Destination: The Americas
Brazil
Entre Rios | Sao Paulo | Immigration
Entre Rios (Guarapuava)
The Danube Swabian Settlement of Entre Rios in Brazil
By Stefan TeppertA Lost Homeland, a Reinvented Homeland: Diaspora and the ‘Culture of Memory’ in the Colony of Danube Swabians of Entre Rios
by Frotscher, Olinto, & SteinMemory, resentment and the politization of trauma: narratives of World War II (Danube Swabians, Entre Rios, Guarapuava - Paraná)
by Frotscher, Olinto, & Stein
Interview with Katharina Hech1952 "Carnival and frost on the route
of the seven transports from Swabians to Brazil"Indijaers Destinations Overseas
Indija to Brazil Photo Collection
The Beginning. Planning in the bush for
the new settlement. The Church and families.After the Second World War Danube Swabia emigrants settled in Entre Rios in 1951. The "Schweizer Europahilfe" [Swiss European Aid] provided the approximately 500 families (2,466 people) with an amount of around 9 million for land purchase, transport, the purchase of machines and the development of the settlement. There was also support for colonization in Brazil itself. The 7 transports were accompanied by Swiss Dominican sisters, who later also worked in the area of school and health care from Entre Rios.
The Danube Swabian settlement Entre Rios lies between the rivers Jordäo and Pinhão in the central high country of the Federal State Paraná in Brazil, south of the district capital Guarapuava.
The settlement comprises five villages (Vitória, Jordãozinho, Cachoeira, Socorro and Samambaia), whose inhabitants live mainly from agriculture. The towns were named for the previous owners of the land, which the settlers were helped to purchase by the Swiss charitable organization Europahilfe. They are largely organized in the Agrária Cooperative, which has around 570 members and over 1,000 employees. Mainly corn, soybeans, wheat, malting barley and oats are grown. The settlers founded their own school (Colegio Imperatiz Donna Leopoldina) and a hospital, and maintain a local museum (Museu Histórico de Entre Rios) and a German-language radio station (Centro Cultural Mathias Leh).
The Agraria cooperative, to which most of the descendants of the Danube Swabians belong, is now the largest malt producer in South America. In recent years, organic farming in this area has become increasingly important.
"On August 12, 1950, five hundred Donauschwaben families were invited to immigrate to the region of Entre Rios (Portuguese for between the rivers) in the highlands (1200 meters altitude) of the state of Paraná. The first settlers arrived at the port of Santos, Brazil in June of 1951, settling in Entre Rios with the intent of growing wheat. The area was not prepared for cultivation, there were no buildings at all, nor were settlers exactly welcomed. Rattlesnakes roamed the country. Every couple was assigned 15 hectares of land, with an additional 8 for each son or 4 for each daughter, and a house of either 72 or 42 square meters depending on family size. House and land were assigned on a loan basis; repayment to occur in about ten years time.
During the 1960’s, many of the settlers returned to Germany or Austria. Forty-two families left in 1963 alone. As of 1992, only about 5% of the original houses still remained, the rest having been replaced by more permanent structures. About 2,000 of the settlers and their descendants still make their homes here, continuing to speak the Donauschwäbische dialect.
Paraná and Sao Paulo have also seen a large number of German immigrants. Through the years, the descendants of these immigrants have spread out to other Brazilian regions, yet the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná are known for their concentrations of German descendants, while in other states there are rather “pockets” of them in cities such as Sao Paulo (capital of Sao Paulo state) and Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro state).” – www.genealogy.net
Vitória - The first church was erected in 1957-8. The chief town is Vitória, others in order of their founding are Jordãozinho, Cochoeire, Socorro and Samambaia.
Jordãozinho
Cachoiera
Soccoro
Samambaia
Swabian-Brazilian Cultural Foundation www.suabios.com.br/
Donauschwäbisch-Brasilianische Kulturstiftung
Related Literature
Scherer, Anton: Donauschwäbische Bibliographie 1935-1955, das Schrifttum über die Donauschwaben in Ungarn, Rumänien, Jugoslawien und Bulgarien sowie - nach 1945 - in Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, USA, Canada, Argentinien und Brasilien. Ref Z2243.S33 Porter. [Print] ISBN: 390148616X
Frösch, Max: Guarapuava - Brasilien, Maw 1958, Herausgeber: Schweizer Auslandshilfe, "Donauschwaben"- Beiträge 28, Pannonia-Verlag, Freilassing, Niedermayer/Miesgang-Druck, Neuötting, 63 pages
Hochgatterer, Anton : Entre Rios / Donauschwaben Siedlung in Brasilien, , Salzburg 1986, "Donauschwaben"-Beiträge 84, Herausgeber: Haus der Donauschwaben, Salzburg, Rubnik-Druck, Ebenau, 196 pages
Gappmaier, Josef : Entre Rios – Die Siedlung der Donauschwaben in Parana - Brasilien 1951-1981. 42 S. mit farb. Abb. etc. (10:20) Kart.
Gappmaier, Josef : Entre Rios. Agrargeographie d. Donauschwabensiedlung in Parana-Brasilien. Salzburg 1987 (Dissertation).
Hochgatterer, Anton : Entre Rios. Donauschwabensiedlung in Brasilien. Salzburg 1986 (Donauschwaben-Beiträge 84).
Cooperativa Agrária Mista Entre Rios: Entre Rios. Bildbericht einer donauschwäbischen Siedlung in Brasilien. , Entre Rios 1975.
DVHH < Destination: The Americas < Brazil < Entre Rios (Guarapuava)
