"He is therefore sitting in the forest with the monkeys."
That is how the Swiss doctor Johann Baptist Joste described Xavier Wermelinger in 1825.
Not as a hero.
Not as a pioneer.
But as someone pushed out of a system that failed — or worse: one that worked exactly as intended for some.
What No One Told You About Colonization
For years, the same story was repeated:
Swiss people came.
They worked.
They prospered.
Clean. Simple. Convenient.
But the letter dated December 31, 1825 destroys that narrative in just a few pages.
Joste didn’t write to inspire.
He wrote to accuse.
And what he exposes is simple:
- Money sent from Europe was diverted
- Colonists were abandoned
- Distribution was manipulated
- The colony was established in an unsuitable location
This is not modern interpretation.
This is a contemporary account.
The Game Was Rigged
The subsidies existed.
They were raised by families, churches, and governments in Europe.
Their purpose was clear: to support emigrants.
But in Brazil, they passed through a “commission.”
And that’s where everything changed.
According to Joste:
- A Prussian consul named Thermin controlled distribution
- A merchant named Soll profited from loans with interest
- The list favored French speakers
- Germans had a cross next to their names — meaning: nothing
Nothing.
While some received sacks of resources, others received silence.
The Colony Was Not a Promise — It Was a Trap
Morro Queimado.
The name itself was a warning.
A cold, high-altitude region unsuitable for the promised crops.
Coffee, bananas, oranges — all died in the cold.
The colonists expected the tropics.
They found a planning failure — or a deliberate decision.
And while they still had money, they were trapped.
When they had nothing left… “freedom” appeared.
Convenient.
Xavier Wermelinger: The Man Outside the System
Among the list of 24 families appears:
Xavier Wermelinger, from Willisau.
Wood turner.
Wife.
7 or 8 children.
Status: “simple.”
But what matters is this:
He leased plot no. 61 and moved to Macaé.
He left.
While many remained trapped, Xavier made the most important move:
he abandoned the system.
He went where it was warmer.
Where coffee could grow.
Where survival was possible.
“Sitting in the Forest with the Monkeys”
This phrase is often read as irony.
But read it carefully.
It is not mockery.
It is diagnosis.
Xavier was no longer in the colony.
No longer in the structure.
No longer under control.
He was outside.
In the forest.
Isolated.
Without help.
But free from the system that crushed others.
The Truth That Remains
Xavier was not favored.
Not protected.
Not privileged.
He did not prosper because the system worked.
He survived despite it.
Tiago Torres Wermelinger
Wermelinger Archive — where history is verified, not repeated
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