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Paul Krämer 

Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center - UNASP. 

Kramer, Paul (died 1930)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

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The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

 

 

First Published: June 23, 2021

Paul Krämer has an historical importance for the SDA Church in Brazil due to his involvement in the early administration of the Curitiba International School, which was the first school founded by Adventists in Brazil. Despite the absence of biographical information about him, it is known that he was of German origin and was a Baptist pastor before becoming an Adventist. In Hamburg, he was a personal friend of Huldreich Graf, a pioneer pastor in the Brazilian territory. It was possibly by the invitation of Graf that Krämer moved to Brazil, where he settled in Curitiba in the state of Paraná, and there opened one of the most reputable pharmacies in the city.1

The Curitiba International School was founded on July 1, 1896, and was initially directed by Guilherme Stein, Jr., who was the first to be baptized into the Adventist Church in Brazil. In addition to serving as a director, Stein was also the only teacher along with his wife, receiving help only briefly from Professor Schmidt, a non-Adventist educator. However, sometime later, overwork affected his health, and that made Guilherme want to return to the state of São Paulo. Shortly after leaving Curitiba, by Graf's request, Stein founded the second Adventist school in Brazil, this time located in Gaspar Alto in the state of Santa Catarina. It was in this context that Graf invited Krämer to be the second director of the Curitiba School, replacing Stein. Krämer accepted the invitation and took over the school in late 1897.2

Paul led Curitiba School until 1904. Under his administration, around 1898, the school moved to a big two-story house located on Av. Cândido de Abreu.3 The Krämer couple lived on the upper floor, and the classrooms were located on the lower levels. However, the number of students decreased with the departure of Stein since he used to hold classes in Portuguese. However, Krämer did not speak that language. Therefore, only the classes taught in German were continued. Krämer wrote to Hamburg asking for help and, on August 27, 1898, Professor Waldemar Ehlers arrived in Brazil.4

Krämer valued the quality of teaching, and for this reason, the school was supplied with the best educational equipment of its time such as projectors, microscopes, and books. The school grew5 and, as a consequence, the richest and most traditional families in Curitiba started to enroll their children in it.6 In 1901, Krämer rented the Palacete Wolf (Wolf Palace), which are the current headquarters of the Fundação Cultural de Curitiba (Curitiba Cultural Foundation).7

Unlike North American Adventist schools, which were established with the initial goal of protecting Adventist children from non-Christian concepts taught in other schools, the Curitiba School had an evangelistic purpose. As a result, only two of the 130 students were Adventists, with the majority of students participating in other religious communities. Therefore, due to resistance on parents’ position, the religious classes were no longer made part of the curriculum. The pioneers believed that the school was a dynamic way to contribute for the consolidation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil.8

On Saturdays, classes were not interrupted. However, a Sabbath School program was held where they spoke openly about God. The idea was that, as they grew up, those children would help to break down the prejudices regarding the Adventist message.9 In addition, the custom of beginning classes with singing and prayer achieved remarkable results, and many believe that because of this, today Curitiba is one of the most Adventist cities in the country.10

At the turn of the century, crises arose in the local Adventist community, causing the school to suffer large student dropouts. Thus, the year 1904 marks the end of Curitiba School. After this episode, the Krämer couple moved from Curitiba to Porto Alegre in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where they founded the laboratory that bears their surname. Paul Krämer passed away on November 15, 1930, at the age of 77 in Porto Alegre.11 His dedication in leading the first school founded by Adventists in Brazil helped to sow the seed of the Adventist education network in the country, which today reaches thousands of students.

Sources

Gross, Renato. “Centenário da educação adventista no Brasil.” Revista Adventista 92, no. 1 (January 1996): 10-12.

Gross, Renato. Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo. 1º edição, Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Collins, 1996.

Krämer, Paul. “Our International College at Curityba.” ARH 77, no. 11 (March 1900).

Kramer, Paul. “Our School at Curityba, Brazil.” The Missionary Magazine 11, no. 6 (June 1899).

Lipke, John. “Christian Schools in Brazil.” The Advocate of Christian Education 6, no. 7 (July 1904).

Menslin, Douglas, “Educação Adventista: realidade em expansão.” Pistis&Praxis, September, 2017. Accessed March 11, 2019. https://periodicos.pucpr.br/index.php/pistispraxis/article/view/11138/22469.

Stauffer, A. B. “The Second School in Brazil.” ARH 75, no. 6 (February 1898).

Notes

  1. Renato Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo (Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Collins, 1996): 11, 24, 25, and 45.

  2. Renato Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo (Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Collins, 1996), 11, 24-31, 45; A. B. Stauffer, “The Second School in Brazil,” ARH 75, no. 6 (February 1898): 95; John Lipke, “Christian Schools in Brazil,” The Advocate of Christian Education 6, no. 7 (July 1904): 108.

  3. Renato Gross, “Centenário da educação adventista no Brasil,” Revista Adventista 92, no. 1 (January 1996): 12.

  4. Paul Krämer, “Our International College at Curityba,” ARH 77, no. 11 (March 1900): 172-173; Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo, 46.

  5. Douglas Menslin, “Educação Adventista: realidade em expansão,” Pistis&Praxis, September, 2017. 670, accessed March 11, 2019, https://periodicos.pucpr.br/index.php/pistispraxis/article/view/11138/22469.

  6. Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo, 55.

  7. Renato Gross, “Centenário da educação adventista no Brasil,” Revista Adventista 92, no. 1 (January 1996): 12.

  8. Menslin, 671; Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo, 47.

  9. Paul Kramer, “Our School at Curityba, Brazil,” The Missionary Magazine 11, no. 06 (June 1899): 256.

  10. Gross, “Centenário da educação adventista no Brasil,” 12; Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo, 48.

  11. Gross, “Centenário da educação adventista no Brasil,” 12; Gross, Colégio Internacional de Curitiba: Uma História de Fé e Pioneirismo, 56.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Kramer, Paul (died 1930)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. June 23, 2021. Accessed February 14, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGK0.

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Kramer, Paul (died 1930)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. June 23, 2021. Date of access February 14, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGK0.

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center – (2021, June 23). Kramer, Paul (died 1930). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved February 14, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGK0.