<URUGUAY, South
American
republic, general population 2,818,000 (est. 1968);
Jewish population 50,000
The Colonial Period.
[Inquisition until 1813]
There are few documents relating to Jewish history
during the colonial period in Uruguay. In 1726 the
governor of *Montevideo, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala,
still adhered to the accepted Spanish formula when he
stipulated that the first settlers be "persons of worth,
of good habits, repute and family, so that they be not
inferior nor of Moorish or Jewish race", and in 1760
Pedro Lagu, a clergyman from Colonia del Sacramento,
expressed to the Inquisition his suspicions regarding
the existence of Jewish life in his city. More reliable
sources, however, are lacking.
With the demise of the Inquisition in 1813, the
political and legal system prevailing in Uruguay,
together with its tolerant population, provided the
viable foundation for Jewish residence during the modern
period.
The Modern Period.
[Separation of religion
and state in 1918 - 1919 riots - immigration waves
1900-1940]
The Constitution of 1918, championed by José Batlle y
Ordóñez, established the principle of separation of
church and state and defined the legal status of aliens,
as well as their role in the political life of the
country. (col. 10) [[...]]
In January 1919, under the pretext of repressing (col.
13)
revolutionaries and Bolsheviks and as a result of the
events during Argentina's "Tragic Week", punitive
measures were taken against workers and certain elements
of the lower class. Eighty percent of the Jewish
population was investigated by the police and there were
many instances of imprisonment and expulsion. (col. 14)
[[...]]
The generally liberal-minded public, as well as the
(col. 10)
constitution, which accords social and economic equality
to native and alien alike, provided the conditions for a
successful Jewish community from the 1920s. The
constitutions of 1934 and 1952, which altered the
composition of the government, did not affect the
prevailing legislation.
The earliest available information about Jewish
immigration to Uruguay dates from 1898; a 1909 report
indicates there were 150 Jews in Montevideo. In 1917-18
there were 1,700 Jews in the country, 75% of whom were
Sephardim, the rest of Russian, Rumanian [[Romanian]],
Polish, and Alsatian origin. Immigration increased
notably between 1925 and 1928, when Uruguay also served
as a transit point - in some cases for illegal transit -
to Argentina, which at that time had stringent
immigration regulations. In 1933 there was again an
increase in immigration, although just prior to World
War II new limitations were imposed. In 1939 2,200 Jews
entered the country, while in 1940, only 373. (col. 11)
[[...]]
During the 1930s "anti-alien" campaigns were organized,
posing a serious threat to the Jewish community. Their
instigators were radical nationalists and local and
foreign Fascists (Vanguardia de la Patria), but large
numbers of traditionally liberal elements also
participated. Familiar forms of racial discrimination
were invoked in sidewalk demonstrations, in the press,
and on the radio. The alien character of the Jews was
underscored, and demands were voiced for a ban on Jewish
immigration and for the exclusion of Jews from
commercial activities and other sources of income. The
community organized itself in self-defense. Measures
against the rise of Fascism were adopted by the
administration of General Alfredo Baldomir (inaugurated
1938), and during World War II the community enjoyed the
protection of the government. (col. 14) [[...]]
ECONOMY.
[Professions - influx
from Germany and commerce and minor crafts -
agricultural settlements]
At first the Jews in Uruguay engaged primarily in minor
commerce (food, clothing, used articles), peddling,
light industries (needles, leather, furs, textiles),
independent or salaried crafts (tailors, hairdressers,
watchmakers, printers), and salaried jobs (construction,
factories). During the 1929-33 economic crisis, the
Jewish community suffered severely, but it regained
prosperity with the economic revival. At the same time,
the German (col. 12)
immigration of the 1930s gave impetus to commerce and
minor crafts, and the economic upswing continued during
World War II. (col. 13) [[...]]
Three attempts at Jewish agricultural settlement in
Uruguay proved abortive. The first was the "19 de Abril"
settlement, founded in Paysandú by 38 families that hat
previously tried to settle in the ICA settlements
[[settlements of Jewish Colonial Association]] in
Brazil. They received 9,880 acres of land from the
Instituto de Colonización [[Colonization Institute]] of
the Uruguayan Republic. Overcoming a difficult
beginning, the settlers met with success after a
ten-year period, but the settlement gradually lost its
Jewish members; during the 1930s, five Jewish families
remained, and in 1950 there was only one. [[Other
professions in the towns were more attractive and by
this the Jews were leaving the farms]].
Another Jewish colony founded in 1924 in Mercedes failed
shortly afterward. The third, the "Tres Árboles" [[Three
Trees]] settlement (1938-39), was a Communist-inspired
Jewish venture, but it failed primarily because of the
bankruptcy of the Banco Israelita del Uruguay
[[Israelite Bank of Uruguay]], on which it depended.
(col. 13) [[...]]
[[The natives who were driven away or exterminated are
never mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Judaica]].
[Jewish banking in
Uruguay]
Jewish economic development was bolstered by loan and
mutual assistance funds that eventually developed into
banks. The Primera Caja Israelita de Prestamo y Ayuda
[[First Israelite Credit Bank]] (1925) became the Banco
Israelita del Uruguay [[Israelite Bank of Uruguay]], one
of the financial strongholds of the "progressists". Its
collapse in 1939 precipitated a chain of bankruptcies
among small merchants and industrialists and brought
about the failure of the agricultural settlement "Tres
Árboles" [[Three Trees]]. The bank managed to reopen and
resume operations, however. The Centro Comercial e
Industrial Israelita del Uruguay [[Israelite Comercial
and Industrial Centerl of Uruguay]] (1933), known from
1950 as the Banco Palestino-Uruguayo
[[Palestinian-Uruguayan Bank]], is a well-established
institution with branches even outside the country. In
Israel it works in particular with Bank Leumi.
Two well-established commercial cooperatives, originally
peddlers cooperatives, are the Corporación Comercial
S.A. [[Commercial Corporation]] ([[racist]] pro-Zionist,
founded in 1930) and the Cooperative Comercial del
Uruguay [[Commercial Cooperative of Uruguay]]
(progressive, founded in 1936), which closed with the
collapse of the Banco Israelita [[Israelite Bank]] and
recommenced activities in 1945 under the name La
Amistad, S.A. [[The Friendship, S.A.]] Less important
institutions include the Di ershte gmilus Khesed Kase
[[Yidd.]] (1931) and Akhim Rakhamin ve-gmilus khasodim
[[Hebrew]] (1938), founded by Polish refugees.
[Growing Jewish middle
class since the 1940s]
Economic changes in Uruguay during the 1940s brought
about transformations in the Jewish community. The
predominantly labor, artisan, and small-business class
of the 1920s gradually gave way to a social group that
consists of middle-class merchants, industrialists,
salaried employees, and professionals, with few laborers
and few very wealthy individuals. (col. 13) [[...]]
[Immigration since 1945
- Eichmann trial - anti-Semitic outbursts]
After the war, displaced persons from Europe began to
arrive [[and old Nazis from Germany also came to South
America, also to Uruguay]]. During the 1950s Hungarian
and Middle Eastern Jews also sought refuge in the
country. (col. 11) [[...]]
[[Add to all this Jewish immigration it can be admitted
that lots of Jews immigrated under changed names and
changed religion with forged documents under the quota
of other nationalities]].
During the Eichmann trial (1961) serious anti-Semitic
disturbances [[by the old Nazis from Germany in Uruguay
and their friends]] were provoked by local neo-Nazi
associations linked to foreign cells. The Jewish
community, supported by certain branches of the
government and liberal political and intellectual
groups, organized its defense once again. In the 1960s
there were sporadic anti-Semitic outbursts associated
with nationalist-radical and neo-Nazi-affiliated groups,
some of them originating in Argentina. (col. 14) [[...]]
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
While the Jewish community tended to develop in a
nationalist-secular direction, it showed great concern
for the survival of its Jewish tradition. Initially, the
most important communal institution were Ezra (1909),
Hevra (Ḥevra) Kaddisha Ashkenazit (1916), and Hesed
(Ḥesed) Shel Emet (1916, Sephardim), which maintained
the cemetery, and administered mutual assistance. Others
were formed after World War II: the Comité de Protección
de Imigrantes [[Immigrant Protection Committee]],
supported by the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA),
and later a branch of HICEM; the Hogar Obrero [[Working
Home]], affiliated with Po'alei Zion, which maintained a
workers' kitchen and a fund for the unemployed; and a
leftist cultural center Morris Winchewsky founded in
1917 as a politically unaligned institution that later
became an important "progressist" (pro-Communist)
institution. There were also many Yiddish-speaking landsfaraynen
[[Country Clubs]], the most prominent of which were
Bessarabian, Lithuanian, and Polish. Guilds for Jewish
tailors, barbers, textile merchants, bakers, and
carpenters were formed during the 1940s. After 1933
various institutions were organized to aid the victims
of Nazism, and the German-Jewish community formed the
Nueva Congregación Israelita [[New Israel Congregation]]
with religious, educational, cultural, and financial
activities.
[Racist Zionists in
Uruguay: Balfour Declaration demonstrations -
campaigns - Territory Federation since 1960 for
emigration to racist Zionist Free Mason CIA Herzl
Israel]
The [[racist]] Zionist movement began its activities in
1911, when Dorshei Zion was founded, initially as an
extension of the Argentinian Zionist Federation. The
events affecting world Jewry and the activities of the
[[racist]] Zionist movement evoked sympathy and support
from the Jewish populace during World War I: mass
demonstrations acclaimed the Balfour Declaration,
members of the community joined the Jewish Legion,
protests were registered against the pogroms in Central
Europe during the 1920s, and campaigns were staged to
protest the Arab riots in Palestine in 1928-29.
The [[racist]] Zionist parties gave way to the separate
organizations of Mizrachi, Revisionist, Po'alei Zion,
and General Zionists. In 1945 the [[racist]] Zionist
movement began to gain great momentum. The Concejo
Central Sionista [[Central Zionist Congress]], comprised
of representatives of all the institutions, including
the Federación Juvenil Sionista [[Zionist Youth
Federation]], was formed, and in 1960 the Federación
Sionista Territorial Unificada [[United Zionist
Territory Federation]] was founded as a representative
body of the Jewish Agency in charge of (col. 11)
aliyah. All
[[racist]] Zionist factions, including youth, pioneer,
and women's groups, are represented in that body. (col.
12) [[...]]
[C.C.I. - syndicalists
- Asociación Cultural Jaim Zhitlowsky - left groups
with Bund and Yiddish culture]
Established in 1940 as the overall representative of the
Jewish community vis-à-vis the government, the C.C.I.
[[Comté Central Israelita]] played a crucial role in
combating anti-Semitism, especially during World War II,
during subsequent sporadic resurgences of neo-Nazism,
and at the time of Adolf *Eichmann's capture and trial.
The vast majority of the leadership of the communities
was [[racist]] Zionist [[and the anti-Zionists were
dominated]]. Consequently, the C.C.I usually maintained
[[racist]] pro-Zionist positions and policies [[against
the whole Arab world and it's allies]].
Parallel to widespread Zionist affiliation in the Jewish
working class were anarcho-militant syndicalists, a
sprinkling of Trotskyites, socialists, Bundists, and
especially Communists, known as the "progressists".
The most important unifying organization for the latter
was the Asociación Cultural Jaim Zhitlowsky (founded
around 1935), which also had a youth organization
consisting of 300 members. Members of the Asociación
received medical benefits provided by the Mutualista
Israelita del Uruguay (founded 1940), and the Asociación
maintained a separate section in the Jewish cemetery.
While the Bund (founded in 1929) was especially
efficacious in its work in the sphere of Yiddish
culture, carried out through the Liga Cultural I.
Peretz, collaborating sporadically with Po'alei Zion,
partisan discord characterized relations between the
[[racist]] Zionist and "progressist" blocs, particularly
from the 1930. In the face of steadily increasing
anti-Semitism, in 1938 an attempt was made to forge a
united front through the short-lived Comité Contra el
Nazismo y el Antisemitismo [[Committee against Nazism
and Anti-Semitism]] in order to defend the community and
represent it vis-à-vis the government. Nevertheless,
internal dissension continued and deepened during the
war years. After the establishment of the [[racist
Zionist Free Mason CIA Herzl]] State of Israel and
during the Stalinist persecutions of 1948-52, some
"progressists" joined the ranks of the Zionist-oriented
community; the majority, however, maintained their
pro-Communist affiliations.
[Economy in the 1960s:
destruction of
the Jewish middle class in the 1960s inflation times]
The general economic crisis and continued inflation
during the late 1960s have resulted in the gradual
disintegration of Uruguay's middle class, a phenomenon
that has greatly affected the Jewish community. (col.
13) [[...]]
COMMUNITY RELATIONS.
Social contact among first-generation Uruguayan Jews and
the non-Jewish community takes place mainly on the
occupational level and trends to be superficial. The
second generation has achieved a greater degree of
integration and assimilation, and mixed marriages are to
be found among its ranks. There are no Jews in the upper
social strata or in the military. A small number is
found in high government positions, although active
involvement in political life is a recent phenomenon.
The community as a whole is nonpartisan, and there are
only isolated cases of Jewish members in the legislative
bodies. Anti-Semitic campaigns were unleashed at periods
coinciding with economic crises, social instability, and
authoritarian rule. (col. 13) [[...]]
JEWISH EDUCATION.
Since their inception, both the Ashkenazi and the
Sephardi communities have maintained religious studies.
In 1929 the Ashkenazi hevra
(ḥevra) kaddisha [[Jewish burial society]]
established an educational network in collaboration with
ICA. The most prominent educational institutions are
-- the [[racist]] pro-Zionist Herzl School founded in
1928;
-- the Talmud Torah Eliezer ben Yehuda, founded in 1928
by the Sephardi hevra kaddisha;
-- the Sholem Aleichem School founded in 1941 by the
left Po'alei Zion;
-- the Mizrachi school and Yeshivah ha-Rav Kook, founded
in 1945, which added the Ma'aleh secondary school in
1956;
-- and the ultra-Orthodox talmud torah and heder (ḥeder)
[[school for children until 13]] Adat Yere'im, founded
in 1948.
The most important of all the institutions is the
Escuela Integral [[Integrated School]], founded in 1962,
which in 1970 had an enrollment of over 1,000 students.
Jewish schools have been functioning in various parts of
the interior since the 1920s. A teachers' seminary was
organized in 1954 by the Va'ad ha-Hinnukh (Ḥinnukh) of
the Ashkenazi community. The so-called "workers'
schools", active from 1925 to the 1950s, followed the
Yiddishist, leftist, non-Zionist ideology. the most
important of these institutions is the Jaim Zhitlowsky
school (founded in 1930).
Informal education is given by the Zionist and pioneer
youth groups, including Benei Akiva, Dror, Ha-Shomer
ha-Za'ir (Ẓa'ir), Ha-No'ar ha-Ziyyoni (Ẓiyyoni), and
Betar.
Local youth organizations include
-- the Union Universalista Kadima (founded 1940);
-- Hebraica-Macabi (social and sports activities);
-- Juventud Sefaradí [[Sefardi Youth]];
-- and the youth section of the Nueva Congregación
Israelita [[New Israelite Congregation]].
Their activities are coordinated by the Federación
Juvenil Sionista [[Zionist Youth Federation]] (founded
1941), which in turn is represented in the Federación
Sionista Territorial [[Zionist Territorial Federation]],
the Comité Central Israelita [[Israeli Central
Committee]], and the [[racist Zionist]] World Jewish
Congress. It also collaborates with non-Jewish youth
organizations. The "progressist" youth are organized in
the Federación Juvenil Jaim Zhitlowsky [[Jaim Zhitlowsky
Youth Federation]], which has two centers. Its
membership declined in the post-Stalin period.
RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL LIFE.
[Congregations]
In view of the predominantly secular trends in the
community, there is little religious extremism. Basic
tradition is observed, and the communities assume
responsibility for the fulfillment of (col. 14)
ritual. In the Ashkenazi community, which is under the
supervision of the Va'ad ha-Ir le-Inyanei ha-Dat,
religious and communal functions have been separate
since 1942. There are small groups of extreme Orthodox
Jews who came from Hungary and Transylvania in the 1950s
and formed the Kehillah Adat Yere'im. An interfaith
organization made up of Catholics, Evangelists, and Jews
is active in promoting inter-religious harmony and
engages in social work.
Cultural life, however, is predominant and is integrated
into the program of the majority of the communal social,
political, and educational institutions. For the most
part, the cultural activities are of an informative
character on subjects of both Jewish and general
interest and are usually carried on in Spanish . Among
members of the older Ashkenazi generation Yiddish is
more common. A small number of Hebraists has founded the
Moadon Ivri.
[Jewish literature in
Uruguay]
The most important local literary activity is
translation of the works of Jewish writers into Spanish.
A few authors among the first generation have written
original literary works on Jewish philosophical,
religious, and historical themes in Yiddish and Hebrew.
Authors of the second generation have written essays and
literature of a general nature in Spanish.
*YIVO has a branch in Uruguay with an archive and a
library, and the Jewish writers and journalists have
their own association.
[Jewish press in
Uruguay]
The Jewish press in Uruguay was at first closely linked
with the Argentinian press. Starting in 1920 with the
Spanish Voz Hebrea
[[Hebrew Voice]] through the dailies Der Tog [[Yidd.:
The Day]] and Morgentsaytung
[[Yidd.: The Morning]] of the 1930s, the Uruguayan
Jewish community still had three dailies in the 1960s: Folksblat [[Yidd.:
Popular]] (founded in 1934), Haynt (founded in 1957), and the
Communist Unzer
Fraynt [[Yidd.: Our Friend]] (founded in 1935).
Only two exist today (1970): the Spanish weekly
Semanario Hebreo (founded in 1954) and the religious
biweekly Der Moment (founded in 1940), which continued
to be sold in the main streets of Montevideo. There are
several other publications of an informal informative
character, the most prominent being the Gemeindeblatt
[[Germ.: Communal Paper]] (founded in 1938), a monthly
bulletin of the German-speaking community.
[R.P.RA.] (col. 15) [[...]]
[Numbers 1970]
Although a census of the Jewish population has not been
taken, it is estimated that about 50,000 Jews live in
Uruguay (1970), 48,000 of them in the capital,
Montevideo. About 1,200 Jews are thought to live in the
interior, and some 90 Jewish families lived in Paysandú,
the second largest city. Seventy percent of the Jews are
East European, 15% West European, 12% Sephardim, and 3%
Hungarian. (col. 11) [[...]]
In 1970 the Montevideo Jewish community comprised four kehillot
[[congregations]]:
-- Comunidad Israelita de Montevideo [[Israelite
Community of Montevideo]] (Ashkenazi, founded in 1932),
with 4,000 members;
-- Comunidad Israelita Sefaradía [[Israelite Sefardi
Community]] (founded in 1932), with 1,500 members;
-- Nueva Congregación Israelita [[New Israelite
Congregation]] (German-speaking, founded in 1936), with
1,500 members;
-- and Sociedad Húngara de Montevideo [[Hungarian
Society of Montevideo]] (founded in 1942), with 200
members.
They are united under the umbrella organization Comité
Central Israetita (C.C.I.), which is affiliated with the
[[racist Zionist]] World Jewish Congress. (col. 12)
[[...]]
In 1970 industry, commerce in textiles, furs, furniture,
pharmaceutical products, plastics, metallurgy, and
electronics were well established. Members of the
professions occupy intermediate positions on the
economic ladder, and a small number of Jews were
partners in agricultural corporations that dealt in
rural land and its products. (col. 13)
Relations with [racist
Zionist Free Mason CIA Herzl] Israel.
As early as 1920, at the San Remo Conference, Uruguay
expressed its support for Jewish aspirations in Erez
Israel (Ereẓ Israel) [[Land of Israel]] and the *Balfour
Declaration through its representative at the League of
Nations. In April 1947, it was among the nations that
voted for the establishment of the United Nations
Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), one of whose
members was Enrico Rodrigues Fabrigant of Uruguay.
Friendly relations between the two countries began with
the enthusiastic support of Uruguay's UN representative
for the plan to partition Palestine and establish a
[[racist]] Jewish state.
At the assembly and the deliberations that
preceded the acceptance of the plan on Nov. 29, 1947,
the Uruguay delegation contributed much effort to
mobilizing support for it. Uruguay was also the first
Latin American country, and among the first countries in
the world, to recognize the [[racist Zionist Free Mason
CIA Herzl]] State of Israel (May 19, 1948).
Montevideo was the first Latin American capital and the
fourth city in the world in which an [[racist
Zionist]] Israel diplomatic representation was set up
(Nov. 1, 1948). On May 11, 1949, Uruguay stood out in
its negative vote on the question of international
administration over Jerusalem. The Uruguayan legation
established in Tel Aviv in 1951 was transferred to
Jerusalem in 1956. After the Six-Day War (1967), Uruguay
was among the states that abstained in the UN vote
against the union of Jerusalem.
Streets in the capital of each country have been named
in honor of the other, and parliamentary delegations
have exchanged visits (1957-58). The two countries have
signed a trade and maritime agreement, and a forest has
been planted in the Judean Mountains honoring the
Uruguayan (col. 15)
national hero, Artigas (1958). In the same year, the
diplomatic representations in Montevideo and Jerusalem
were raised to the status of embassies, and the foreign
ministers of each state exchanged visits in 1959 and
1966. A visit by the president of the [[racist Zionist
Free Mason CIA Herzl]] State of Israel to Uruguay and
the reciprocal visit of Uruguayan ministers, members of
parliament, scientists, authors, and artists have been
clear expressions of the friendly relations between the
two states.
When the then-foreign minister of Israel,
Moshe-Sharrett, visited Uruguay in 1953, he signed a
cultural agreement with the government. The
Uruguay-Israel Institute for Cultural Relations has been
set up there.
In 1968 the export from [[racist Zionist Free Mason CIA
Herzl]] Israel to Uruguay was $214,000 and in 1949 it
was $212,000. [[Racist Zionist Free Mason CIA Herzl]]
Israel imported $3,360,000 worth of goods from Uruguay
in 1968 and $4,433,000 worth in 1969. [[Racist Zionist
Free Mason CIA Herzl]] Israel exports mostly minerals
and chemicals to Uruguay and imports meat and wool. A
trade agreement was signed between the two countries on
June 13, 1968, and an agreement for scientific and
technical cooperation was signed at the same time. An
agreement for cooperation in the field of atomic
development was signed on June 23, 1966. Israel had
provided Uruguay with scholarships in such fields as
agriculture, cooperative living, social work, and
education.
[N.Y.]
Bibliography
-- A. Sapolinsky in: In the Dispersion, 2 (1963), 74-88;
3 (1963/64), 90-107
-- J. Beller: Jews in Latin America (1963), 218-30
-- J. Shatzky: Yidishe Yishuvim in Latayn-Amerike
[[Yiddish Jews in Latin America]] (1952), 15-25
-- World Jewish Congress: Judíos en el Uruguay [[Jews in
Uruguay]] (Sp. 1957)
-- I. Ganon, in: Commentario, 14 no. 54 (1967), 52-56
-- J. Jarosolinsky: ibid, 76-83
-- B. Lewin: Los Judíos bajo la Inquisición en
Hispanoamérica [[The Jews and the Inquisition in Spanish
America]](1960)
-- A. Monk and J. Isaacson (eds.): Comunidades Judías de
Latinoamérica [[Jewish Communities in Latin America]]
(1968), 115-21.> (col. 16)
