Argentine Jewish Farmers on the Screen
Iván Cherjovsky
Abstract agricultural colonies, within three decades Taking a historical approach, this arti- the country went from being a net import- cle explores a series of films depicting life er of grain and flour to figuring as one of in Jewish agricultural colonies established the major worldwide exporters of those in Argentina between 1889 and 1936. Most goods (Djenderedjian 129). of these works were documentaries, al- Agricultural settlements possessed though some fictions did make it to the great importance not only for the Argen- screen. For Jewish citizens of Argenti- tine economy and society in general, but na, the past and present existence of the also for the self-image of those born and farming settlements turned out to be an bred in the colonies. Nonetheless, the saga efficient vehicle for presenting themselves of the European immigrant farmers has to the State and civil society as authentic almost never been brought to the screen. Argentines. As a result, the Jewish gau- Films about rural life have focused on dis- chos (the farming settlements’ dwellers) tinctly social and political themes. These were present as protagonists in mass cul- include: conflicts among farmers, railroad ture productions. The philological explo- companies, and great exporting concerns ration on films and documentaries gives (Kilómetro 111, dir. Mario Soffici, 1938); back a rich, composite depiction of the the exploitation of day laborers who har- overall production on the Jewish colonies vest mate in the province of Misiones (Pri- and shows the shift from initial hostility to sioneros de la tierra, dir. Soffici, 1939; Dark present support by sectors of society and River [Las aguas bajan turbias], dir. Hugo governmental organs. del Carril, 1952); the difficulty of achieving land ownership (La tierra será nuestra, dir. Ignacio Tankel, 1949); and the struggles of cotton pickers in the El Chaco region Introduction1 (Esta tierra es mía, dir. del Carril, 1961). If Agricultural settlements on the pam- we consider the importance of the Western pas played a major role in the process of genre in the U.S., the near-neglect of the economic transformation undergone by immigrant farmer theme is doubly curi- Argentina between the second half of the ous, since from the outset Argentine cin- nineteenth century and the first third of ema has sought at once to imitate and dif- the twentieth. The modernization pursued ferentiate itself from Hollywood, creating by the governing liberal party was kick- a kind of alternative modernism (Karush started by the 1876 Law of Immigration 69-73). The agricultural colonies planted in and Colonization, which opened the doors indigenously populated areas could well to millions of foreigners, mostly Europe- have been transformed into a local version an.2 Thanks to this broad development of of the Far West.
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 18 Post Script There are a few exceptions to this rule. in Argentina reached its highest point, Two were the lavishly produced films, numbering around 35,000 and represent- with top-notch casting. The 1949 Argen- ing more than 10% of Argentine Jewry. tine-Chilean co-production Esperanza (dir. Francisco Mugica and Eduardo Boneo) de- picted the difficult beginnings of a group ewish olonies of Swiss, French, and Italian families who J C settled in the Esperanza Colony, founded in Fiction Film in 1856 in Santa Fe province.3 Maybe the By the time Jewish Gauchos debuted, commercial failure of this undertaking there existed several Argentine mass-dis- discouraged other directors of the time tribution films with significant Jewish from approaching the agricultural-col- characters. They had forerunners in saine- ony theme. Nonetheless, two and a half tes, a popular theatrical genre that often in- decades later, a second adventurer, Juan cluded immigrants of diverse background. José Jusid, invested great time and mon- The films, of course, included negative ste- ey in a picture called Jewish Gauchos ([Los reotypes, but Jews were mostly presented gauchos judíos], 1975). This was a musical as benign creatures integrating into Ar- based on the homonymous volume of tales gentine society at large. One example: the from 1910, devoted to the specifically Jew- characters played by Adolfo Stray in three ish agricultural settlements established in films—Fúlmine (the film’s name is that of its Argentina; the book’s author, Alberto Ger- protagonist; dir. Luis Bayón Herrera, 1949), chunoff, became quite celebrated and the Ésta es mi vida (dir. Román Viñoly Barre- text a classic of Argentine literature. to, 1952), and La niña del gato (dir. Barreto, For Jewish citizens of Argentina, the 1953)—are immigrants, obviously Jewish past and present existence of the agricul- because of their Yiddish accent. They earn tural colonies turned out to be a perfect ve- their living in commerce and finance but hicle for presenting themselves to the State not in an archetypally exploitative way. and civil society as authentic Argentines. Moreover, the directors chose an actor The hard work and high productivity of both well known to the Jewish communi- the agriculturalists proved Jews could cast ty and recognized as a Jew by Argentine off money lending and trade and embody movies audiences in general. two key elements of Argentine identity: the Native-born children of immigrants figure of the gaucho Argentine( natives of appear a bit later on the screen. Ellos nos mixed Spanish and indigenous extraction hicieron así (dir. Soffici, 1952), Quinto año celebrated as an ideal at the very time the nacional (dir. Rodolfo Blasco, 1961), Dar real roaming cowmen were being dis- la cara (dir. José Martínez Suárez, 1962), placed) and the self-image of the country and The Terrace ([La terraza], dir. Leopoldo as the “breadbasket of the world” (though Torre Nilsson, 1963) present positive Jew- its role as grain exporter was already in de- ish characters and portray conflicts in the cline by the 1930s).4 Argentine educational system. The pres- Jews had begun arriving in the Ar- ence of Jews among the students serves to gentine countryside at the end of the nine- denounce anti-Semitism in universities. teenth century, mostly to populate settle- Perhaps the sole movie with an ambiguous ments created by the Jewish Colonization treatment of Jews was Ragged Football ([Pelo- Association, often referred to by its acro- ta de trapo], dir. Leopoldo Torres Ríos, 1948), nym JCA, a philanthropic enterprise es- which portrays a shady Jewish trader. His tablished in 1891 by the Jewish Franco-Bel- unwillingness to integrate into society is gian railroad magnate Baron Maurice de shown by his refusal to let his native-born Hirsch. Due to this immigration, between son join neighborhood boys in a game of 1920 and 1940, the rural Jewish population soccer—the Argentine national passion.5
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 19 Post Script Probably the first reference to Argen- poldo Torre Nilsson and with Emilio, Ma- tine-Jewish farming in a fiction film occurs rio, and Norberto Kaminsky, family own- in Con gusto a rabia (dir. Fernando Ayala, ers of an important national record label: 1965). In that work, anti-Semitic national- Microfón Argentina. The fact that a key ists set off a noise bomb in a theater during filmmaker in Argentine cinema, such as a show celebrating the seventy-fifth anni- Torre Nilsson, was interested in coproduc- versary of Jewish agricultural settlements ing a version of the well-known collection in the country. They detonate the device, of stories Los gauchos judíos was perhaps shower the theater with pamphlets, and dictated by ideological factors, and not call for Jewish traitors to leave the country. just artistic and financial concerns, since However, once initial fear has subsided Torre Nilsson’s convictions were decidedly in the theater, a young woman returns to liberal (Ciria 47-48). Likewise, La terraza, a the stage to continue singing “Hava Nag- movie by Torre Nilsson mentioned before, ila,” (a traditional Israeli folk song of joy) denounced anti-Semitism rampant among while the audience claps along. This short the far-right-wing youth of the Buenos Ai- sequence, in a film denouncing national- res upper crust.7 ist groups, shows Jews not only as peace- Following a suggestion by the Kamin- ful citizens celebrating the anniversary of sky family, the production team decided to their belonging to the Argentine landscape turn the picture into a musical along the but also as resilient people capable of over- lines of Fiddler on the Roof (dir. Norman coming great adversity.6 Jewison, USA, 1971), the Oscar-winning film of the Broadway version of stories by classic Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem. In this way, the Argentine audience would ewish auchos J G , associate the film with a blockbuster that Broadway Style had also portrayed Eastern European Jews The already-mentioned Jewish Gauchos fleeing persecution. It was hoped that the was the first Argentine film totally devot- Broadwayification of Jewish Gauchos would ed to Jewish life in the country. As noted, help recoup the large sum—a half-million it was an expensive, star-studded produc- dollars—that the film cost, by boosting tion. In a personal interview by the author the box-office receipts with sales of a long of this article, director Juan José Jusid recounted how he came upon the idea of making the movie. He wished to foreground the contribution of immi- grants to the moderniza- tion of Argentina, since the official version of his- tory taught by schools in the 1970s was centered on the 1810 revolution against Spain, the independence achieved in 1816, and the great deeds of 19th-centu- ry national heroes (Cher- jovsky 257). To finance the project, Jusid teamed up A Jewish wedding. Jewish Gauchos (1975), directed by in 1974 with director Leo- Juan José Jusid.
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 20 Post Script play record produced by the Kaminskys. film had to portray events that occurred Indeed, the revenue at cinemas was slim, far enough in the past as to seem quite re- given that the then price of a ticket was the mote to its potential audience. Thus, the equivalent of about forty U.S. cents. Jusid screenplay introduces yet another aspect lamented that the film lost money, despite not present in the book. Life in the colony the large audience it had attracted. is depicted as childhood remembrances of Jewish Gauchos combines four distinct one of the protagonists. We hear his now storylines, taken from four chapters of the adult voice—that of actor Sergio Renán— original book.8 The characters are Jewish in the background at several key points. immigrants, their children, and native-born This is one of the first such voiceovers: Argentines (both of European extraction My father was the first of so many and of “mixed blood,” as were the gauchos). generations to push a plow. There- The setting is an agricultural colony in the upon emerged the Ragil colony, no Entre Ríos province toward the end of the longer on the map today. This is part nineteenth century. The action starts as the of its short history: what I recall; first Jews arrive and ends with the resolu- what has remained etched in my tion of a conflict between the Jews and local memory; how a group of gringos— property owners, politicians, and peasants who had lived by making shoes or who wish to run them off the land. The selling trinkets in filthy gloomy mar- opponents to Jewish presence hatch a plot ketplaces—transformed themselves and co-opt the administrators of the colo- into expert gauchos, working their ny, about whom it is not clear whether they own soil. (10:13-44) are Jews or not, since they speak Spanish with an English rather than Yiddish accent. These words, which practically open Moreover, they never mention the Jewish the film, condense what is at stake ideo- Colonization Association or its founder, logically: to show the willingness of Jew- Baron de Hirsch. The plotters try to expel ish immigrants to become productive the Jews by burning their crops and poi- elements (“working their own soil”) and soning their wells. Ultimately, they are integrate socially and culturally into Ar- unmasked by the physician Noé Yarcho, gentina (as “expert gauchos”). This attempt a real-life figure whom the film turns into to legitimize Jewish presence, manifest in a kind of Sherlock Holmes, played by re- the idealistic tone that permeates the film, nowned actor Pepe Soriano. Such a conflict, led many prominent Jewish intellectuals to completely absent from the original book, criticize the lack of realism and historical was probably invented to link together its accuracy. For example, on the pages of the practically standalone chapters, to create daily La Opinión, journalist Daniel Much- suspense, and end on a resounding note. nik and theater critic Kive Staiff, both de- In the most popular Argentine newspapers scendants of Jewish farmers, disparaged (such as Clarín, La Nación, and La Prensa), scenes such the initial sequence wherein the freshly introduced detective element dwellers arriving in the colonies are radi- made it possible to advertise the film as a ant with joy, well dressed, greeted by an “mystery.” In La Nación, it was touted as “a orchestra, and lodged in comfortable quar- magical world of music, passion, love, hap- ters. Nothing could be further removed piness, humor, valor, and mystery set in a from the harsh reality endured by the pi- picturesque Entre Ríos village at the end of oneers. Nonetheless, the same newspaper, the century” (4).9 owned by Jacobo Timerman (who would What Gerchunoff had published in achieve international renown with his 1981 1910 was a volume of contemporary tales memoir of imprisonment by the Argentine taking place in the Jewish colonies founded dictatorship, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell barely two decades earlier. But in 1975, the Without a Number [Preso sin nombre, celda sin
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 21 Post Script número], featured an extremely positive as- tler deals a ferocious blow to the opponent, sessment of the film by movie director and making him confess that his rival had not critic Agustín Mahieu. used trickery. Tato ruled that the sequence Although, as we have seen, the pic- had to be censored for two reasons; first of ture was promoted in the prominent news- all, a gaucho would supposedly never kill papers as the depiction of an enchanted his son; and secondly, it is physically im- world, some incidents at its premiere possible for a Jew to deal such a blow to demonstrate the ire the subject provoked a gaucho. The scene was removed, though in some nationalist sectors. First of all, now it may be viewed in the complete ver- during production (from the end of 1974 to sion offered on the DVD (Cherjovsky 260- the beginning of 1975), a conflict emerged 62). with members of a military regiment in The third manifestation of the wrath Campo de Mayo, a site in Buenos Aires provoked among nationalists concerned province where the set reproducing the terrorist incidents at the film’s release. On rural atmosphere of the colonies had been 11 May 1975, a prescreening at the Cine- constructed. One morning, when only the club Núcleo, in the city of Buenos Aires, final scenes remained to be filmed, a group was suspended following a bomb threat. A of presumably inebriated conscripts com- few days later, at the officiale d but at the mitted arson thereby burning part of the Broadway movie house in the Argentine backdrop and the wardrobe, which result- capital, students from the Universidad del ed in serious financial loss, delay, and need Salvador threw firecrackers into the the- for repairs. ater, broke windows, and painted swasti- The second event took place at the kas on the posters. Still, the screening took Ente de Calificación Cinematográfica, the place (Jusid 5). The pamphlets thrown by bureau of censors, whose leadership had the attackers give a clear indication of their been assumed by the infamous Paulino ideas about Jews: Tato in August 1974.10 Even though Tato These are the Jewish gauchos: Bron- had approved the original screenplay, his ner, Gelbard, Todres, Nattin, Miz- viewing of the final product led to a change ragi, Madanes, Timermann, Boren- of heart. He threatened to block the film’s stein, Kestelboim, Stivel, Sadovsky, release because of the title and scenes he Asher, Rapaport, Tifernberg, Bunge considered improper. The title was held and Born, Berenstein . . . Dreyfus, to be offensive to the fatherland, since it Hirsch, Gerchunoff . . . made the gaucho, one of the most revered Gold was their seeds, manifestations of Argentine identity, into a Usury, their plow, “foreigner” (i.e., a Jew). But Tato’s main ob- Man, their beast of burden, jection concerned a sequence lasting about Their fruit, Argentine blood. ten minutes, in which Jewish colonists For a National-Justicialista Argenti- watch a horse race involving gauchos. In na, without Jews or victims! one of the races, a young man loses against Let us fight stateless Judaism! qtd.( in the son of gaucho Remigio Calamaco, a “Hechos y resonancias” 8)11 friend of Jews. When the loser accuses the winner of trickery, the quarrel turns into a After the film’s premiere, the nation- duel with a facón—the knife used by gau- alist media published not only negative chos. When Calamaco’s son shows signs critiques but also inaccurate synopses. One of cowardice, his father, shamed by this example: according to the magazine Semana blot on the family’s honor, approaches and Política, the film portrays the arrival of Jews kills his own son with a stab of the knife. planning to “create an Israelite state in our Wishing to avenge the accusation that has Mesopotamia provinces” (qtd. in “Hechos y resulted in his friend’s death, a Jewish set- resonancias” 8). The producers of the film
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 22 Post Script reported the discrimination and acts of vio- metida,” that translates “Entre Ríos, The lence to the Delegación de Asociaciones Isra- Promised Land.” La Nación newspaper, in elitas Argentinas (the Argentine anti-Semi- a somewhat more measured praise, called tism watchdog organization, often referred the film “a suitable adaptation of Gerchun- to by its acronym DAIA). They received no off” (“Gerchunoff” 10). La Opinión, despite response, which was all the more surprising publishing the damning critique by Much- as the organization had been recently very nik, devoted two entire pages to the film, active in denouncing anti-Semitic publica- including a text box decrying the absurd tions by the far-right group known as the censorship to which it had been subjected Triple A and other radical Peronist forma- (“La escena” 19). But perhaps the clear- tions. Likewise, the DAIA had denounced est sign of the widespread appreciation other manifestations of anti-Semitism: the of Jusid’s film was the sizeable audience prohibition, by the governor of Córdoba it drew. In the first week of its release, it province, of a commemoration of the War- garnered 250,000 attendees, practically the saw ghetto uprising; the airing on the TV size of the entire Jewish population of the channel “Once” of a program corroborating country. The ultimate number speaks for the myth of a conspiracy—the so-called itself: 1.4 million tickets sold (“Las pelícu- Andinia Plan—to establish a Jewish state in las”).14 Beyond the cinematic and musical parts of Argentina and Chile (the program quality of the film, and the star-filled cast, was presumably financed by Arab countries Jusid attributed its success to three fac- in an attempt to weaken support for Israel) tors: a certain morbid curiosity provoked (“El titular de la DAIA” 10).12 According to by news of the attacks at its premiere; the Jusid, DAIA’s inattentiveness to anti-Sem- desire of some moviegoers to discover the itism surrounding his film could be at- world of Jewish culture, something quite tributed to the pursuit of the Zionist ideals unknown to a considerable portion of the by the organization, whose leadership was Argentine public; and identification with unsympathetic to Gerchunoff’s adherence the Jewish story on the part of descendants to the melting-pot attempt to integrate Jews of other immigrant groups who felt that into Argentina (Cherjovsky 263).13 Indeed, if their own pasts had been silenced in the DAIA had a positive opinion of the film, it official history (Cherjovsky 264). could have taken advantage of the oppor- Although far less spectacularly, the tunity afforded by the fact that its release Jewish colonies have appeared in other fic- coincided with the twenty-fifth anniversa- tional pictures that garnered film festival ry of Gerchonuff’s death on 2 March 1950. prizes and were successful at the box of- The date was commemorated by various fice. Some films feature interpreters with a Jewish institutions, and Aguilar, a major close tie to the colonies, such as Autumn Sun publishing-house, launched a new illustrat- ([Sol de otoño] dir. Eduardo Mignona, 1966), ed edition of Los gauchos judíos, which had whose protagonist Clara Goldstein was been out of print for some time (“Homenaje born in Carlos Casares, a provincial city a Gerchunoff” 6; “Los gauchos judíos” 7). near the Mauricio Jewish colony. In Nine There were countervailing forces to Queens ([Nueve reinas], dir. Fabián Bielinsky, the conscripts who set the filming loca- 2000), a film distributed to many countries, tion ablaze, Paulino Tato who exercised including the United States, the two protag- censorship, and right-wing Peronists who onists swindle an old lady born in a colony attacked the debut. Sectors of Argentine so- by palming themselves off as descendants ciety were quite favorable to the film. Sev- of Jewish settlers.15 Films that took place eral large-circulation newspapers praised on the settlements, but drawing far smaller it and bewailed the anti-Semitic outbreaks. audiences than the last two mentioned, are The daily Clarín published an enthusiastic Un amor en Moisés Ville (dir. Antonio Ottone, review titled “Entre Ríos, la Tierra Pro- 2000), which describes the intergenerational
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 23 Post Script conflicts between the settlers and their chil- Following this precedent, the film dren wishing to move to the cities; and The made by Glücksmann offered numerous Camera Obscura ([La cámara oscura] dir. María images drawn from daily life in the col- Victoria Menis, 2008), which showed a shy, onies. We see farmers working the land, plain-looking woman in an early twenti- children leaving the Jewish school, a JCA eth-century colony, who fell in love with a administrator welcoming a settler into his traveling photographer. office. The picture also showed the bet- ter housing for new arrivals in 1925 and technological advances in planting and harvesting. Actually, the JCA had com- Documentary Films missioned the film from Glücksmann as The first documentary film I have “positive demonstration of the JCA’s com- found on Jewish farming colonies in Ar- plex achievements in our country and un- gentina, which was shown in movie hous- equivocal proof of Jewish settlers’ progress es, was produced in 1926 by Max Glücks- and hard work” (“Un film de las colonias” mann’s company, and does not have a title. 1). The film, which was shown for the first Glücksmann was one of the great pioneers time on Sunday, 27 October 1926 to a group of the local film industry, the head of a of journalists and members of the Sociedad vast empire made up of seventy theaters de Protección a los Inmigrantes Israelitas, throughout Latin America. Mordechai Da- featured only shots taken in two Argentine vid Glücksmann, better known as Max, provinces: Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero. had arrived as a teenage immigrant and Glücksmann was slated to supplement the achieved success as a “self-made man” and film with images from the colonies in Entre as a Buenos Aires Jewish community lead- Ríos, La Pampa and Buenos Aires provinc- er. Though the documentary genre already es, but I have found no indication that the existed, the images taken in the colonies project was brought to conclusion. in 1926 do not coalesce into a work of that Thirteen years later, organizers of the kind. It is perhaps more accurate to refer to fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the them as a “record,” since the film is linear- Moisés Ville colony contracted Glücks- ly edited and presents no plot. Recording mann to film the ambitious festivities social practices, situations, and loci was a planned for October 1939; I have not found very common practice in the 1920s, in gen- any footage of them, if indeed such had eral and within the Jewish community of ever existed. However, the 1955 film Medio Buenos Aires. For example, in February siglo: Rivera 1905-1955 (dir. Justo Martínez 1925, the Semanario Hebreo reported that and Enrique Dawidowicz) documented the Rapid Film company was successfully Jewish life in the Rivera colony in south- filming all the Jewish institutions of the west Buenos Aires province, on the border city. Among others, the list of places in- of La Pampa province. With voiceover by cluded the Hospital Israelita; boys’, girls’ Martínez, the film shows farming tasks, and senior citizens’ homes; the Chevra aged pioneers and institutional life in the Kadisha burial society; newsrooms; clubs; colony, and most of all celebrations for its neighborhood associations; and the Bue- fiftieth anniversary. We see a large crowd nos Aires offices of the Jewish Coloniza- welcoming Carlos Aloé, the Peronist gov- tion Association. The film, which debuted ernor of Buenos Aires province, who per- in April of that year at a fundraising event forms the ritual homage to the memory for the hospital, was intended to show “the of Eva Perón. Likewise, there are images full advancement and progress achieved of a lecture given by Gregorio Verbitzky, in recent years by all the societies and in- author of Rivera, afán de medio siglo, a com- stitutions of our community” (“Un film de memorative book published in 1955. las instituciones” 7). To mark the seventy-fifth anniversa-
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 24 Post Script ry of Jewish colonization in 1964, a group national symbols that reflect the Jews’ of former residents of the colonies, now sense that they belong in Argentina. The residing in Buenos Aires, formed an ad May 25 national holiday is celebrated in hoc production company called Pioneros the Rivera colony, as the flag is hoisted by a Films and launched a feature titled Un Jewish farming leader who is also a munic- viaje por las colonias judeo-argentinas which ipal employee. At times, the dramatic mu- translates as “A Journey through the Ar- sic played at the beginning is replaced with gentine-Jewish colonies.” Unlike the two Argentine folk melodies deeply linked to precious pictures, Un viaje doesn’t simply the rural setting. Also emphasized is the record real scenes. It may be considered solidarity between local gauchos and Jew- a documentary in the proper sense of the ish settlers. word. Utilizing footage combining images Starting in the 1980s, full-length docu- of the present with historical photographs mentaries increase in number, though they and various maps, the first seven min- were of uneven quality and rarely shown. utes feature the initial context: expulsive Examples of these works are 75 aniversario decrees in Czarist Russia, prejudices con- de Rivera y sus colonias (dir. Alberto Frenkel, cerning the supposed inaptness of Jews for 1980); 100 años: Colonia Mauricio (dir. Edu farming, the creation of the JCA, and the Feller, 1991); A mis antepasados riverenses settlement of Jews in Argentina. Voiceover (dir. Pablo Milstein, 1992); Esperanza: Basav- alternates with sometimes dramatic, some- ilbaso crisol de razas (dir. Isaac Wolfowicz, times hopeful music that tinges the begin- 1996); Cien años de Las Palmeras (dir. Mario ning sequence with emotion. Thereupon, Fritzler), 2004); Rivera: Las raíces y los frutos the narrator announces that the goal of (dir. Alejandro Cantor, 2005); Retorno juda- the film is to recover an essential historical ico a Avigdor (dir. Martha Wolff, 2010); and process, which has been unjustly forgotten Con los pies en la tierra (dir. Wolff, 2014). by Argentine society. From that point on, Numerous short subjects, in the mov- the filmmakers themselves embark upon ies and on TV, began to appear in the 1990s. an adventurous tour of the colonies. They These pieces present historical, cultural, show us the first Jewish colonist born in and social aspects of Jewish agricultural Argentina and significant heads of agricul- settlements; once again, the quality is un- tural cooperatives. We see the tombstones even. Most were due to initiatives taken of historical figures of note who resided by individuals, journalists, museums, or in the settlements: Dr. Noé Yarcho, men- municipalities wishing to publicize his- tioned here earlier, and Yiddish writer torical and touristic attractions. Among Boruj Bendersky. The voiceover celebrates these works, two stand out in terms of the social and cultural life developing the documentation and testimony they of- in these areas so far from urban centers. fer: Moisés Ville: La fuerza de la integración The creation of schools and institutions is (a thirteen-episode vehicle, directed by a touted as part of the march of civilization team of young moviemakers from Santa “that never stops” (10:40). Progress is ex- Fe province in 2008); and Viaje por el lega- emplified by the grain elevator of the Vil- do judío: Moisés Ville (dir. Omri Rot, 2014). la Domínguez colony. We see how young Some directors received state support. For generations born in the country deploy the example, Guillermo Meresman, of Entre latest technologies, introduce new crops, Ríos province, received funding from the and experiment with beekeeping. The Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Vi- JCA’s work in rescuing Jews from the Na- suales (usually referred to by its acronym zis is recalled when the travelers arrive in INCAA) and the Fundación Antorchas, for Entre Ríos province at the Avigdor colony, the purpose of directing De gauchos, colo- created for refugees from Germany. nos y vecinos (1995) and El último gaucho As the picture proceeds, there appear judío (1997).
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 25 Post Script A particularly interesting case is De at film festivals, and was awarded the prize Besarabia a Entre Ríos (2006), a homemade for best documentary screenplay by the So- documentary directed by Pedro Banchik, ciedad General de Autores de la Argentina an Entre Ríos businessman. The film was (usually referred to by its acronym ARGEN- conceived as a way to transmit to the di- TORES). The project was masterminded by rector’s relatives the story of their common Baruj Tenembaum, an educator from the ancestors settled in an Entre Ríos colony. Moisés Ville colony, who obtained financ- The descendants, dispersed throughout ing from the International Raoul Wallen- the world, were invited to the colony for a kind of summit meeting, at which the film was shown. Banchik offered DVDs to all the families present. Upon their return home, they distrib- uted the DVDs among TV chan- nels, universities, and museums such as Beit Hatfutsot (The Mu- seum of the Jewish Diaspora) in Tel Aviv; several institutions ac- quired copies for their catalogs (Banchik).16 The documentary was projected at various Jew- ish film festivals and official- ly hailed as a work of cultural interest by the government of Entre Ríos province and by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch, crossfading into an Argen- Argentine National Chamber of tine countryside landscape. Legado (2004), directed Deputies. A bill proposed and by Vivian Imar and Marcelo Trotta. never approved by the Honor- able Cámara de Diputados de la Nación demonstrates the State’s recognition berg Foundation. Later, the film received a to the memory of minorities. The bill read: subsidy from the INCAA. The original plan was only to record and edit testimony by The film implicitly expresses deep colonists’ descendants. However, the film gratitude to the generous Argentine took on a more cinematographic conception homeland, and simultaneously con- after Tenembaum met director Vivian Imar, veys a message of peace and signifi- who felt a personal connection to this reflec- cant values: solidarity, mutual com- tion of his own family’s story. Imar decided prehension, human rights, tolerance, to imbue the film with emotion by includ- and acceptance of the diversity of all ing imaginary narrators who unveil the our country’s inhabitants. As such, it historical forces in play and bring together is a contribution to education and na- the various testimonies by real people. In tional culture. (File No. 4730-D-2007) order to provide both intimacy and realism, Among all the documentaries, the Imar, together with Trotta, decided that most notable might well be Legado: Nunca the words of the main character—a wom- me fui de mi pueblo (trans. “Legacy: I have an who arrived in 1889 with the pioneers never left my town,” dir. Vivian Imar and of Moisés Ville—would be spoken in Yid- Marcelo Trotta, 2004). The film was made dish by Shifra Lerer, an Argentine actress by professional directors; it debuted in com- residing in the US. Relevantly, Lerer’s own mercial movie houses, achieved recognition ancestors had come to Argentina on the
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 26 Post Script S.S. Weser, the legendary vessel that is the cades-long conflict between Jewish settlers equivalent of the Mayflower for Argentine and the JCA.18 Jewry. Finally, I would like to relate the ex- Legado combines footage, from the perience I had as a film director. In 2013, I 1990s, shot in the previously mentioned col- defended my doctoral dissertation on the onies; sequences done by the Casa Glücks- memory of Jewish agricultural settlement mann in 1926; and archival material relat- in Argentina. It was published as a book in ed to the Argentine countryside. The most 2017. One of its chapters was devoted to the notable testimonies in the film are given by activities and management strategies that the daughter of Miguel Sajaroff, a leader of a group of present-day Moisés Ville resi- farming cooperatives; Máximo Yagupsky, dents have developed in order to preserve a renowned Jewish educator and intellec- the local legacy and memory while attract- tual; and Robert Schopflocher, one of the ing tourism. The accomplishments of these last administrators of the JCA in Argenti- cultural entrepreneurs are manifold. They na. The directors did not rely solely on the have created a museum and archive; they meanderings of collective memory. They have succeeded in having the town offi- sought advice from experts in the area: Ana cially declared a heritage site; they bring in Weinstein, Leonardo Senkman, Samuel tourists interested in the history of Jewish Rollansky, Mónica Salomón, and the just colonization by organizing events such as mentioned Yagupsky (Cherjovsky 267).17 Al- the Fiesta de Integración Cultural—an “in- though the film generally received praiseful vented tradition,” as per the term used by reviews, the Argentine-Israeli researcher historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terence O. Tzvi Tal has argued that “the convention- Ranger. al approach of Legado promotes empathy In 2014, I set out to film a documen- and integration with the Jews, commend- tary devoted to these initiatives and the ing their heroic conformism in the face of relations between the remaining Jewish difficulties, without demanding a structur- dwellers (veritable “last of the Mohicans”) al change in society” (“Negotiating” 150); and their neighbors, both Catholics and moreover, the picture “supports integration Jehovah’s Witnesses. I teamed up with by depoliticizing memory, focusing on the a young director, Melina Serber, and se- testimonies of elderly people who remem- cured a subsidy from the earlier-men- ber their childhood in the agricultural col- tioned INCAA. The resulting product was onies” (151). Nonetheless, unlike other pro- a one-hour observational documentary ductions relating official memory the film titled La Jerusalem argentina (2017). So far, does not ooze with optimism and apologet- it has been shown at various film festivals ics. Rather, it adopts a subaltern perspec- and has garnered two international prizes: tive of empathy with settlers’ memories; it the Global Migration Film Festival prize avoids grandiloquence and clearly shows in the category of emerging filmmakers in problems in adapting to the new country. 2017 and Premios Latino, Marbella, for the The pioneers do not arrive spruced up and best documentary in 2018. smiling, as they do in Jusid’s film. The ini- Our film traces the period before, after tial scene offers only waves glimpsed from and during Fiesta de Integración Cultural the prow of a ship. Against a background of 2014, timed for the 125th anniversary of of dramatic music and slow movement of the town’s founding. We focus on the ups the water, Lerer’s voiceover narrates the ex- and downs experienced by those attempt- pulsions from Russia that uproot the immi- ing to keep specific memory and identity grants. In the course of the film, elements alive, now that the Jewish community has of subterranean memory are brought to the gone from numbering some 5,000 sixty surface; one example thereof is the uncom- years ago to hardly a few over one hundred promising and detailed portrayal of the de- individuals today. The question floating in
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 27 Post Script the air is what will happen to the colonists’ La Jerusalem Argentina). Moreover, unlike legacy when there are no more Jews left in what transpired upon the release of Jusid’s Moisés Ville. Sociological issues regard- Jewish Gauchos in the 1970s, the documen- ing multiculturalism and the memories taries have not provoked anti-Semitic re- of ethnic minorities come to the fore, and actions. Showings in movie houses and the film packs an emotional punch as the film festivals have proceeded peacefully. protagonists—most over seventy years of The reasons for this difference in reception age—welcome relatives they seldom see. go beyond the slighter audience appeal of Visitors and dwellers attend concerts at the documentaries. In the last twenty years, theater and get-togethers in local homes. Jews have achieved a heretofore unknown Moisés Ville’s Jewish golden age comes level of legitimacy within Argentine soci- again to life, for the duration of a weekend. ety, which has become much more accept- ing of religious and eth- nic minorities. Not only does the State no longer seek to censor movies on Jewish immigrants; now it often awards subsi- dies and sometimes even prizes to those who make films on the subject.
Notes 1The author expresses his appreciation to Alan Astro for his help in trans- lating this paper. 2This piece of legisla- An enlightened Star of David works as a metaphor for Jew- tion provided the follow- ish continuity. La Jerusalem argentina (2017), directed by ing: maritime passage to Iván Cherjovsky and Melina Serber. families willing to settle in the agricultural colo- nies; land granted to them without cost or payable in By Way of Conclusion installments; free transportation from the This short survey charts how cine- port of entry to their final destinations; matographic depiction of Jewish agricul- a year’s supply of food, seeds, tools, and tural settlement in Argentina has shifted working animals. A public agency estab- in recent years to having the protagonists lished later, the Oficina de Tierras y Colo- recount their own stories. Initially, Casa nias, took care of surveying and allotting Glückmann’s silent film included only territory (Fernández 56-57). statistical and other information. In the 3The main role in Esperanza was given first talking documentaries, we hear the to Jacob Ben Ami, a Russian-born Jewish colonists speak solely off the screen, in actor who had first immigrated to the U.S. voiceovers. But starting with Legado, there before coming to Argentina; his accent, is movement toward ever more testimo- Yiddish-tinged though it was, apparent- ny and even a certain free performativity ly seemed appropriate for portraying a on the part of protagonists (especially in non-Jewish Western European.
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 28 Post Script 4On Argentina's role as a grain export- Labor Zionist movements Poalei Tsion er, see Devoto. and Avodah, assumed the presidency of 5For more debate on some of these the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina films, see Lotersztein as well as Tal (“Mi- (AMIA). In his inaugural address, Goren- gración y memoria”). stein urged the community to put its orga- 6During the first half of the sixties, na- nization and programs in line with their tionalist groups launched various attacks “natural” ideology, Zionism, the national against the Jewish community, which they liberation movement of the Jewish people. accused of having participated in the kid- For the debate regarding the role of Zion- napping of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann, ist ideals within Jewish organizations, see captured in Argentina by an Israeli secret also “Asumieron las nuevas autoridades command in 1960, and executed two years de AMIA” and “Anticipa el doctor Mario later, after a famous trial held in Jerusalem. Gorenstein pautas de su futura gestión.” 7Fifteen years earlier, Torre Nilsson 14The movie that drew the greatest au- had directed A Bravo of the 1900s [Un guapo dience at the time was Nazareno Cruz y el del 900], a picture based on the homony- lobo ([Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf] dir. Leon- mous play by a celebrated Jewish author, ardo Fabio, 1975), followed by 2.6 million Samuel Eichelbaum, who co-wrote the entries for El Santo de la espada ([The Knight screenplay. of the Sword] dir. Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, 8The screenplay of Jewish Gauchos was 1970); Juan Moreira (dir. Leonardo Fabio, written collectively by Jusid, Oscar Viale, 1973) with 2.5 million entries; and Martín Jorge Goldenberg, and the writer’s daugh- Fierro (dir. Torre Nilsson, 1968), 2.4 million ter, Ana María Gerchunoff, who held the (“Las películas”). rights to the book. 15Interestingly, the American filmCrim - 9All translations in quote are mine. inal (dir. Gregory Jacobs, 2004) was based on 10Paulino Tato presided over the Ente Nine Queens. de Calificación Cinematográfica (which 16The event took place in August 2011 translates Rating Entity for the Cinema) be- and was organized by the Seminario tween 1974 and 1980 and is considered the Rabínico Latinoamericano and the Centro strictest censor in the history of Argentine de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos cinema. (CEMLA). 11According to Jewish weekly Mundo 17Regarding the memory of coloniza- Israelita, the pamphlet showed the contra- tion, see Cherjovsky (53-54). diction between, on the one hand, Juan 18Weinstein is the director of the Marc and Evita Perón (who had said in 1948 Turkow Research Center of the AMIA; Sen- that antisemitism was an “offspring of the kman and Salomon are historians; Rollan- oligarchy”) and, on the other hand, the sky was a major Argentine Yiddish intel- pseudo-Peronists who attempted to “cloak lectual and cultural entrepreneur. See also the mass movement with Hitlerite wretch- Blejman. edness” (“Hechos y resonancias” 8). Such comments read in the light of the fact that at the time the country was ruled by the orks ited Justicialista party, main component of the W C “Anticipa el doctor Mario Gorenstein pau- Peronist movement. tas de su futura gestión.” Mundo Israel- 12The myth of a Jewish plot to take ita. 24 May 1975. 2-3. Print. over the world was revamped in the 1970s “Asumieron las nuevas autoridades de with new evil designs on Argentina (“El AMIA.” Mundo Israelita 31 May 1975: 5. titular de la DAIA” 10). Print. 13In May 1975, Dr. Mario Gorenstein, Autumn Sun [Sol de otoño]. Dir. Eduardo Mi- an attorney who had been active in the
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 29 Post Script gnona. V. C. C., 1966. Film. to histórico” Almanack, Guarulhos 17 Banchik, Pedro. “Experiencias de coloniza (Dec. 2017): 51-85. Print. ción en Argentina.” Seminario Rabíni- Fiddler on the Roof. Dir. Norman Jewison. co Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires. 16 United Artists/The Mirisch Corpora- Aug. 2012. Address. tion, Cartier Productions. 1971. Film. Blejman, Mariano. “Hoy estamos como Fúlmine. Dir. Bayón Herrera. EFA, 1949. Film. cuando ellos vinieron a este país.” Pá- Gerchunoff, Alberto. The Jewish Gauchos of gina 12 13 Oct. 2004. Web. 19 Feb. 2019. the Pampas. Trans. Prudencio de Pere-
Volume 38, Nos. 2 & 3 30 Post Script participación, temática y contribución en Iberoamerica: similitudes, diferencias judías. Reflexiones.” Ed. Ricardo Feier- y tensiones. Ed. Raanan Rein. Sevilla: stein. Ensayos sobre judaísmo latinoamer- Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediter- icano. Buenos Aires: Milá, 1990. Print. ráneo, 2015. 417-37. Print. Mahieu, Agustín. “Humor y colorido pre- —. “Negotiating Jewish and Palestinian dominan en la versión cinematográfi- Identities in Latin American Cinema.” ca.” Rev. of Jewish Gauchos. La Opinión Evolving Images: Jewish Latin American 23 May 1975: 19. Print. Cinema. Eds. Nora Glickman and Ar- Medio siglo: Rivera 1905-1955. Dir. Justo iana Huberman. Austin: U of Texas P, Martínez and Enrique Dawidowicz. 2018. 148-63. Print. Justo Martínez, 1955. Film. The Camera Obscura [La cámara oscura]. Dir. Muchnik, Daniel. “Con un planteo irreal, María Victoria Menis. Sophie Dulac el film elude la tozuda lucha por la Productions/Todo Cine S.A, 2008. Film. integración que libraron los primeros The Terrace [La terraza]. Dir. Leopoldo Torre colonos.” Rev. of Jewish Gauchos. La Nilsson. Películas Argentinas, 1963. Opinión 23 May 1975: 18. Print. Film. Nine Queens [Nueve reinas]. Dir. Fabián Bie- Timerman, Jacobo. Prisoner Without a Name, linsky. Patagonik/Industrias Audiovi- Cell Without a Number. Trans. Toby Tal- suales Argentinas S.A, 2000. Film. bot. New York: Knopf, 1981. Print. Quinto año nacional. Dir. Rodolfo Blasco. Un amor en Moisés Ville. Dir. Antonio Ot- Abel Santa Cruz y Emilio Vieyra, 1961. tone. Antonio Ottone and Marcelo Vi- Film. tali, 2000. Film. Ragged Football [Pelota de trapo]. Dir. Leop- “Un film de las colonias judías.” Mundo Is- oldo Torres Ríos. Sociedad Independi- raelita. 23 Oct. 1926: 1. Print. ente Filmadora Argentina, 1948. Film. “Un film de las instituciones israelitas de Staif, Kive. “Sudor y esperanzas, pero tam- Buenos Aires.” Semanario Hebreo. 14 bién alegrías, regaron aquellos sur- Feb. 1925: 7. Print. cos.” Rev. of Jewish Gauchos. La Opinión Un viaje por las colonias judeo-argentinas. Pi- 23 May 1975: 18. Print. oneros Films, 1964. Film. Tal, Tzvi. “Migración y memoria: la recon- Verbitzky, Gregorio. Rivera: afán de medio si- strucción de la identidad de judíos y glo, Buenos Aires: Comisión de Rivera palestinos en películas recientes de y sus Colonias, 1955. Print. Chile y Argentina.” Árabes y judíos
Iván Cherjovsky holds a doctorate in Anthropology from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He is a professor at the Universidad Abierta Interamericana and at the Univer- sidad Nacional de Quilmes. Member of Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA) and of the Nucleus for Jewish Studies (NEJ) at the Institute of Economic and Social Development (IDES), he is the author of various academic publications, includ- ing his book Recuerdos de Moisés Ville. La colonización agrícola en la memoria colectiva judeo-argentina (UAI-Teseo, 2017). He is also the co-director of the documentary film La Jerusalem argentina (Cherjovsky and Serber, 2017).
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