History of the Jews in Argentina
Judíos argentinos יהדות ארגנטינה ( Central Synagogue of Buenos Aires. | |
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Total population | |
Core Jewish population: 180,500[1] Enlarged Jewish population (includes non-Jewish relatives of Jews): 330,000[2] In Spain: Several thousand | |
Religion | |
Judaism · Jewish secularism |
Part of a series on |
Jews and Judaism |
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The history of the Jews in Argentina goes back to the early sixteenth century, following the Jewish
Reflecting the composition of the later immigration waves, the current Jewish population is 80%
The community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003.[9] During a major emigration wave in the 2000s, more than 10,000 Argentine Jews settled in Israel.
History
Early years
Some Spanish
Argentine Jewish women played a vital role in their communities, supporting charities, synagogues, and libraries while also organizing community events such as weddings.
Agricultural settlement
In the late 19th century, Ashkenazi immigrants fleeing poverty and
After the death of his son and heir, de Hirsch devoted himself to Jewish philanthropy and alleviating Jewish suffering in Eastern Europe. He developed a plan to bring Jews to Argentina as autonomous agricultural settlers.[11] This meshed with Argentina's campaign to attract immigrants. The 1853 constitution guaranteed religious freedom, and the country had vast, unpopulated land reserves. Under President Julio Argentino Roca, a policy of mass immigration was encouraged; it provided relief to refugees fleeing the violent pogroms in the Russian Empire from 1881 onwards.[12][11]
Jewish agricultural settlements were established in the provinces of
Despite antisemitism and increasing xenophobia, Jews became involved in most sectors of Argentine society. Many settled in cities, especially Buenos Aires. As they were prohibited from positions in the government or military, many became farmers, peddlers, artisans, and shopkeepers.
Jewish women in Argentina were essential in sustaining farmland and raising children who would continue this work. Eastern European and German Jewish women had many responsibilities on the farm, with mothers and daughters working together to complete tasks in the field. They shared the physically demanding burden of farm life, preparing the fields for harvest and helping in the eventual yield of crops. They were also responsible for taking care of animals, preparing food, and performing other household tasks such as cleaning and laundry. [10]
20th century
World War II and antisemitism
Argentina kept its doors open to Jewish immigration until 1938, when
Among the most notable Nazis who immigrated to Argentina was Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking official who had supervised the death camps; he lived near Buenos Aires from after World War II until 1960. Israeli agents tracked him down and abducted him from a Buenos Aires suburb to Israel for trial for war crimes. Eichmann faced trial in Jerusalem beginning in April 1961; he was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in May 1962.[5]
Perón was overthrown in 1955, with the unrest unleashing a wave of antisemitism. Since then, more than 45,000 Jews have migrated to Israel from Argentina.[5] Others have migrated to Europe and other destinations. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Tacuara Nationalist Movement, a fascist organization with political ties, began a series of antisemitic campaigns. They encouraged street fights against Jews, and vandalism of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries.[17]
Junta rule
Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was ruled by a
Israel had a special agreement with the Argentine military government to allow Jews arrested for political crimes to immigrate to Israel, citing an Argentine law that allowed Argentine citizens in prison to emigrate if another country was willing to take them in. Israeli diplomats in Argentina helped organize the emigration of Jewish dissidents who had been arrested. This included leftist activists whose arrests had had nothing to do with their Jewish origins. As well as official Israeli government efforts to secure the release and emigration of imprisoned Jews, many Israeli embassy personnel also took extensive independent efforts to rescue Jewish prisoners.
During the 1982 Falklands War, around 250 Jewish soldiers served in the Falkland Islands and strategic points in Patagonia. During their service, they suffered antisemitic attacks by officers. The Argentine government allowed five rabbis to visit them: these were the only chaplains permitted to accompany the Argentine Army during the conflict and were the only non-Catholic chaplains ever permitted to serve. According to the author Hernán Dobry, the rabbis were permitted to visit Jewish soldiers because Argentina had been buying arms from Israel, and did not want to risk the relationship "for the sake of five rabbis".[25]
Return to democracy and the terrorist attacks
In 1983, Raúl Alfonsín was democratically elected as president of Argentina. Alfonsín enjoyed the support of the Jewish population and appointed many Jews in high positions.
When
President Menem also ordered the release of files relating to Argentina's role in serving as a haven for
In the 1990s, two major terrorist attacks in Argentina killed and wounded numerous Jews. Neither has been solved. In March 1992, the
In July 1994, the
21st century
During the
In February 2009, Argentina expelled Richard Williamson, an excommunicated traditionalist Roman Catholic bishop. Williamson, who headed a seminary near Buenos Aires, was ordered to leave for 'concealing true activity' (he had entered the country as an employee of a non-governmental group, not a priest). The decision also cited his denial of the Holocaust.[37][38]
A 2011 poll conducted by the Gino Germani Research Institute of the
In recent years there was number of antisemitic incidents in Argentina: on 19 October 2012, a discriminatory and antisemitic message, which included Nazi references, was painted on the front of a public school in Concordia, Entre Rios. Another incident took place in Mendoza on 6 September 2012 when during a basketball game the father of the player Andres Berman was physically assaulted after he criticized antisemitic statements by fans of an opposing team.[40]
In 2013 there was number of antisemitic incidents throughout Argentina, most of them were verbal assaults on Jews and vandalism. On 17 April 2013 a Nazi hate symbol and the message "I sell soap made of Jews" were found painted on a house in San Juan. On 25 July 2013 two more Nazi symbols were painted on the front of the Beith Iacov synagogue in the town of Villa Clara, and on 29 July 2013 more such symbols were found painted in the Republic of the Children Park in La Plata. On 1 August a freshman student in the English college Colegio San Bartolomé was castigated for writing on the board in the classroom "Fewer Jews, more soap" (Menos judíos, más jabones).[41] On 9 August 2013 the words "Fuck Jewish" were found spray painted on the Temple Libertad synagogue in Buenos Aires, and on 17 August 2013 Nazi symbols were found painted on monuments, walls and private homes in Maipú.[42] On 10 November an ultra-Catholic group wanted to prevent a Jewish-Christian ceremony commemorating Kristallnacht at a Buenos Aires cathedral. In the end, the demonstrators left upon the request of Father Fernando Gianetti; and the ceremony continued without interruption.[43]
In July 2014 there were at least two cases of antisemitic graffiti: In
In January 2015, ten Israeli tourists were wounded in an antisemitic attack at a hostel in a small village of
In April 2016 it was announced that Jewish community center and Temple NCI-Emanu El, which serves both Conservative and Reform branches, unanimously agreed to hold a same-sex wedding at the site, the first official same-sex Jewish wedding at a religious setting in Latin America.[60]
Buenos Aires Jewish community
The Buenos Aires Jewish community was established in 1862 and held its first traditional Jewish wedding in 1868. The first synagogue was inaugurated in 1875.[15] The Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe who settled in Argentina were called rusos (Russians) by the local population.[5]
In January 1919 in Buenos Aires, during a general strike, the police fomented pogroms that targeted Jews and destroyed their property.[5] In the strike's aftermath, civilian vigilante gangs (the Argentine Patriotic League) went after so-called agitators (agitadores), and killed or wounded "scores of victims", including "numerous Russian Jews who were falsely accused of masterminding a Communist conspiracy".[61]
European Jews continued to immigrate to Argentina, including during the Great Depression of the 1930s and to escape increasing Nazi persecution. "In 1939 half the owners and workers of small manufacturing plants were foreigners, many of them newly arrived Jewish refugees from Central Europe".[62]
Jewish cultural and religious organizations flourished in the cities; a
The largest Jewish cemetery in Latin America, La Tablada Israelite Cemetery, is located in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It was established in 1936 and houses over 150,000 graves.[64]
Status
Today, approximately 180,500 Jews live in Argentina,
Historic Jewish colonies in Argentina
- Carlos Casares
- Colonia Lapin
- Mauricio Hirsch
- Delfin Huergo
- Moctezuma
- Rivera
- Smith
- Colonia Avigdor
- Basavilbaso (Lucienville)
- Bovril
- Carmel
- Clara
- Cohen
- General Campos
- Ingeniero Sajaroff
- La Clarita
- Pedernal
- Pueblo Arrua
- San Gregorio (Colonia Sonnenfeld)[70][71][72]
- San Salvador
- Santa Isabel
- Ubajay
- Villa Dominguez
- Villaguay
- Wulfshon
- Capivara
- Ceres
- Las Palmeras
- Palacios
- Moisés Ville
- Virginia
- Bernasconi
- General Acha
- Rolon
See also
- Andinia Plan
- Argentina–Israel relations
- Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina
- Benei Sión
- Colegio Tarbut
- Colonia Lapin
- History of the Jews in Latin America
- Immigration to Argentina
- Jewish Agency for Israel
- List of Argentine Jews
- Moisés Ville
- Next Year in Argentina – a documentary about Jews in Argentina
- Religion in Argentina
- The Jewish Gauchos
Further reading
- Israel, Jonathan I."Buenos Aires, Tucumán, and the River Plate Route: Portuguese conversos and the 'commercial subversion' of the Spanish Indies (1580-1640)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews and the World Maritime Empires (1540-1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 125–150.
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External links
- Jewish Agency for Israel: Argentina
- Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (In Spanish, English Abstract)
- Yaakov Bayer: Jewish community in Pedernal (Santa Isabel), Entre Rios Province, Argentina
- Mitteilungsblatt (B100), a newsletter published by the Aide Organization for German-speaking Jews in Argentina, at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
- The Jewish Community of Buenos Aires, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot