Jonestown

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Jonestown
Jonestown (Guyana)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 7 ° 41 ′  N , 59 ° 57 ′  W Coordinates: 7 ° 41 ′  N , 59 ° 57 ′  W
Basic data
Country Guyana

region

Barima-Waini
ISO 3166-2 GY-BA
founding 1974
Jonestown 1979

Jonestown was a settlement founded in 1974 by Jim Jones , leader of the Peoples Temple , in northwest Guyana , which became the scene of the mass murder and mass suicide of 909 supporters of Jones on November 18, 1978 .

prehistory

In the late 1950s, James “Jim” Jones founded the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis , and later moved to San Francisco . From the beginning, great emphasis was placed on the community being open to blacks and whites, which was not the norm for many religious groups in the United States at the time. Jones, who was addressed by everyone as Dad or Father , was very familiar with exclusion and social isolation from childhood and adolescence. He was therefore aware of the need for belonging among outsiders in American society and took advantage of it. The congregation grew to over a thousand members. The community showed totalitarian structures, Jones ruled unreservedly. Deviants were humiliated and mistreated. Dropouts reported of these conditions, so that the press reported more and more about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. Realizing these reports could spell the end of his community, Jones decided to leave the United States and its members.

Jonestown settlement

In 1974 Jim Jones leased 16 square kilometers from the Guyanese government. Jones chose Guyana because English is the official language there. Guyana also tried to attract settlers into the country. The rainforest in the area was converted into settlement land by slash and burn . Jones declared Jonestown the "Promised Land", in which, unlike in the USA, there was no racial discrimination and a new, socialist society could emerge. Initially, the plan was to relocate all of Peoples Temple's supporters within ten years. The entire infrastructure of Jonestown was created by the residents.

Lockdown

The settlement was a community that was hermetically sealed from the outside world. Armed guards ensured strict discipline and prevented the residents from escaping. There was no contact with the outside world; the only one who had contact with the outside world was Jim Jones, who was free to decide what information to give the residents.

Speaker system

A loudspeaker system was installed in Jonestown so that every part of the settlement could be reached. Jim Jones used it to give instructions or to propagate his ideology and to provide the residents with partially deliberately false information. The speaker system was always on; when Jones himself wasn't speaking, his voice came off the tape and repeated in a mantra-like manner .

With no radios, newspapers, televisions, or telephones in Jonestown, the speaker system was the only source of information for residents, totally controlled by Jones.

With announcements like “The US wants to expel all blacks within six months” he tried to generate fear and hatred towards the US.

Community life in Jonestown

Since Jonestown was very remote, the community of the Peoples Temple lived there de facto outside of any state control, so that only Jim Jones decided on their fate. Although the village had been promised to the members of the People's Temple as their place for a better, utopian future, the living conditions there were very harsh due to the climate and the flora and fauna. Food was scarce, there was a strict work regime, and epidemics of fever and diarrhea broke out. Jonestown was designed so that around 300 residents could be self-sufficient. As the number of residents increased, so did the food shortage. Armed guards exercised iron discipline. There were well-thought-out methods of spying: Among other things, children were encouraged to spy out and denounce their parents. Alleged offenders were locked in cages or shocked with electric batons , and potential dissidents were sedated with drugs. As in the United States, there was abuse, except that in the remote area of ​​Guyana, the members had no way of leaving the Peoples Temple or calling for help. In this way, Jones' unrestrained rule was to be preserved permanently. But also in the event that this should no longer be possible, provision was made. The community's mass suicide was regularly practiced in the form of a loyalty test. During the so-called “White Nights”, lemonade was drunk which the members did not know whether it was poisoned. In this regard, it has been reported that Jones tended to rehearse all things first.

Breakdown and mass suicide

On November 17, 1978, US Congressman Leo J. Ryan visited Jonestown with several advisors and journalists after citizens reported on multiple occasions that their relatives were being held there against their will. Jones tried everything to obstruct the visitors and give the impression that everything was fine, but failed. Sixteen parishioners indicated they were leaving Jonestown and asked Ryan to take them with them. After a knife attack on Ryan, the delegation wanted to leave with the sect dropouts. Shortly before departure in Port Kaituma , 10 km away , an armed group appeared on the take-off area and attacked the aircraft that was ready to take off, killing Ryan, three journalists, a cameraman and three renegades and injuring eleven other people, some seriously.

On the same day, the residents were summoned by loudspeaker. Jim Jones said, “If we are not allowed to live in peace, we want to die in peace anyway. Death is only the transition to another level. ”In paper cups, juice mixed with valium and potassium cyanide was distributed to everyone. Some tried to flee, most of the refugees were shot by the guards, only five escaped. Jones died from a headshot. Whether he killed himself is unknown. A total of 909 of the 1110 members, including 276 children, were killed.

In the 1980s, Jonestown was destroyed by fire and then turned back into jungle by natural vegetation.

literature

  • Nick Yapp: True Crime - The Most Spectacular Crimes in History. Parragon, Bath et al. a. 2007, ISBN 978-1-4054-9795-4 .

Web links

Commons : Jonestown  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jonestown - Sect's Death Mania , TV documentary.