From 1937 to 1945, Brazil lived under the Estado Novo, commanded by . The period is characterized by broad changes in the country (which becomes less rural, more urban and goes through an intense industrialization process, with the emergence of a politically active working class), but it was also marked by the persecution, torture and death of opponents of the regime.
In September 1937, a false document created by Captain Olímpio Mourão Filho that accused Jews and communists of planning to take power began to circulate. Two months later, Getúlio announced the closure of Congress, the cancellation of the elections and the imposition of a new Constitution. It was the beginning of the Estado Novo dictatorship, which would end on October 29, 1945.
Before that, authoritarian measures had already been in force since the Communist Intentona, in 1935. This year, the Vargas government passed a series of amendments and decrees expanding the power of the Presidency. In 1936, the National Security Court (TSN) was created, an exceptional court to judge opponents, and the country was in a state of siege.
During this period, which was still constitutional, there were already arrests and torture of opponents. In 1936, for example, to reveal the hiding place of Luís Carlos Prestes. Barron was thrown from the window of the DOPS (Department of Political and Social Order) —which had existed since the Old Republic— and the police claimed that he committed suicide.
In the same year, with the approval of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the government deported Olga Benário, Prestes’ pregnant wife, to the Nazi. Jewish and communist, Olga would be murdered in a gas chamber in 1942.
Before the Estado Novo, from 1930 to 1934, Vargas first led a so-called provisional government, during which the government of 1891 was suspended. In 1934, with the promulgation of a new Charter, the gaucho was indirectly elected to continue as President.
1937
On November 10, Getúlio announces the beginning of the Estado Novo on radio broadcast throughout the country. In the statement, he stated that Brazil was on the verge of a civil war and that the measure would be necessary to “readjust the political body to the country’s economic needs.”
On December 2, a decree extinguishes all political parties and, two days later, in a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Vargas burns the flags of all states in the country on a pyre. From this moment on, the only symbols allowed in Brazil were the national flag, coat of arms and anthem.
1938
In the early hours of May 11, a group of green shirts attacked the Guanabara Palace, where the president lived. They also seize the Naval Ministry building and arrest the War Ministry chief of staff.
In Guanabara, they were met with gunfire, and the revolt was quickly dismantled. Afterwards, Vargas published a decree reducing the deadlines for trial by the TSN, reducing the period between the complaint and the conviction to just five days and thus expanding the repression machine.
1939
In September, the Second World War began in . At this point, Vargas maintained good relations with the regimes of Hitler and Mussolini and there was a wing openly favorable to alignment with the Axis in the government, formed mainly by Filinto Müller, head of torture, Pedro Aurélio de Góis Monteiro, head of the Army, and Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Minister of War and future president.
In December, the Department of Press and Propaganda (DIP) was created, an essential body for censorship of the regime and for disseminating the image of Vargas and the government to the population through the press, including through dictatorship interveners in newsrooms.
1940
In June, one day after American President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech defending the Allied war effort against the Axis, Vargas spoke aboard the Battleship Minas Gerais, rejecting liberalism and saying that the world was reaching a new era that would be guided by “vigorous people, fit for life”.
The speech is seen as an approach to the Axis and generates diplomatic embarrassment. Two days later, the Brazilian sent a message to the American government and the press saying that the speech was not a response to Roosevelt’s speech, claiming that he had no prior knowledge of the content, nor did it indicate that Brazil would break the policy of neutrality in the war.
1941
In March, the Brazilian ship Taubaté is attacked by German forces while sailing off the coast of Egypt. This was the first in a series of attacks on Brazilian vessels that would culminate in the country’s entry into the war. On the ship was the first Brazilian to die in the war: José Francisco Fraga, victim of a machine gun fire.
1942
Under pressure from the , Vargas negotiates the terms of Brazil’s entry into World War II. In exchange for training and equipment for the Army, construction of the Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional, in addition to incentives and commercial agreements, the country allows the installation of an American military base in Natal — strategic due to its proximity to North Africa — and the sending of Brazilian soldiers to Europe.
Brazilian vessels continue to be attacked and sunk by Axis forces. The country responds with air attacks on German submarines and the confiscation of property from Axis subjects. The measure, aimed at Germans, Italians and Japanese, was especially heavy against the latter, who suffered expulsion from their homes and lands and, in some places, were confined in concentration camps. In August, Brazil officially declared war on the Axis countries.
1943
In January, the Potengi Conference takes place in Rio Grande do Norte. The President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, and Vargas agreed on the conditions of the agreement that was being negotiated. Two months later, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) was created, which the following year would land in Italy to fight the Axis.
In October, the Manifesto dos Mineiros was published, a letter from politicians and intellectuals from Minas Gerais asking for the redemocratization of the country. Its signatories were the target of persecution and dismissals, and the content of the text did not shake the Vargas repressive structure, but served as a milestone in the beginning of protests for democracy.
1944
The year is dominated by the sending and arrival of FEB to Italy. With the support of the American Army, the soldiers advanced over the south of the country and reached the city of Naples in December.
[1945
In February, former Vargas ally José Américo de Almeida gave an interview to opponent Carlos Lacerda, in Correio da Manhã. In the interview, Américo criticizes Vargas and defends the redemocratization of the country and the call for new elections. The interview revives supporters of the end of the Estado Novo and weakens the regime. Censorship cannot contain the effects of publication.
In May, Vargas’ decree established amnesty for political prisoners, including Luís Carlos Prestes, called elections for December 2 and allowed party organization.
While preparations were taking place for the elections at the end of the year, Vargas and his allies organized the “We Want Getúlio” movement, which became known as Querosismo, and proposed Vargas’ continuation in power, worrying the military. On October 3, the anniversary of the 1930 revolution, 150,000 protesters gather in Largo da Carioca, in Rio, in a rally for Vargas’s stay.
At the end of the month, information spread that Rio de Janeiro’s police chief would be replaced by the dictator’s brother, Benjamin Vargas. The measure scandalizes military leaders, who see the movement as Vargas’ preparation for a new self-coup.
On October 29, Góis Monteiro, who occupied the Ministry of War, sends a request for his dismissal to Getúlio, but is prevented from meeting his boss by General Cordeiro de Farias, who convinces him to participate in a movement to depose the president.
With the palace surrounded by soldiers, the Minister of Justice tells Getúlio that the Army controlled the situation and asks the president to resign, avoiding a violent overthrow. The dictator responds: “Since it is a white coup, I will not be a source of disturbance. Tell them that I am no longer president of the Republic and I wish to retire to my State.”
The military command calls on the president of the Federal Supreme Court, José Linhares, to occupy the presidency and hand over the position to the person elected in December. The Estado Novo ends.
