Yo, Judío (''Me, I'm a Jew'') is a 1934 essay about antisemitism by the Argentine writer
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
.
About
In 1934, Argentine
ultra-nationalists affiliated with the magazine
Crisol, sympathetic to
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
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
, asserted Borges was secretly Jewish, and by implication, not truly Argentine. Borges responded by writing the essay, the title of which is a reference to the old phrase "Yo, Argentino" ("Me, I'm Argentine") that was uttered by potential victims during
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 against Argentine Jews, to signify one was not Jewish.
[De Costa, René (2000) ''Humor in Borges (Humor in Life & Letters)''. Wayne State University Press p. 49 ] In the essay, Borges declares he would be proud to be a Jew, and remarks that any pure
Castilian is likely to come from
ancient Jewish descent, from a millennium ago.
In the essay, Borges details his own efforts, strenuous but ultimately futile, to document possible Jewish ancestors in his own family's genealogy:
Charlie Chaplin was not Jewish, despite being named as Jewish in the essay. Sarah Rinder, writing to
Mosaic Magazine
Mosaic is an online magazine of Jewish ideas, religion, politics, and culture which was established in June 2013.
An online subscription magazine, it offers full-length monthly essays "on an issue or theme of pressing significance for Jews, Jud ...
, suggests that Borges expresses a "liking especially for those Jews who have transcended, or even shed, their Jewish identities."
See also
*
Antisemitism in Argentina
Antisemitism in Argentina is a significant issue for the Jewish community in the country as well as Argentina in general.
Background
Argentina is noted for its history of serving as a refuge for Nazis. It is believed by the United Nations that th ...
*
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 po ...
*
History of the Jews in Argentina
The history of the Jews in Argentina goes back to the early sixteenth century, following the Jewish expulsion from Spain. Sephardi Jews fleeing persecution immigrated with explorers and colonists to settle in what is now Argentina, in spite o ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Borges y el judaísmo Casa de América
Yo, judío New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
1934 essays
Anti-racism
Antisemitism in Argentina
Conversos
Jewish Argentine history
Opposition to antisemitism
Philosemitism
Racial antisemitism
Zionism
Works about antisemitism
Works by Jorge Luis Borges