Times of intolerance, repression of foreigners during the World War II in Santa Catarina (Brazil)

Abstract

The crackdown against the populations of Italian and German origins living in the State of Santa Catarina, performed by the government of Getúlio Vargas during World War II, was linked to the country’s alignment with the United States against the Axis. This crackdown in action illustrates the political police intolerance during the Vargas’ regime. Men and women had their most basic
rights violated, with restriction of coming and going and suppression of their freedom of speech and expression. Many were confined in concentration camps, far from the coast. This article shows some of these forms of repression in the context of the Brazilian approximation to the Allies, and the actions performed by the Social and Political Order Department (DOPS) to enforce it, as well as the population reactions to it.