>>213626282
Yes — at least in southern Brazil, a large proportion of immigrants of Polish and German origin came from regions linked to Pomerania (a historic coastal province in northern Germany and north-western Poland).
Historical context:
German immigration: in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil received many Germans from Prussian Pomerania (now divided between Germany and Poland), as well as from Hunsrück, Westphalia, Rhineland and Bavaria. In the case of Pomerania, there were Lutheran and Catholic communities that emigrated en masse to Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Polish immigration: most came from eastern and western Pomerania (which was part of the German Empire or Prussia before 1918) and West Prussia — regions that are now Polish. This is why many Poles in Brazil have Germanic or German-influenced surnames.
Reasons for the concentration:
Economic crises and rural overpopulation in Pomerania in the 19th century.
Incentives from the Brazilian imperial government for colonisation in the South, especially in unoccupied forest areas.
Offer of cheap land and work contracts in agricultural colonies.
In other words, not all, but a significant majority of Poles and Germans who came to Brazil, especially to Paraná and Santa Catarina, have direct or indirect origins in Pomerania or neighbouring regions that belonged to Prussia.