German Amazon-Jary-Expedition (1935–1937)

The discovery of a huge cross emblazoned with swastika at the grave site of one of the expedition members in the local jungle has brought the event to renewed international attention during the second decade of the 21st century.

[1] Independent Brazil maintained friendly relations with Germany throughout the 19th and early 20th century, characterized by dynamic trade and the moderate but steady immigration process of ethnic Germans into (mainly) southern provinces.

Prior to 1871 only very few settlers and even less merchants, scholars, religious missionaries and teachers of the small German states ever advanced to southern Brazil and establish themselves into the local Germanophone homogeneous communities.

[2] From 1815 to 1817 Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied led a pioneering expedition into south-eastern Brazil and crafted the earliest scientific work about the local indigenous peoples, such as the Botocudos.

Among these travelers were Hans Krieg, the director of the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, the researchers of the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hamburg Gustav Giemsa and Ernst Nauck as well as the ornithologists Adolf Schneider and Helmut Sick.

[6] Promoted to SS Untersturmführer, 24-year-old Otto Schulz-Kampfhenkel set foot on Brazilian soil in July 1935 as head of the expedition, accompanied by experienced pilot Gerd Kahle and engineer and mechanic Gerhard Krause.

Upon arrival at the upper Jari River the mission set up camp near an Aparai settlement, explored the jungle, its fauna and collected zoological specimen.

Thanks to the dugout canoes and excellent navigation skills of the Indians in the rapids of the Rio Jary was it possible for the expedition to safely reach the base camp after almost two years.

Among the upper waters of the Rio Jary the film shows, Neolithic Digging stick planting methods of the Wayana and Wayapi Indians, who had previously been believed to have died out.

[11][12][13][14][15][10][5] Among the obvious inconsistencies foreign observers viewed the mission's objectives with suspicion as many argued Nazi Germany hoped to establish a strategic bridgehead in South America.