World Wars I and II, Brazil and Germany in
Brazil declared war against Germany in both world wars—on October 25, 1917, and on August 22, 1942, respectively. The reason for the declaration of war was in both cases the German attacks on Brazilian merchant ships by German submarines.
While Brazilian participation in World War I was merely symbolic, participation in World War II involved sending troops to the European theater of the war over a period of almost three years. In 1917 the Brazilian government limited its participation in the war to the shipment of needed medication and doctors to support the American, French, and British armies. During World War II, about 25,000 Brazilian soldiers contributed to the liberation of Italy from German occupation (1943—1945). More than 450 Brazilian soldiers died in World War II.Brazil’s facing Germany as an enemy had severe consequences for the German immigrant population in southern Brazil, which was already considered not integrated enough into Brazilian society. During World War II nationalism soared and all “foreigners” were seen as potential enemies. Since the declaration of the Estado Novo (new state) by Getulio Vargas in 1937 the nationalization of all “foreign” schools had started. This policy targeted the German school system in southern Brazil and successfully destroyed it. The shutdown of German schools, the presence of a National Socialist cell in Brazil, as well as the Inte- gralism movement provided for an antiGerman climate hostile not only to Fascist organizations and ideologies but to everything German. After the declaration of war in 1942, anti-German riots broke out in nearly every city in which the Germans did not represent the majority of the population. German factories (for instance, the Suerdick cigar factory in Bahia and the Casas Pernambucanas textile factory and shops of the family Lundgreen), shops, and hotels were destroyed by rioting mobs. The largest demonstrations, however, took place in Porto Alegre and Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul) in southern Brazil.
The police persecuted and interned “subjects of the Axis powers” in internment camps similar to the camps for Japanese in the United States at the same time. While exact numbers are not available, it is assumed that several Germans and German Brazilians were killed at this time, among them Edmundo Buckner, Pedro Muns- berg, and Otto Franz.
Measures had been taken against the German population already during World War I, but the intensity and aftermath differed. During World War I, Germanspeaking newspapers were banned, German schools closed, and the use of the German language in public restricted. After the end of the war, all these restrictions were lifted and the Germans returned to their prewar life. Yet, after World War II, German schools were not reopened, the German-speaking press completely disappeared, and the use of the German language remained restricted to the home and to the older generations of German immigrants. World War I damaged the German culture but did not destroy it. World War II eradicated German life and identity.
Rene Gertz
See also Brazil; Latin America, Nazi Party in;
World War I; World War II
References and Further Reading
Luebke, Frederic C. Germans in Brazil: A Comparative History of Cultural Conflict during World War I. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1987.
Seitenfus, Ricardo Antonio Silva. O Brasil de Getulio Vargas e a formaςao dos blocos. Sao Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1985.