The Epoch Times recently interviewed award-winning Brazilian author and journalist Lucius de Mello through emails.
Lucius de Mello's newest novel is on the history of German Jewish immigration into Brazil and their lives during the 1930s and 1940s: A Travessia da Terra Vermelha–Uma Saga dos Refugiados Judeus no Brasil, "Crossing the Red Land—A Saga of Jewish Refugees in Brazil."
According to de Mello, the title "Crossing the Red Land" is inspired by the famous biblical passage—The Crossing of the Red Sea. Like the Jews that crossed the Red Sea escaping from Egypt and the Pharaoh's soldiers in 1250 B.C., German Jewish refugees were escaping from Hitler's soldiers.
To arrive at their refuge in the Brazilian tropical forest, the refugees needed to cross the Red Land. The area in the state of Paraná where the Jews took shelter has the affectionate nickname of Red Land. The soil is red and very fertile, which helped to determine the future occupations of its new residents.
"Crossing of the Red Land" has many dynamic moments according to de Mello. It has "the Nazi presence, the threat of the Brazilian political police, the suicides that happened among the refugees that didn't always tolerate their new life, and the ghost of the holocaust surrounding the Jewish refugees' farms."
A New Home 'Rolândia'
Rolândia is the name of the German colony where the nearly 80 Jewish families lived after they began to arrive in Brazil in the 1930s. Rolândia became a small city that is in northern part of Paraná. The word Rolândia comes from the German warrior's name Roland, a hero of at time of the crusades, protecting the city of Bremen in northern Germany.
Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas changed Rolândia's name to a more Brazilian name during the Second World War because it reminded him of the German people and their culture. The name was changed to Caviúna, the name of a Brazilian tree. After the war ended, the name returned to Rolandia and it has remained until today.
Researching
De Mello began his research in March 2003 and finished in May of this year. He interviewed approximately 50 people; among them were refugees, descendants, friends and researchers. He spent time in Frankfurt with descendants that returned to live in Germany. During that time, he gathered newspapers, letters, pictures, documents, and memoirs, to fully reconstruct the history.
De Mello compared his research to what Saint Augustine said. "'Memory is the house of the soul.' When searching through the memory of this group of Jewish refugees, I entered in contact with the 'soul' of these people. I sought to report what was beyond facts and photos."
He got to know them more intimately, and tried to give color to their personalities. He became close enough that some of the characters shared personal and family secrets. When asked if there was one memorable moment during his research, de Mello said it was difficult to choose just one moment.
De Mello was intrigued to discover the former-deputy of the German Catholic party Johannes Schauff's history. He was a kind of Schindler. He voted against Hitler in the German parliament and then was pursued by the Nazis. He had to flee with his wife and children to Brazil, but he wanted to help other Jews to flee there.
Schauff created a way that allowed the Jewish refugees to remove some of their funds from Germany to buy land in Brazil. Schauff was a hero. He was a humane and courageous man that helped the Jewish people to flee from the holocaust. There was the soprano that performed concerts in a theater improvised in the middle of the forest in the "Opera of the Crickets."
There was the menorah of fireflies in the "Green Synagogue." This was what the Jewish refugees called the Brazilian forest, since there was no synagogue in the city. The closest was 370 miles away. They celebrated the Jewish religious dates in the forest, very hesitantly, with constant fear of the Brazilian political police. Another memorable moment was when de Mello found the photos that showed the existence of a Nazi cell in Rolândia. They were kept with a family in Rolândia. He was impressed when he saw the typical trees of Brazil supporting the Nazi flags with the swastikas. His book is the first to publish these photos. But De Mello's most memorable moment happened this year, when he was finishing his research.
"One of the refugees, ill with cancer and nearing the end, called and presented me with a collection of Proust in German: 10 volumes of the work 'In Search of Lost Time.' He asked that I take very good care of the books because they belonged to another Jewish lady that also lived in Rolândia that had already died, and had asked him to take care of the Proust collection. I have the books at home and I take care of them with great honor," said de Mello.
"I want that my readers allow themselves to become enchanted by the stories of the Jewish refugees from Rolândia like I allowed myself," said de Mello.
"I also want my readers to become witnesses of this history. The more witnesses of the Holocaust that exist in the world, the more difficult it will be for a horror like this to happen again. I want that my readers become witnesses of this tragedy. During the four years of research, I was touched by a living past that returns us to the Holocaust of a political phenomenon and crime against humanity."
De Mello does not know when the book will be published in English or other languages. The English translation is already being done by a Jewish American in Florida. The international rights of publication of the book were to be negotiated at the Frankfurt Fair Book, in Germany this past week.
De Mello plans to travel to the United States to promote the book when the English translation is completed and believes that the story is perfect for an American major film.
He said his book "has a historical importance because it shows the holocaust from an angle that few people have already seen. It is a piece of the history of the holocaust in Brazil, in the middle of the Brazilian forest."
Part I of 'Crossing the Red Land' introduced Mr. de Mello and presented his previous books: a set of fictional stories and a biography of the largest and most famous brothel in Brazil. Check the website for the last in the series that examines his plans for the future, including his work with the Laboratory for the Study of Ethnicity, Racism, and Discrimination at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
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