Hotelaria alemã na década de 1940: o quebra-quebra nos hotéis pelotenses.

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the consequences of the "quebra-quebra" that occurred in August 1942, during World War II, in the hotel of Pelotense through the hotels whose owners were German or descendants. The main source of the research was the hybrid oral history, using the narrative of five interviewees, together with bibliographic, journalistic sources and Labor Justice processes. Twenty-four operating hotels were identified in the 1940s, of which nine were owned by Germans or descendants, representing 37.5% of the city's hotel business. The nine German hotels can be divided into two groups, the hotels located in Pelotas City Center (Hotel América, Hotel do Comércio and Hotel Glória), and the hotels that were located on the access roads to the Center, and were considered Colonial Hotels (Hotel Tretow, Hotel Krüger, Hotel Heling, Hotel Fiss & Tessmann, Hotel Ness and Hotel Colonial). Of the nine German hotels, five of these were attacked during the August 1942 “quebra-quebra”, the America, Glória, do Comercio, Treptow and Fiss & Tessmann hotels. Of these, only Hotel Glória and Hotel Treptow can rise after the attacks. Fiss & Tessmann had a total loss in the property, and the América and do Comercio hotels are back to work at the same address in the same decade, but with other owners, and the Hotel do Comércio is now called “Novo Hotel do Comércio”. The hotels were attacked, looted and burned, and the owner of Hotel do Comércio was arrested. These acts can be characterized as acts of intolerance, because they were acts initiated from prejudice to an ethnicity, exalted by sensational news, and with the permission of the government and defense body.