Carlos Keller

Keller was born in Concepción, Chile, into a family of German origin and completed his education at universities in Germany.^[1] He received his doctorate in 1921 and soon became known as a student of Chilean historian Alberto Edwards and Oswald Spengler, with whom he had struck up a friendship in Germany.^[1] His first book, Spengler y la Situaciòn Politica Cultural de la America Iberica (1927) argued for a strong hierarchical basis to Latin American politics in order to preserve Spanish identity.^[1]

Upon returning to Chile he served as chairman of the cultural organisation the German-Chilean League and in this role had helped to introduce Spengler's thoughts to a Chilean audience. Such was Keller's reputation that when the Ibero-Amerikanische Institut was set up in Berlin in 1930 he was considered as a possible chairman of this prestigious academic body.^[2] Keller went to work for the Department of Census and Statistics from 1927, becoming director general in 1931. He also served as a professor at a number of Chilean universities and a journalist.^[1] His 1931 book La Eterna Crisis Chilena continued his political work, with him arguing that Chile faced a crisis because it failed to fully adopt Western ways and instead just crudely imitated them.^[1] Keller soon met Jorge González von Marées and launched the National Socialist Movement of Chile with him. Keller was not a strict follower of German-style Nazism but instead he saw Chilean nacismo as seeking to do away with the corruption in democracy.^[1] He looked to the example of Diego Portales as a strong modernizing dictator and sought to develop Chilean economic independence through the growth of a middle class.^[1]