Bertoldo Klinger

Bertoldo Ritter Klinger (1 January 1884 — 31 January 1969) was a Brazilian divisional general in the Brazilian Army and commander in the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932.

Biography

Early years Klinger was born in the city of Rio Grande, on 1 January 1884, to Antônio Klinger, an Austrian immigrant, and Suzana Ritter Klinger, a descendant of Germans who migrated to Brazil.

His father was a settler in the Nova Petrópolis colony, which at the time was part of São Leopoldo, and worked there as a teacher. In 1883, Antônio took over a brewery in that municipality. After the Proclamation of the Republic, in November 1889, Klinger's father obtained Brazilian nationality and with the new Constitution promulgated in 1891 he was appointed captain of the National Guard, where he also reached the rank of major and the post of advisor.

With the São Paulo Revolt of 1924, he was arrested on charges of collaborating with the rebellious lieutenants. His role in that episode is of great controversy among historians since in that conflict he was also imprisoned by the rebel leaders on charges of treason to the movement. However, later on, he confirmed his opposition to acting in the repression of that rebellion, which would later form the so-called Prestes Column, a guerrilla force founded by lieutenants who marched through the interior of the country, through the North and Northeast states, aiming at an armed revolution against the federal government and the Old Republic.

Regarding the role of Major Klinger in that conflict, Captain Juarez Távora, a member of the Prestes Column, wrote:

The 1930 revolution On 10 September 1932, General Klinger in the Campo de Marte Airport in São Paulo during an aerial presentation. In 1930 he was against the movement that aimed to depose the President of the Republic Washington Luís, although he had contacts with some elements of the Liberal Alliance, who articulated the deposition. However, with the Revolution of 1930, which took place in October of that year, he ended up joining the military group and actively acting in that coup d'état. The provisional military junta, which ruled the country between October and November of that year, appointed Klinger as chief of police of the Federal District, and in this role prohibited any type of public meeting across the country and repressed any political manifestation. He even supported the provisional government, assumed by Getúlio Vargas in November of that year, expressing public support and praise for the Revolution and its outcome.

With the beginning of the conflict, he went to São Paulo state to assume the leadership of the revolt. On the morning of 12 July 1932, he arrived in São Paulo, being received with celebrations and was sworn in as Supreme Commander of the Constitutionalist Army. However, the promised reinforcements of 5,000 military troops from the state of Mato Grosso and military resources didn't come, due to the dismissal of the general in command of the Circumscription of Mato Grosso on July 8, which made the total adhesion of those troops unfeasible, particularly the units located in Cuiabá, which forced the troops of Mato Grosso who joined the uprising to engage in the defense of their own state. In the following weeks, the expected support from the state of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais also failed, which led the rebelled state of São Paulo to remain in a defensive position since the beginning of the conflict, hoping for a possible reversal. Over the three months of conflict, Klinger, along with other commanders, employed typical military strategies of German doctrine, an example being the defence in depth, which greatly managed to delay the advance of federal troops on the capital of São Paulo, despite the superiority in numbers and in the overall military power of the federal government. At the end of September 1932, with the failure of the uprising in Rio Grande do Sul by the rebels led by Borges de Medeiros, and when the impossibility of continuing the fighting in São Paulo due to lack of military resources was evident, Klinger proposed an armistice to the federal government with the intention of starting negotiations for the definitive end of the conflict. After the conflict ended on 2 October 1932, Klinger was arrested and sent into exile in Portugal in November of that year. However, in May 1934, he received amnesty and returned to Brazil.

Final years

After his exile and return to Brazil, Klinger devoted himself intensely to literature, publishing several works on a variety of topics. In 1947, after the country's redemocratization, he was reincorporated into active service in the Army, after a decision that invalidated his administrative reform that had taken place 15 years earlier, and received the rank of Divisional General counted since 25 December 1945. In that same year he was retired.

At the end of 1954, he had a brief role as assistant to General Pantaleão da Silva Pessoa, on the board of the Federal Commission for Supply and Prices, which was linked to the Ministry of Labour.

He died in the city of Rio de Janeiro, on 31 January 1969, being buried in the Inhaúma cemetery. He was married to Leopoldina de Almeida Klinger with whom he had six children.

Homages In São Paulo, there is the General Bertoldo Klinger square. In his hometown, Rio Grande, there is also a street named after him. In Campo Grande, the city from which he commanded the Military Circumscription of Mato Grosso in the 1930s, he is also remembered with a street named after him. In Nioaque, there is an avenue named after him. There are also several other places around the country named in his memory.

There is a military march composed by Heráclito Paraguassu Guerreiro named "No. 3 General Klinger" in his honour.

The Historical, Geographical and Genealogical Institute of Sorocaba, linked to the Academy of Terrestrial Military History of Brazil (AHIMTB), has the name General Bertoldo Klinger.

Works Klinger, Bertoldo (1926). Como cumpri meu dever. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo; et al. (1933). Nós e a Dictadura: a jornada revolucionária de 1932. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1933). Manobras em Nioaque em 1931. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1940). Ortografia simplificada brasileira: simplificada e uniformizada. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (translation and notes); Seidler, Carl (1941). Dez Anos no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1949–1953). Narrativas Autobiográficas. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1956). Noites nuas. Rio de Janeiro: Livre expressão. Klinger, Bertoldo (1958). Parada e desfile duma vida de voluntário do Brasil na primeira metade do século. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1962). Sê e sê. Rio de Janeiro. Klinger, Bertoldo (1965). Uma família Ritter no Brasil desde 1846. Rio de Janeiro.