<Agricultural Colonies.
[Jewish farmers in Dutch
Brazil]
Many Jews farmed in northern Brazil during the Colonial
Period and probably even introduced the cultivation of sugar
cane.
[[The natives were driven away and the jungle was destroyed
for this]].
[Plan of Jewish
agricultural settlements since 1892 - Oswald Boxer's
mission fails with his death]
More recently, the earliest discussion of a plan for the
agricultural settlement of Jews took place in 1891, when the
Deutsches Central Comitee fuer die Russischen Juden [[German
Central Committee for Russian Jews]], established after the
expulsion of Jews from Moscow, sent Oswald Boxer - a (col.
1325)
Viennese journalist and close friend of [[racist]] Herzl -
to Brazil to investigate the possibilities of founding
agricultural settlements for Russian refugees. Boxer was
warmly received by government representatives and after an
inspection tour, he reported to the committee that Jewish
settlement could indeed prosper in Brazil and that the first
settlers could be dispatched as early as March 1892. The
revolution of Nov. 3, 1891, and the counterrevolution of
Nov. 23, which ended the rule of General Deodoro da Fonseca,
invalidated Boxer's forecast, and the project was finally
abandoned in 1892, when Boxer died of yellow fever.
[Plan of Jewish
agricultural settlements since 1901 with Belgian
cooperation - experimental colony in the Santa Maria
region - agricultural disaster in 1904 - the Jews change
to other jobs]
In 1901,on the initiative of the vice-president of the
*Jewish Colonization Association (ICA), who had contacts
with the Belgian railway company in Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil again became the objective of Jewish agricultural
settlement. The lasting stagnation in the agricultural
colonies of Argentina prompted ICA to seek new lands where
the expenses of agricultural settlement would be less than
in Argentina.
[[The natives were driven away and the jungle was destroyed
for this]].
In 1902 ICA decided to set up a small experimental colony;
5,400 hectares (13,338 acres) were acquired in the Santa
Maria region on the railroad line that later became the
international railroad between Montevideo and Rio de
Janeiro.
[[The natives were driven away and the jungle was destroyed
for this]].
[The Jewish agricultural
settlement Philippson]
In 1904, 37 families (267 persons) from Bessarabia settled
at the colony named after its initiator, Philippson. This
settlement encountered difficulties from its inception.
Despite the *Kishinev pogrom in Bessarabia (April 1903), few
Jews wanted to settle in Brazil, and the selection of
candidates, who had to be experienced in agricultural work
and possess certain financial means, was slow. the 1904
farming season was thus wasted.
Frequent changes in the administration, coupled with the
lack of agricultural instruction, faulty planning, and
insufficient funds prevented the development of the
settlement, whose limited size also precluded the
improvement of services.
Only in 1907 was a qualified teacher appointed and a
cooperative formed, but its practical activity was limited.
The meager chances of economic success in the settlement,
contrasted with the prospect of a comfortable livelihood as
a peddler or artisan in Santa Maria, soon caused the
settlement's disintegration.
In Aug. 1926, the director of ICA in Buenos Aires reported
that of the 122 families who settled in Philippson at
various periods, only 17 remained, of whom only three worked
the land themselves, the others leasing it or employing
hired labour. Only 132 hectares (326 acres) were under
cultivation, on which corn and beans were grown, and the
overall value of the harvest was only £ 1,060. The report
suggested the liquidation of the remaining ICA property in
the colony, and this suggestion was adopted.
In 1968, two of the offspring of the original settlers, who
live in Pôrto Alegre, still owned large tracts of the former
colony's land.
[The Jewish agricultural
region in northern Rio Grande do Sul in the Quatro Irmãos
area - land sold to non-Jews since 1920 - liquidation of
property since 1958]
Despite the preliminary difficulties at Philippson, on June
5, 1909, the ICA council decided to acquire an additional
large tract in northern Rio Grande do Sul. It chose a
largely afforested section of 93,850 hectares (231,810
acres) in the Quatro Irmãos area, where a large-scale
government settlement was developing. The Quatro Irmãos
settlers were to be chosen from among the agricultural
labourers in ICA's colonies in Argentina and applicants for
settlement specially selected in Russia.
While the screening operations met with difficulties because
of the lack of confidence in the potential success of the
Brazil project, other immigrants reached the colony. By
January 1915, 1,678 persons had settled in Quatro Irmãos.
Because of the lack of agricultural facilities, the
newcomers were either engaged in building or received funds
directly from ICA. (col. 1326)
[[...]]
Apart from keeping cows and chickens for their own
consumption, the settlers had to make a living from their
harvests of corn, wheat, beans, manioc, alfalfa, peanuts,
and especially yerba maté maté [[maté herb]]. They also
cleared fertile areas of forest and groves (mato), which were
enriched by the wood ash created by burning the vegetation.
the salvaged wood was sold to ICA's sawmills in the area,
and, in order to facilitate transportation and marketing,
ICA began building an 18-kilometer railroad that joined
Quatro Irmãos and the town of Erebango early in 1918. Flour
mills and a consumer cooperative organization were also
established, and in 1912 a school was built and cultural
life began to develop. (col. 1327)
[[...]]
World War I put an end to any chance of developing the
colony. With the help of ICA, the immigrants therefore left
the colony for towns in Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay, (col.
1326)
and Argentina. By November 1915 only 72 of the original 232
families remained in the colony. (col. 1327)
[[...]]
Nevertheless, the settlement was undermined by
administrative weakness, difficult living conditions, and,
most particularly, by the civil war of 1923 (one of whose
fiercest battles was fought on the colony's land). By 1926,
40 settlers remained, of whom only 16 lived on their own
land and 24 lived in the village of Quatro Irmãos; another
ten landowners lived outside the colony. The cooperative and
the other public institutions were neglected, and
instability reigned in the settlement.
In order to make a profit from its investments, in 1920 ICA
began selling the land to non-Jewish settlers, mainly
Germans and Italians. By 1926, however, it renewed Jewish
settlement by establishing five new centers with a total of
97 families. ICA also renewed its efforts to encourage
cooperatives, mixed farming, and the establishment of mills,
oil presses, and so on. The economic crisis of 1929-30,
however, drastically reduced crop prices and prevented the
new centers from establishing themselves.
From 1930, despite all efforts, the colony began to decline.
The ICA report of Dec. 31, 1935, indicated the existence of
104 Jewish families (464 persons) as compared with 419
non-Jewish families (2,080 persons) living in the colony.
The severe restrictions on immigration, particularly from
1934 onward, also prevented any further expansion, and
Quatro Irmãos remained a huge holding settled mainly by
non-Jews and administered, together with its railroad and
sawmills, by ICA.
The liquidation of this property began in 1958 [[because
racist Herzl Israel became more attractive for Jewish
"settlement" with the project of a racist "Greater Israel"
from the Nile to the Euphrates]]: the railway was closed,
more and more land was sold, and the remaining settlers
began to disperse. ICA's report for 1965 notes that "the
winding up of the Associations affairs in the state of Rio
Grande do Sul was virtually completed." (col. 1327)
[The Jewish agricultural
settlement of Resende in the state of Rio de Janeiro in
1935 - no entrance permits - settlement closed down in
1952]
Conditions in Germany in 1935 prompted ICA to make a third
attempt at agricultural settlement in Brazil. In 1936, 2,000
hectares (4,940 acres) at Resende, in the state of Rio de
Janeiro, were designated for settlers who would engage in
mixed farming to provide produce for the local market in
Rio. ICA representatives in Germany concurrently selected 20
farming families as candidates for settlement;however,
despite continuous contacts with the Brazilian government
about the implementation of the plan - which was adapted to
the Brazilian immigration laws - the authorities refused to
grant the settlers entry permits. The land that had been
acquired was meanwhile put at the disposal of 15 other
settlers. In 1948 ICA closed its offices in the colony, and
in 1952, when part of the area was requisitioned to set up a
military school, the Association liquidated the rest of its
property there [[because racist Herzl Israel became more
attractive for Jewish "settlement" with the project of a
racist "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates]].
[Individual Jews farming in
Brazil: Mogi, São Miguel, Bahia, Natal]
Outside the organized settlement, individual Jews farmed in
Brazil at Mogi; there are also vine growers from Bessarabia
at São Miguel, in the São Paulo state; and in the Bahia
state and in the Natal region of the Rio Grande do Norte
state Jewish farmers own citrus groves and plantations. In
contrast to Argentina, Jewish agricultural settlement in
Brazil has not left its mark on Brazilian Jewish literature.
[H.A.]> (col. 1328)
Encyclopaedia Judaica
