José María Sardo de Oliveira
José María Sardo de Oliveira was 13 years old when he arrived in Bremerhaven-Lehe with his parents and siblings on June 21, 1972. The journey by train took over two days. His father had already been living in Germany since 1968, working at sea for various shipping companies, first in Cuxhaven and then in Bremerhaven. One reason the family moved from Portugal was that the older brother would have been drafted into the army as soon as he turned 16. The family managed to emigrate just in time. At the Alfred-Delp School, José learned German in a class for children of guest workers. The teacher was a Spaniard, which made communication easier. José left school at 15 and initially worked in road construction like his brother. He dropped out of his shipbuilding apprenticeship. He spent his entire life working in and around Bremerhaven: first at the shipyard, then at “Airbus” near Stade, and later in the assembly of wind turbines. For only two and a half years, he switched to an office job: between 1989 and 1991, José de Oliveira worked as a translator for the Bremerhaven Chamber of Employees. He established good contacts with the Chamber through the Portuguese association he co-founded in the 1970s. This association originated from a football club where the Portuguese had been involved from the start. The cooperation between the Chamber and various guest worker associations was promoted by SPD city councilor Günter Lemke (1931 – 2015) and the then chairman of the Chamber, Werner Fock. Soon, José de Oliveira became the contact person for all matters that required a translator from Portuguese or Spanish—whether for a divorce process or the police interrogation of the mysterious owner of three passports issued in different names. Sometimes the translator from the Chamber was called even at night. José rejected the option to extend the ABM position and returned to the MWB motor works, where he worked as a shipbuilding assistant. In the meantime, the Portuguese workers’ association in Bremerhaven has dissolved due to a lack of interest from the younger generation, but the small tavern on Rickmersstraße still serves as a meeting point for José de Oliveira and the Portuguese of his generation. German-speaking guests also regularly visit the tavern.
A portrait of José María Sardo de Oliveira is one of the faces visible on the facade of the new German Emigration Center since June 2021. Before the opening of the extension with the artistically designed facade, the Nordsee-Zeitung introduced the individuals behind the faces. You can watch the corresponding film portrait of José María Sardo de Oliveira here.