{{Short description|Latvian-Chilean businesswoman}} {{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Sara Braun | image = Sara Braun, c. 1900.jpg | caption = Braun, c. 1900 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1862|12|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Talsi, Courland, Russian Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|04|22|1862|12|17|df=y}} | death_place = Viña del Mar, Chile | other_names = Sara Braun de Nogueira, Sara Braun Hamburger, Sara Braun Hamburger de Nogueira, Sara Braun Hamburger de Valenzuela Crespo, Sara Braun Hamburguer | occupation = businesswoman, philanthropist | years_active = 1874–1948 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|José Nogueira|1887|1893|end=d.}} * {{marriage|Leoncio Valenzuela Crespo|1901|1929|end=annulled}} }} }}
'''Sara Braun''' (17 December 1862 – 22 April 1955) was a Latvian-born Chilean businesswoman who became one of the principal employers in Patagonia. After emigrating with her family from the Russian Empire to escape persecution because of their Jewish heritage, the family toured Europe and then looked for work in Argentina and Paraguay, before moving to Magallanes, now known as Punta Arenas, in 1874.
Educated in the public school system, Braun soon joined her father to help administer the naval warehouse of the Portuguese shipping magnate José Nogueira, whom she married in 1887. The two worked together to build a business empire. When Nogueira died in 1893, Braun took over his leases to land in Tierra del Fuego and took control of his commercial, industrial and shipping interests. She also established an import trading house and group of warehouses, becoming one of the first women to run a business in the area.
With the help of her brother, Mauricio Braun, she established the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego (Society for the Exploitation of Tierra del Fuego) in August 1893 to engage in sheep farming. Through family ties and astute trading, they created a monopolistic company which controlled sheep production in the region and significantly influenced the development of southern Chile.
Involved in many charitable endeavors, Braun was celebrated for her benevolence. Later scholarship has uncovered the history of the Braun family and their business partners in the Menéndez family in the genocide of the Selkʼnam people. Her mansion is preserved as a museum in Punta Arenas, and the Sara Braun Foundation, established at her death, provides scholarship funds to students for higher education.
==Early life== Sara Braun was born on 17 December 1862{{#tag:ref|Toledo gives her date of birth as the 16th,{{sfn|Toledo|2011|p=34}} but Gallegos reproduced text in Braun's will stating ''nacido el diecisiete de Diciembre de mil ochocientos sesenta y dos en Talsen, ciudad de la provincia báltica de Curlandia'' [born on 17 December 1862 in Talsen, a city in the Baltic Province of Courland].{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}|group="Notes"}} in Talsi, in Courland (now Latvia) in the Russian Empire to Sofía Hamburger and Elías Braun.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}{{sfn|Toledo|2011|pp=33–34}} She was the oldest of seven siblings: Mauricio, Oscar, Ana, Fanny, Mayer, and Juan. Her father was a tinsmith and the family was of Jewish heritage.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
Threatened by the persecution of Jews in the Pale of Settlement, the family moved abroad, first touring Europe and then settling in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1872.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} Unable to find stable employment, they traveled back and forth between Paraguay and Argentina looking for work.{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019a}} At the time, Guillermo Blest Gana, a Chilean diplomat, was seeking recruits to relocate to the Magallanes Region of his country. The Braun family agreed to travel to Magallanes, now known as Punta Arenas, in 1874. Joining 46 other immigrants, they arrived in February of that year, when Braun was 12.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
==Career== ===Early career=== Educated in the public school in Magallanes, Braun helped her parents raise her younger siblings. As the family integrated into the town's society, they met José Nogueira, a Portuguese shipping magnate. Braun's father gained Nogueira's trust and was hired to oversee his naval warehouse, and Sara helped her father with the administration of the depot.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
By the middle of the 1880s, Nogueira had become one of the wealthiest businessmen of the area and proposed to Braun. The couple married in 1887, when Noguiera was 42 and Sara was 24.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} With his wife and her family, Noguiera intended to create businesses in the southern zones to capitalize on the farming opportunities, but died before that was fully accomplished.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} Braun was actively engaged in the Braun Nogueira businesses, offering her advice and vision to her husband.{{sfn|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}} In April 1889, Nogueira was able to secure a lease from the government of {{convert|180,000|ha|abbr=off}} of Fuegian land, and seven months later, his brother-in-law Mauricio Braun leased another {{convert|170,000|ha|abbr=off}}.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}}
The following year Nogueira acquired, along with Braun, a 20-year lease for {{convert|1,009,000|ha|abbr=off}} of additional land from President José Manuel Balmaceda's administration, with the proviso that he establish a Chilean business association to implement the project. Altogether, the leases gave Nogueira and his relatives control over one third of the {{convert|3,000,000|ha|abbr=off}} of land available in Tierra del Fuego.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}}
In order to meet the requirement for the enterprise to be Chilean (as neither Nogueira or Braun were, at the time) Nogueira agreed to sell one third of his lease rights to Ramón Serrano Montaner. Before he could complete the incorporation of the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego (Society for the Exploitation of Tierra del Fuego), Nogueira died in 1893.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} Braun began assuming management of all of his enterprises, with the "permanent help of her brothers Mauricio and Oscar", "becoming the first businesswoman in the history of Magallanes".{{sfn|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}}
===Society for the Exploitation of Tierra del Fuego=== Having inherited all but Serrano's interest in her husband's estate, Braun approached her brother Mauricio for advice on how best to settle the debt with Serrano. After a difficult negotiation between the two men, Serrano agreed to accept one hundred shares of the company stock, instead of the lease. The company was incorporated on {{nowrap|31 August 1893}}. The major shareholders were Braun, her brother Mauricio, and the rest of their family; Juan Blanchard, a partner in the firm Braun & Blanchard;{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} and Peter H. McClelland, the head of the firm Duncan, Fox & Co Ltd.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} This group controlled almost half of the company shares; the balance of shares, in order to ensure that a majority of investors were Chilean, belonged to sundry business people from Magallanes and Valparaíso.{{#tag:ref|The initial distribution of shares figures are unknown. The first extant records date to 1909 and show that majority shareholders were Duncan, Fox & Co with 108,210; Sara Braun with 82,750; Mauricio Braun with 59,800; José Menéndez with 44,600; Ramón Serrano Montaner with 22,000; and Enrique Richard with 19,000 shares. By 1920, Sara Braun was the largest individual shareholder with 94,400 shares, exceeded only by the Compañía de Custodia de Valores (Custodial Securities Company) which controlled 210,816 shares. Until her death, Braun was the largest individual shareholder of the establishment.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}}|group="Notes"}}{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} Initially the company engaged in sheep farming, and the auctioning of livestock and land.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}}
Besides the land leases in Patagonia, Braun inherited Nogueira's other commercial, industrial and shipping interests, and established an import trading house and group of warehouses.{{sfn|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}}{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} She formed a livestock company with McClelland{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} and began importing sheep. Initially, the business also brought in foreign administrators and sheep tenders, as well as industrial technology to equip the farm for shearing and wool processing. As the company grew, local laborers were trained to take on many of the positions in the company. The Exploitation Society's reputation for providing for workers, which included allowing laborers to buy food on credit until the next seasonal hiring, made the business a popular employer.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} thumb|Palacio Sara Braun, exterior thumb|Palacio Sara Braun, interior
In 1895, Braun hired Numa Mayer, a French architect, to construct a mansion for her at 716 Muñoz Gamero Plaza, in Magallanes. The French neoclassical building took more than 10 years to complete and featured a large winter garden conservatory and a columned portico. The interior featured European furnishings and ornamentation throughout.{{sfn|National Monuments Council|1981}}
In 1901, Braun married Leoncio Valenzuela Crespo, a rear admiral in the Chilean Navy and a member of the Board of the Exploitation Society. The marriage was not successful and was annulled in 1929.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} By 1905, the Exploitation Society had expanded into neighboring territory in Argentine Patagonia. Through a series of negotiations and purchases of smaller investors in the region, by 1910, Braun and her partners controlled some {{convert|3,000,000|ha|abbr=off}} of land.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}} The expansion into Argentina led Braun to found the ''Sociedad Anónima Ganadera y Comercial Sara Braun'' (Sara Braun Livestock and Commercial Company) in 1914.{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} This association was dedicated to managing the ''Estancia Pecket Harbour'' (Pecket Harbour Station).{{sfn|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}}
=== Selkʼnam genocide === {{main| Selkʼnam genocide}} The Society's development of the sheep industry in Patagonia displaced the original inhabitants of those lands. The building of fences created obstacles for the nomadic life of the Selkʼnam people and introduction of sheep herds displaced their main food source, the guanaco.{{sfn|Marchante|2014|pp=56–59}}{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019c}} Facing starvation, they began to steal livestock. The Exploitation Society asked and received permission from the Chilean government to remove the indigenous population from the area.{{sfn|Marchante|2014|p=244}}{{sfn|Moreno|2017}} José Menéndez, one of the shareholders of the company,{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019c}} and Mauricio's father-in-law,{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019b}} gave orders for the extermination of the Selkʼnam.{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019c}}{{sfn|Moreno|2017}}
In the 21st century, the Historical Truth Commission of 2008 and related scholarship uncovered the involvement of the Braun and Menéndez families in the genocide of the Selkʼnam people, calling into question their previously laudable reputation.{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019c}}{{sfn|Moreno|2017}}
===Humanitarian and charitable work=== With the events of the Russian Revolution and World War I, a new international progressive movement led to less focus on business expansion and more attention to social issues, including the quality of life of workers. The Exploitation Society began to supply housing, which in some cases allowed workers to live with their families and provided food and wood allowances to ensure the health of the workforce and the heating of their homes.{{sfn|Martinic B|2011}}
Braun became involved with various charitable endeavors, including the ''Asilo de Huérfanos de Punta Arenas'' (the Orphan Asylum of Punta Arenas), the Chilean Red Cross, the ''Gota de Leche'' (Drop of Milk), ''Liga de las Damas Católicas,'' (League of Catholic Ladies), and the ''Sociedad de dolores de beneficencia'' (Charitable Society of Sorrows).{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} She was also the patron of the Sixth Firemen's Company,{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} donated land for building several schools, and was the donor for the portico at the entrance of the Punta Arenas Cemetery.{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} On {{nowrap|7 June 1930}}, Braun became a naturalized citizen of Chile{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} and moved to Viña del Mar,{{sfn|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} where she lived at 490 Álvarez Street.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
In recognition of Braun's philanthropy, in 1936 the Ministry of Public Education renamed the ''Liceo de Niñas de Punta Arenas'' (Girls' Lyceum of Punta Arenas) in her honor. The government had already renamed the trade school attached to the ''Colegio María Auxiliadora'' after her in 1919. She was honored by the City of Punta Arenas as their ''Benefactora Pública'' (Public Benefactor) in 1945.{{sfn|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}} Her last public appearance in Punta Arenas was in 1948, when she donated a building for the Red Cross to the city. At the time, she was ill and her brother Mauricio had to deliver her speech. In her last years, Braun was cared for by her niece, Fanny Gazitúa, daughter of Fanny Braun and Abraham Gazitúa Brieba. Pedro Poklepovic, a liberal politician who was married to Braun's niece Doris, managed her finances in the last years of her life.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
==Death== Braun died at her home in Viña del Mar on 22 April 1955{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} and was buried in the Cemetery of Punta Arenas, officially known as the ''Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun''.{{sfn|Veksler|2019}} Because she had no children, she bequeathed her estate to her brother Juan Braun and her nieces and nephews. Her niece, Fanny Gazitúa, who had cared for her at the end of her life, was made an executor of the estate, inherited the home on Álvarez Street with all its contents, and was charged with establishing a Foundation bearing her name to provide higher education scholarships to students.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
==Legacy== At the time of her death, Braun was mourned as a prominent citizen and philanthropist of Patagonia. Flags flew at half mast, businesses closed in her honor, and speeches were made by dignitaries.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}} In addition to family members, Braun left over 15,000 shares of stock in the Exploitation Society to friends, servants, and acquaintances, who were involved in helping mitigate poverty, provide for underprivileged children or elders in need of care or were widows. She left outright stock donations to the various charities she had contributed to during her lifetime, as well as the San Juan de Dios Sanatorium of Viña del Mar; the Children's Hospital of Valparaíso; and the Sacred Family Asylum in Punta Arenas.{{sfn|Gallegos Celis|2015}}
In 1981, Braun's mansion, which had been purchased intact with furnishings upon her death by the Union Club of Punta Arenas, was declared a Historic Monument, known as the {{ill|Palacio Sara Braun|es}}.{{sfn|National Monuments Council|1981}}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=Notes}}
== References == ===Citations=== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin|30em}} *{{cite journal |last1=Gallegos Celis |first1=Francisco |title=Testamento de Sara Braun Hamburger |trans-title=Will of Sara Braun Hamburger |language=Spanish |journal=Magallania |location=Punta Arenas |date=2015 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=197–204 |doi=10.4067/S0718-22442015000200011 |doi-access=free }} *{{cite book |last=Marchante |first=José Luis Alonso |title=Menéndez, rey de la Patagonia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcdUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 |year=2014 |publisher=Editorial Catalonia |location=Santiago, Chile |isbn=978-956-324-316-1}} *{{cite journal |last1=Martinic B |first1=Mateo |title=Recordando a un imperio pastoril: La Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego (1893-1973) |trans-title=Remembering a sheepfarmer imperium: The Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego (1893-1973) |language=Spanish |journal=Magallania |location=Punta Arenas |date=2011 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=5–32 |doi=10.4067/S0718-22442011000100001 |doi-access=free }} *{{cite news |last1=Moreno |first1=Mario Isidro |title=Muerte y testamento de dos controvertidos personajes de la historia de Magallanes |url=https://laprensaaustral.cl/cronica/muerte-y-testamento-de-dos-controvertidos-personajes-de-la-historia-de-magallanes/ |access-date=13 August 2019 |newspaper=La Prensa Austral |date=19 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119153204/https://laprensaaustral.cl/cronica/muerte-y-testamento-de-dos-controvertidos-personajes-de-la-historia-de-magallanes/ |archive-date=19 November 2017 |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Death and testament of two controversial characters in the history of Magellan}} *{{cite book |last=Toledo |first=Nelson |title=Patagonia y Antartica, Personajes Históricos |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yqkEYSd5UoC&pg=PA34 |year=2011 |trans-title=Patagonia and Antartica: Historical People |publisher=Palibrio |location=Bloomington, Indiana |language=Spanish |isbn=978-1-61764-529-7 |chapter=Sara Braun |pages=33–35}} *{{cite web |last1=Veksler |first1=Bernardo |title=Efemérides: Al morir Sara Braun, nace un mito en el cementerio |url=https://www.elfunerariodigital.com/2019/04/22/efemerides-al-morir-sara-braun-nace-un-mito-en-el-cementerio/ |website=elfunerariodigital.com |publisher=El Funerario Digital S.L. |access-date=13 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811145638/https://www.elfunerariodigital.com/2019/04/22/efemerides-al-morir-sara-braun-nace-un-mito-en-el-cementerio/ |archive-date=11 August 2019 |language=Spanish |date=22 April 2019 |trans-title=Trajectory: When Sara Braun died, a myth was born in the cemetery}} *{{cite web |ref={{harvid|National Monuments Council|1981}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Inmueble denominado Palacio Sara Braun |url=https://www.monumentos.gob.cl/monumentos/monumentos-historicos/inmueble-denominado-palacio-sara-braun |website=monumentos.gob.cl |publisher=Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales |access-date=13 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811145650/https://www.monumentos.gob.cl/monumentos/monumentos-historicos/inmueble-denominado-palacio-sara-braun |archive-date=11 August 2019 |location=Santiago, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Property known as Sara Braun Palace |date=1981}} *{{cite magazine |ref={{harvid|''Fem Patagonia''|2014}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Sara Braun, empresaria y filántropa |url=http://fempatagonia.cl/2014/11/sara-braun-empresaria-y-filantropa/ |magazine=Revista Fem Patagonia |date=7 November 2014 |issue=edicion especial |access-date=13 August 2019 |trans-title=Sara Braun, businesswoman and philanthropist |publisher=Centro de Desarrollo Cognitivo de la Universidad Diego Portales |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813205956/http://fempatagonia.cl/2014/11/sara-braun-empresaria-y-filantropa/ |archive-date=13 August 2019}} *{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019a}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Vínculos de parentesco y poder de la familia Braun Menéndez: Elías Braun y Sofía Hamburguer, colonizadores patagónicos |url=https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48577:Elias-Braun-y-Sofia-Hamburguer-colonizadores-patagonicos |website=museodemagallanes.gob.cl |publisher=Museo Regional de Magallanes, Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patriomonio |access-date=13 August 2019 |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Relationships of Kinship and Power of the Braun Menéndez Family: Elías Braun and Sofia Hamburger, colonizers of Patagonia |date=2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811145717/https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48577:Elias-Braun-y-Sofia-Hamburguer-colonizadores-patagonicos |archive-date=11 August 2019}} *{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019b}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Vínculos de parentesco y poder de la familia Braun Menéndez: Mauricio Braun y Josefina Menéndez: unión de dos imperios |url=https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48581:Mauricio-Braun-y-Josefina-Menendez-union-de-dos-imperios |publisher=Museo Regional de Magallanes, Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patriomonio |access-date=13 August 2019 |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Relationships of Kinship and Power of the Braun Menéndez Family: Mauricio Braun and Josefina Menéndez, union of two empires |date=2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813182548/https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48581:Mauricio-Braun-y-Josefina-Menendez-union-de-dos-imperios |archive-date=13 August 2019}} *{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019c}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Vínculos de parentesco y poder de la familia Braun Menéndez: Braun Menéndez: responsabilidad en la matanza Selkʼnam |url=https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48585:Los-creadores-de-la-Sociedad-Explotadora-de-Tierra-del-Fuego |website=museodemagallanes.gob.cl |publisher=Museo Regional de Magallanes, Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patriomonio |access-date=13 August 2019 |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Relationships of Kinship and Power of the Braun Menéndez Family: Braun Menéndez, Responsibility for the massacre of the Salk'nam |date=2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813181730/https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/645/w3-article-48582.html?_noredirect=1 |archive-date=13 August 2019}} *{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Regional Museum of Magallanes|2019d}} |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Vínculos de parentesco y poder de la familia Braun Menéndez: Sara Braun, esposa de José Nogueira, Los creadores de la Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego |url=https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48585:Los-creadores-de-la-Sociedad-Explotadora-de-Tierra-del-Fuego |website=museodemagallanes.gob.cl |publisher=Museo Regional de Magallanes, Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patriomonio |access-date=13 August 2019 |location=Punta Arenas, Chile |language=Spanish |trans-title=Relationships of Kinship and Power of the Braun Menéndez Family: Sara Braun, spouse of José Nogueira, creators of the Society for Exploitation of Tierra del Fuego |date=2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813144219/https://www.museodemagallanes.gob.cl/sitio/Contenido/Temas-de-Colecciones-Digitales/48585:Los-creadores-de-la-Sociedad-Explotadora-de-Tierra-del-Fuego |archive-date=13 August 2019}} {{refend}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Sara}} Category:1862 births Category:1955 deaths Category:People from Talsi Category:Jewish businesswomen Category:19th-century Chilean businesspeople Category:Chilean Jews Category:Chilean philanthropists Category:Naturalized citizens of Chile Category:19th-century businesswomen Category:20th-century businesswomen Category:Chilean businesswomen Category:Latvian philanthropists Category:Latvian women philanthropists Category:Chilean women philanthropists Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire Category:Immigrants to Chile Category:Chilean people of Latvian-Jewish descent Category:20th-century Chilean businesspeople Category:Russian emigrants to Chile