Ewelina Kośmider: What’s the secret to preserving your native language for seven generations while living abroad? What makes the Brazilian Polish diaspora such a unique phenomenon?

Dr Fabricio Wichrowski: I believe it’s down to the way Polish migration was organised in Brazil. When Poles began settling there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were already German and Italian communities established. The Brazilian government directed Poles to certain areas, creating natural enclaves. For example, in the region where I was born, 95% of the population had Polish roots. It was as if I had been born in Poland. These enclaves weren’t something Poles had planned – it was a result of how Brazilian settlement policies were structured. These are municipalities with populations of just a few thousand. The language was preserved naturally – and sometimes indeed across seven generations – because great-grandfather spoke Polish, as did grandfather and parents at home. Sometimes, we don’t even realise we’re speaking Polish – it’s simply our language.

Some time ago, I spoke with prof. Joanna Wojdon from the Historical Institute at the University of Wrocław, who studies the Polish-American diaspora. When I asked her whether language is a part of Polish-American identity, she said it wasn’t, despite them being a strong community. It seems to be quite the opposite in Brazil?

If we have to fight for something, perhaps we value it more. In the 1930s, under President Getúlio Vargas, Brazil adopted a policy of nationalisation. Brazilians were banned from using any language other than the official Portuguese. Although it was mainly directed at the Axis nations – Germans, Italians, and Japanese – it affected other ethnic groups as well. For the Polish diaspora, this was a significant blow, leading to a sharp rise in illiteracy. Polish could only be spoken at home; it was banned in public life. Just as in Poland during the partitions, using Polish in Brazil brought repression, and people had to fight to keep speaking it. Because of this policy, Brazilian Polonia lost the ability to read and write in Polish.

The problem is that Polish in Brazil exists mainly in spoken form. For many years, our diaspora was neglected, with little contact with Poland. Few people can read Polish newspapers or books, or write a letter.

Before nationalisation began, there were over 300 Polish schools in Brazil. So, in a community that was more than 90% Polish, would there have only been a Polish school?

Yes. When nationalisation began, 349 Polish community schools were shut down. This created serious problems. In many areas, only immigrant communities had built schools – there were no state schools. The government closed them and failed to replace them, which contributed to illiteracy. Many Poles stopped speaking Polish out of fear. Some were even imprisoned for doing so. It left a deep social trauma.

You’re conducting research into archaic forms of the Polish language. What are the distinctive features of the Brazilian variant of Polish?

It’s Polish as it was spoken in 19th-century rural Poland. It lacks modern vocabulary. You can clearly see the influence of Portuguese, indigenous languages, and sometimes Spanish or Italian, depending on the region. Portuguese loanwords are declined using Polish grammar. Brazil’s language policy today is very different – it appreciates and promotes Polish. The country treats this version of Polish as a Brazilian language, not a foreign one, because it’s not standard contemporary Polish, but a heritage language.

Can you give some examples of vocabulary differences?

People say ustęp instead of toaleta (toilet). The word kukurydza (maize) has been replaced by the Portuguese milho. In Brazil, the daily drink is yerba mate, a kind of indigenous tea, drunk from a vessel called cuia in native languages. We’ve Polonised this word, declining it as kujka.

You’re the originator of a project to document the Brazilian variant of Polish. What will that involve?

We aim to register Polish on Brazil’s national list of intangible cultural heritage. It’s the largest research project on the Polish language ever conducted outside Poland. I formed a research group, and we’ve received funding from Brazil’s Ministry of Culture. The project begins this year and will last about two years. To gain recognition as intangible heritage, we must document that the language exists – show where it’s spoken, how many people use it, and what sociolinguistic features are present. The Ministry of Culture has already provided us with a methodology to follow. Securing funding for this was a major success. It’s a nationwide project, although we’ll focus mainly on the south, where most Poles live.

What does recognition as intangible national heritage mean in practice? Why is it important?

It brings recognition for Polish. It gives us access to language policy and promotional funding. It will allow us to pursue other projects, such as creating a museum of the Polish language in Brazil. Promoting Old Polish also promotes the standard version. We’re not trying to preserve the Brazilian variant unchanged forever – it may disappear within a few years. But by appreciating and documenting it, we also promote contemporary Polish, which young people in the diaspora need in order to connect with Poland or go there to study. There’s no conflict here.

Thanks largely to your efforts, Polish now has official language status in 16 Brazilian municipalities.

Yes. My aim in this project was to show that bilingualism is an asset in today’s world. Brazil now sees things differently and actively promotes linguistic diversity. We should take advantage of that. The previous nationalisation policy left many people ashamed of the Polish language and accent, and fearful of the repression that came with it. Today, for example, when people see a mayor speaking Polish on television, they change their minds and decide to enrol their children in Polish classes. Municipalities now have a legal basis for supporting the diaspora. There are Polish language courses and folk dance groups. The world’s oldest Polish folk group was actually founded in Brazil.

What is it called?

Wisła. The second oldest is Auresovia – a blend of the name of the Brazilian town Aurea and the Polish Warszawa (Warsaw). Thanks to the official language status, municipalities can run radio programmes, publish newspapers in Polish, and install bilingual signage. We’ve begun issuing bilingual documents – not a simple task, as it requires system upgrades – but it is possible. I believe language builds relationships. Social interactions feel different when they happen in Polish, even though everyone speaks fluent Portuguese. Polish is the “language from home”. If you speak Polish with someone in the street or at the town hall, it feels like home – like family.

Language is also a way to maintain a bond with the homeland. Poles in Germany or the UK can travel to Poland relatively easily, but we have to find other ways to stay connected. Very few Brazilians of Polish origin can afford to fly to Poland – the journey can take up to 46 hours and is expensive. Everything we have – the folklore, cuisine, language – is a way of staying close to Poland.

How did Polish settlement in Brazil happen? Were there several waves of migration, and from which parts of Poland?

At first – even as early as the mid-19th century – many came from Silesia and Prussia. Then from Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland, like my family. Most arrived during the so-called “Brazilian fever”, from the late 19th century until the First World War. They settled in the southern states: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná. That’s where the 19th-century Polish language still survives. Another, smaller wave came between the wars. Migration picked up again during the Second World War – those Poles spoke a more modern version of the language and mostly settled in São Paulo.

Did the 19th-century migrants start entirely from scratch?

Yes. The Brazilian government allocated land for colonisation, which immigrants had to pay for – usually in instalments or through labour, e.g. road building. Each adult man received 25 hectares of land – but it was tropical forest. Everything had to be built from scratch: homes, schools, churches, roads. Indigenous people helped, as Poles didn’t even know what crops could be grown or when to plant them, or how to deal with venomous snakes and pumas. Life was extremely difficult at first.

How well did Poles integrate with Brazilian society? Were they open to other communities?

Sometimes enclaves formed because Poles were sent to isolated regions. But there were also areas with mixed ethnic communities. One example is the city of Erechim, with over 100,000 residents near the municipality I’m from, inhabited by Poles, Italians, and Germans. The society there is mixed, and everyone has different roots and their own accent in Portuguese. Regional accents reflect the dominant heritage – if an area had more Poles, Germans or Italians, the entire community would adopt their accent in Portuguese. In some areas, even people without Polish ancestry speak with a Polish accent – without realising it. I only learned I had a Polish accent when I left home for university. I have friends with German or Italian roots from my region who also speak with a Polish accent.

What’s your own family’s story?

My great-great-grandfather came to Brazil with his entire family in 1890. They were farmers from Turek. They arrived first in Rio de Janeiro, then were sent south. My wife also has Polish roots and a Polish surname – Skorupska. Her great-grandfather came from Zgierz near Łódź and was deeply involved in politics. He took part in the 1905 Łódź uprising and was exiled to Siberia three times. He escaped dressed as a woman. After emigrating to Brazil, he became a prominent activist in the diaspora – he co-founded the National Defence Committee, which worked with Piłsudski and raised funds to support Poland. He was already promoting the Polish language in the 1960s, during the era of repression, which only ended in the 1980s. He created the first Polish language course in Brazil after the repressive period.

Many Polish insurgents settled in Brazil. While we see them as heroes, they often remained silent about the repression they faced from the partitioning powers and why they had to flee Poland.

Successive generations of emigrants often create a mythical image of their former homeland. Did the ideas you had about Poland before arriving prove to be true? Or were there things that disappointed you?

I first came to Poland in 2001 on a scholarship for the Polish diaspora to learn the language. At that time, we had very little information about Poland in Brazil. When I was a child, everyone always spoke of it as if it were paradise on earth. What Poland actually looked like we could only see in books from the 1960s, as the internet was still in its infancy. When I arrived in Poland, I was very impressed. It was a fascinating experience—everything was different: the architecture, the climate. Interestingly, that’s when I met my wife, who had received the same scholarship as I had. It turned out that we lived just 70 km apart in Brazil. We returned to Wrocław together in 2017, during my doctoral studies. Our son was conceived here. Although he was born in Brazil, we say at home that he’s a Wrocławian. We’ve now been living here for almost two years, during which time our son started attending a Polish nursery school.

Does he speak Polish better than you?

Yes, he corrects me. A few months ago, when we were reading a book together, I had to look up some unfamiliar Polish words on Google. Now he says, “Dad, you don’t have to check—I’ll explain it to you.” I’m glad that he already has his own connection with Poland. I have to say, Poland has changed a great deal since I first came here. It’s a different country now. But Brazil has changed too. These days, more and more people from the Brazilian Polish community are planning to study in Poland.

You’ve taught at the University of Wrocław? Yes, I’ve given lectures at the Institute of Archaeology as well as the Institute of Romance Philology. I’ve also lectured at several other Polish universities. I’ve received invitations from many institutions, but I won’t have time to visit them all. Unfortunately, my project is coming to an end and I’ll soon be returning to Brazil. I was also invited to Polish schools to give talks about the Brazilian Polish community and the Polish language in Brazil. My project involved not only researching the Polish language but also promoting knowledge about it in Brazil. That’s why, during my stay in Poland, I visited the Senate and also travelled to meet the Polish community in Lithuania.

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Media materials featuring dr Fabricio Wichrowski:

TV Polonia

Polskie radio

Podcast Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych RP

Podcast NAWA

Added by: E.K.
Date of publication: 24.07.2025