This paper analyses some aspects of German-Brazilian peasant's memories, who arrived at Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, between 1824 and 1832. Reasons for their silence, in their oral tradition, about their past life in Germany and the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, are discussed here. These reasons are in sharp contrast with the detailed facts, retained in their memory, concerning the settling of those immigrants in the colonies a few months later. This circumstances frames the social identity of those German descendents.
German-Brazilian peasants; immigration; memory