The Jewish Community of Argentina
Argentina is the second largest nation in Lain America and boasts the largest Jewish community in the region (200,000 of its 35 million people). From an open door policy of immigration to the harboring of Nazi war criminals, Argentina's Jews have faced period of peaceful coexistence and periods of intense anti-Semitism.
Argentina's Jews have numerous Jewish community organizations. The DIAI (Delegacion de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) was founded in 1939 as the political arm of the Jewish community. The DIAI protects Jewish rights and represents the community in the government. Another organization, the AMIA, an Ashkenazic mutual-aid society, provides health and human services to Argentina's Ashkenazi population.
History
After the expulsion from Spain in 1492, conversos (or secret Jews) settled in Argentina. Most of these immigrants assimilated into the general population and, by the mid 1800's, few Jews were left in Argentina. Argentina gained its independence from Spain in 1810. Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentina's first president, gave support to policies that promoted freedom of immigration and respect for human rights. In this atmosphere of tolerance, a second wave of Jewish immigration began in the mid-19th century with Jewish immigrants arriving from Western Europe, especially from France. In 1860, the first Jewish wedding was recorded in Buenos Aires. A couple of years later, a minyan met for the High Holiday services and, eventually, the minyan became the Congregacion Israelita de la Republica.
In the late 19th century, a third wave of immigration fleeing poverty and pogroms in Russia, and other Eastern Europe countries, moved to Argentina because of its open d...
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...d Jewish Congress. Community of the Month:Argentina. www.wjc.org.il/argentina.htm
3. Kiernan, Sergio. Speculaion grows about Peron giving Nazis refuge. Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. December 1996 www.jewishf.com/bk961213/irefuge.htm
4. Kiernan, Sergio. Nazis of all nations enjpying life in Argentina, report says. Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. June 1996 www.jewishf.com/bk961213/irefuge.htm
5. Kiernan, Sergio. Report shows 180 Nazis found refuge in Argentina after WWII. Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. December 1999 www.jewishf.com/bk961213/irefuge.htm
6. The Simon Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism. Anti-Semitism Worldwide 1999-2000: Argentina. www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw99-2000/argentina.htm
7. Weiner, Rebecca. Argentina. Jewish Virtual Library. www.us-israel.org/jsource/vjw/Argentina.html
“Nazi Hunting: Simon Wiesenthal.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014
Anti-Semitism is the hatred and discrimination of those with a Jewish heritage. It is generally connected to the Holocaust, but the book by Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale shows the rise of anti-Semitism from a grassroots effect. Smith uses newspapers, court orders, and written accounts to write the history and growth of anti-Semitism in a small German town. The book focuses on how anti-Semitism was spread by fear mongering, the conflict between classes, and also the role of the government.
Since the Nazi’s had been in Argentina in 1946, and the short story was written in 1946, Julio Cortazar could have made a connection to the invasion of Nazi’s in Argentina.
"Demonological anti-Semitism, of the virulent racial variety, was the common structure of the perpetrators' cognit...
Winter, J. (2002, Jan). The Death of American Antisemitism by Spencer Blakeslee. American Sociological Association. Retrieved Mar 2, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3089419
Overseas News 21. "Modern World History: Nazi Germany." British Broadcasting Corporation. 27 November 2001 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/modern/nazi/nazihtm.htm >.
Tent, James F. In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Nazi Persecution of Jewish-Christian Germans. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
"Perpetrators." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. University of South Florida, 1 Jan. 1997. Web. 19 May 2014. .
History provides several horrible periods of violence, fear and murder. Such horrible acts against humanity have been committed in the name of religion, colonization, and racial superiority. The Holocaust, was one of the most catastrophic and saddest events in history, where about 11 million people, including Jewish children, families, and political dissenters were mass murdered. However, there exists another mournful and cruel period that marked the lives of many Sephardic Jews with secrecy and fear. One hardly hears about the harassment, rejection and humiliation of Sephardic Jewry in Spain, Portugal, and countries like Mexico, at the hands of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which began in 1492. Due to these events, Sephardic Jews found themselves facing one of the most complex decisions of their lives and those of future generations; conversion, expulsion or death. The reasons for conversion are complex, as many converted by force and others for social or political reasons. As a result, converts became known as Conversos and “marranos /chuetas, and the latter are derogatory terms, as the names imply “swine” (Hordes 6). Another important term is Anusim, referring to those "whose conversion was prompted by violence and fear not sincerity” (Hordes 6). Marranos, were secretive people often, “keeping their children from their Jewish identity, until they reached an age where discretion could be trusted "(Telushkin 195). All of these events, have led to the complex phenomena, of the crypto-Jews in the new world, including Mexico and the American Southwest. Thus, sparking new areas of interest and research of their practices, customs, authenticity, and identification.
Judaism is practiced by about 500,000 Jews in the region. Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil host large communities and are faced with large amounts of anti-semitism leftover from Spanish hatred. The Jewish and Muslims were forced out of Spain, even those who had converted to catholicism, by the Spanish Inquisition. This systemic hatred had taken root in Latin America (Class Notes).
Levi, Neil, and Michael Rothberg. The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print.
Greene, Ron. "Chiune Sugihara." Jewish Virtual Library: Everything you need to know from Anti-Semitism to Zionism 1995 - 1997. n.pag. Web. 18 Mar 2014.
...ombia, the number of Catholics have seen a considerably slower decrease than other Latin American Countries. Their Catholic population has dropped by closer to thirteen percent over the past forty-five years.
Before the 1920’s Americans had an ‘open door’ policy and many people from around the world travelled there to fight poverty and experience the American dream. However, then America introduced two immigration laws in 1921 and 1924, which restricted immigrants from Southern, Central and Western European countries such as Italy and Russia. Fear of communism explains the changes in American policy toward immigration in the 1920’s to a certain extent. However factors such as Isolationism, Prejudice and Racism, Social Fears, the Effects of WW1 and Economic fears were also important. In 1917, the Russian revolution took place.
Kaplan, Marian A., Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999