Immigrants of a Different Religion: Jewish Argentines
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IMMIGRANTS OF A DIFFERENT RELIGION: JEWISH ARGENTINES AND THE BOUNDARIES OF ARGENTINIDAD, 1919-2009 By JOHN DIZGUN A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History written under the direction of Samuel L. Baily and approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2010 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Immigrants of a Different Religion: Jewish Argentines and the Boundaries of Argentinidad, 1919-2009 By JOHN DIZGUN Dissertation Director: Samuel L. Baily This study explores Jewish and non-Jewish Argentine reactions and responses to four pivotal events that unfolded in the twentieth century: the 1919 Semana Trágica, the Catholic education decrees of the 1940s, the 1962 Sirota Affair, and the 1976-1983 Dirty War. The methodological decision to focus on four physically and/or culturally violent acts is intentional: while the passionate and emotive reactions and responses to those events may not reflect everyday political, cultural, and social norms in twentieth-century Argentine society, they provide a compelling opportunity to test the ever-changing meaning, boundaries, and limitations of argentinidad over the past century. The four episodes help to reveal the challenges Argentines have faced in assimilating a religious minority and what those efforts suggest about how various groups have sought to define and control what it has meant to be “Argentine” over time. Scholars such as Samuel Baily, Fernando DeVoto, José Moya and others have done an excellent job highlighting how Italian and Spanish immigrants have negotiated and navigated the ii competing demands of ‘ethnic’ preservation and ‘national’ integration in Argentina. However, Italians and Spaniards— who comprised 85% of the total immigrant population between 1870- 1930— benefited from a religious, linguistic, and cultural familiarity with their host country that Jewish immigrants did not. The presence of Jewish immigrants and later Jewish Argentines challenged the efforts of Argentines to assimilate newcomers in ways Catholic immigrants and Catholic Argentines could not. Since the days of Alberdi and Sarmiento, Argentina has often championed itself as a nation of liberal secularism and religious tolerance, yet the overwhelming majority of Catholic immigrants were not in a position to test the civic and cultural boundaries of that rhetoric and reality the way Jews did. Jewish Argentines, more so than their Spanish and Italian counterparts, forced a diverse cross-section of Argentines to ‘clarify’ their definitions of civic assimilation, national integration, and the place reserved for minorities within their visions of Argentina and argentinidad. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has been a long and winding road and I owe a heartfelt debt of gratitude to many people who helped me along this journey. First and foremost, my mentor (and dissertation chair) Sam Baily whose scholarship alone has been a constant source of inspiration. His guidance, feedback, and wisdom are matched only by his patience, humor, and menschkeit. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Mark Wasserman for his knowledge, candor, and steady encouragement; Yael Zerubavel for her fountain of ideas, much-needed advice, and faith in my project; and David Keeling, colleague and friend, who everyday inspires me. Special thanks to Dawn Ruskai for all her assistance and support over the years; Michael Adas, Luis Martínez-Fernández, Joan Scott, and Gail Triner for challenging me intellectually; Donna Guy, Jeffrey Lesser, and José Moya for their assistance; and Sara Dubow and Amy Cohen for their friendship and endless edits. In Argentina, a country which I have grown to love, I wish to thank all those at the Archivo General de la Nación, Archivo de la Policia Federal Argentina, AMIA, Biblioteca del Congreso, Biblioteca Nacional, Biblioteca Nacional de Maestros, Consejo Nacional de Educación, Centro Marc Turkow, DAIA, Mundo Israelita, Nueva Sion, ORT, Sociedad Hebraica Argentina, Chabad, Congregación Israelita de la República Argentina, and Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano who graciously provided me access to their research collections. I am also extremely grateful to the seventy-plus Jewish and non-Jewish Argentines who shared with me their stories and opinions during a series of recorded interviews in Buenos Aires. Special thanks to Aida Bortnik, Moises Camhi, Manuela Fingueret, Viviana Gorbato, Abraham Huberman, Mirta Kupferminc, Horacio Lutsky, José Maria Monner Sans, Pedro Orgambide, Oscar Oszlak, Alejandro iv Rofman, Eliahu Toker, Miguel Unamuno, Paul Warszawski, and, especially, Anita Weinstein of the Centro Marc Turkow for their time, kindness, and wealth of ideas. Finally, to the Cohen, Abeid, and Sued families who welcomed me into their homes and hearts. For the generous support that facilitated this dissertation, I would like to acknowledge the History Department at Rutgers University, the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers, the Baruch S. and Pearl W. Seidman Scholarship, the American Historical Association’s Albert J. Beveridge Grant, and, particularly, the Organization of American States Graduate Research Fellowship. At Western Kentucky University, my thanks to David Lee, Richard Weigel, Tony Harkins, Malia Formes, Debbie Kreitzer, Wendy DeCroix, Beth Plummer, Melissa Stewart, Jack Thacker, and the History and Geography Departments. Special thanks to Chris Bierwirth and all my friends and colleagues at the Kentucky Institute for International Studies. My dearest friends in Argentina, the U.S., and Canada made this project that much more rewarding. Mis queridos amigos Claudio Asti Vera (Tano), Martin Dobisky (Marto), and Fernando Sued (Turco) showed me a whole new side of Buenos Aires that made my extended stay in that magnificent city unforgettable. My longtime Montreal friends Stephan Apel, Paul Flicker, and Ezra Soiferman are as fun and as they are compassionate, which always makes balconville soirées so memorable. My pana Liz Keyser, who at once exudes kindness, intelligence, and spunk, is that cherished friend who all should be so fortunate to have. And my current home in Bowling Green, KY would not be the same if not for Jess, Cody, Fintan, Julie, Amy, Jay, Margaret, and Beatriz. To my ever-growing family— Jen, Doug, Brodie, Roman, Lola, Anita, Emma, Megan, the Dorfs, Sandra and Jack— I so appreciate your constant support and good humor. To my wife Holli, beautiful in so many ways, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, patience, v and unwavering encouragement. And to my mom and late dad, who have shown me how to live life to its fullest, I dedicate this dissertation to you both. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Introduction 1 The Semana Trágica 14 Mandatory Catholic Education 67 The Sirota Affair 157 The Legacy of the Dirty War 229 Conclusion 318 Bibliography 334 Curriculum Vita 358 vii 1 Introduction In 2000, esteemed non-Jewish Argentine writer Joaquín Morales Solá remarked that “Argentina discovered that she had a Jewish community” only after the devastating 1992 and 1994 terrorist bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy and the Asociación Mutualista Israelita Argentina (AMIA or the central Jewish Argentine community organization).1 On the surface, Solá’s comment is startling given Argentina’s longstanding immigrant tradition and the relative size and presence of her Jewish population. Of the 6.5 million newcomers who arrived in Argentina during the nation’s peak immigration years of 1870-1930, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews numbered approximately 130,000 and, by the early-1960s, had surpassed a quarter- million.2 Although those figures pale in comparison to the millions of Italians and Spaniards who emigrated to Argentina between 1870-1930— together they comprised over 85 percent of the total immigrant population— Argentine Jews still constituted by far the largest concentration of Jews in any single Latin American country.3 More importantly, Jewish Argentines figured more prominently in civic society than their overall population size might have suggested. One of the clearest such illustrations has been Jewish Argentine literary success over the course of the twentieth century. From Alberto Gerchunoff (who in 1910 famously penned Los gauchos judíos and was invited that same year to participate in Argentina’s grand centennial celebration), Samuel Glusberg (editor of the prestigious Argentine journals América and Babel), and César Tiempo (who became known throughout Latin America as a poet extraordinaire) to Bernardo Verbitsky (whom Argentines came to identify in the 1940s and 1950s, along with non-Jewish Argentine novelist Leopoldo Lugones, as the unofficial chronicler of porteño culture), Jacobo Timerman (renowned editor in the 1970s of the highly-popular newspaper La Opinión), and Marcos Aguinis (respected writer 2 whom President Raúl Alfonsín tapped in 1984 to head up the nation’s noteworthy Cultural Democratization Program), Jewish Argentines have left an indelible mark on Argentine literature, journalism, and culture.4 The same has been true in business, finance, education, the arts, and the applied sciences where many Jewish Argentines— including Nobel Laureate César Milstein— have achieved national and even international prominence.5 Why then did Solá make such a claim in the years following the Israeli Embassy and AMIA