Immigration
When German-speaking immigrants first arrived in Brazil starting at the beginning of the 19th century 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 mainly from
Germany, but also from
Switzerland,
Austria, and
Russia. Some of them came from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries.
From 1824 to 1969, around 250,000 Germans emigrated to Brazil, being the fourth largest immigrant community to settle in the country, after the
Portuguese,
Italians and
Spaniards. The majority of them arrived between
World War I and
World War II. The number 250,000 may be a serious undercount. For there to be 12 million people of German or partial German descent would require at least twice this number of immigrants in the time period given above or a reproductive rate pushing the limits of human capability. Brazilian immigration record keeping was not accurate. Many immigrants were not counted in these early censuses; often the spouses and children were not included in the count. If Germans were 2.5% of the population in 1940 (of 40 million), their numbers in 2007, if keeping up with the increase in population generally, would be close to 5 million, not 12 million. Again, this suggests a serious undercount of immigrants.
'German immigration to Brazil, decenal periods from 1824 to 1969 '
Source: Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) |
| | 'Decade' | |||||||||||
| '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 |
German settlement in Brazil
Historical map of German colonies at Southern Brazil.
During the 19th century, German immigrants in Brazil settled mostly in rural areas, called colonies (''colônias'' in Portuguese). These colonies had been created by the Brazilian government, and the lands were distributed among the immigrants. They had to construct their own houses and cultivate the land. The immigration started in 1824, when the first group of Germans arrived in Brazil at
São Leopoldo, in the State of
Rio Grande do Sul, southern
Brazil, after 4 months' travel. They numbered 39 people, being 33
Lutherans and 6
Catholics.
Germans came to Brazil to work as
farmers because there were many land holdings without workers. To attract the immigrants, the Brazilian government had promised large tracts of land, where they could settle with their families and colonize the region. In fact, these lands were in the middle of big forests and the first Germans had been abandoned by the Brazilian government. The first years were not easy. Many Germans died of tropical disease, while others left the colonies to find better living conditions. The German colony of São Leopoldo was a disaster. Nevertheless, in the following years, a further 8,000 Germans arrived at São Leopoldo, and then the colony started to develop, with the immigrants establishing the town of
Novo Hamburgo (''New Hamburg''). From São Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo the German immigrants spread into others areas of
Rio Grande do Sul, mainly close to sources of rivers. The whole region of Vale dos Sinos was populated by Germans. During the 1830s and part of the 1840s German immigration to Brazil was interrupted due to conflicts in the country (
War of the Farrapos).
The immigration restarted after 1845 with the creation of new colonies. The most important ones were
Blumenau, in 1850, and
Joinville in 1851, both in
Santa Catarina state; these attracted thousands of German immigrants to the region. Some of the mass influx was due to the
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. Nowadays these areas of German colonization are among the wealthiest ones of Brazil, with the lowest levels of unemployment and illiteracy found in the country, and still retain a strong influence from the German culture.
By the end of the 19th century 122 German colonies had been created in
Rio Grande do Sul, and many others in
Santa Catarina,
Paraná,
Sao Paulo,
Minas Gerais and
Rio de Janeiro. Germans had established the first middle-class population of Brazil, in a country divided between slaves and their masters.
Urban Germans in Brazil
Not all Germans who settled in Brazil became farmers. In the early 20th century, very few rural areas of Southern Brazil were empty. Most of them had been settled by
German,
Italian and
Polish immigrants during the 19th century. Given this situation, most Germans who immigrated to Brazil during the 20th century settled in big towns, although many of them also settled in the old rural German colonies. German immigration to Brazil peaked during the 1920s, after World War I. These Germans were mostly middle-class laborers from urban areas of Germany, different from the poor peasants who had settled in the colonies of Brazil during the 19th century.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Brazil also attracted a significant number of
German Jews, who settled mostly in
São Paulo.
Germans actively participated in the industrialization and development of big cities in Brazil, such as
Curitiba and
Porto Alegre.
After World War II, the nationalist Brazilian President
Getúlio Vargas forbade the use of the
German language in Brazil, and German immigration became very low.
Language
Most German-Brazilians speak only Portuguese nowadays. This is mainly due to the prohibition of German teaching in schools and the publication of German newspapers (together with
Italian and
Japanese) during World War II, when Brazil broke off diplomatic relations with Germany (and also with the other Axis Powers,
Italy and
Japan). However,
German is still spoken by over 600,000 Brazilians as a first or second language.
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, including
Plautdietsch,
Pommersch, and
Swabian German, 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.
Religion
Most of the German-Brazilians are
Roman Catholics or
Lutherans (
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil), but with significant
Jewish,
Mennonite and
Adventist German communities. Germans were the first people to estabilish a
Protestant church in Brazil.
World War II and assimilation
When Germans first arrived in Southern Brazil in 1824, they found a country with a
climate,
vegetation and
culture very different from those of
Germany. Southern Brazil was a land of
gauchos, cattle herders who lived, and still live, in the
Pampas region of the
Southern Cone. In the following decades, however, waves of
Germanic immigrants arrived, to the point that in many areas of Southern Brazil the vast majority of the inhabitants were Germans and even after 3 or 4 generations born in Brazil, these people used to consider themselves Germans.
In 1910, 20% of
Rio Grande do Sul's population could speak only
German and a higher number was bilingual, speaking both German and
Portuguese. In 1940, there were 1 million people of German origin living in Brazil, out of a national population of 40 million. During World War II, in 1942, Brazilian ships were attacked by Nazi Germany and, influenced by the
United States government, Brazil declared war against Germany. Afraid that the German community of Brazil could rebel against the Brazilian government, President
Getúlio Vargas initiated a strict program of forced cultural assimilation - Nacionalismo- that worked quite efficiently, if not initially.
He forbade any manifestation of
German culture in Brazil. German schools were closed, houses with German architecture were destroyed and the use of the
German language in Brazil was also forbidden.
Since then, the southern Brazilian German regional language/culture has been in decline. Some decried it as a tragic loss for the country while others felt that this meant national progress, saying assimilation would ultimately lead to a feeling of "getting together".
However, German influence can still be seen all across the southern states, be it in
architecture, shops, town names or the way of life. Many German
schools re-opened during the 1950s and are regarded as some of the best places where to send children.
Most German-Brazilians started to get married outside the German community after the 1940s. Some of them mixed with other
Europeans, such as
Portuguese,
Italians and
Poles. A few have also mixed with
Afro-Brazilians (the most famous being the soccer player
Arthur Friedenreich) and
Brazilian native Indians.
German influence in Brazil
Germans are regarded as good industrialists in Brazil, manufacturing
shoes,
leather goods,
furniture,
textiles,
charcoal, mechanical devices, etc., as well as good farmers. Many Brazilian towns were built using German architecture.
Many aspects of
Brazil's culture were influenced by Germans. Today Brazil hosts an
Oktoberfest in
Blumenau,
Santa Catarina.
Beer itself is said to have been brought by German immigrants, and today it is Brazil's most popular
alcoholic beverage.
They spread the
Protestant faith (especially
Lutheranism) and were the first people to cultivate
wheat and to raise
swine in Brazil. The regions heavily settled by Germans in Brazil still retain a strong Germanic influence.
Female models of German origin
Brazilian female models of German origin have achieved notoriety for their beauty and class in the
fashion world and in
beauty contests. Many are world-class top models or
supermodels and seem to be proportionally better represented in these areas than models of other ethnic origins. The small cities of the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul are ideal grounds for talent hunters from all over the world. The best known are
Ana Claudia Michels,
Ana Hickmann,
Gisele Bündchen,
Mariana Weickert and
Letícia Birkheuer. Other supermodels are
Luize Altenhofen,
Raquel Zimmermann,
Cintia Dicker,
Solange Wilvert,
Monique Olsen,
Carol Trentini,
Jeísa Chiminazzo and
Bruna Erhardt.
Winners of the
Miss Brazil beauty pageant have included
Vera Fischer (1969), Ingrid Budag (1975), Eveline Schroeter (1980), Maria Carolina Portella Otto (1990),
Leila Cristine Schuster (1993),
Thaisa Thomsen (2002),
Carina Beduschi (2005) and
Rafaela Zanella (2006).
The Miss Brasil 2007 pageant broke all records regarding the participation of misses of German ascent. They were: Jakeline Lemke (state of
Espírito Santo), Priscilla Riker (
Amazonas), Liandra Schmidt (
Goiás), Rafaela Studart (
Brasília), Sabrina Rhoden (
São Paulo) and Manoella Heiderscheidt (Santa Catarina).
Well-known German-Brazilians
★
Adolfo Lutz, physician
★
Aloisio Cardinal Lorscheider,
catholic prelate, former
Archbishop of
Aparecida
★
Ana Claudia Michels,
fashion model
★
Ana Hickmann,
fashion top model
★
Andreas Kisser, musician, guitarist of rock band
Sepultura
★
Arthur Friedenreich,
football (soccer) player
★
Astrud Gilberto,
singer
★
Augusto Hamann Rademaker Grünewald, Navy
admiral and member of military ruling
junta
★
Bruna Erhardt,
fashion model
★
Carina Beduschi,
model and
Miss Brazil
★
Carl August Wilhelm Schwacke
★
Carlos Alberto Kirmayr,
tennis player
★
Carolina Dieckman,
actress
★
Carolina Solberg Salgado,
beach volleyball player
★
Caroline Trentini, top
fashion model
★
Cintia Dicker, top fashion model
★
Cláudio Cardinal Hummes,
catholic prelate, Archbishop of
São Paulo
★
Cláudio Heinrich,
actor
★
Cláudio Taffarel, former
soccer player
★
Dunga,
soccer player
★
Eduardo Krieger, scientist, physician and president of the
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
★
Emílio Henrique Baumgart, civil engineer and businessman in the building industry
★
Ernesto Geisel,
Army general and former president of the Republic
★
Ernst W. Hamburger,
physicist
★
Eusébio Cardinal Scheid, Catholic prelate, Archbishop of
Rio de Janeiro
★
Fernando Scherer,
swimmer
★
Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, writer and
historian
★
Fritz Müller, naturalist
★
Gisele Bündchen,
top model
★
Gustavo Kuerten,
tennis player
★
Guy Ecker, actor
★
Hans-Joachim Koellreutter,
composer and
musician
★
Hans Staden explorer
★
Heinrich Meyerfreund, founder of
Garoto
★
Helmut Sick,
ornithologist
★
Hermann von Ihering,
zoologist
★
Hilda Hilst, writer
★
Ingo Hoffmann,
stock car driver
★
Jeisa Chiminazzo, fashion model
★
João Weber Griebeler, writer
★
Jorge Bornhausen, businessman and
politician
★
Jose Lutzenberger, biologist and ecologist
★
Kevin Kuranyi, soccer player
★
Lauro Müller,
politician
★
Letícia Birkheuer,
top model and actress
★
Louise Wischermann
★
Ludwig August Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Navy officer and member of Brazilian royal family
★
Ludwig Riedel, German-born naturalist
★
Lya Luft,
writer
★
Marcelo Gleiser, physicist, writer and professor of physics and astronomy at the Darthmouth College since 1991.
★
Mário Schenberg, physicist
★
Mayana Zatz,
geneticist
★
Olga Benário Prestes, German-born wife of Antonio Carlos Prestes, Brazilian leader of the
Brazilian Communist Party
★
Oscar Niemeyer,
architect
★
Oscar Schmidt, ace
basketball player
★
Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns, Catholic prelate, former Archbishop of
São Paulo
★
Paulo Rink, soccer player
★
Queen Silvia of Sweden, a.k.a. Silvia Sommerlath
★
Rafaela Zanella, model and Miss Brazil
★
Raquel Zimmermann, fashion model
★
Renê Weber, soccer player
★
Robert Scheidt,
yachtsman
★
Roberto Burle Marx, landscape architect
★
Rogério Ceni, soccer player
★
Ruth Cardoso,
anthropologist and former first lady
★
Tarso Genro,
politician
★
Thomas Koch,
tennis player
★
Tiago Splitter,
NBA player
★
Urda Alice Klueger, writer and
historian
★
Vera Fischer, former Miss Brazil and
actress
★
Walther Sommerlath, businessman, father of Queen Silvia of Sweden
★
Willy Zumblick,
painter
★
Xuxa Meneghel, model, actress and TV personality
See also
★
German American
★
Brazilian German language
★
Germans
★
Demography of Brazil
★
White Latin American
External links
★
Instituto Brasileiro de Pesquisa Lingüística - IPOL (Blumenau, Santa Catarina)
★
Wir Deutschbrasilianer (a German article: "We German-Brazilians" (PDF))
★
Topicos (an Internet magazine published both in German and in Portuguese)
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