São Paulo – The stories of Arab immigrants that arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century are now joined by a new narrative with the launching, at the end of 2015, of the book “Lembranças minurcas” (Minurca memories, in a direct translation), by retired judge Romeu Abílio. In the book, Abílio tells the story of the immigration of his relatives from Syria and Lebanon to the city of Guaxupé, south of Minas Gerais state. The city has a large Arab community and an Orthodox Church, the religion of many Syrians and Lebanese that came to Brazil.
To write about the immigration to Guaxupé, says Abílio, was always part of his plans, and it was a project that got postponed several times. He even filled cassette tapes with conversations he had with his father and his aunt about their arrival in Brazil, as kids, in 1924. These tapes were lost in a fire that destroyed the courthouse of Presidente Venceslau (612 km from São Paulo), where Abílio used to work.
“Even after that, I decided to publish the book. It was an old goal of mine. I wrote and threw away previous versions of this story. But, around three years ago, I decided I would publish it. It wasn’t the time to postpone it again”, said the author, who received ANBA this Wednesday (6th) in his home in the capital São Paulo.
The origin of the book’s name, “minurca", comes from the union of the words “mineiro”, the demonyms for people born in the state of Minas Gerais, and turco (Turk). “I don’t even know if the word exists”, says the author. In the beginning of the 20th century, many Arab immigrants came to Brazil with Turkish documents and as such they became known. Many of them, however, would be offended when they were called Turks.
Before the First World War (1914-1918), Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other Middle East territories were under the rule of the Turkish-Ottoman empire. After the war, these territories were under French influence.
Abílio’s father didn’t get to know the author’s grandpa, who, as they say, died in war. When the family decided to come to Brazil, they headed to another Minas Gerais town, Ventania, where a great-uncle of Abílio lived. Later, they went to Guaxupé, a city that already had around 400 Arab families and was one of the largest in the region.
The cause for so many Arabs to come to the city, says Abílio, isn’t known. Some of the reasons, he said, were the development of the coffee farms, responsible for the progress of São Paulo state inland and south of Minas Gerais, and a large train station serving the Mogiana railway.
“It’s indicative that this community was formed during the peak of the coffee industry in the region. [Guaxupé] was a large city compared to others in the region, it was the center of the Diocese and received well the orthodox”, says Abílio.
In the book, the author portrays the relations between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, presents aspects of the Arab presence in Guaxupé, such as the names of several streets and avenues, and even remembers the Arabic classes he had with professor Helmi Nasr, who translated the Quran from the Arabic to Portuguese and was the vice-president of International Relations of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Now retired, Nasr currently lives in Egypt.
In his book, Abílio also tells stories about his father, who was born in Tell Abbas el Gharbi, and his mother, a native of Baino, two cities that belonged to the Ottoman Turkish Empire and are now part of Northern Lebanon. Abílio’s father arrived in Brazil without his papers and entered the country only in possession of Abílio’s grandmother’s passport, issued by the French government in Lebanon. “My father used to say he had no nationality,” the author remarked.
Before moving to São Paulo at age 18, Abílio, now 67, studied to be a priest. He relocated to the city in order to study, work and help provide for his family. Presently, Abílio teaches Criminal Law at Centro Universitário Fundação Instituto de Ensino para Osasco (Unifieo), a city in São Paulo’s Metro Area.
He is slated to travel to Guaxupé soon in order to launch the book there and have dinner with the Arab community. Abílio will donate copies of “Lembranças minurcas” to the Guaxupé House of Culture (Casa da Cultura).
“What I always wanted with this book was to document the big Arab community in Guaxupé, while focusing on my family. The books portraying Arab immigration provide detailed accounts of successful families and great entrepreneurs, but the laborers, the merchants, the blacksmiths are often forgotten,” says Abílio.
Lembranças Minurcas (ISBN 9788598366685)
Author: Romeu Abílio
225 pages
BRL 30,00
Available directly from the publisher Edifieo or on the Livraria Cultura bookstore website
http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/p/lembrancas-minurcas-historias-de-sirio-libaneses-46128424
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani & Gabriel Pomerancblum
