This paper provides a reflection on literacy practices in the context of German immigrants in the central Itajaí Valley in Santa Catarina. The research, which was developed through an interpretivist perspective, was designed to facilitate an understanding of how German-Brazilians who spent the period of the second campaign of teaching nationalization (1937-1945) and the post-war years were introduced to German and Portuguese literacy(ies). The study thus presents narratives of literacy of these immigrants to describe the immigrants' literacy stories and their relationship with education, as well as with ethnic identity and national and local language policies. The main instrument used to generate data was the narrative interview, which was conducted with subjects who were born between 1916 and 1934. The analysis of data was guided by Literacy Studies, in line with theories involving schooling in contexts of minority languages within the area of Applied Linguistics. The narratives constructed by the participants bring out (i) the conflicts generated by a single, imposed national identity, (ii) resentment arising from the process of forced assimilation and (iii) strategies of resistance to maintain the heritage language. Moreover, the recovery of the memories of the participants in the study reveals narratives of literacy in which the meaning of writing transcends the school sphere, since these meanings are produced by the insertion of these individuals into various spheres, such as the literacy practices within their families and religious scenarios. Thus, access to literacy in German did not take place only at school, but also through the action of other agencies of literacy, which were crucial to this access.
literacies; German immigration; schooling