![Argentina orthographic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Argentina_orthographic.svg)
The history of the Jews in Argentina goes back to the early sixteenth century, following the Jewish
expulsion from Spain.
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
fleeing persecution immigrated with explorers and colonists to settle in what is now
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
in spite of being forbidden from travelling to the American colonies. In addition, many of the Portuguese traders in the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...
were Jewish. An organized Jewish community, however, did not develop until after Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816. By mid-century, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe, fleeing the social and economic disruptions of revolutions, began to settle in Argentina.
Reflecting the composition of the later immigration waves, the current Jewish population is 80% Ashkenazi; while Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
and Mizrahi
''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings.
In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to:
*Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East
* Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian P ...
are a minority. Argentina has the largest Jewish population of any country in Latin America, although numerous Jews left during the 1970s and 1980s to escape the repression of the military ''junta
Junta may refer to:
Government and military
* Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones
** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...
'', emigrating to Israel, West Europe (especially Spain), and North America.[
The Jewish population in Argentina is the largest in ]Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, the third largest in the Americas, and the world's seventh largest outside Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
During a major emigration wave in the 2000s, more than 10,000 Argentine Jews settled in Israel.
History
Early years
Some Spanish conversos
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian p ...
, or secret Jews, settled in Argentina during the Spanish colonial period (16th–19th century), had assimilated into the Argentine population.[ After Argentina gained independence, the General Assembly of 1813 officially abolished the ]Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
. The second wave of Jewish immigration from Europe began in the mid-19th century, during revolutions and extensive social disruption. Much of the Great European immigration wave to Argentina came from Western Europe, especially Italy.
In 1860, the first Jewish wedding was recorded in Buenos Aires.[ A minyan was organized for ]High Holiday
The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe")
#strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...
services a few years later, leading to the establishment of the Congregación Israelita de la República.
Agricultural settlement
In the late 19th century, Ashkenazi immigrants fleeing poverty and pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
s in Russia and Eastern Europe settled in Argentina, attracted by its open-door immigration policy. These Jews became known as ''rusos'', "Russians". In 1889, a group of 824 Russian Jews arrived in Argentina on the '' S.S. Weser'' and became gauchos
A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...
(Argentine cowboys). They bought land and established a colony named Moises ville Moises or Moisés is a male name common among people of Iberian origin. It is the Spanish, Portuguese and Tagalog equivalent of the name Moses.
;Places
* Doctor Moisés Bertoni, a village in the Caazapá department of Paraguay
* Moises Padilla, ...
. In dire economic straits, they appealed to the German Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch
Moritz Freiherr von Hirsch auf Gereuth (german: Moritz Freiherr von Hirsch auf Gereuth; french: Maurice, baron de Hirsch de Gereuth; 9 December 1831 – 21 April 1896), commonly known as Maurice de Hirsch, was a German Jewish financier and phila ...
, who founded the Jewish Colonization Association
The Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA or ICA, Yiddish ייִק"אַ), in America spelled Jewish Colonization Association, is an organisation created on September 11, 1891, by Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigratio ...
. In its heyday, the Association owned more than 600,000 hectares of land. Between 1906 and 1912, some 13,000 Jews immigrated to Argentina every year, mostly from Europe, but also from Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
and the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. By 1920, more than 150,000 Jews were living in Argentina.[
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.] 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 Domingo F. Sarmiento, a policy of mass immigration was encouraged; it provided relief to refugees fleeing the violent pogroms in the Russian Empire in 1881.
Jewish agricultural settlements were established in the provinces of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
( Lapin, Rivera
Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of aro ...
), Entre Ríos (San Gregorio, Villa Domínguez, Carmel, Ingeniero Sajaroff, Villa Clara, and Villaguay), and Santa Fe (Moisés Ville
Moisés Ville ( yi, מאָזעסוויל) is a small town (''comuna'') in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, founded on 23 October 1889 by Eastern European and Russian Jews escaping pogroms and persecution. The original name intended for the t ...
). The national census of 1895 recorded that, of the 6,085 people who identified as Jewish, 3,880 (about 64%) lived in Entre Ríos.
Despite antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and increasing xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
, 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.
20th century
World War II and antisemitism
Argentina kept its doors open to Jewish immigration until 1938, when Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and the Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
in Germany began to take more actions against Jews, and tensions rose across Europe in preparation for war. The government imposed new regulations on immigration; it was severely curtailed at a time of increasing persecution of Jews and the outbreak of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, when Jews sought a safe haven from the Nazis. Six million Jews died in Europe during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
Juan Domingo Perón
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...
's rise to power in 1946 in Argentina after the war worried many Jews in the country. As Minister of War, he had signed Argentina's declaration of war against the Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
, but as a nationalist, he had earlier expressed sympathy for them. He was known to admire the Italian Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini. Perón introduced Catholic religious instruction in Argentine public schools; he allowed Nazis fleeing prosecution in Germany to immigrate to the country. Perón also expressed sympathy for Jewish rights and in 1949 established diplomatic relations with Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.[ Perón's government was the first in Argentina to allow Jewish citizens to hold office.
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
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
beginning in April 1961; he was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in May 1962.[
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.][ 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.][Tacuara salió a la calle]
'' Página/12'', 15 May 2005
Junta rule
Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was ruled by a military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
that oppressed many and "disappeared" countless victims. During this period, Jews were a prime target of the military government, in part because many opposed this dictature but also due to the Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
ideology which permeated the ranks of the military, with some generals being obsessed with the "Jewish question". Some sections of the military government believed in the "Andinia Plan
The Andinia Plan ( es, Plan Andinia) is a conspiracy theory that alleged plans to establish a Jewish state in parts of Argentina and Chile. It is partly based on an exaggeration of historical proposals for organized Jewish migration to Argentina ...
", a fictional Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i conspiracy to take over part of the Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...
region and establish a second Jewish state there. Some Jewish prisoners were even interrogated over their knowledge of Andinia Plan and were even asked to provide details of Israeli military preparations for an invasion of southern Argentina. During the period of military rule, people who opposed the government were arrested, imprisoned, and often "disappeared
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...
", being subjected to torture and execution, and Jewish victims were singled out for especially harsh treatment. The number of Jewish victims may have been as high as 3,000. Despite being less than 1% of the population, Jews made up around 12% of the victims of the military regime. One Jew, Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman (6 January 1923 – 11 November 1999), was a Soviet-born Argentine publisher, journalist, and author, who is most noted for his confronting and reporting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War during a perio ...
, a journalist who extensively covered government atrocities during the Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
, became the single most famous political prisoner of the entire Dirty War following his arrest and imprisonment. Timerman was eventually released, largely as a result of US and Israeli diplomatic pressure, and was expelled from Argentina. He lived in Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
until the junta fell.
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. The number of Argentine Jews emigrating to Israel greatly increased throughout the period of the junta. Some Jews also emigrated to Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, other European countries and the United States. American-Jewish organizations began preparing for a mass exodus of Argentine Jewry. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was originally established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. In 1975, the State Departm ...
secured a promise from the government of Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
to provide temporary asylum for the 350,000 Jews of Argentina if it became necessary, and in 1976, the US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
promised Rabbi Alexander Schindler
Alexander Moshe Schindler (October 4, 1925 – November 15, 2000) was a rabbi and the leading figure of American Jewry and Reform Judaism during the 1970s and 1980s.Jacques SteinbergRabbi Alexander Schindler, Reform Leader and Major Jewish Voice, D ...
of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established b ...
that it would issue 100,000 visas for Argentine-Jewish refugees if it became necessary.[
During the 1982 Falklands War, around 250 Jewish soldiers served in the ]Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
and strategic points in Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...
. During their service, they suffered antisemitic attacks by officers. The Argentine government allowed five rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
s to visit them: these were the only chaplains permitted to accompany the Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
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".
Return to democracy and the terrorist attacks
In 1983, Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
was democratically elected as president of Argentina. Alfonsín enjoyed the support of the Jewish population and appointed many Jews in high positions.
When Carlos Saul Menem, who was of Syrian descent, was elected president in 1989, his Arab background and previous support of Perón worried the Jews, but he proved to be a more tolerant leader. Menem appointed many Jews to his government, visited Israel a number of times, and offered to help mediate the Israeli-Arab peace process. After a Jewish cemetery was desecrated in Buenos Aires, Menem immediately expressed his outrage to the Jewish community. Within a week, his government had apprehended those responsible.
President Menem also ordered the release of files relating to Argentina's role in serving as a haven for Nazi war criminal
The following is a list of people who were formally indicted for committing war crimes on behalf of the Axis powers during World War II, including those who were acquitted or never received judgment. It does not include people who may have commi ...
s. In 1988 the Argentine parliament passed a law against racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...
and antisemitism.
In the 1990s, two major terrorist attacks in Argentina killed and wounded numerous Jews. Neither has been solved. In March 1992, the Israeli Embassy was bombed, killing 29 people. This likely reflected international tensions between Israel and Arabs, including Palestinians.
In July 1994, the Jewish community center
A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations ...
(AMIA) in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200. The community's archives were partially destroyed in the bombing. In 2005, an Argentine prosecutor said the AMIA bombing was carried out by a 21-year-old Lebanese suicide bomber who belonged to Hezbollah. In 2006, Argentine Justice indicted seven high-ranking former Iranian officials and one senior Hezbollah member, charged with participating in the planning and execution of the AMIA bombing. In 2007, Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
ordered a red notice
An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...
to capture the Iranian fugitives. Since then, the Argentine government has requested that Iran extradite the Iranian citizens accused for the attack in order to be judged by an Argentine or a foreign court, but Iran has refused. In response to the deadly attack, Miguel Ángel Pichetto
Miguel Ángel Pichetto (born 24 October 1950) is an Argentine lawyer and conservative peronist politician. He is Auditor General of the Nation. He was National Senator for Río Negro Province for eighteen years and was the vice-presidential can ...
, then Senator from the Peronist Front for Victory
The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner we ...
(FpV) and later running mate of Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previo ...
in the 2019 presidential election, said that "real Argentines and Jewish Argentines" were killed, a saying reflecting the attitude towards Jews in the country in those days.
21st century
During the economic crisis of 1999–2002, approximately 4,400 Argentine Jews made ''aliyah'' to Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Following the 2003 economic recovery and subsequent growth, Argentine immigration to Israel leveled off, and some who had left for Israel returned to Argentina. Altogether, some 10,000 Argentine Jews immigrated to Israel during the 2000s. Due to the economic situation, several Jewish institutes such as schools, community centers, clubs and congregations merged.
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.
A 2011 poll conducted by the Gino Germani Research Institute of the University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...
on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League and Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas
DAIA (''Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas'') is the umbrella organization of Argentina's Jewish community. As such, it represents the community in official events and conducts all contact with authorities. DAIA is the Argentine a ...
showed that a majority of Argentines held antisemitic sentiments or prejudices. Of the 1,510 Argentines surveyed, 82% agreed with statements "that Jews are preoccupied with making money," 49% said that they "talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust", 68% said that they have "too much power in the business world", and 22% said that the Jews killed Jesus. The majority of people interviewed also expressed the belief that Jews are more loyal to Israel than their country of birth.
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.
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 swastika and the message "I sell soap made of Jews" were found painted on a house in San Juan. On 25 July 2013 two swastikas were painted on the front of the Beith Iacov synagogue in the town of Villa Clara, and on 29 July 2013 Swastikas 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). 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 Swastikas were found painted on monuments, walls and private homes in Maipú. 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.
In July 2014 there were at least two cases of antisemitic graffiti: In Mendoza, where swastikas had been painted on the front of the local Jewish Cultural Center, and in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
during a pro-Palestinian rally. Another racist incident occurred in Cordoba, where two flags, Israel's and the United States's, were covered with swastikas and were placed in the city's central square Later that month the newspaper "La Plata" published a caricature presenting a stereotype Jewish old man speaking out against Israel's actions during Operation Protective Edge, with distortion of the actual reality in Israel.
Two antisemitic graffiti, including the words "Jews out" were found in the country during October. Three more antisemitic graffiti were found in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and Córdoba during November. One of the graffiti was "Be a patriot, kill a Jew", and one another had swastika sprayed on the passage leading to the house of the Córdoba rabbi. On December there was also an antisemitic graffiti incident- swastikas were sprayed at the headquarters of the Labor Party.
In January 2015, ten Israeli tourists were wounded in an antisemitic attack at a hostel in a small village of Chubut Province
Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes rang ...
. In the next month, antisemitic posters were found in a Jewish neighborhood in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. On the beginning of March a Jewish center and a cemetery was desecrated with antisemitic graffiti in Rosario. Two more incidents of antisemitic graffiti occurred on August in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and Sauce Viejo. Towards the end of the year, a young Jewish man was violently attacked by a student in the private University of San Andrés
The University of San Andrés ( es, Universidad de San Andrés) is a private university located in Victoria, Buenos Aires, Argentina on the shores of the Rio de la Plata, in the metropolitan area of Greater Buenos Aires. It is a small instituti ...
who also shouted "long live the Holocaust".
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.
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.[Mario Diament, "Argentina & Jews reveals little-known history," ''Miami Herald'', 1991]
The Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
from Eastern Europe who settled in Argentina were called ''rusos'' (Russians) by the local population.[
In January 1919 in Buenos Aires, during a general strike, the police fomented ]pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
s that targeted Jews and destroyed their property.[ In the strike's aftermath, civilian vigilante gangs (the ]Argentine Patriotic League
The Argentine Patriotic League ( es, Liga Patriótica Argentina) was a '' Nacionalista'' paramilitary group, officially created in Buenos Aires on January 16, 1919, during the Tragic week events. Presided over by Manuel Carlés, a professor a ...
) 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".[Rock, David. ''Argentina, 1516–1987: from Spanish Colonization to Alfonsín'', ]University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
, 1987, p. 202.
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".[Rock (1987), ''Argentina, 1516–1987'', p. 233]
Jewish cultural and religious organizations flourished in the cities; a Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
press and theatre opened in Buenos Aires, as well as a Jewish hospital and a number of Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
organizations.
The Zwi Migdal
Zwi Migdal ( yi, צבי מגדל, Polish: Cwi Migdał) was an organized-crime group by Polish Jewish individuals, founded in Poland and based mainly in Argentina, that trafficked in Jewish women from Central Europe for sexual slavery and forced ...
organization established in the 1860s in Buenos Aires operated an international network of pimps exploiting Jewish girls from Eastern Europe.
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.
Status
Today, approximately 180,500 Jews live in Argentina,["World Jewish Population, 2017"]
Berman Jewish Databank, 2018.[ down from 310,000 in the early 1960s.][ Most of Argentina's Jews live in ]Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Córdoba and Rosario. Argentina's Jewish population is the largest in Latin America, and the third-largest in the Americas (after that of the United States and Canada). It is the sixth-largest in the world.[ (''See ]Jewish population
As of 2020, the world's "core" Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15 million, 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. This number rises to 18 million with the addition of the "connected" Jewish pop ...
'') Additionally, Buenos Aires is the sixteenth largest Jewish city in the world by population.[ The government has recognized major Jewish holidays: it authorizes Jews to have two days of vacation each for Rosh Hashanah, ]Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...
, and the first two and last two days of Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...
.
Historic Jewish colonies in Argentina
; Buenos Aires Province
* Carlos Casares
*Colonia Lapin
Colonia Lapin is a settlement located near the town of Rivera in the southwest region of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the Municipality of Adolfo Alsina.
History
Jewish immigrants founded Colonia Lapin on November 6, 1919. Coloni ...
*Mauricio Hirsch
*Delfin Huergo
*Moctezuma
*Rivera
Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of aro ...
*Smith
;Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.
Its capital is Paraná ...
*Colonia Avigdor
Colonia Avigdor is a village and municipality in Entre Ríos Province in north-eastern Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Ar ...
* Basavilbaso (Lucienville)
*Bovril
*Carmel
*Clara
Clara may refer to:
Organizations
* CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization
* Clara.Net, a European ISP
* Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium
People
* Clara (given name), a feminine gi ...
*Cohen
*General Campos
*Ingeniero Sajaroff
* La Clarita
*Pedernal
*Pueblo Arrua
*San Gregorio (Colonia Sonnenfeld)
*San Salvador
*Santa Isabel
* Ubajay
* Villa Dominguez
*Villaguay
Villaguay is a city in the province of Entre Ríos in the Argentine Mesopotamia. It has about 49,000 inhabitants as of thcensus 2010and is the head town of the department of the same name.
The city lies near the geographic center of the provinc ...
*Wulfshon
;Santa Fe Province
The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco (divided by the 28th parallel south), Corrientes, Entre R ...
*Capivara
*Ceres
*Las Palmeras
*Palacios
*Moisés Ville
Moisés Ville ( yi, מאָזעסוויל) is a small town (''comuna'') in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, founded on 23 October 1889 by Eastern European and Russian Jews escaping pogroms and persecution. The original name intended for the t ...
*Virginia
; La Pampa Province
* Bernasconi
*General Acha
*Rolon
;Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero (), also known simply as Santiago, is a province in the north of Argentina. Neighboring provinces, clockwise from the north, are Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.
History
The indigenous inhabita ...
* Colonia Dora
See also
*Andinia Plan
The Andinia Plan ( es, Plan Andinia) is a conspiracy theory that alleged plans to establish a Jewish state in parts of Argentina and Chile. It is partly based on an exaggeration of historical proposals for organized Jewish migration to Argentina ...
*Argentina–Israel relations
International relations between Argentina and Israel, have existed for decades. Both countries established diplomatic relations on May 31, 1949.
History
Relations between the two were tied during the early years of Nazi hunting when Israel's M ...
*Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina
Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ) is a Jewish Community Centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Established as ''Jevrá Kedushá'' in 1894, its mission was conceived to promote the well-being and development of Jewish life in Ar ...
* Benei Sión
*Colegio Tarbut Colegio Tarbut ( he, בית ספר תרבות) is a Jewish mixed-sex private school founded in 1961 in the city of Olivos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It offers early childhood, primary, and secondary education.
The institution comprise ...
*Colonia Lapin
Colonia Lapin is a settlement located near the town of Rivera in the southwest region of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the Municipality of Adolfo Alsina.
History
Jewish immigrants founded Colonia Lapin on November 6, 1919. Coloni ...
*History of the Jews in Latin America
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those ...
*Immigration to Argentina
Immigration to Argentina began in several millennia BCE with the arrival of different populations from Asia to the Americas through Beringia, according to the most accepted theories, and were slowly populating the Americas. Upon arrival of ...
*Jewish Agency for Israel
The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...
* List of Argentine Jews
*Moisés Ville
Moisés Ville ( yi, מאָזעסוויל) is a small town (''comuna'') in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, founded on 23 October 1889 by Eastern European and Russian Jews escaping pogroms and persecution. The original name intended for the t ...
*''Next Year in Argentina
''Next Year in Argentina'' (original title ''El Año Que Viene en... Argentina'') is a 2005 Documentary film, documentary about diaspora Jews, who have either decided to remain in Argentina or move to Israel. Argentine-Israeli filmmakers Jorge Gur ...
'' – a documentary about Jews in Argentina
* Religion in Argentina
*The Jewish Gauchos
The Jewish Gauchos, (''Los Gauchos Judíos'' in Spanish, and published in English as The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas) is a novel of Ukrainian-born Argentine writer and journalist Alberto Gerchunoff, who is regarded as the founder of Jewish lite ...
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.
References
External links
Jewish Agency for Israel: Argentina
Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (In Spanish, English Abstract)
* ttps://archive.org/details/MitteilHilfsvereinDeutschJuden ''Mitteilungsblatt'' (B100) a newsletter published by the Aide Organization for German-speaking Jews in Argentina, at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
The Jewish Community of Buenos Aires
The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, formerly the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, is located in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the center of the Tel Aviv University campus in Ramat Aviv.
ANU - Museum of the Jewish People is an institution ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of the Jews of Argentina
Jews and Judaism in Argentina