesake), Johannes (my father), Sofus, (the one who died in Chile ) and Hans (the youngest). When all still were children, Jens Bruun at the age age of 33, died unexpectedly as a result of frostbite on his feet and hands. This occurred during a very hard winter when he was trying to complete cobblestone work in the city of Ringsted . Nevertheless, due to the good work ethic of Northern Europeans, the Bruun brothers, with the help of our grandmother, Cristine, worked at a very early age, not just to support themselves but also to pay the debt that our grandfather had left with his unexpected death. These were difficult times, not only for a widow with five small children, but also for the vast majority of Europeans. The population explosion, the lack of religious and civil liberties and frequent wars caused millions of people from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, as well the Scandinavian countries to immigrate to many parts of the world, especially to North America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, etc.
My father Johannes (Juan) went to the German city of Kiel to work in construction. Kiel is also an important port in Germany . There he obtained a certificate of builder and learned how to speak the German language. During that time, Johannes read an announcement in a German newspaper that builders were needed to rehabilitate the city of Valparaíso in Chile . This City and Chilean port, had been practically destroyed after a strong earthquake. Johannes obtained a labor contract and his contact in Valparaíso , Chile , was a man name Richard Bonner.
It must be noted that all the Bruun brothers were experts in construction. From the city of Kiel, Johannes returned to Ringsted to begin the already planned trip to Chile with his two younger brothers Sofus, age 23, and Hans, age 17. Johannes recently had completed 24 years. They left by train to the city and port of Esbjerg in Denmark . From there on February 20, 1907 , they left for Liverpool , an important Port of England .
Although they had difficulties with the passages bought in Denmark , they were finally able to embark on a steamship named Orita under the British flag. On February 28 of the same year they sailed for Valparaíso. The ship made stops in France , Spain , Portugal and, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean , in Rio de Janeiro , later in Santos , Montevideo , Buenos Aires , and The Faulkland Islands. Later they sailed by the Strait of Magellan to the Pacific Ocean until they arrived in the city of Valparaíso . (For more details of this trip, see the journal of my father and the copies of their ticket.) Nevertheless, as might occur in many circumstances of life, something tragic happened; Sophus, the most handsome of the brothers, died of a very bad infection. Penicillin or other antibiotics had not yet been discovered. It was discovered years later during World War II.
Meanwhile in Denmark , the oldest brother, Magnus, already married and with two children, Jens Christian and Sofus Hans Johannes, had moved to a city on the peninsula of Jutland . Arild was the only brother who remained in Ringsted, along with his mother, Christine. Arild, also already married, had a son, age 5, who also was called Arild. Later they had 7 more children: Sophus, Agnes, Einar, Olga, Orla, Else and Otto. The trip of the three brothers left an enormous void and in time, Arild also moved to the city of Copenhagen , a distance of 35 Km. north of Ringsted. With this brother, Arild, and with his oldest son Arild, as well as with Magnus, and some of his sons, Johannes and Hans had much correspondence during many years of their lives in Bolivia .
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| Arrild, Oldest Brother of Else Hansen. Son of Arild Rasmos Bruun |
When my wife Marty and I visited Denmark for the first time, Arild, my uncle, as well as his son, Arild, had already died. But we met and spent time with Sophus, named for the brother who had died in Valparaiso , as well as Agnes, Olga and Else. On March 2, 2003 , Else Hansen Bruun celebrated her 80 th birthday, and we were there for this celebration. Else is the only first cousin who is alive now in Denmark .
Else had two children, a daughter, Marianne, and a son, Jorn. Marianne and her two daughters, Nomi and Vivan, visited us in our home in Cincinnati in May of 1990. Marianne died of cancer that same year. Currently Nomi, a nurse by profession, and Vivan, married with a daughter, live in Copenhagen . It is important to say here that when I visited Santa Cruz in January of 1974, I asked my Uncle Angel (Hans) many questions about our Danish relatives. At that time, he gave me the address of his brother Arild in Denmark . Arild had already died.
When our youngest daughter, Carolyn, was in her last year of high school, a friend of hers, Steven Trapp, became an exchange student in Denmark , and he promised Carolyn that he would locate one of our Danish relatives. I believed that this would be extremely difficult, since so much time had passed without any contact. However, one night Carolyn shouted to me from her bedroom that Steve was on the telephone from Denmark saying that he had located our relative. When Steve went to the address given to him, no relative lived there, but when he asked who the former owner was, he was told that it was Marianne Hansen, the daughter of Else. When Steve was finally able to communicate with Else by phone, she responded that she had no relatives in the United States . And Steve replied that his friend's father was from Bolivia and his name was Arril Erasmo Bruun, at which point Else cried.
After many phone conversations and letter writing, the first person to visit Denmark was my sister, Dora, with her husband, Livio Frigoli. They were traveling through Europe with my brother-in-law's relatives. Even though this was a short visit, they were able to meet with our cousin, Else.
With the visit of Marianne and her two daughters here in our house in Cincinnati , and through phone conversations and letters, we were no longer strangers. It is interesting to mention that the daughter of one of Marty's intimate friends, Anne, was also an exchange student in Denmark , and she married Steve Trapp.
Returning to the theme of how my father and uncle Hans arrived at Santa Cruz , it was due to the death of their brother, Sophus. As almost all of the Danish immigrants of that era, they thought to travel to the United States . My father had contacts by letters, with other Danes in the city of Chicago . But in April of 1906, the great and popular city of San Francisco was practically in ashes due to the earthquake and burning of that city. Probably that seismic tremor was related to the earthquake of the city of Valparaíso due to the dislocation of tectonic layers of the Pacific Ocean . The following year, the New York Stock Eschange caused world panic with its sudden fall of stock prices.
Other important events of that time .... The Panama Canal already was in full construction but in the hands of the Americans. The Panamanians in 1903, with logistic support and American money, had been separated from Colombia .
The Japanese recently had defeated Russia , and President Teddy Roosevelt had earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the termination of the war. Denmark still was the owner of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean , which was sold to the United States in 1916 under the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. In that decade also Henry Ford in the United States had amazed the world with the invention of the assembly line and the production his Ford Model T. Albert Einstein published his Theory of Relativity. In Bejing , China , forces of Europe and the United States were fighting the Boxer Rebellion. A great uncle of my wife Marty, fought with the German army in that war.
World events have always influenced the destiny of many people. Due to the events in San Francisco and in New York , in the end, my father, Johannes, and uncle Hans decided to travel by train from Valparaíso to Oruro , Bolivia , which until now is still the end of that railroad. A few days after arriving in Oruro , while seated in the hotel dining room having lunch, they noticed that people were removing everything from the hotel, furniture, tablecloths, dishes and everything of value. Someone came to them and said that they should take their luggage from their rooms, as the owner of the hotel was declaring bankruptcy and his creditors were taking all of his belongings. As my father left the table, he put a fork that was on the floor in his pocket. From that day on, my father ate with that fork. I remember vividly that same fork and the story that he always told us about it.
In the end, they found themselves literally in the street, and without knowing how serious the destiny of their trip would be, they began to talk with a German who was with a man from Santa Cruz . He believed that they, too, were German. I have been able to confirm that this man was Leo Fleig. After meeting and getting to know each other, they established an instant friendship, and they all decided to travel to Santa Cruz . Mr. Fleig had come from Valparaiso to Oruro to work on the construction of the Miners' Bank. He was also an expert builder and had worked in Valparaiso . They were accompanied by another man from Santa Cruz whom Mr. Fleig knew, who had made many trips from Santa Cruz to Oruro via Cochabamba .
He told them many beautiful things about Santa Cruz . He spoke of their people, among whom were many Germans, and that also there were many beautiful women in Santa Cruz
This would be an unforgettable adventure, as they dreamed of crossing South America through the Amazon River . The trip from Oruro to Santa Cruz , via Cochabamba , was a month and a half long by mule and by horse. On May 16, 1908 , they arrived in Santa Cruz . Without realizing it, this was a one way trip with no return. The city or town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, at that time, had no more than 15,000 people. There were no motorized vehicles. The people were very kind, cordial, generous, and, above all, very happy. The president of Bolivia was General Ismael Montes Gamboa. They had recently installed telegraph service. In this small corner of the world called Santa Cruz de the Sierra there were already settled a good number of Germans in both the city and countryside.
In Bolivia , the value and the exploitation of rubber or “caucho” as it is called, already was in its boom. This was also true of the deposits of tin in the Andes of Bolivia. This was because of the industrial revolution in both Europe and the United States which needed raw materials for its industry. To travel to Santa Cruz at that time was also possible by way of Puerto Suarez, then thru the rivers Paraguay and Paraná to Buenos Aires in the River Plate, or through the Amazon Basin , from Cuatro Hojos, through the rivers Pirai, Rio Grande , Ichilo, Mamoré, to the Amazon River . The Port called Cuatro Hojos was developed by Mr. José Sciaroni, a native of France and grandfather of Giselle and Dorian Bruun, children of Hans Bruun Years later, when the British completed the railroad to northern Argentina , travel was also possible through the city of Salta . All of these “ways out” took two to three months of travel to get to an Ocean port.
The first work that Johannes was able to secure was building the front or facade of the Cathedral, jointly with his friend Leo Fleig, who finished building the towers of the Cathedral. The contract they obtained was with the Bishop of the Diocese: Monsignor Belisario Santistevan with the recommendations of Bernardo Cadario. This Italian architect recently had built for Mrs. Segunda Mercado Vespa the large building in front of the main Plaza which years later was bought by a German company, La Casa Zeller, and is currently the City Hall. The second work was the construction of the Tower and the Church of Portachuelo with his good friend Leo Fleig. Later they obtained a contract with “Zéller, Villinger & Cia” to build houses in this agro-industry and Alcohol Distillery called “ Las Barreras” near the city of Warnes . Shortly after is the construction of the only Mansion built in the Bolivian lowlands, which was builty for the Zeller family and which had no comparison with other residences of that era. It can only be compared with the affluent and elegant Southern mansions of the United States , although of a different architectural style.
During the Second World War, uncle Hans and his family lived there with his second wife, Mirette, and their children, Giselle and Dorian. Uncle Hans worked for the German company “ Zéller de Moser”, commonly known as the “Casa Zéller”. The firm Zéller, Villinger and Cia changed its name when Walter Villinger sold its stock to German Mozer. Villinger returned to its hometown in Germany in 1923.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF SANTACRUZ
When Bolivia declared war against Germany , in the Bundestag or German Parliament they had to ask where or what Bolivia was. To avoid confiscation of their many properties, by the Bolivian government, all Titles were legally transfered in the name of uncle Hans. In the declaration of war, Bolivia had stipulated the expropriation of all German goods. When the war was over, with the disastrous defeat of Nazi Germany, the titles were reverted again to the Casa Zeller y Moser.
In Portachuelo or in the town of Buena Vista , uncle Hans met a young woman named Juana Zabala. Some time after, uncle Hans had his first wedding with Juana Zabala and they settled in the town of San Carlos . They had two children, Cristian Bruun and Elsa Bruun. It is fitting to mention here and, with a lot of pride, that uncle Hans, as well as Johannes were very honest and decent people. They left a beautiful legacy of family life, and an excellent example of a strong work ethic which is characteristic of the Danish immigrants.
Since I am the only son of Johannes Bruun and my physical absence from Santa Cruz is more than 40 years, I would like to mention some examples of the contributions which my father gave to Santa Cruz , the land that he grew to love so much.
Besides having been a builder for the above mentioned buildings, the dream of almost all the Danish immigrants of that era was to have a farm. That dream was fulfilled in 1923 when he bought the property called Guapomó, 50 Km. from Santa Cruz . For many generations, it was the custom for the families of Santa Cruz to have small rural properties near the city called Quintas. In the summer the family would visit this property where they had some domestic animals and many fruit trees. For many years the city of Santa Cruz was no more than a big village, where the roads to and from the main plaza were only a few blocks long. When Johannes travelled from Guapomó to Santa Cruz , he passed by the Quinta of our maternal grandfather, Benjamin Rojo Escalante, where Pablita Rojo lived with her aunt. She was a young girl of 20 years, very sweet and full of kindness and goodness. This is how Johannes and Pabla met, and their courtship culminated with a wedding on December 3, 1927 . Their marriage brought love, strength and fulfillment to all of Johannes' work projects. Since they were not able to have children for almost ten years, my sisters, Rosa Maria and Dora, and I, are the youngest of all the first cousins in the Bruun family, both in Denmark and Bolivia.
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| Pablita Rojo Paz and
Juan Bruun/Kjeldsen on their wedding. Santa Cruz, dec. 3, 1927 |
When Santa Cruz was still a small and isolated corner of the world, in the 1930's, In our farm, thanks to my Dad's efforts, there was electric light produced by a charger or a windmill. The electricity produced was stored in two batteries that gave light for three light bulbs, and electricity to be able to listen to short wave radio programs. In Guapamo, he installed one of the most advanced dairies of that time. As a pioneer, he introduced the idea of grass cultivation, as it was in Denmark . He grew many types of grasses, including Bermuda grass, which were unknown to the area. He gave salt and molasses to the cows to increase the production of milk. The fences had very smooth wire so that neither cows or horses were injured. The dairy had a very modern system, where the milking chambers had canals with drains in the Viking style. The milkers sat on stools with three legs. The stool had a handle for easy management and were like the garden stools that are used today and typical in the Scandinavian countries. The production of cheese was done in wooden molds identical to the ones used in Denmark at that time, and the cheese that is produced in Guapamo today is very similar to the Danish Havarti cheese. The brand or registered trademark which my dad used for horses and cows is the anchor, which is the Danish symbol for security. In the building of the United Nations in New York City , the room of Denmark shows this symbol which is displayed in a very beautiful and artistic way.
The furniture that my Dad built in Guapomó, before their marriage , was made with his own hands and is typical of the Viking technique. No nails or metallic items were used. The simple way to make harnesses was also very typical of the Danish technique.The blacksmith trade and carpentry were identical to what was done on Danish farms. I could verify all of this because I visited an agricultural museum in the city of Odense in Denmark . This is the city where Hans Christian Andersen was born, the author of “The Ugly Duckling” and many other fairy tales, which are known worldwide and translated in more than 100 languages.
My father was also the first in Santa Cruz to build an embankment with bridges and drainages, utilizing clay, which, even though it is very porous, is waterproof. This enabled people to travel during a rainy season when the roads become very slippery, almost like icy roads in the northern hemisphere. This especially helped him to be able to travel to his farm during the rainy season in Santa Cruz . The first motorized vehicle in that region was bought by my dad in 1938. It was the 1932 Dodge Model manufactured in Detroit , Michigan . His first chauffeur was a man from Santa Cruz , named Urei.
Dad also built a very pretty bridge on the river Chuchio in Candelaria. Unfortunaely, in the 1970's, a very strong rainstorm washed it away. He also wanted to be able to cultivate and farm, using methods of irrigation, but due to the very dry weather and the enormous amount of labor that this project demanded, he was unable to succeed with this project. My father, Johannes Bruun, along with my grandfather, Benjamin Rojo Escalante, discovered Suruquizo and the thermal waters of San Xavier. Also when Bolivia contracted with a German engeneer, Hans Grether, for the study of the Aiquile-Santa Cruz railroad, and for the geographic survey of the map of Bolivia , Johannes accompanied him as a volunteer for 9 months. In order to show his gratitude to my father, Hans Grether put the name of Port Bruun on one of the rivers of that map.
Continuing in the Danish tradition, where education is the first priority, my Dad was the first and only person in the region to establish a school for the children of the workers of Guapomó. The teacher was hired in Santa Cruz , and my parents paid the salary and the expenses of the school. The school had swings, a seesaw, slides and a small wooden merry-go-round, for the diversion of the students during recess, all of which was constructed by my father's own hands. The large establishments of that era were self-sufficient, agricultural businesses, where everything that was needed had to be produced, except the tools. Agricultural production was mainly, sugar, coffee, rice, corn, yucca, candles, soap etc. My parents introduced the consumption of vegetables in our family with the first garden cultivated in Guapamó. The people of the rural area at that time were not aware of vegetables. All of these accomplishments would not have succeeded without the help, the administration, the supervision and the work of our mother, Pablita. There was also a distillery of alcohol and a large solar clock called Quadrant. The Danish author, Karen Blixen, immigrated to Kenya around the same years that dad and uncle Hans arrived in Bolivia . Her novel ”Out of Africa ” became a famous Hollywood movie with movie stars, Robert Redford and Meryll Streep. When Marty and I visited Kenya in 1995, we went to the farm and home where she lived. I was happily impressed with certain similarities, namely the Quadrant and the Cuckoo clock she had, and also the fact that she was the first to establish a school in the rural area of that British colony.
In 1933 during the Chaco War, which was the beginning of the integration of Santa Cruz with the exterior world, my dad made contributions of rice, sugar, and corn to help the Bolivian government in the war against Paraguay . In his desk he had many technical books in German and Danish. Unfortunately they were consumed by termites. But perhaps the most beneficial gift from my father for me and my two sisters, was magazine subscriptions like... the magazine Billiquen of Argentina, Vision of Colombia, Life in Spanish, Readers Digest in Spanish, and our father “Juan Bruun” was the first person in Bolivia to purchase a subscription for the magazine “Life en Español” from the U.S. They gave him a certificate with a special letter from the main office in the city of Denver , Colorado , where our daughter, Susi, now lives with her family. In our house in Cincinnati , this certificate has been framed and hangs on the wall in a special room, along with other special items of memories and nostalgia.
Johannes Bruun had great personal success because, at one time, he owned more than 1000 head of cattle, 9 houses in the city of Santa Cruz and many more thousands of acres of land; however, as often happens to pioneers, difficulties and abuses occurred. During the revolution of 1952, some of the corrupt persons of the MNR,(National Revolutionary Movment) illegally and in violation of the laws of Agrarian Reform which had been approved, much of the land was confiscated and given to the Japanese immigrants. People from Okinawa and Japan were brought to Bolivia , by the U.S. government in order to trade land for the establishment of American Military Bases in Japan . Dad had bought everything that he possessed and paid taxes religiously. He did not receive anything from the Government. Our family never had connections or political influence with any of the governments, which changed leadership very often . Nor did we have any connection with the MNR. Now the only thing that remains in the family is the farm called Guapomó, (thanks to my sister Rose Maria and my brother-in-law Jorge Vargas Gil), which is significantly reduced in size by the illegal expropriation.( 600 hectarias or the equivalent of 1200 acres).
Guapomó is part of me, and I am part of Guapomó because there, on January 31, 1940, when the “patujuses” were flowering, the birds were chirping, at the dawn of a new day, when everything was dressed in the many shades of green, .…. Arril Erasmus Bruun was born.
The revolution of 1952 was very necessary and perhaps inevitable, but there were many abuses, tortures and humiliations to the people of Santa Cruz . Nevertheless, the Japanese with the American aid, in machinery, vehicles and ”per-diem” have contributed enormously to the progress of Santa Cruz . Incredible, but true, the Revolution of 1952 had the American support of the conservative Republican Administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. His brother, Milton Eisenhower, was sent to Bolivia because the Soviet Union was supporting the African countries with both money and Marxist ideology. After reading the report of Milton Eisenhower, the American Congress decided to support the Bolivian revolution, even though Che Guevara and the Trotsky communist party in Bolivia was allied to the MNR, and they were working with the Ministry of Rural Matters and Agrarian Reform.
In the 1950's the United States had given a loan to Boliva in the amount of 50 million dollars. At that time, this was a considerable amount. With this loan, the highway from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz was built and this united Santa Cruz with the rest of Bolivia . The life of the people in Santa Cruz would never be the same. This contract was given to the Macco Pan Pacific Co. of Texas, whose owner was a good friend of a future president of the United States , Lyndon B. Johnson.
When President Paz Estensoro signed the contract with Gulf Oil of Pittsburgh, the communists began to be separated from the MNR. Che Guevara, disillusioned with the direction of the Bolivian Revolution, went to Central America , and there he met Fidel Castro who had been deported by the dictator, Fulgencio Batista of Cuba .
In 1954, Guatemala had elected a communist president, Jacobo Arbens, but as the American company, United Fruit Company, controlled the banana plantations, the Guatemalan government nationalized this company. The administration of Eisenhower not only refused to support this government, but also launched an undercover operation to oust President Arbens. That guerrilla warfare lasted more than 30 years with 100,00 people dead and thousands tortured and injured
Various other American companies began to arrive in Bolivia in order to lend their technical services in the exploration and exploitation of oil. Some of these companies were Gulf Oil, Parker Drilling and Halliburton. This brought a great number of American workers, with their families, to Santa Cruz As the number of Americans grew, Gulf Oil Company established what in Santa Cruz was called The American School. The Americans also brought their customs to play golf and a Country Club called “ Las Palmas ”.
A teacher named Martha Ann Wittekind was hired by The American School to teach second grade. She was from Cincinnati , Ohio , and had recently received her Masters Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Cincinnati . The rest is history. In April of 1967, she and Arril Bruun Rojo were married, and in 1970 they moved to the United States , where they now live in Cincinnati , Ohio .
The history of the Bruun brothers in the eastern part of Bolivia is a small example of the great contribution worldwide of European immigrants. They became intimately united with the people and the town of Santa Cruz . For centuries, the Danes, as well as their neighbors of Germany , have shared the ocean, the roots of their Teutonic language, the farm lands, which they have cultivated, and the same destiny
They have also shared territorial disputes (Schleswig-Holstein), wars of dominance, and the long, hard winters of northern Europe .
Now that the violent history of Europe is part of the past, the hope is toward a lasting world peace where problems are resolved using dialogue with words and not weapons, and where honest debate is the element of a democracy, where everyone has equal representation. The arrival of the Bruun brothers to Santa Cruz has been a noble contribution in order to create a better world.
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La Familia Bruun - 1908 - 2006
Cien Años De Vida
"Bajo El Cielo Mas Puro De America"...
Escrito Por Arril Erasmo Bruun
