Pomerode: The Most German linguistic communication Town In Brazil

About 30 kilometers to the due north of Blumenau , a urban total inwards Brazil , lies the town of Pomerode , then named because its founders came from Pomerania , a portion on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea , separate betwixt FRG together with Poland. The town was founded to a greater extent than than 150 years agone , nonetheless fifty-fifty today , xc per centum of the town’s 25 ,000 inhabitants beak German linguistic communication alongside a distinct 19th century Pommersch accent.

Pomerode is in all likelihood i of the “most German linguistic communication towns inwards Brazil.” This is right away apparent equally before long equally i enters the town through the arched gateway. Every cottage together with edifice is built inwards the traditional German linguistic communication agency characterized yesteryear exposed brick inside a frame of exposed woods , that recalls a rural German linguistic communication setting from the 1900s.

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Photo credit: Mathias Fingermann/Flickr

Pomerode isn’t the exclusively German linguistic communication town inwards Brazil. There are a lot of Germans living inwards the southern purpose of the country. Their ancestors had left habitation inwards successive waves of emigration get-go inwards 1824 together with accelerating afterwards the failed revolutions of 1848 , settling inwards the U.S.A. together with inwards South American countries such equally Brazil. Immigration continued good into the 20th century , alongside some other major influx occurring right away afterwards the First World War. Between 1824 together with 1969 , roughly 250 ,000 Germans emigrated to Brazil , where they constitute the quaternary largest immigrant community to settle inwards the province , afterwards the Portuguese , Italians together with Spaniards.

Even though the immigration of Germans to Brazil was modest compared to the numbers who went to the U.S.A. , it had a notable affect on the ethnic composition of the province , peculiarly inwards the southward of the country. By the terminate of the 19th century , 13.3% of the population inwards Rio Grande create Sul was of German linguistic communication descent , together with that figure rose to 21.6% inwards 1950.

In the mass “The Monroe Doctrine” , T B Edgington explained the growth phenomenon:

The natural growth of the German linguistic communication population inwards southern Brazil is marvelous. As a dominion they raise from 10 to 15 children inwards each family. Blumenau , a colony which was settled yesteryear the Germans over 50 years agone , to a greater extent than than doubles itself every 10 years. Southern Brazil is at nowadays called ‘Greater Germany’ , together with the Germans do at that spot a commercial together with fiscal supremacy.

For a skillful purpose of the 20th century , the Brazilian authorities did non encourage people to beak German. During the days of Getúlio Vargas's presidency , speaking German linguistic communication was actively repressed together with prohibited. But over the years the authorities has snuff it to a greater extent than tolerant of Brazilian Germans , acknowledging their beingness together with embracing the civilisation of the German linguistic communication population. Today , German linguistic communication is purpose of the curriculum inwards local schools.