How the largest community of Swiss descendants in Brazil became ‘German’ 

Swiss immigrants board a ship for Brazil in the port of Genoa (Italy) in 1898. Their destination is Núcleo Campos Sales. Public Domain

In southern Brazil, thousands of Swiss immigrants were gradually absorbed into a broader German identity, highlighting how migration, language and state policies reshape belonging over generations.

Located in Santa Catarina state in southern Brazil, the Vale do Itajaí is one of the country’s most emblematic regions of European immigration. Marked by river valleys and towns with half-timbered architecture, the region has built an identity strongly associated with German heritage, reflected in its music, cuisine and traditional festivals such as Oktoberfest, inspired by the famous beer celebration in Munich, Germany.

Visitors to the region, however, rarely realise that this same area was also home to the largest community of Swiss descendants in the country – many of whom no longer recognise themselves as such. This presence dates back to the 19th century, when around 15,000 Swiss immigrants settled in southern Brazil with peaks in the 1810s, 1850s and 1880s. Over generations, however, their origins were gradually diluted into a broader narrative of “Germanness”, which came to dominate the local identity.

Aquatinta from the village Nova Friburgo, 1839 Keystone

What was Swiss immigration to the region

The largest migration movements from Switzerland to Latin America took place in the 19th century, during a period when Switzerland maintained a migration policy aimed not at cultivating ties with expatriates, but rather at facilitating their departure, according to Magda Kaspar, a researcher in the Department of History at the University of Zurich.

In the context of agrarian crises, land scarcity and widespread poverty in Switzerland, the emigration of poorer social groups was actively encouraged, financed and, in some cases, even pressured by numerous municipalities and cantons. “The goal was not to create lasting ties abroad, but to relieve local problems by removing populations considered undesirable,” she says.

A group of Swiss unemployed people emigrating to Brazil wait at a railroad station in Switzerland for the train that will take them to the seaports. Keystone

On the Brazilian side, colonisation policies at the time favoured the arrival of European immigrants, with preference given to individuals considered white and hardworking. In this initial phase, Swiss, Italian and German immigrants predominated.

“The Brazilian imperial government, in turn, encouraged immigration in order to replace enslaved labor with free settlers, as well as to occupy demographic voids and also to ‘whiten’ the Brazilian population,” says Gláucia de Oliveira Assis, a professor at the State University of Santa Catarina.

One example was the Dona Francisca colony, located in the city of Joinville, in the Vale do Itajaí region, where around 17,000 people arrived between 1850 and 1888. Most were Protestants, low-income farmers who were encouraged by the propaganda of colonisation companies, which portrayed southern Brazil as a true paradise and a land of opportunity. Today they are presented as an example of German immigration to the country.

German, not Swiss?

According to Kaspar, at the time Swiss immigrants tended to define themselves primarily by their local and cantonal origins rather than by a broader national identity.

“The first settlers in Joinville, Nova Friburgo, and Helvetia were left to their own devices after arriving in Brazil. Without cultural, organisational or educational support from Switzerland, many of their descendants grew up with few or no meaningful references to a Swiss heritage,” she says.

In addition, the main catalyst for the disappearance of Swiss influence in the region’s history was language. As the vast majority of immigrants at the time came from cantons where German was the official language, Brazilians began to generalise all immigrants who spoke similar dialects as “German”.

“Language was the key element that generalised everyone as descendants of Germans. Not only the Swiss, but Austrians were also classified as Germans, especially since Germany itself was undergoing a process of unification, amid an overlap of regional identities such as Pomeranians and Bavarians,” says Francisco Alfredo Braun Neto, a professor at the University of Vale do Itajaí.

According to Neto, as Germans gradually became the most economically prominent group in the region, they began organising cultural activities, shooting and gymnastics clubs, and also financing schools that taught German and religious activities centered around a shared Germanic culture. This culture encompassed people who came from a still-not-unified Germany and absorbed characteristics of Swiss and other Germanic-origin groups that had settled in the region.

In addition, the nationalisation policies implemented in Brazil throughout the 20th century intensified this process. In 1942, the closure of foreign-language schools was decreed during World War II, and the public use of German was prohibited. In this context, Swiss descendants experienced a double linguistic rupture: first, the replacement of Swiss German dialects with Standard German, and later, the imposition of Portuguese.

“Together, these forces incorporated Swiss heritage into a broader German narrative. This case also illustrates how Switzerland’s internal linguistic diversity complicates the formation of a singular national identity and continues to influence perceptions of ‘Swissness’ abroad, especially in regions historically dominated by German-speaking immigrants,” says Kaspar.

Intentional construction

According to Braun Neto, the erasure of Swiss memory was also intentional in the 20th century. In his view, from the 1960s onwards, symbols, folk costumes and cultural references associated with Bavaria were re-signified and incorporated into the local identity, in a process that can be understood as an “invention of tradition”.

2018 at the yearly Oktoberfest in Blumenau, Santa Catarina Getty Images

“With the consolidation of Oktoberfest [as a tourist event], this aesthetic was gradually constructed and institutionalised. A visual and symbolic model inspired by an idea of Germanness was adopted, including the reproduction of architectural styles associated with old Germany, even though many of these forms had no longer existed in Europe since the 18th century,” he says.

“Cities in the region then began to build public structures, such as bus terminals and administrative centers, using this architectural style, reinforcing a constructed German identity, even in contexts marked by the diverse presence of Polish, Italian, Swiss and other immigrant groups,” he adds.

Despite this, there are initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility of the Swiss presence in Joinville’s history, materialised in the inauguration of a Swiss Cultural Center in March 2026 in a former half-timbered house, with the goal of highlighting the importance and contribution of Swiss immigration to the city, even if the effort by the Swiss state came decades after migration had taken place.

“Federal authorities, together with organizations such as the Organization of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), gradually introduced instruments to strengthen connections with the diaspora: Swiss schools abroad, multilingual publications and other initiatives designed to cultivate an evolving sense of Swiss belonging,” says Kaspar.

In the Vale do Itajaí, Swiss heritage remains visible, but unnamed. And perhaps this is the most enduring feature of migration: identities that survive even when they are no longer recognised. According to Oliveira Assis, in today’s Vale do Itajaí, other ethnic festivals reveal a heterogeneity that for a long time was absent from narratives about immigration in the region.

“In this way, residents who have long celebrated German origins coexist with this hegemonic narrative of Germanness, while other groups are also beginning to tell their own stories. The challenge for the region’s inhabitants, especially for descendants of immigrants who arrived in the 19th century, is to understand that contemporary immigrants are seeking the same opportunities their ancestors once sought: work, a new life, a place to live,” she says.

Edited by Virginie Mangin/ds