[7] The rapid increase in numbers was due to a relatively high birth rate, the highest in Brazil amongst immigrant groups although still lower than that of the local population.

The census of 1920 revealed that foreigners constituted only 3% of the population of the old German communities of São Leopoldo, Estrela, Montenegro and Bom Retiro do Sul.

The absence of a unified population in the interior was regarded as a problem by the Brazilian government because Southern Brazil could easily be invaded by neighboring countries.

Nevertheless, in the following years, a further 4,830 Germans arrived at São Leopoldo, and then the colony started to develop, with the immigrants establishing the town of Novo Hamburgo (New Hamburg).

From São Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo, the German immigrants spread into other areas of Rio Grande do Sul, mainly close to sources of rivers.

Surely to us belongs this part of the world, and the key to it all is Santa Catharina, stretching from the harbor of San Francisco far into the interior with its hitherto undeveloped, hardly suspected wealth.

Here indeed, in southern Brazil, is a rich and healthy land, where the German emigrant may retain his nationality, where for all that is comprised in the word 'Germanismus,' a glorious future smiles."

[30][31] The German settlements, and also those of other European ethnic groups, occupy a vast area in the centers of the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

[34] The first generation of immigrants faced the arduous task of surviving while opening gaps in the virgin forest to build their own houses and roads.

In 1989 there was a controversy regarding German speakers in Brazil when the mayor of Santa Maria do Herval, a town in Rio Grande do Sul, issued a verbal orientation to the municipality's elementary teachers to retain students using Hunsrückisch during break time to "teach them Portuguese".

Disagreement ensued, with some decrying the initiative as repressive, and others (including people of German descent) supporting the mayor on the basis that not being able to speak Portuguese is a handicap in Brazilian society.

Renowned German Brazilian models include Gisele Bündchen, Ana Hickmann, Ana Claudia Michels, Mariana Weickert, Letícia Birkheuer, Raquel Zimmermann, Cintia Dicker, Solange Wilvert, Monique Olsen, Carol Trentini, Jeísa Chiminazzo, Shirley Mallmann, Camila Finn, Bruna Erhardt and Aline Weber.

[48] Winners of the Miss Brazil beauty pageant have included Vera Fischer (1969), Mariza Sommer (1974), Ingrid Budag (1975), Eveline Schroeter (1980), Maria Carolina Portella Otto (1990), Leila Cristine Schuster (1993), Thaisa Thomsen (2002), Carina Beduschi (2005), Rafaela Zanella (2006), Gabriela Markus (2012), and Marthina Brandt (2015), who all share German ancestry.

Just in time for German Unity Day on 3 October 2012 the world-famous Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro was illuminated in Germany's national colors of black, red and gold to point towards this awaited event.

Artistic director Paulo Barros, who has already choreographed two winning Sambadrome performances, packed Germany into five acts, beginning with Germanic gods and assorted mythic creatures.

There follows Goethe's Faust, Bertolt Brecht's outcast characters, Fritz Lang robots, and a depiction of Marlene Dietrich as The Blue Angel.

Both the Brazilian Empire and the early Republic allowed groups of immigrants to settle in isolated communities, mainly in Southern Brazil, and to some extent in other parts, such as Espírito Santo, in the Southeast.

The army had an important role during this process of forced assimilation of these areas of "foreign colonization" that created so-called "ethnic cysts" in Brazil.

Nogueira used the image of the occupation of the most fertile areas of southern territory by foreigners, who had no intention of being integrated into the country, but had remained segregated since the beginning of their settlement.

[63] In fact, the fears of the Brazilian authorities regarding the expansion of Nazism in Brazil seem exaggerated in retrospect;[63] however, it should be taken into consideration that in 1938 Germany annexed Austria, and in 1939 it dismembered, then also annexed Czechoslovakia, and that the local sections of the Nazi Party were fully involved in these actions; manipulation of German minorities also played an important role in the internal politics of Poland (Danzig) and Lithuania (Memel).

From Rolf Hoffmann's archive, roll 29, frames 26.600–656, mentioned by Alton Frye in "Nazi Germany and the American Hemisphere, 1933–1941", p. 101–102, the Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Corrêa da Costa, in the book 'The history of a secret war' ('Crônica de uma guerra secreta' in Portuguese),[65] reveals that Hitler had planned to colonize Brazil (which several historians from the English speaking world had already shown,[66][67][68] as well as the testimony of Rauschning, who was present when Hitler spoke of plans of colonizing Brazil[69]).

[71] However, in December 1937 the Nazi German Ambassador to Rio de Janeiro, Karl Ritter, was already reporting nationalising actions by the Brazilian government.

Measures were intensified in 1939, when the public use of foreign languages was forbidden, including in elementary schools and religious ceremonies (harsh as this is, it is necessary to remember, as René Gertz points out, that about half of Lutheran ministers in Rio Grande do Sul were affiliated with the Nazi Party) [citation needed].

No effort was made to suppress the Lutheran church; the teaching of foreign languages, including German, in high schools and colleges continued,[72] as well as their private use.

[73] There were differences in emphasis during the nationalization campaign; in particular, the interventor (unelected governor) of Rio Grande do Sul, Cordeiro de Farias, was notable for his harshness.

When the Army repressed those riots and ensured the physical integrity of the citizens, Cordeiro de Farias offered his resignation,[74] which was rejected, but he was soon sent to Italy as a military commander and replaced by Colonel Ernesto Dornelles, a much more moderate leader.

[89] Kuchen, Sauerkraut (known in Portuguese as chucrute, is also used as derogatory term to designate Germans, and people of Central European origin or descent in general), Eisbein, new types of sausage and vegetables are some examples of food introduced in Brazil by the immigrants.

The first breweries date from the 1830s, although the brand Bohemia is claimed to be the first Brazilian beer, with production starting in 1853 in the city of Petrópolis founded by the German-Brazilian Henrique Kremer.

São Paulo FC also have connections with the German community after merging, during the World War II, with the former Associação Alemã de Esportes (Deutscher SC).

For example, in the town of Pomerode, Santa Catarina, 90% of the population are Brazilians of German descent, and the main local language is an East Pomeranian dialect.