Name and Location
Deutschbrasilianer (in German), teuto-brasileiro (in Portuguese), or German-Brazilian (in English) basically is a person of German origin (i.e. of that language, one of its dialect, nationality, place of origin or ethnicity) who is native to southern Brazil (and to some extent also existent in some other regions of the country, like in the state of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, and others.) However, most German-Brazilians do live in the southernmost states of Brazil, namely in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná.
'Deutschbrasilianer' sometimes is also spelled 'Daitschbrasilaner', 'Deitschbralianer', 'Taitschbrasilianer', 'Taitschbrasiliooner' or 'Taitschbrasilioona', etc.
It's estimated that around 12 million Brazilians have German ancestry. In the Brazilian States of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, German Brazilians are 40% of the population.
In Pomerode town, in Santa Catarina, 90% of the population is composed by Brazilians of German descent, and the mainly spoken language is Pomeranian dialect.
Language
Today most of the German-Brazilians speak only Portuguese, due to the prohibition of German-language teaching in schools and newspaper publishing (together with Italian and Japanese) during World War II, when Brazil stopped its relations with Germany (with Italy and Japan of Axis Powers), and the nationalist policy of the president Getúlio Vargas, in the 1940's to out-law the use and teaching of foreign languages. However German is spoken by almost 600,000 descendents, as the first or second language in Brazil.
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch is the Brazilian variety of the Hunsrückisch dialect (a European German dialect) that best represents, at least in terms of total numbers, the German speaking regional culture of southern Brazil. Notably, other German dialects became part of the southern Brazilian cultural/regionalist landscape. For example Plautdietsch/Pommersch (or Pomeranian) and Swabian (or Schwabisch) amongst many others.
German as a regionalism in the south of Brazil is mostly a spoken, family and community language today. People tend to avoid speaking it in public and with persons outside of their closest social circles.
Spanish is also taught to them aside from it is used by ethnic Germans from neighboring Latin American countries
Immigration
| German immigration to Brazil, decenal periods from 1824 to 1969 Source: Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) |
||||||||||||
| Nationality | 1824-47 | 1848-72 | 1872-79 | 1880-89 | 1890-99 | 1900-09 | 1910-19 | 1920-29 | 1930-39 | 1940-49 | 1950-59 | 1960-69 |
| Germans | 8.176 | 19.523 | 14.325 | 18.901 | 17.084 | 13.848 | 25.902 | 75.801 | 27.497 | 6.807 | 16.643 | 5.659 |
When Germanic immigrants first arrived in Brazil starting at the beginning of the 1800's they did not identify themselves so much as a unified German-Brazilian group. However, as time went on this common regional identity did emerge for many different geo-socio-political reasons. Germans immigrated from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia. Some of them came from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
During World War II, the government of Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas initiated a strict program of forced cultural assimilation - Nacionalismo - that worked quite efficiently, if not initially.
Today, in 2005, the southern Brazilian German regional language/culture is in full decline. Some decry it as a tragic loss for to the country while others feel very strongly that this means national progress.
There are many landmarks of the German presence in Brazil: Today Brazil hosts an 'Oktoberfest' in Blumenau, Santa Catarina which is second only to Munich, Germany in size. Germans are regarded as good industrialists in Brazil, manufacturing shoes, leather goods, furniture, textiles, charcoal, mechanical devices, etc, as well as good farmers.
Some Deutschbrazilianers went back to their ancestral homelands, others went to other countries in search of a better economic opportunity. Some of them settled United States and Canada, where they are called German Americans and German Canadians respectively. The majority still remain in Brazil. Most German-Brazilians didn't mix with other ethnic groups untill the 1940's. Most of them used to live in closed German communities. After the World War II, when the German language was forbidden and Germanic culture became weaker in Brazil, German-Brazilians started to get married to other ethnic groups. Some of them mixed with other European groups (the region colonized by Germans in Brazil doesn't have many non-European ethnic groups), such as Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Polish. A few also have mixed with black (the most famous being until today the soccer player Arthur Friedenreich) and native Brazilians.
Rural Germans in Brazil
During the XIX century, German immigrants in Brazil settled mostly in rural areas. The immigration started in 1824, when the first group of Germans arrived in Brazil to São Leopoldo, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The Brazilian governament had promessed large lands to attract Germans to Brazil, where they could seattle with their families. In fact, these lands were in the middle of big forests and the first Germans were abadonned by the Brazilian Governament. However, with hard work, the German Colony of São Leopoldo was a success. In few years, the Germans built buildings and the first shoe plants of Brazil. Then the Brazilian Emperator decided to bring more Germans to settle in Southern Brazil.
German immigrants, from different parts of Germany, were attracted to Brazil. Many rural German colonies were established in Southern Brazil and in some parts of Southweast Brazil. In 1829, the first German colony was established in Santa Catarina (São Pedro de Alcântara), and in 1828 in Paraná (Rio Negro). In the 1840's, thousands of Germans were already living in Southern Brazil. These Germans used live in closed rural communities, where they keep their culture, speaking German and even practicing Lutheran religion, when the official religion of Brazil was Catholicism.
In 1850, African slaves traffic has been abolished in Brazil. After that, the Brazilian Governament started to attract more European immigrants to substitute the slaves. Most of the immigrants that settled in Brazil were Portuguese and Italians, althought the German immigration was also very important after 1850. In this year, the city of Blumenau was founded by Dr. Otto Hermann Blumenau and attracted thousands of Germans to the state of Santa Catarina. During the 1860s, 1870s, 1880s and 1890s, many other German colonies were founded in Brazil. In the end of the XIX century, a very large area of Southern Brazil was seattled by Germans. Nowadays, these areas of German Colonization are the wealthiest ones of Brazil, with the lowest levels of unemployment and illiterates found in the country and still remain a strong influence from the German culture.
Urban Germans in Brazil
In the early XX century, very few rural areas of Southern Brazil were desert. Most of them had been seattled by German, Italian and Polish immigrants during the XIX century. With this situation, most Germans who immigrated to Brazil during the XX century went to big cities, such as Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. Althought, many of them also seattled in the old rural German colonies. The German immigration to Brazil had its largest numbers during the 1920s, after World War I. These Germans were mostly middle-class laborers from urban areas of Germany, different from the poor agriculturists that seattled in Brazil during the XIX century.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Brazil also attracted a large number of German Jews, that seattled mostly in São Paulo.
In 1930, there was an estimated 1 million Germans and descendants living in Brazil. This large population of Germanic origin attracted Hitler, who planned to estabilish a New Germany in Southern Brazil. After World War II, the nationalist Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas has forbidden the use of German language in Brazil, and the German immigration became very low.
Religion
Most of the German-Brazilians are Lutherans (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil and the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession of Brazil) or Roman Catholics, but with significant Jewish, Mennonite and Adventist German communities.
Famous German-Brazilians
External links
- Wir Deutschbrasilianer (a German article: "We German-Brazilians" (PDF))
- Topicos (an Internet magazine published both in German and in Portuguese)