German-Brazilian

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Flag of Germany German-Brazilians Flag of Brazil
Notable German Brazilians:
Gisele Bündchen - President Geisel - Cardinal Hummes
Total population

c. 12 million
6.6% of Brazil's population
Regions with significant populations
Brazil:
   12,000,000 [7]
Language(s)
Predominantly Portuguese. Minorities speak German and Brazilian German dialects.
Religion(s)
Predominantly Catholic and Protestant.
Related ethnic groups
Other Brazilians, Germans, German Americans

A German-Brazilian (German: Deutschbrasilianer, Portuguese: teuto-brasileiro or germano-brasileiro) is a Brazilian person of German ancestry or origin. Although there are German-Brazilians in many parts of Brazil, they live mostly in the Southern part of the country, comprising the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina.

Contents

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.

The arrival of the first Germans in Brazil.
The arrival of the first Germans in Brazil.

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

The first German immigrants to settle Brazil were 165 families who settled in Ilhéus, Bahia, in 1818. One year later, 200 families settled São Jorge, in the same state. Some Germans were brought to work in the Brazilian army after Independence from Portugal, in 1822.[1]

However, the cradle of the German settlement in Brazil was São Leopoldo, in 1824. Southern Brazil, at that time, was a region with a very low population density. Most of its inhabitants were concentrated in the coast and a few in the Pampas. The interior was covered by forests and populated by Indians. This lack of population was a problem, because Southern Brazil could easily be invaded by neighboring countries.

Since Brazil was recently independent from Portugal, it was not possible to bring Portuguese immigrants. Germany was suffering the effects of the wars against Napoleon, overpopulation and poverty in the countryside. Many Germans were willing to immigrate to Brazil. By the way, Brazil's Empress, Maria leopoldina, was Austrian and encouraged the arrival of German immigrants.

Major Schaeffer, a German who was living in Brazil, was sent to Germany in order to bring immigrants. From Rhineland-Palatinate, the Major brought the immigrants and soldiers. 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. From 1824 to 1829, the Major brought five thousand Germans to Brazil.[2]

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 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 4.830 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).

German communities (pink) in Southern Brazil.
German communities (pink) in Southern Brazil.

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 communities 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.

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.

Gramado, a touristic Germanic city in Rio Grande do Sul.
Gramado, a touristic Germanic city in Rio Grande do Sul.

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.

Pomerode: the main spoken language is Pomeranian.
Pomerode: the main spoken language is Pomeranian.

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.

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.

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 three or four generations born in Brazil, these people used to consider themselves Germans.

In 1940, there were one 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.

Oktoberfest in Santa Cruz do Sul.
Oktoberfest in Santa Cruz do Sul.

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.

A survey asking German-Brazilians about their ethnicity found the following percentages: [3]

  • 58.42% claimed their ethnicity as only German.
  • 22.65% claimed to be Brazilian; this group includes people of fully or partial German descent who see themselves as ethnically Brazilians.
  • 18.93% German with another ethnicity;
  • 6.08% German and Italian
  • 2.98% German and Portuguese
  • 2.57% German and Native Indian
  • 1.43% German and Black African
  • 1.09 German and Spanish
  • 4.78% German and others

Estimate of the number of Brazilians with German ancestry varies from 5 million to 18 million.[4][5] However, most estimates indicate that around 12 million Brazilians have German ancestry [6]. The largest concentrations of people of German origin in Brazil are found in the states of Santa Catarina (35% German) and Rio Grande do Sul (30% German).

The percentages are higher in some cities. For example, in the town of Pomerode, Santa Catarina, 90% of the population are Brazilians of German descent, and the main local language is a Pomeranian dialect. It is considerated the most "German" city in Brazil. Many towns in Southern Brazil have a majority of German-descended people, such as São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo, Nova Petrópolis, São Bento do Sul, Blumenau, Joinville, Santa Isabel, Gramado, Canela, Santa Cruz do Sul, Estância Velha, Ivoti, Dois Irmãos, Morro Reuter, Santa Maria do Herval, Presidente Lucena, Picada Café, Santo Ângelo, Teutônia, Brusque and many others.

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 is Gisele Bündchen as well as Ana Claudia Michels, Ana Hickmann, Mariana Weickert and Letícia Birkheuer, 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).

The following list shows people of at least partial German descent.

  1. ^ http://www.rootsweb.com/~brawgw/alemanha/Cronologia.htm
  2. ^ http://www.mluther.org.br/Imigracao/imigracao_ii.htm
  3. ^ http://br.monografias.com/trabalhos/fora-diversidade-identidades/fora-diversidade-identidades2.shtml#_Toc143094349
  4. ^ http://pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imigra%C3%A7%C3%A3o_alem%C3%A3_no_Brasil&action=edit
  5. ^ "Brasil alemão" comemora 180 anos, <http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_printcontent/0,,1274817,00.html>. Acesso em: 20 de outubro de 2007
  6. ^ http://www.cmc.pr.gov.br/ass_det.php?not=5266
  7. ^ http://www.mre.gov.br/ingles/politica_externa/relacoes/europa/alemanha.asp
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