Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Turnerschaft Von Rio Grande Do Sul: Gymnastics and Germanness in Brazil (1895–1938)
2022; Routledge; Volume: 39; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09523367.2022.2107631
ISSN1743-9035
AutoresEvelise Amgarten Quitzau, Carmen Lúcia Soares, Edivaldo Góis,
Tópico(s)Physical Education and Sports Studies
ResumoAbstractThis article aims to understand how the notion of Germanness was expressed in the German-Brazilian gymnastics societies organised under Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It examines the period between 1895 when Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul was established in Brazil and 1938 when the Brazilian government initiated a nationalisation policy of institutions founded by immigrants. Its sources are statutes, clippings of German-language newspapers circulating in Brazil, commemorative magazines published by gymnastics societies, as well as magazines edited by the clubs studied. The study concludes that this social group, defined by the German-Brazilian gymnasts and their respective communities of immigrants, resisted certain representations coming from different origins, from both the Brazilian and German states.Keywords: History of the bodyeducation of the bodynational identityimmigrants Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1 Emílio Willems, A aculturação dos alemães no Brasil [The Acculturation of Germans in Brazil] (São Paulo; Brasília: Nacional: INL, 1980); Frederick C. Luebcke, Germans in Brazil: A Comparative History of Cultural Conflict during World War I (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987); Giralda Seyferth, Nacionalismo e identidade étnica: a ideologia germanista e o grupo étnico teuto-brasileiro numa comunidade do Vale do Itajaí [Nationalism and Ethnic Identity: German Ideology and the German-Brazilian Ethnic Group in a Community of Vale do Itajaí] (Florianópolis: Fundação Victor Konder, 1982); Giralda Seyferth, ‘A identidade teuto-brasileira numa perspectiva histórica’ [German-Brazilian Identity in Historical Perspective], in Cláudia Mauch, Naira Vasconcellos, Os alemães no sul do Brasil (Canoas: ULBRA, 1994); Giralda Seyferth, ‘As associações recreativas nas regiões de colonização alemã no sul do Brasil: Kultur e etnicidade’ [‘Recreational Associations in German-Settled Regions in Southern Brazil: Kultur and Ethnicity’], Revista Travessia, no. 34, May–August 1999: 24–28; Giralda Seyferth, ‘A dimensão cultural da imigração’ [The Cultural Dimension of Immigration], Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais 26, no. 77 (October 2011): 47–62, http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-69092011000300007&lng=en&nrm=iso (accessed June 24, 2015).2 1867 marks the foundation of the first German-Brazilian gymnastics society in Rio Grande do Sul. Comparing the number of gymnastics societies founded by Germans in Brazil throughout the research conducted by Wieser (1858–1917), we find, in addition to these in Rio Grande do Sul, 13 in Santa Catarina, 4 in São Paulo, 3 in Paraná, and 2 in Rio de Janeiro. See Lothar Wieser, Deutsches Turnen in Brasilien. Deutsche Auswanderung und die Entwicklung des Deutsch-Brasilianischen Turnwesens bis zum Jahre 1917 [German Gymnastics in Brazil. German Emigration and the Development of German-Brazilian Gymnastics until 1917] (Londres: Arena Publications, 1990), A70–A71a.3 Deutsche Turnblätter [German Gymnastics Magazine], 19, no. 6 (1932): 11–12.4 There are numerous studies on the gymnastic societies founded by German immigrants as spaces for preserving German culture and as places of memory. This subject has been worked on by authors such as Annette Hofmann, Aufstieg und Niedergang des deutsche Turnen in den USA [The Rise and Decline of German Gymnastics in the USA] (Schorndorf: Hofmann Verlag, 2001); Annette Hofmann, ‘Between Ethnic Separation and Assimilation: German Immigrants and their Athletic Endeavours in their New American Home Country’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 25 no. 8 (2008): 993–1009; Annette Hofmann, ‘From Jahn to Lincoln: Transformation of Turner Symbols in a New Cultural Setting’, International Journal of the History of Sport, 26, no. 13 (2009): 1946–62; Annette Hofmann, ‘The American Turners: Their Past and Present’, Revista Brasileira de Ciências do Esporte, 37, no. 2 (2015): 119–27, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0101328915000281 (accessed November 25, 2017); Maik Temme, Die deutsche Turnbewegung in Chile 1852–1945: zwischen Identitätswahrung und Assimilation [The German Gymnastics Movement in Chile 1852–1945: Between Identity Preservation and Assimilation] (Würzburg: Ergon-Verlag, 2000); Leomar Tesche, O Turnen, a educação e a educação física nas escolas teuto-brasileiras do Rio Grande do Sul: 1852–1940 [Turnen, Education and Physical Education in German-Brazilian Schools in Rio Grande do Sul: 1852–1940] (Ijuí: Unijuí, 2002); Leomar Tesche, Turnen: transformações de uma cultura corporal europeia na América [Turnen: Transformations of an European Body Culture in America] (Ijuí: Unijuí, 2011); Cecília Elisa Kilpp, Ana Beatriz Assmann, Janice Zarpello Mazo, ‘O “abrasileiramento” das associações esportivas de Teutônia/Estrela no Rio Grande do Sul’ [‘The “abrasileiramento” of Teutônia/Estrela Sports Associations in Rio Grande do Sul’], Revista Brasileira de Educação Física e Esporte, 26, no. 1 (2012): 77–85; Evelise Amgarten Quitzau, ‘Associativismo ginástico e imigração no Sul e Sudeste do Brasil (1858–1938)’ [Gymnastics Societies and German Immigration in South and Southeaset Brazil (1858–1938)] (PhD diss. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2016). Regarding the relations between Germanness and gymnastic societies abroad, Temme’s study shows how German gymnastics societies in Chile presented goals and a path similar to those installed in Brazil. Their statutes even determined that one goal was to preserve Germanness in foreign lands. In general, the studies that address the relationship between gymnastics societies and Germanness in Brazil do so in a secondary manner and do not analyse how this notion influenced the discussions that took place within these associations concerning whether or not they adhered to National Socialism in the 1930s, an aspect that we address in the present study.5 Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Deutsches Volkstum [German Nationalism] (Frankfurt am Main: C. Naumanns Druckerei, 1810), 13.6 Dieter Düding, Organisierter gesellschaftlicher Nationalismus in Deutschland (1808–1847). Bedeutung und Funktion der Turner- und Sängervereinefür die deutsche National bewegung [Organised Social Nationalism in Germany (1808–1847). Significance and function of the gymnastics and singing associations for the German national movement] (München: Oldenbourg, 1984).7 Düding, Organisierter gesellschaftlicher Nationalismus.8 Cynthia Machado Campos, A política da língua na era Vargas: proibição do falar alemão e resistências no sul do Brasil [The Politics of Language in the Vargas Era: Banning the German Language and Resistances in Southern Brazil] (Campinas: Editora da Unicamp, 2006).9 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991), 6.10 Ibid., 12.11 Seyferth, Nacionalismo e identidade étnica, 45–6.12 Jeffrey Lesser, A invenção da brasilidade: identidade nacional, etnicidade e políticas de imigração [The Invention of Brazilianness: National Identity, Ethnicity and Immigration Policies ] (São Paulo: Ed. UNESP, 2015).13 Between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, other European groups migrated to Brazil. Once they arrived to the new country, they also created sports clubs which served as spaces to preserve their cultural heritage and generate other “hyphenated identities”. Igor Doi and Edivaldo Gois Junior have showed the place of boxing withing the Italian community of the city of São Paulo, indicating how this practice generated tensions regarding the national identity of Italian immigrants settled in the city. The same authors have also demonstrated the apparent relation between the Japanese community settled in the state of São Paulo and the emergence of certain sporting practices that seemed to be related to the production of a specific Japanese-Brazilian identity, pointing to the need of further studies based on sources written in Japanese. Finally, Samuel Santos Neto has showed how the Portuguese colony in São Paulo articulated itself around social and sports clubs, transforming these institutions in important places for the negotiation of their national identities during the 1930s. See: Igor Cavalcante and Edivaldo Gois Junior. ‘Pugilismo e identidade nacional na imprensa italiana em São Paulo: quatro boxeadores nas páginas do Il Pasquino Coloniale (1920–1935)’ [Pugilism and National Identity in the Italian Press in São Paulo: Four Boxers on the Pages of Il Pasquino Coloniale (1920–1935)], Topoi 22, no. 46 (2021): 182–206; Igor Cavalcante Doi and Edivaldo Gois Junior. ‘Os Esportes Dos Imigrantes Japoneses No Jornal de Notícias e Suas Relações Com a Identidade Nacional (1974–1950).’ [Japanese Immigrants Sports in the Jornal de Notícias Newspaper and Its Relation to National Identity (1947–1950) Licere 21, no. 4 (2018): 259–85; Samuel Ribeiro dos Santos Neto. ‘“Sentindo Pulsar o Coração Lusitano”: O Associativismo Recreativo e Esportivo Dos Portugueses Na Cidade de São Paulo (Década de 1930).’ [“Feeling the Portuguese Heart Pulsing”: The Recreational and Sports Associations of the Portuguese in the City of São Paulo] (Dissertation [masters], Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2018).14 Roger Chartier, ‘Le monde comme représentation’ [The World as Representation], Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations 44, no. 6 (1989): 1505–20.15 Lynn Hunt, The new cultural history (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989), 7.16 Chartier, ‘Le monde comme représentation’, 1505–20.17 Ibid.18 Sources were collected in public and private archives in Brazil and Germany, namely: 1) Instituto Martius-Staden, São Paulo city; 2) Museu Antropológico Diretor Pestana [Anthropological Museum Diretor Pestana], Ijuí city; 3) Museu Histórico Visconde de São Leopoldo, São Leopoldo city; 4) Library of Institut für Sportwissenschaft of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU-Münster), Münster, Germany; 5) Zentralbibliothek der Sportwissenschaft der Deutschen Sporthochschule Köln, Cologne, Germany; 6) Deutsche National Bibliothek, Leipzig, Germany; 7) collections of gymnastics societies.19 Jacob Aloys Friederichs, president of Turnerbund Porto Alegre for 30 years, was instrumental in establishing and making this gymnastics society and Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul grow. According to Silva, in the 1920s, he excelled in his work for the “good relationship between the Portuguese and the German”. Throughout his life, he became an important intellectual of German-Brazilian Germanness. See Haike Roselane Kleber da Silva, ‘A trajetória de uma liderança étnica: J. Aloys Friederichs (1868–1950)’ [The Trajectory of an Ethnic Leadership: J. Aloys Friederichs (1868–1950)’] (PhD diss. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 2005); Haike Roselane Kleber da Silva. ‘A identidade teuto-brasileira pensada pelo intelectual Aloys Friederichs’ [‘The German-Brazilian Identity Thought by the Intellectual Aloys Friederichs’], Anos 90, nos. 12, 21/22 (2005): 295–330, http://www.seer.ufrgs.br/anos90/article/viewFile/6377/3825 (accessed December 28, 2012); Lothar Wieser, ‘“Treue Pflege unseres Deutschtums” und “treue Vaterlandsliebe zu Brasilien”. J. Aloys Friederichs und das Deutsche Turnen in Brasilien [‘”Loyal Cultivation of Our Germanness” and “Loyal Love of the Fatherland for Brazil”. J. Aloys Friederichs and German Gymnastics in Brazil], in Südwestdeutsche Turner in der Emigration, ed. Michael Krüger and Annette Hofmann (Schorndorf: Hofmann, 2004), 203–18.20 Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Festschrift zum VII. Turnfest der Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul am 17., 18., 19. u. 20. Mai 1929 in Porto Alegre [Commemorative Publication on the 7th Gymnastics Festival of the Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul on 17, 18, 19 and 20 May 1929 in Porto Alegre] (Porto Alegre: Typographia do Centro, 1929), 20.21 As we shall see later, Deutsche Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul’s name changes to Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul in the 1920s. However, in the article, we will always refer to this institution as Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, or by its acronym, TRG.22 Deutsche Turnerschaft was an organisation founded in Germany through the union of gymnastics societies in the late 1860s, and whose aim was “the elevation of German gymnastics as a means for body and spiritual strengthening,” from measures such as parties and gymnastics meetings, adoption of a unique means of communication (Deutsche Turnzeitung), annual statistical surveys on gymnastics, among others. See Evelise Amgarten Quitzau, Associativismo ginástico.23 Anderson, Imagined Communities.24 Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Festschrift zum VII. Turnfest, 2025 Hans-Georg John, Politik und Turnen: die deutsche Turnerschaft als nationale Bewegung im deutschen Kaiserreich von 1871–1914 [Politics and Turnen: The German Gymnastics Federation as a National Movement in the German Empire from 1871–1914 ] (Ahrensburgbei Hamburg: Czwalina, 1976), 23.26 Jacob Aloys Friederichs, ‘Die deutschen Turnvereine im Staate Rio Grande do Sul und die Ziele des Turnerbundes in Porto Alegre’, Süd- und Mittelamerika. Halbmonatsschrift für das Deutschtum und die deutschen Interessen in Süd- und Mittelamerika und Mexiko [South and Central America. Semimonthly for Germanness and German Interests in South and Central America and Mexico.] 7, no 31 (February 16, 1914): 33–5, 33.27 Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Fest-Schrift zum 5. Deutschen Turn-Fest in Porto Alegre am 19., 20. und 21. Oktober 1907 [Commemorative Publication on the 5th German Gymnastics Festival in Porto Alegre, on 19, 20 and 21 October 1907] (Porto Alegre: Cäsar Reinhardt, 1907).28 Anderson, Imagined communities.29 Um covil de retovados. A “Deutscher Turnverein“[A den of falsehood. The „Deutscher Turnverein“, Independente (March 26, 1919).30 Attacks on German-Brazilian gymnastics societies also occurred in other cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, where the building rented by gymnasts for their weekly meetings was struck with stones during a training session. Then, even with police authorisation and even protection to resume activities, the gymnasts had to stop them, because individuals who frequented nearby places threatened to burn the venue if it continued to be rented to them. Deutscher Turn- und Sportverein Rio de Janeiro, 25 Jahre Deutscher Turn- und Sportverein Rio De Janeiro (1934).31 Gauturnen in Estrella [Regional gymnastics in Estrella]. Clipping, s.r., 1927.32 Lesser, A invenção da brasilidade. .33 Staat Rio Grande do Sul. São Sebastião (Korrespondenz) [São Sebastião (Correspondence), Koseritz Deutsche Zeitung (May 29, 1905).34 Lesser, A invenção da brasilidade.35 30 Jahre Turnverein Cahy [30 years of Gymnastics Society Cahy], Deutsche Post (May 22, 1928): 1–2.36 Turnen, eine Quelle der Kraft für jung und alt [Turnen, a source of strength for young and old], Der Turnerbote 6, no. 1–2 (January–February 1938): 2.37 Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Festschrift zum VII. Turnfest.38 Der Eilbotenlauf der Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul [The relay race of the Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul], in Deutsche Post (October, 1924).39 Georg Black, ‘Eilbotenlauf‘[Relay Race], in Deutsche Post (March 25, 1914).40 Elias Canetti, Massa e poder (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008), 14.41 Anderson, Imagined Communities.42 Quitzau, Associativismo ginástico.43 Silvio Romero, ‘O Allemanismo no Sul do Brasil’, in Provocações e debates. (Contribuições para o Estudo do Brazil Social), ed. Silvio Romero [Provocations and debates. (Contributions to the Study of Social Brazil)] (Porto: Livraria Chardron, 1910), 113–69.44 Quitzau, Associativismo ginástico.45 Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul, Festschrift zum VII. Turnfest, 20.46 Delegiertenversammlung am 6. November in der Turnhalle zu São Leopoldo (1921). It is interesting to note that in 1928, in Rio de Janeiro, changing the name of the gymnastics society was also suggested, however in the opposite direction of that advocated by Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul: the then called Turnverein Rio de Janeiro opted to alter the name of its association to Deutscher Turn- und Sportverein Rio de Janeiro, adding the adjective Deutscher (German) to it to emphasise that they wanted to remain “consciously German, to cultivate German gymnastics and German sport for the body strengthening of all …”. See Deutscher Turn- und Sportverein, 25 Jahre (1934), 44–5.47 In May 1929, Getúlio Vargas, a prominent Politian from Rio Grande do Sul who ruled Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954 participated in the seventh edition of the Deutsche Turnfest da Turnerschaft von Rio Grande do Sul and made a speech extolling the German contributions to Brazilian society. See. O setimo torneio de athletismo. Correio do Povo (May 24, 1929).48 “Settler’s Day”, celebrated on July 25, was considered the mark of the arrival of German immigrants in Brazil when they began the colony of São Leopoldo, in Rio Grande do Sul.49 Unser Tag [Our Day], Der Turnerbote 3, no.7 (Jul 1935):1–2; 2 (emphasis from the original author).50 Ana Maria Dietrich, Nazismo tropical? O partido nazista no Brasil. [Tropical Nazism? The Nazi Party in Brazil] (São Paulo: Todas as Musas, 2012).51 René Gertz, O fascismo no sul do Brasil ― Germanismo; nazismo; integralismo [Fascism in Southern Brazil – Germanness; Nazism; Integralism] (Porto Alegre: Mercado Aberto, 1987).52 Turnerbund Porto Alegre, Sazungen, 1924, 16.53 These tensions reflected, for instance, in the boy scouts groups related to the Turnvereine. As indicated by Lieutenant Colonel Aurelio da Silva Py, in the 1933 the chief of the scouts from Porto Alegre removed this group from the realm of the Turnerbund and took these young men to a new group, the Deutsch-Brasilianischer Jugendring (German-Brazilian Youth), which was related to the Hitler Youth movement in Rio Grande do Sul. For further information, see: Aurélio da Silva Py, A 5ª Coluna no Brasil: a conspiração nazi no Rio Grande do Sul [The 5th Column in Brazil: The Nazi Conspiracy in Rio Grande do Sul] (Porto Alegre: Edição da Livraria Globo, 1942).54 Ernest Brepohl, ‘Ein Wort zur „Anschlussfrage“‘[‘A word on the “connection issue”’], Der Turnerbote, 5, no. 8 (Aug 1937), 3. (BREPOHL, 1937, p. 3)55 Frederik Schulze, ‘Von verbrasilianisierten Deutschen und deutschen Brasilianern: “Deutschsein” in Rio Grande do Sul, Brasilien, 1870–1945’ [Of Brazilianised Germans and German Brazilians: “Being German” in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1870–1945], in ‘Geschichte und Gesellschaft’, Special Issue Rethinking Germans Abroad 41, no. 2 (April–June 2015): 197–227, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24636714 (accessed July 24, 2017). This author analyses the diversity of understandings and uses of the concept of Germanness, demonstrating how it could vary according to aspects such as religion, community in which they were included or even when they immigrated to Brazil.56 Sociedade Ginástica São Leopoldo [Gymnastics Society from São Leopoldo], Livro de Atas n.3, September 01, 1924 until January 08, 1941. (SOCIEDADE GINÁSTICA SÃO LEOPOLDO, 1938)57 Chartier, ‘Le monde comme représentation’.58 Lothar Wieser and Michael Krüger, ‘Physical Education, Gymnastics, Games and Sport in Brazil: The German Impact’, Educação em Revista 35 (2019): e218011.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the FAPESP [grant number Code 2016/00617-6] and CNPq [grant number Code 304254/2016-9].Notes on contributorsEvelise Amgarten QuitzauEvelise Amgarten Quitzau obtained a doctorate in Education at the University of Campinas (Brazil). She currently teaches at the Higher Institute of Physical Education of the University of the Republic, in Paysandú, Uruguay, and is registered in the National Researchers System of the National Research and Innovation Agency (SNI/ANII). Her current research focuses on the history of sports and physical education in Uruguay from a local perspective.Carmen Lucia SoaresCarmen Lucia Soares obtained a doctorate in Education at the University of Campinas (Brazil). She is currently a Full Professor at the University of Campinas, and has a productivity grant from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq).Edivaldo GoisEdivaldo Gois Junior, earned a PhD in Physical Education at Gama Filho University (Brazil). He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Campinas, and has a productivity grant from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq).
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