FREE ESSAY ON JEWS IN ARGENTINA

JEWS IN ARGENTINA

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 door
policy of immigration. These Jews became known as Rusos and became active in Argentine
society. In 1889, 824 Russian Jews arrived in Argentina on the SS Weser and became
gauchos (Argentine cowboys). The gauchos bought land and established a colony, which they
named Moiseville. Due to lack of funding, the gauchos appealed to Baron Maurice de Hirsch
for funds and the Baron subsequently founded the Jewish Colonization Association. During
its heyday, the Association owned more than 600,000 hectares of land, populated by more
than 200,000 Jews. While non-Jews now own many of these cooperative ranches, Jews
continue to run some of the properties.
Between 1906 and 1912, Jewish immigration increased at a rate of 13,000 immigrants per
year. Most of the immigrants were Ashkenazi Jews from Europe, but a number of Sephardic
Jews from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire also settled in Argentina. By 1920, more than
150,000 Jews were living in Argentina.
Anti-Semitic attacks against Jews were infrequent in Argentina before World War I.
Following the Russian Revolution, between 1918 and 1930, anti-revolutionary feelings
developed into full-blown anti-Semitism against the Rusos. From January 7-13, 1919, a
general strike in Buenos Aires led to a pogrom against the Jews. Many were beaten and had
their property burned and looted.i
Despite anti-Semitic actions against the Jews and increasing xenophobia, Jews became
involved in most sectors of Argentine society. Still they were unable to be work in the
government or military and so many became farmers, peddlers, artisans and shopkeepers.
Cultural and religious organizations flourished and a Yiddish press and theater opened in
Buenos Aires, as well as a Jewish hospital and a number of Zionist organizations.
Post World War II
Juan Peron's rise to power in 1946 worried many Jews because he was thought to be a Nazi
sympathizer with fascist leanings. Peron halted Jewish immigration to Argentina,
introduced Catholic religious instruction in public schools and allowed Argentina to
become a haven for fleeing Nazis. According to Argentine journalist and historian Jorge
Camarasa, author of two books on Nazi refugees in South America, "There are indications
that Peron received Nazi Funds and access to secret Swiss accounts in payment for
allowing people like Eichmann a new start." Many former Nazi officers served as military
trainers and advisers under Peron. On the other hand, Peron also expressed sympathy for
Jewish rights and established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1949. Since then, more
than 45,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from Argentina.i
Peron was overthrown in 1955, which was followed by another wave of anti-Semitism. In
1960, Israeli agents abducted Adolf Eichmann who was deeply involved with the formulation
and operation of the final solution to the Jewish question. He drew up the idea of
deportation of Jews into ghettos, and went about concentrating Jews in isolated areas
with murderous efficiency. The Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, in April 1961, aroused
further anti-Jewish sentiment in Argentina.
Argentina was under military rule between 1976 and 1983. During this period, Jews were
increasingly targeted for kidnapping and torture by the ruling junta; about 1,000 of the
9,000 known victims of state terrorism were Jews. According to the Jerusalem Post, the
Israeli government had a special agreement with the Argentine government to allow Jews
arrested for political crimes to immigrate to Israel. Once the military's power waned in
Argentina, anti-Semitic attacks also declined.
In 1983, Raul Alfonsin was democratically elected as president of Argentina. Alfonsin
enjoyed the support of the Jewish population and placed many Jews in high positions.
Carlos Saul Menem was elected president in 1989, his Arab origin and support of Peron
worried the Jews, however, and he did not follow in Peron's footsteps. 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 and, within a week,
apprehended those responsible. President Menem also ordered the release of files relating
to Argentina's role in serving as a haven for Nazi war criminals. A law against racism
and anti-Semitism passed in the Argentine parliament in 1988.i
Nazis in Argentina
At least 180 Nazi war criminals settled in Argentina during and after World War II,
according to a state panel probing Nazi activities in the country. But even as the panel
issued its final report in December 1999, some of its members said the number is probably
a lot higher and called for more research on the subject. The report focuses on such
diverse issues as Argentina's immigration policies, Nazi investments in Argentina and the
influence of Nazism on Argentine jurisprudence. Among the panel's findings: 
*The Nazis who found refuge in Argentina included 30 Germans, 50 Croats and 100 officials
from France and Belgium. 
*Argentina's political and intellectual climates in the 1930s and 1940s were receptive to
Nazi and fascist ideas. 
*Argentina's air force and military industries attracted Nazi technicians. 
*Undetermined quantities of looted gold and art entered Argentina during and after the
war from Nazi and fascist countries. 
But the question is, is Argentina still a haven for Nazi war criminals? According to
Shimon Samuels, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Europe and Latin America, it
is. He claims that there may be up to 17 wanted war criminals that may be alive an at
large in the South American nation. Samuels said he has submitted again and again a list
of Nazi officials allegedly living here to three interior ministers of the Carlos Menem
administration. Argentine authorities never tried to find, or extradite, those on the
list. Samuels' list includes two Dutch nationals, Abraham Kipp and Jan Olij Hottentot,
wanted by Holland on charges of genocide for their role in the deportation of Dutch Jews
and anti-fascist activists during Germany's occupation of Holland. Hottentot is also
charged with torturing war prisoners on the Russian front and with killing Jews while
commanding an extermination group. In 1992, a reporter from the local Clarin newspaper
photographed the Dutchman at his home in suburban Buenos Aires. 
Anti-Semitic Activities
Neo-Nazi individuals and groups continued to operate openly in Argentina, supported by a
wide circle of sympathizers. The well-known neo-Nazi Alejandro Biondini, who has been
active since the 1980s, leads one of the two main nationalistic right-wing parties,
Partido Nuevo Triunfo (New Triumph Party -- PNT). He served a jail term in 1996, under
Anti-Discrimination Law No. 25.592, for displaying a swastika on the cover of his
publication Libertad de Opinion. In 1998 Biondini put this publication on the Internet,
becoming one of the first neo-Nazis in Argentina to disseminate his ideas via this
medium.
Alejandro Ivan Franze, leader of the Partido Nuevo Orden Social Patriotico (New Order
Social Patriotic Party -- PNOSP), formed in 1996, has succeeded in attracting
nationalistic right-wing figures from smaller groups to his organization. The party,
which is basically a skinhead group, aspires to participate in national elections. At
present, it organizes military-style parades and gatherings, for example, on so-called
Sovereignty Day, commemorating the Falklands-Malvinas war, when marchers sport neo-Nazi
uniforms and symbols and perform the fascist salute. The police have not, so far,
intervened. 
Despite Menem's sympathetic policies and a democratic regime, the Jews of Argentina were
targets of two major terrorist attacks. The Israeli Embassy was bombed in April 1992,
killing 32 people. In 1994, the Jewish community headquarters in Buenos Aires was bombed,
killing more than 100 people and wounding at least 200 others. The community's archives
were destroyed in the bombing and the event left many emotionally scarred. Though Iran
was suspected of involvement with the help of Argentine police, the culprits have never
been found. On another occasion, spectators at a soccer game in Buenos Aires jeered at
the members of a visiting Jewish team, hurled neo-Nazi epithets at them and threw bars of
soap on the playing field-in direct reference to the myth that the Nazis produced soap
made from the bodies of their Jewish victims. 
The year 1999 was marked by a decrease in anti-Semitic incidents compared with previous
years. Nevertheless, several serious incidents were recorded, including the planting of
two explosive charges at the entrance of the homes of two Jewish families in Parana in
August 1999. The charges were discovered after anonymous calls to the homes of the
families and the police. 
In addition, there were two major desecrations of Jewish cemeteries, one on 19-20
September, when 63 graves were desecrated in the main Jewish cemetery La Tablada, and
another on 30 September when 12 graves were vandalized in the old Jewish cemetery of
Ciudadela. In both cases, the DAIA claimed that, once again, police of the Province of
Buenos Aires were targeting the Jewish community as part of their resistance to reforms
in the police force. Five other desecrations of Jewish cemeteries took place during 1999,
including in the city of Mendoza, where 20 gravestones were damaged.vi
Four Jewish institutions in the Jewish neighborhood of Once in Buenos Aires received
anti-Semitic leaflets in April 1999. The text, printed on colored paper, with a large
swastika in the middle, contained veiled anti-Semitic references.
Several anonymous false bomb threats were received, the most alarming at the AMIA
community building in December, which had to be evacuated. Others were reported at the
Keren Hayesod building in July and at the Yavneh school in Buenos Aires in October. A
telephone threat to "blow up the cursed Jews" resulted in the cancellation of the
premiere of Fiddler on the Roof in October in the city of Tucuman. vi
Legal Activity
In June 1999 the judicial authorities, acting on information they had received from the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, began investigating the activities of Walhalla SRL, a publishing
house in San Luis province, which is accused of selling and distributing videos and books
containing Nazi ideology. Much of the material in question, such as the Nazi movie The
Eternal Jew, is prohibited under the anti-discrimination law. 
In another case involving the Verdad y Justicia (Truth and Justice) movement, which was
allegedly linked to previous desecrations of the La Tablada cemetery, Miguel Angel Russo
was given a jail term in October under the anti-discrimination law, for publishing and
disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda. Russo is the only Argentinean citizen currently in
prison for anti-Semitic activities.
In May 1999 the DAIA demanded the dismissal of the three judges who nullified the verdict
of a lower court judge in the 1995 case of a skinhead attack, accompanied by anti-Semitic
insults, against a non-Jewish youth. The judge had sentenced the three skinheads to
prison terms. Judges Bisordi, Basavilbaso and Catuchi, who overturned the sentence argued
that the term "dirty Jews" was a general war cry used by such youths, with no
anti-Semitic intention. The DAIA's call was supported by the Permanent Assembly for Human
Rights.vi
Overly anti-Semitic attacks are only one type of problem currently facing South America's
largest Jewish community. A more existential crisis has been the recent financial
troubles facing the community's institutions. During the 1990s the government's
privatization reforms had a sharply negative impact on the economic status of the urban
middle class. Many Jewish business owners have lost their shops and are unable to pay
membership or tuition fees to local Jewish institutions and synagogues. These communal
institutions now faced declining membership and budgets to maintain their activities and
services. In addition, several well-known private banks, which were under Jewish
ownership until recently and which were strong financial supporters of Jewish
institutions, have been dissolved or sold. The well-developed Jewish day school system is
seen as being especially vulnerable to these financial problems.vii
Jews are active in all sectors of Argentine society and many are prominent figures in the
arts, film, music and journalism. Some influential Argentine Jews include: writer Jacobo
Timmerman, owner of a local newspaper who campaigned for human rights; Rene Epelbaum, who
founded a protest group for mothers of political prisoners; pianist Daniel Barenboim and
conductor Ceszar Milstein.i
The future of the Jewish community in Argentina is hard to predict. Outward migration,
assimilation and intermarriage have all had their negative effects on the community, as
have the recent financial crises and various anti-Semitic attacks. On the other hand,
Jewish involvement in Jewish life-both religious and organizational-has continued and in
some ways intensified.
Bibliography
Bibliography
1. Geller, Doron. The Capture of Adolf Eichmann. Jewish Virtual Library.
www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/eichcap.html
2. Institute of the World 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