On 25 July 1824, 39 German emigrants arrived in São Leopoldo in the south of Brazil and founded their own colony.

 

 

 

200 years later, DW reporter Guilherme Becker, whose ancestors emigrated to Rio Grande do Sul, goes on a very personal search for traces. In part one of his documentary, Guilherme finds out why so many people, including his grandparents and great-grandparents, left Germany in the 19th and 20th century to start a new life in Brazil. He discovers why the Brazilian government was actively encouraging immigration and how this was connected to the end of slavery.

What’s more: Guilherme also learns about the impact this mass migration from Europe had on the Afro-Brazilian population, and which it continues to have today. In São Paulo, Guilherme visits a former hostel for immigrants that has now been turned into a museum. The hopes and traumas of the immigrants are still very much alive here. He also visits the Museu Visconde da São Leopoldo, which keeps the over 200-years old belongings of these immigrants. Shortly after our visit, flooding in Rio Grande do Sul left the museum heavily damaged.

In Pomerode in the federal state of Santa Catarina, Guilherme also meets descendants of German immigrants who have not only held on to their ancestors’ lifestyle from 200 years ago, but their language, too.