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Nazism in Brazil began before World War II, when the National Socialist German Workers' Party made political propaganda in the country to attract militants among the members of the German community. Germans began emigrating to Brazil around 1824. In the 1920s and 1930s another major wave of German immigrants began arriving in Brazil due to socioeconomic problems faced by the Weimar Republic after World War I.
It was this new wave of German immigrants that became most of the Nazis in Brazil. These new immigrants had stronger ties with Germany than those immigrants who arrived in Brazil in the 19th century.
The majority of the German community in Brazil did not adhere to Nazi ideology, but important segments of the community were infiltrated by Nazis. The Nazis in Brazil were principally part of the urbanized business class. They did not live in the country or small towns. Not all affiliates of the Nazi Party in Brazil engaged in ideology; many joined only to pursue the economic benefits such membership could provide.[1]
In 1939, 87,024 German immigrants lived in Brazil, of which 33,397 were in São Paulo, 15,279 in Rio Grande do Sul, 12,343 in Paraná and 11,293 in Santa Catarina. Of the total number of Germans, only 2,822 were affiliated with the Nazi Party, less than 5% of the German community. The Nazis were spread across 17 Brazilian states, from north to south but the majority of Nazis were in the southern states including São Paulo (785), followed by Santa Catarina (528) and Rio de Janeiro (447). At that time, there were also 900,000 Brazilians who were descendants of Germans, but only those born in Germany were eligible to join the party.
It was not in the interest of the Nazis to participate in the elections in Brazil, and the party was never registered in the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court. According to the then German ambassador to Brazil, Karl Ritter, there were explicit guidelines that the party should not interfere in Brazil's internal affairs. The party operated in Brazil from 1928 to 1938, without interference from the Brazilian government, then led by Getúlio Vargas. In the last year, 1938, after the establishment of the Estado Novo dictatorship, the Nazi Party and all other foreign political associations were declared illegal.
- ^ "EIAL VII1 – Influencia política alemã no Brasil na década DE 1930". Tau.ac.il. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2011-09-19.