Brazil started attracting European migrants for two reasons: the gradual abolition of slavery during a period of agricultural expansion, and a racial desire of 'whitening' the country's population, an unspoken thesis which became quite outspoken in the early 20th century.
Its prime exponent was Oliveira Vianna who, in a series of books, professed the view that the Blacks are an inferior race and dragged Brazil downwards—only Aryanization could help the country.
There's a self-congratulatory sign before Itajaí: "500 years em paz—Parabéns, Brazil". (500 years in peace—Congratulations, Brazil). Have these people never been to school? There have been hundreds of conflicts in this country.
The Italians, who made up about 50% of new arrivals, any Spanish who made the move and of course the steady wave of mainland Portuguese were acculturated easily. Not so the Germans, who formed the fourth largest immigrant group, for the language was very different, their customs Northern European and their demeanor more exclusive.
They started building their own schools in their own towns and only learned sufficient Portuguese to communicate outside their sheltered existence which under other circumstances might have been called a ghetto. This isolationism combined with the doctrine of Pan-Germanism in Europe, which fuelled Prussian expansion in the end of the 19th century and continued in Hitler's time, created mistrust between the German immigrants and the Portuguese establishment.
www.brazzil.com/blaapr02.htm
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The first group of German immigrants arrived in Brazil shortly after the country became independent, as part of a settlement programme devised by the Brazilian Government to develop agriculture and ensure settlement in the southern tip of the country.
The concentration of German immigrants in the southern region coupled with the fact that they maintained their language and cultural traditions, besides establishing a Germanized press, schooling system and a clutch of associations, paved the way for the emergence of a Teuto-Brazilian ethnic identity. The immigrants and their offspring thus generated a sense of belonging, first and foremost, to an ethnic group characterized by its German origin.
This attitude led to a long series of conflicts with the rest of Brazilian society culminating in the nationalization campaign sponsored by Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo régime (1937-1945) to speed up the process of assimilation. The ideals underpinning the German community's sense of ethnic identity, though toned down somewhat, did not entirely fade after World War II. Indeed, it is still perceptible in the areas predominantly settled by Germans in Brazil.
http://www.mre.gov.br/cdbrasil/itama...maes/index.htm
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In case of an "extra continental" (italics sic) war, Brazil could only defend itself with a preventative policy. Internally, it would have to control the immigrant population, spreading it throughout the country to avoid concentrations of those with the same origins, neutralizing direct assistance from foreign governments, forbidding foreign colonization companies, insisting on obligatory teaching and use of Portuguese, and imposing an "intense nationalization" (italics sic) of those born in Brazil to cut their ties to the countries of origin
http://www.tau.ac.il/eial/VI_2/mccann.htm
http://an.uol.com.br/2001/jul/15/0ger.htm
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In Brazil, blond-haired Caucasians are called "Alemao" (which means "German") and blacks are called Bahiano. But not all blond-haired Caucasians are German. Anglo-Saxons, Jews, and Russians are also blond, but Brazilians don't care about this at all. And it appears that Israeli- and Russian-Brazilians don't mind being called "Alemao"
http://www.gse2660.com/gse96/2660eb/Hasegaw.htm
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