07/20/2024 – 10:18
Periodicals were the main source of information for German communities between the 1860s and 1940s, helping them to locate themselves and consolidate themselves in Brazil. The nationalization policy during the Vargas era would seal their end. On March 24, 1883, the newspaper Germania, a German-language periodical published in São Paulo, published on page 3 a list entitled “Ten commandments for emigrants”, with advice for Germans who arrived in Brazil year after year.
The precepts included: “You must bear with patience the first setbacks and difficulties”; “You must keep your eyes wide open so as not to be deceived by false friends”; “You must not stay long in the city, but go quickly to the country to work”; and “You must do your utmost to learn the language of the country.”
As Germanic communities began to establish themselves in the country, German-language newspapers were created as their main sources of information – providing guidance for newly arrived immigrants, such as the above commandments, or on national rules and bureaucracy, and also going much further than that, covering the main national and international news for their readers.
Surveys estimate that 250 German newspaper titles were published in Brazil between 1852 and 1941, producing 1.3 million pages in large format – those big newspapers that you read with your arms stretched out, with wordy texts and small print, initially without photos, with few illustrations and sometimes in Gothic typography.
Professor of German language and literature at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Paulo Soethe states that these newspapers had very significant numbers and circulations and are an essential source of research on the past of the German colonies in Brazil until 1941 – when Getúlio Vargas banned foreign-language newspapers in the country, interrupting the richest cycle of this press.
“These periodicals are a great reflection of the life of German communities during this period, allowing us to follow the debates that were taking place and have a very detailed view of day-to-day life,” explains Soethe.
Comprehensive theme
Newspapers were a bridge for German immigrants to find their way in their new land. They helped give them a collective voice and a sense of community, while maintaining cultural ties and language—but they went far beyond cultivating Germanness. “The newspapers were not provincial or of interest to a rural community,” Soethe says. “They contained very interesting discussions that were very much connected to national debates.”
He cites debates opposing the models of Empire or Republic; defending positivist philosophy in reaction to prevailing religious currents; or positioning themselves in favor of the abolition of slavery – an example of the progressive views of liberal bourgeoisie who fled to the Americas after the failure of the Revolutions of 1848.
Soethe is the deputy coordinator of the Laboratory for Studies of Brazilian Multilingual Memory (Lemmbra*de), an initiative of UFF and UFPR with several partners in Germany. The project’s mission is to digitize newspapers stored in several archives and institutions in the South and Southeast to give these collections a new lease of life and expand the production of studies on these sources. The idea arose from the perception of the importance of these newspapers in uncovering the German legacy in Brazil – and the risk that they will be lost over the years.
Of the 1.3 million pages that have been published, Soethe estimates that the project will be able to digitize between 60% and 70%, because much has already been lost. “The goal is to give this past a future,” summarizes the researcher from Paraná.
The “intellectuals” of the colonies
German-language newspapers were founded by churches, progressive liberal bourgeoisie, prominent families, associations, and a wide range of actors. They were people who stood out for having more education and intellectual background – such as Jesuits, Lutheran pastors, or the Brummers – as the German soldiers called up by the Empire of Brazil to fight in the War of the Platine in 1851 were called.
At the end of this dispute with Argentina and Uruguay over control of the Rio de la Plata, many of these soldiers settled in Rio Grande do Sul, attracted by the promise of plots of land at the end of their military service.
“They became a thinking elite in the communities, starting some of the great newspapers”, explains historian René Gertz, who carried out a survey of titles published in RS between 1850 and 1940, registering 144 newspapers in the state.
Gertz points out that international coverage in these newspapers usually highlighted what was happening in Germany (or in the kingdoms preceding unification in 1871). However, the coverage was “about everything”. It brought news from the world and from Brazil, with an emphasis on Brazilian politics at all levels – what was happening in Congress, in state legislative assemblies, in city councils.
“They are political newspapers, just like the Brazilian press. But it is important to emphasize that they are Brazilian newspapers in a foreign language – they are not German newspapers,” Gertz emphasizes.
Brazil translated
Historian Isabel Arendt, a professor of Literature at Unisinos in São Leopoldo (RS), states that these periodicals often brought important news from the main Brazilian newspapers, summarized in German. “They provided a cultural translation of everything that was happening in the country for this population, helping in the integration process,” Arendt points out. “They had access to everything that was happening in the country. In other words: you can’t integrate if you don’t want to.”
The newspapers also reflected cultural customs and events, thus exposing the literary, musical, theatrical and operatic production that existed in the German colonies. There was also space for translations of Brazilian literature, says the researcher, such as serials introducing José de Alencar to immigrants or their descendants.
Arendt is a member of Lemmbra*de and a researcher at the Transfopress Brasil Study Group on the Foreign Language Press in Brazil. The project is international and has a Brazilian core led by the São Paulo State University (Unesp). Arendt focuses on German-language publications, considering their role not only as promoters of a Germanic identity, but also as a cross-cultural bridge.
“The newspapers were published to last a day, a week, but today they are a reference about this population and its history. They are what remains, bringing all the experiences, social and educational practices that we would not have without these records and that will end up being lost if we do not take care of these collections”, highlights the researcher.
“The bicentennial of German immigration should encourage us to take care of this wealth to make access to these sources viable for another 200 years,” he believes.
Two wars, two coups
After decades of prolific production, this press faced a series of setbacks throughout the first half of the 20th century, beginning with the First World War (1914-1918). The newspapers escaped unscathed in the early years of the conflict, but were banned when Brazil entered the war in 1917.
In some cases, Gertz says that the tendency was to keep the publications, but translate their titles and texts into Portuguese. Thus, Urwaldsbote, from Blumenau, became O Mensageiro da Floresta; and Deutsches Volksblatt, from Porto Alegre, became Folha Popular. The editorial structures and printing facilities were maintained and, at the end of the war, the newspapers continued to operate.
The final straw, however, came during the Estado Novo, with the nationalization campaign promoted by Getúlio Vargas with the aim of forcing the integration of immigrants and their descendants into Brazilian culture. The policy was implemented in 1938, before the Second World War, and began by banning schools from teaching in languages other than Portuguese. Later, Vargas banned newspapers in foreign languages and prohibited the use of the German language in public. In 1942, after Brazil entered the war, protests against Germans in Brazil included the destruction of newspapers and press machinery belonging to the German-Brazilian press.
“The major German-language press in Brazil, which I call the political press, ended in 1941,” says Gertz. After the war, annual almanacs, religious or sports newspapers and smaller periodicals survived, but without the expressiveness of the past.
The shadow of Nazism
A major obstacle to the revival of German-language newspapers after the Second World War was the shadow of Nazism and the influence that Hitler’s emissaries exerted on the editorial offices. According to Soethe, from 1933 onwards there was a process of Nazification of part of this press.
“With their media acumen, the Nazis made propaganda and tried to win over newspaper editors. Consuls offered money and painted what was happening in Germany as they wanted. There was a fierce attempt to Nazify the media by diplomatic agents in Brazil,” he says.
Soethe points out, however, that Vargas’ nationalization campaign began before the outbreak of World War II, with nationalist motivations that had nothing to do with Nazism. Initially, the Vargas regime harbored sympathies for Hitler and Mussolini. Later, however, Vargas was able to attribute the restrictions he imposed to Nazism and the spread of Nazi ideology among German colonies.
“All of this documentation became completely invisible due to the authoritarian actions to ban the language from 1938 onwards, which resulted in complete negligence in the safekeeping and documentation of these newspapers,” says Soethe, highlighting that most of what survived is in state, municipal or private collections, while the National Library has few titles.
“After a century of constant immigration from Germany to Brazil, a confluence of factors ended up making the German presence in Brazil a kind of taboo,” the researcher points out. “This resulted in a limited and superficial awareness of the German contribution to the country, often restricted to festivals and folkloric events.”
Preserving and making these newspapers available is key to bringing this history out of invisibility, bringing to light the legacy of these communities and their role in shaping Brazilian society.
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