Polish Brazilians
{{Infobox ethnic group | group = Polish Brazilians | native_name = | native_name_lang = | flag = | image = Polish descendants in Curitiba. | pop = 2 million | popplace = Brazil: Mainly Southern and Southeastern Brazil Brazilian diaspora in Canada: Toronto and Montreal; Argentina: Misiones; and Paraguay: Itapúa. | langs = PortuguesePolishYiddish | rels = Roman Catholicism (ethnic Poles)Judaism (Polish Jews)Minor: Islam (Polish Tatars) | related = Ukrainian Brazilians, White Brazilians, White Latin Americans }}Polish Brazilians' (, Polish: Polonia brazylijska) refers to Brazilians of full or partial Polish ancestry who are aware of such ancestry and remain connected, to some degree, to Polish culture, or Polish-born people permanently residing in Brazil. Also, a Polish Brazilian may have one Polish parent. Polish immigrants began arriving in Brazil in the late 19th century and their total number was estimated at around 200,000. Immigration The first Polish immigrants arrived in the port of Itajaí, Santa Catarina, in August 1869. They were 78 Poles from the area of Southern Silesia. Commandant Redlisch, of the ship Victoria, brought people from Mitteleuropa to settle in Brusque. They were in total 16 families, among them: Francisco Pollak, Nicolau Wós, Boaventura Pollak, Thomasz Szymanski, Simon Purkot, Felipe Purkot, Miguel Prudlo, Chaim Briffel, Simon Otto, Domin Stempke, Gaspar Gbur, Balcer Gbur, Walentin Weber, Antoni Kania, Franciszek Kania, André Pampuch and Stefan Kachel. The Poles were placed in the colonies Príncipe Dom Pedro and Itajaí, in the area of Brusque. Fewer Poles immigrated to Brazil than Portuguese or Italians, but many Poles have settled in Brazil. From 1872 to 1959, 110,243 "Russian" citizens entered Brazil. In fact, the vast majority of them were Poles, since east of Poland along Vistula river was under Russian rule, and ethnic Poles immigrated with Russian passports. West of Poland was part of the German Empire, therefore these Poles migrated as German citizens. The State of Paraná received the majority of Polish immigrants, who settled mainly in the region of Curitiba, in the towns of Mallet, Cruz Machado, São Matheus do Sul, Irati, Rebouças, Rio Azul and União da Vitória. Most Polish immigrants to Southern Brazil were Catholics who arrived between 1870–1920 and worked as small farmers in the State of Paraná. Others went to the neighboring states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina and São Paulo, which is a state as well as a city. After the 1920s, many Polish Jews immigrated seeking refuge from Europe, settling mainly in the State of São Paulo. Today most Brazilian Jews are of Polish descent. In 1871, with the help of Father Antônio Zieliński, well connected in the court of Dom Pedro II, in Rio de Janeiro, Wos-Saporski, later nicknamed the "Father of Polish Colonization in Paraná", obtained permission from the emperor for this group (as German citizens), already expanded (32 families), could migrate to the Pilarzinho colony in the region of Curitiba, thus founding the first Polish colony in Brazil with the support of the government of Paraná. Until June 1873, 809