1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

New Home Brazil: 200 Years of German Immigration

July 27, 2024

Why speaking German was prohibited in the 1940s, the role the Nazis played in all of this, and the catastrophic consequences of immigration to southern Brazil for indigenous groups: Part 2 of our Documentary.

https://p.dw.com/p/4iiTS
Statue of German pharmacist and founder of city Blumenau in Brazil -  Hermann Blumenau
Image: DW

In Part 2 of our documentary, DW reporter Guilherme Becker travels to Blumenau in the federal state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. This town was founded in the jungle in 1850 by Hermann Blumenau, a pharmacist from the Harz region in Germany. The city quickly became a symbol for German immigration to Brazil, and to this day, Blumenau hosts the world’s second largest Oktoberfest every year. But one thing is distinctly missing in Blumenau: Remembrance of the indigenous groups that lived here before the colonizers came, who were almost entirely wiped out in bloody conflicts with the settlers.

Indigenous archeologist and ethno-historian Walderes Pripra
Image: DW

In a remote area, DW reporter Guilherme Becker visits an indigenous community. In a moving interview, archaeologist and historical anthropologist Walderes Pripra explains what the colonization meant for the indigenous peoples of the Laklãnõ-Xokleng, Kaingang and Guaraní, and how they still suffer to this day. She also speaks about her efforts to revive indigenous cultures and languages.

DW reporter Guilherme Becker's grandmother Ida as a child in 1925
Image: DW

Guilherme Becker also goes looking for answers on why his family of German origin no longer speaks German, the role the National Socialists played in this, as well as the consequences of that period for his family - especially his grandmother Ida, who emigrated to Brazil with her foster parents in 1925, and had to leave her siblings behind. In São Paulo, Guilherme also visits the Jewish Museum, where he finds out more about Jewish people fleeing to Brazil and the support they received, after the National Socialists seized power in Germany .

Brazilian nurse Thaiana Santos at hospital Charité in Berlin/ Germany
Image: DW

Back in Berlin, Guilherme meets the Brazilian nurse Thaiana Santos, who works at the Charité University Hospital as one of many skilled workers that Germany is now actively recruiting - like 200 years ago, when German immigrants were being recruited by what was then the Brazilian Empire.

Skip next section More from this show
Skip next section About the show

About the show

DW Arts Unveiled (Serienlogo Composite)

Arts Unveiled — Experiencing and understanding the art world

Arts Unveiled dives deep into the international creative scene, uncovering new ideas and explaining cultural phenomena that shape our history, present and future. Who are the artists? What are their greatest works of art? And how are they having an impact? Where can we find their exciting projects?