{"id":336873,"date":"2020-03-18T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T19:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=336873"},"modified":"2020-11-11T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:40:08","slug":"memories-of-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/memories-of-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1930s, seven concentration camps were created in the state of Cear\u00e1 to hold drought refugees. Patu, the only one whose ruins are still partially preserved and which operated between 1932 and 1933 in the city of Senador Pompeu, about 270 kilometers (km) from Fortaleza, was recently listed as a historical-cultural heritage site by the municipality, and is now undergoing a similar process on a state level. Researchers and members of civil society are pressuring the city to create a plan to preserve the ruins of the site.<\/p>\n

The municipal listing was the result of a process started in the 1990s, when academic research on drought began to recover the rural history of the region and social movements began promoting the remembrance of its past. Historian K\u00eania Sousa Rios, from the Federal University of Cear\u00e1 (UFC)\u2014author of pioneering research on Patu and six other concentration camps created in the state in the 1930s\u2014explains that the origin of these places dates back to the end of the nineteenth century, when some Fortaleza families became wealthy by cultivating cotton, motivating a burst of urban development. At the same time, between 1877 and 1879, the state experienced a period of intense drought, leading 100,000 retirantes<\/em> (drought refugees) to migrate to the capital, whose population was about 30,000 at the time. The families of small farms, which included elderly people, adults, and children, made up the majority of migrants, who also came from other states in the northeastern region. \u201cThe arrival of these people disrupted the urban development process, and the state began developing strategies to contain the flow of refugees to the capital,\u201d says Rios.<\/p>\n

Ronald de Figueiredo, from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Cear\u00e1 (IFCE), Tau\u00e1 campus, explains that this migration process happened again during the great drought of 1915, leading the government to create the concentration camp of Alagadi\u00e7o, near Fortaleza, which sheltered up to 8,000 people. \u201cThe political discourse of the time claimed that the place was intended to assist the retirantes<\/em>, when in reality the main goal was to keep them away from the urban center,\u201d he explains. In surveys carried out for official reports by Interventoria do Cear\u00e1<\/em> (Cear\u00e1 intervention office), published in eight newspapers at the time, such as Gazeta de Not\u00edcias<\/em>, O Povo<\/em>, and Correio do Cear\u00e1<\/em>, and kept in the Public Documentation Library Archive of the Department of History at UFC, Rios found that it was in 1915 that the state government first used the term \u201cconcentration camp\u201d to refer to the containment area for drought refugees.<\/p>\n

From 1930 onwards, the growth of Fortaleza intensified, recalls the historian, demanding modernization and urban remodeling efforts. At the same time, the expansion movement began attracting more and more residents from other regions of the state, in search of better living conditions. “There was a desire for modernity among the elite in the capital, and they began pressuring the government to create mechanisms to control the circulation of the poor, who begged in the streets and were seen as potential looters or carriers of diseases,\u201d she reports.<\/p>\n

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1932 Medical Commission Report \u2013 Patu Concentration Camp \u2013 Jos\u00e9 Bonif\u00e1cio P Costa \u2013 Book From The Dnocs \/ Valdecy Alves Collection <\/span><\/a> Retirantes<\/em> arrive in Patu in 1932, attracted by the promise of government assistance1932 Medical Commission Report \u2013 Patu Concentration Camp \u2013 Jos\u00e9 Bonif\u00e1cio P Costa \u2013 Book From The Dnocs \/ Valdecy Alves Collection <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

As the 1915 Alagadi\u00e7o building was not big enough to contain the large numbers of people migrating to the capital, when the next great drought happened in 1932, the state government decided to establish seven other concentration camps. \u201cThat was when pressure from the wealthy resulted in public policy,\u201d adds the historian. The project was developed by the state government in conjunction with the Ministry of Traffic and Public Works from the Get\u00falio Vargas (1882\u20131954) administration and provided for the creation of refugee confinement areas. \u201cThey were watched at all times and were not allowed to leave except to go to their jobs in public works or mills in the region. In return, they received one daily meal,\u201d shares Rios.<\/p>\n

Figueiredo, from IFCE, explains that six of the camps were built close to Baturit\u00e9 railway stations, which were used by the refugees to reach the capital. The first stretch of the railway line opened in 1872, operating for passenger transport until the mid-1980s. Only one camp was not close to the railway. Five of them were in rural areas of the state, while two smaller ones were on the outskirts of Fortaleza. In the press, the government portrayed the camps as part of a social welfare and protection policy, and retirantes<\/em> came to them spontaneously, deluded by the promise of food, medical care, and lodging. \u201cWhen they arrived, they realized that the structures were precarious. The buildings that housed people were large sheds made of straw,\u201d shares the UFC professor.<\/p>\n

According to Rios, the concentration camps were designed to house 3,000 people, but some had up to 18,000\u2014as was the case with Patu. \u201cPatu is the only one whose ruins are still standing, and that is why it has become the most well-known,\u201d explains the historian. The Senador Pompeu camp had a masonry structure as they were able to take advantage of 12 large neocolonial-style houses originally built to support construction work of the Patu River dam in 1919.<\/p>\n

In 1932, the buildings that belonged to the National Department of Works Against Drought (DNOCS), at the time called the Federal Inspectorate of Works Against Drought (IFOCS), were conceded by the federal government so that the state government could set up the camp. It is estimated that some of these 12 houses held around 300 people. The refugees were also housed in tents spread over the land. Although there are no official records, it is estimated that half the people who were held in Patu died of hunger or due to diseases, such as typhus and measles, and were buried in mass graves. \u201cParish registers from some churches in the region include reports from priests who visited the camps, describing that they would provide last rites for dozens of people every day,\u201d adds Rios. This information was corroborated in interviews with survivors, conducted by Rios. The seven camps were operational until 1933, when there was rain again and the retirantes<\/em> returned to their places of origin\u2014their train tickets paid for by the government. \u201cSome of these people went to Fortaleza, which experienced an increase in its slum-growth rates,\u201d reports Rios, estimating that over 100,000 people were held in the Cear\u00e1 concentration camps between 1932 and 1933.<\/p>\n

Djamiro Ferreira Acipreste, from the Law Department of the Regional University of Cariri (URCA), recalls that the spectrum of World War II, which \u201cformulated a new civilizing and humanitarian pact and strongly condemned the concentration and extermination camps of the holocaust,\u201d was key in the disappearance of documents related to the Cear\u00e1 camps.\u00a0Instead, the government started building housing developments on the outskirts of Fortaleza. In 1959, with the creation of the Superintendency of Northeast Development (SUDENE), discussions began on how to handle drought through irrigation policies and weir projects. \u201cFrom 1945 onward, concentration camps began to be forgotten,\u201d claims Acipreste. “Today, many of the locals are unaware of their history.”<\/p>\n

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Isadora Brant \/ Folhapress<\/span><\/a> In 2014, a pilgrimage in Senador Pompeu paid homage to those who died at the concentration campIsadora Brant \/ Folhapress<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

This was the case for Figueiredo, from IFCE, a resident of the city of Crato, where Buriti, the largest concentration camp in the region, housed 70,000 people from states such as Piau\u00ed, Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, and Para\u00edba. Figueiredo states that the Crato region has attracted migrants from other areas since the end of the nineteenth century. “It is close to the border with other states, has many springs, and is known for being the oasis of the Cariri region,\u201d he explains. In addition, the pilgrimages of Padre C\u00edcero (1844\u20131934), born in the city, also attracted migrants.<\/p>\n

Until 2005, when he began his undergraduate at URCA, he was ignorant of the local history. It was only through reading the works of authors, such as K\u00eania Rios and Frederico de Castro Neves, the latter also a professor at UFC, that he became aware of it. \u201cThere is no material evidence of the existence of this camp. The neighborhood that used to be called Buriti changed its name to Muriti, in an attempt to erase the episode from memory. I have lived there all my life and only learned about its existence in college,\u201d reports Figueiredo, who defended a master’s dissertation on the subject in 2015.<\/p>\n

Popular devotion <\/strong>
\nBorn in Senador Pompeu, lawyer Valdecy Alves, one of the main leaders of the social movement that, along with historians, gave rise to the process of listing the camp, recalls that as a child, he and other children believed Patu to be haunted, while adults went to the site to fulfill religious promises. \u201cBecause they did not have the masonry structures that Patu had, the other camps used tents made of wood, roofed with Carnauba palm leaves. After they were closed, the government set fire to them, and the structures disappeared,\u201d Alves shares. In Senador Pompeu, part of the older population remembered the events and would make pilgrimages to the place where the dead had been buried in order to fulfill religious promises. Historian Aterlane Martins, a professor at IFCE, Quixad\u00e1 campus, states that because of this, in 1982 the Italian priest Albino Donatti proposed a pilgrimage in memory of the dead. The resulting walk, called \u201cCaminhada da seca<\/em>\u201d (Walk for the drought), always takes place in November. It starts at the city center along a 4 km route, to the place where the mass graves are supposedly located. Formerly an empty area, today this place has a symbolic, cemetery-like structure. \u201cDevotees have placed tombstones there, and they take flowers, candles, bread, and water on their walks,\u201d shares Martins. He claims the visitors believe the dead can grant wishes to devotees.<\/p>\n

Historian Karoline Queiroz e Silva, who defended a master’s dissertation about the camp in 2017, explains that, before the priest organized the walk, people claimed they saw souls in the area and started lighting candles and taking votive offerings (objects usually offered by the faithful to saints to whom they are devoted). She reports that about 6,000 people participate in the pilgrimage every year, including from out of state. \u201cRecently, in addition to the religious items, people started to carry small cisterns and seeds, alluding to the need for public policies that make it possible to live with drought. With that, the event became political,\u201d she points out.<\/p>\n

Martins, from IFCE, shares that the city government began including the pilgrimage in its tourist attractions 10 years ago, adding signs to the locations along its path. In addition to the walk, he defends that cultural activities be held in the protected area, in order to keep the concentration camp memories alive. \u201cThe listing process is important, but there is no plan yet to determine, for example, how the buildings will be used. They are far from the city center and there is no daily activity in the area. It is necessary to tell the story of what happened there out of respect for those who experienced it,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong>
\nMARTINS, R.A.P. Das santas almas da barragem \u00e0 caminhada da seca: Projetos de patrimonializa\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria no sert\u00e3o central cearense (1982\u20132008). Fortaleza: Museu do Cear\u00e1\/Edi\u00e7\u00f5es IFCE<\/strong>, Outras Hist\u00f3rias Collection, Vol. 71, 2017.
\nRIOS, K.S. Isolamento e poder \u2013 Fortaleza e os campos de concentra\u00e7\u00e3o na seca de 1932. Fortaleza: Museu do Cear\u00e1<\/strong>, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers and social movements join forces to ensure the listing of a Cear\u00e1 concentration camp","protected":false},"author":601,"featured_media":336882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[241,258,257,261],"coauthors":[1600],"class_list":["post-336873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities","tag-history","tag-psychiatry","tag-psychology","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336887,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336873\/revisions\/336887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336873"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=336873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}