The Effects of the Nationalization Campaign: The Prohibition of the German Language in Southern Brazil during the Second World War
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The research looked at three main areas: how the Nationalist campaign worked and the forms it took; the reaction people had to the campaign; and what kind of long term effect the campaign had on the German population and whether it led to the eventual loss of German language and traditions in this community. The methodology was to contrast written texts, focusing on the linguistic side to see how certain words and concepts emerged. I encountered two types of written documents: official texts such as scientific texts and official propaganda, which sought to impose the National language; and texts produced by immigrants in their own language (literary publications, school documents and sport club documents). These sources allowed me to observe the effects of campaign and the different reactions to it. I also looked at oral history which was a very important way to understand the true impact of the campaign, the reactions to it and the feelings it provoked. Through certain testimonies it was possible to see the impact of the Brazilian nationalist campaign on the immigrant population and whether these people changed their behaviour by adopting the new nationalist rules, or resisted change by maintaining the German language of their parents.