Os impactos do Estado Novo e da entrada do Brasil na Segunda Guerra Mundial sobre a vida cotidiana, a educação e a religiosidade dos súditos alemães e de seus descendentes nos Estados do RS e de SC

Abstract

This research analyzes the cultural, educational, and religious tensions experienced by German subjects and their descendants residing in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina during the “Estado Novo” period (1937–1945), focusing primarily on the consequences of the nationalization campaign and the impact of the state of war on their social organization. The study specifically focuses on the period between 1942 and 1945, when Brazil’s severing of diplomatic relations with the Axis powers was accompanied by intensified measures to control and repress expressions of “Germanness”, directly affecting the daily lives, education, and religious practices of these groups. Through documentary and bibliographic research—employing comparative history as a methodological approach—the investigation is grounded in the analysis of documents from the “Archivo General de la Administración” (via Spanish Consulate records); the “Sínodo Riograndense” records preserved in the Historical Archive of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB); the complete collection of the journal “Vida Policial” (consulted at the Civil Police Library in Porto Alegre, RS); and other contemporary sources. The aim is to understand the social, educational, and religious practices that emerged amidst this backdrop of increasing state intervention, highlighting restrictions on the use of the German language and the difficulties faced by community schools and religious institutions of the German-Evangelical tradition. The results demonstrate that nationalization policies and the wartime context generated specific forms of repression affecting the daily lives, education, and religious practices of these communities – particularly impacting community schools, pastors, and other religious leaders – while simultaneously prompting various strategies of adaptation in the face of state-imposed mandates. This research falls within the “Religion, Theology, and Society” concentration area and is linked to the “History and Theology” research line.