Documentary:
“Promised Lands – The inheritance of the Baroness and Baron of Hirsch”

The Film

The Story

Colonies

Creators

Trailer

Recommended age: all ages

This Brazilian documentary recounts the remarkable story of the Baron and Baroness of Hirsch, two of the world’s greatest philanthropists, practically unknown in history, and their visionary project to free the first Jewish immigrants who fled poverty and persecution in Eastern Europe, in search of a life of freedom in new and unknown promised lands.

In the film, a descendant of one of the first families to arrive at the Philippson agricultural colony in Rio Grande do Sul in 1904 embarks on a journey of discovery. With a backpack on his back, he retraces the steps of his ancestors, listening to testimonies, visiting historical sites and investigating archives, while connecting the past to the present to uncover the lasting legacy of Baron and Baroness Hirsch.

Through a Road Movie, with interviews, historical data and reproductions of important scenes from history, we will reveal how the Baroness and Baron Hirsch’s project was conceived and carried out, as well as the arrival and trajectory of the first Jewish families who emigrated from Eastern Europe, during the Czarist Empire, to Brazil in search of new Promised Lands.

Despite their great achievement, the memory of the Hirsches has practically disappeared, and rescuing it, through the legacy they left behind – a people who actively contributed to the development of our country – is the main objective of this documentary, which aims to gift and inspire new generations with this legacy.

About the story

Maurice de Hirsch was a German Jew who was part of the birth of the modern economy in Europe. He was born in Bavaria in 1831 and died in Hungary in 1896. He married Clara Bischoffshein, with whom he had a legitimate son and an adopted daughter. They lived in France, England, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Turkey. His grandfather was the first Jew to own land in Bavaria. His father, a banker to the King of Bavaria, received the title of Baron in 1869. At the age of 17, he began working, became associated with banking houses, worked on railroad concessions, with sugar and copper, and among other feats, built the famous Orient Express.

Clara Hirsch was also the daughter of bankers, and together they built a fortune. He dedicated a large part of his life and resources to the creation of philanthropic projects, such as hospitals, universities and shelters for young women interested in learning, studying and working, which until then was not permitted by many families.

The couple was deeply affected by the poverty and persecution experienced by Jews in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century, and with the premature death of their only son, Lucien, they decided to elect the disinherited Jews of the world as their heirs, thus becoming responsible for one of the most audacious plans in all of history!

In 1892, Baron Maurice de Hirsch founded the ICA – Jewish Colonization Association, considered until 1978 the largest philanthropic foundation in the world, which put into practice his plan to buy land in free countries, with no history of anti-Semitism, to establish Jewish communities and finance mass emigration. In this way, together with his wife Clara, he facilitated the emigration of thousands of Jewish families from Russia to agricultural establishments, initially in Argentina, and then in Brazil, Canada, the USA, among other countries.

Baron Maurice de Hirsch believed that by offering them the tools to work the land and study, he would be “liberating them and transforming them into complete citizens capable of enriching humanity in a new and precious way”!

The Colonies in Brazil

In 1904, the arrival of Jews began in another Promised Land, Brazil! After almost 2 months of travel, the first 11 Russian families arrived on Brazilian soil to live in Philippson, in Rio Grande do Sul, one of the colonies founded in Brazil to receive Jews persecuted in Eastern Europe. Four years later, Philippson already had around 300 immigrants. The colony of Quatro Irmãos, in the same state, was founded in 1912 and had over 350 families.

The idea was that the colonies would have an agricultural model, and in this way, each family would receive a parcel of land, a house, and an ax, a horse, a cart and a hand saw to work with upon arrival. Over time, many settlers migrated to urban centers such as Santa Maria, Erechim, and Porto Alegre. Thus began the story of so many heirs of Baron Maurice de Hirsch who today form Brazilian society with such great representation.