Page 6 - GC-Sept-Oct-23

Germans in Brazil

by Martin Ederer
ometimes Americans rather
Scarelessly assume that the Unit-
ed States is one of the very few
countries to which large numbers of
Europeans (or others) emigrated.
That stated, Brazil is home to some-
where between 5 and 7 million peo-
ple who claim some amount of
German descent – and very little has
to do with U-Boat stories.
German dialects make up the
second most spoken first language
(admittedly a very distant second) in
Brazil, second only to Portuguese
itself. The Germans represent the
fifth largest major group to immi-
grate after Portuguese (no surprise
there), Italians, Spanish and Japa- German descendants in São Paulo perform at the Festa do Imigrante. 1923 Germany’s
nese. 1945 when the Brazilian govern-
Even if the numbers of Germans ment embarked on a policy of
to immigrate seem relatively small, forced assimilation, undoubtedly Klosettpapier economy
their influence owes in part to a conditioned by international devel-
much longer period of immigration opments of the time. Brazilian poli- from page 5 duced during the end of this hyper-
than the others (starting in 1818) cies included official inflation period, and it took two of
and also a very high birth rate. In the marginalization and banning of the in inflation during this time period them to mail a domestic letter. In the
19th century, German Brazilian German language. of post-WWI up to 1924. selvage of this block, above and
women, had, on average, eight to The ideal of assimilation be- To understand the German / next to these stamps it shows the
ten children. German populations came an important condition of citi- English denomination equivalent of total value for multiple stamps when
tended to settle in the south. zenship and Brazilianness. The the postage stamp denominations multiple stamps were purchased
German immigration began in rather predictable result was a vig- shown in the photo collage is as from a sheet of 100 stamps.
earnest in 1824 when the Brazilian orous interest among Brazil’s Ger- follows: Tausend(e) is Thousand(s); Pretty much, only businesses
government sent Georg Anton mans in Nazism. Nazi Germany Million(en) is Million(s); needed or could afford to use the
Schaeffer, an adventurer who had also took a keen interest in how Millarde(n) is Billion(s); and postal system during the latter part
earlier attempted to secure Hawaii Brazil’s Germans were faring. Billion(en) is Trillion(s). Yes, bil- of 1923 when the cost of postage
as Russian territory (long story), to While there was Brazilian-German lion and trillion are interesting was accelerating almost weekly.
bring German settlers to develop interest in Nazism, it was not as words, sometimes referred to as The photo of the business cover (en-
remote regions of southern Brazil. Nova Petrópolis was settled by serious as the Brazilian govern- Fauxamis words, but who really velope) was franked (stamped) with
The big promises of big tracts of Germans in 1858 ment’s panic over it would seem to needs to deal with them? Germans 10-2,000-mark postage stamps to-
land did not materialize as prom- made their way to the cities, estab- have indicated. Still, Brazil’s align- did during this time period! Some taling 20,000 Papiermarken. This
ised, and the first settlers faced hard lishing settlements there. It became ment with the Allies made for un- people even joked that they were was the cost of a domestic letter for
lives as they attempted to clear their equally clear to many of the German comfortable relations between now millionaires but couldn’t even city-to-city (this cover was Köln to
heavily forested environment amid settlers by the second generation Brazil and its Germans. Even acts of afford to buy a cup of coffee. Berlin) basic postal rate between
difficult climate, disease, and often that, while they were German, they violence occurred against Brazil’s This photo shows a collage of Aug. 24, and Sept. 1, 1923, when
enough, conflict with the indige- were also Brazilian. Germans. only just a few of the hundreds of the rate then increased to 75,000
nous populations. Still, the concentration of Ger- Opinions on Brazil remain di- German inflation postage stamps Papiermarken.
Some Germans simply left – but mans did make it possible for many vided over the desirability of en- issued, and you can see the high and Rates continued to quickly in-
many stayed and made lives. Some of them to maintain their language couraging or discouraging ethnic very high value postage amounts. crease to 100 billion on Dec. 1,
and traditions, and significant set- traditions aside from the main- Just as paper currencies were being 1923! However, the postal system
tlements attest to their existence in stream. In any event, the onerous printed as fast as possible to keep up has now created new stamps, and
Support our Brazil: Pomerode, Blumenau, Novo restrictions are no more, and Ger- with the inflation of prices, so did with the conversion to the Renten-
the postal system with postage
Hamburgo, Nova Friburgo. man influences remain strong in mark this letter could now be mailed
advertisers! Brazil’s Germans faced their education, science and technology, stamps. with one of the new 10 Rentenpfen-
biggest political crisis from 1937- sports and cuisine. There came a time in 1923 when
prices rose so quickly that the only nig postage stamps. Wow! It did
Tour to focus on choice that the postal system had seem to work okay, but people that
lost their life savings, may not have
was to surcharge existing stocks of
northeast German lower denomination postage stamps celebrated.
Can history repeat itself, even
by re-evaluation and overprinting
Pure Germany, a 12-day custom- them with new higher denomina- here in the U.S.? Why not, we went
ized tour of northeast Germany, Lu- tions. From August through Octo- off the gold standard partially in
ther heritage sites, and north ber 1923 the overprinting ranged 1933, and totally in 1971. Our cur-
Bavaria, is being planned by Jim from 5,000 Marks to 2 million rency is basically fiat money, just
Yagow during Sept. 11-22, 2024. Marks, when shortly thereafter even based on the good faith of the good
He said the special tour is open that crazy amount was not enough old USA. Let’s keep an eye on our
to all, “but if you are a German to mail a domestic letter! economy, because we don’t want to
descendant and Lutheran, you may The block of blue stamps in the become millionaires like the Ger-
be especially interested in coming photo of the 50 Millarden (billion) mans did in the 1920s.
along. This is not a ‘canned’ or ‘cor- stamps were the highest value pro-
porately organized’ group tour. It’s
uniquely personal, private, and one-
of-a-kind.”
This journey is referred to as the
ultimate way to learn and experience
Germany – specifically northeast
Germany. Participants will visit Po-
merania villages and churches, pro-
vincial city centers, experience a
Baltic Sea cruise, tour folklore
museum(s), participate in a memori-
al worship service in a small village
church, partake in locally hosted and
homestyle prepared meals, and
more.
Yagow says, “Of course, we will
tour Berlin and Dresden too, but
most importantly, we will visit Ger-
many’s Lutherland, including
Eisenach (Wartburg Castle), Eisle-
ben, and Wittenberg – the birthplace
of all protestant religions. And final-
ly, we will visit Rothenburg (UNES-
CO World Heritage Site), a quaint
and well preserved medieval old
town in northern Bavaria.”
For details email jimyagow
@aol.com or call (920) 809-4445.