The Catholic Church and the Jews: Argentina, 1933-1945
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The Catholic Church and the Jews Argentina, 1933–1945 STUDIES IN ANTISEMITISM Vadim Rossman, Russian Intellectual Antisemitism in the Post-Communist Era (2002) Anthony D. Kauders, Democratization and the Jews, Munich, 1945–1965 (2004) Cesare G. De Michelis, The Non-existent Manuscript: A Study of the Protocols of the Sages of Zion (2004) Robert S. Wistrich, Laboratory for World Destruction: Germans and Jews in Central Europe (2006) The Catholic Church and the Jews Argentina, 1933–1945 Graciela Ben-Dror Published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem © 2008 by the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism All rights reserved Manufactured and distributed for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (sicsa), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, by the University of Nebraska Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ben-Dror, Graciela. The Catholic Church and the Jews : Argentina, 1933–1945 / Graciela Ben-Dror. p. cm.—(Studies in antisemitism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8032-1889-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Catholic Church—Argentina—History—20th century. 2. Jews—Argentina— History—20th century. 3. Catholic Church—Relations—Judaism. 4. Christianity and antisemitism—Argentina—History—20th century. 5. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Foreign public opinion. 6. Judaism—Relations—Catholic Church. 7. Holocaust (Christian theology) I. Title. BX1462.3.B47 2008 282.8209043—dc22 2008011498 Editing and Typesetting: Alifa Saadya To my family, Víctor, Guy and Shirley, Amos and Lilach, Hagit, Doron and Romee Contents Foreword Haim Avni ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PART I: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ARGENTINA AND ANTISEMITISM 1. The Consolidation of the Catholic Church in Argentina 21 2. The Consolidation of Antisemitism 41 3. The Stance of the Catholic Hierarchy toward the Jews 64 4. The Turning Point: The Military Coup and “Catholic Argentina,” 1943–1945 90 PART II: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ARGENTINA AND ITS ATTITUDE TO NAZISM AND THE HOLOCAUST 5. The Position of the Catholic Hierarchy in Argentina on the Nazi Regime 113 6. The Attitude of the Clergy to Nazism and the Jewish Refugees 132 7. The World War and Its Implications for the Argentinean Church 151 8. The Argentinean Church and the Plight of European Jewry, 1938–1942 178 9. The Reaction of Argentine Catholics to the Mass Murder of European Jews, 1942–1943 211 10. The End of the War: Turning Point or Continuation? 235 11. Summary 248 Index 257 Foreword The twelve and a half years of the Nazi era in Europe (January 1933–May 1945) were also a turbulent period in Argentina’s history: the “infamous decade” (1933–1943) of a lame democracy, followed by two and a half years of rule by a military-junta. The Catholic Church, whose dominance in Argentine political life had been curtailed during the previous fifty years, regained an enormous share of its bygone authority. This period also saw the upsurge of a large movement of Catholic-oriented nationalism, the dominant part of which was deeply antisemitic. Five dimensions consequently converge: the attitude of the hierarchy of the Argentine Church towards the Holocaust in Europe, its attitude toward the local Jewish community and particularly, toward its increase through immigration, the attitudes of some lower-ranking parish priests to the Jews and the Holocaust, the support and official recognition gained by nationalist antisemites from both the hierarchy and the rank-and-file clergy, and the reflection Vatican policies toward the Jews during the Nazi era in the Argentinean Church’s attitudes, as compared with the Church in other places. In this last context, one should not lose sight of the fact that the Catholic International Eucharistic Congress, which convened in Buenos Aires in October 1934—undoubtedly a watershed in the history of the position of the Church in Argentina—was headed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli, who in 1939 was elected Pope Pius XII. A strong and personal acquaintance thus linked the Argentine Church hierarchy with the Holy See. The author of this study, Uruguayan-born Dr. Graciela Ben-Dror, belonged to a pioneer youth movement, and since her immigration to Israel has been a member of a kibbutz. Undertaking her research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem—some distance from her South American origins— provided the advantage of a scholarly detachment from the subject. She has succeeded in showing the variety of attitudes which prevailed in the Argentine Church at the most critical period of twentieth-century Jewish history. Haim Avni Hebrew University of Jerusalem Acknowledgments The idea of writing this book developed in one of the beautiful coffee bars of Buenos Aires after the end of the military dictatorship in the mid-1980s. From a conversation with Prof. Haim Avni arose the idea of writing about the Catholic Church and the Jews in Argentina, a subject that had been taboo. The archives of the Catholic Church were not open to researchers, and until then, the knowledge of the Church and the Jews was a set of opinions much more based on stereotypes than a product of a systematic research. Therefore—as happens often in life—my research about Catholics and Jews in Argentina resulted more from a coincidence than a premeditated decision. It became a subject hard to put aside, addressing the issue as it developed both during and after the Holocaust period. This volume is based on my Ph.D. dissertation that focused on the Catholic Church, the Holocaust period, and Argentinean society. First of all I want to thank Prof. Haim Avni for his guidance and helpful comments throughout my research. In addition, I wish to thank a number of Catholic scholars who were very supportive and helped open doors to a wide variety of Church sources. Without a doubt, the positive shift in attitudes toward Jews since the revolutionary “Nostra Aetate” document of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 was felt very much in the friendly and helpful stand of Catholic researchers to whom I owe much gratitude. Without their help this research would have been impossible. I want to thank in particular Dr. Nestor Auza, a Catholic historian of the Chruch in Argentina who helped me in my first steps; Dr. Floreal Forni, and Dr. Fortunato Mallimaci for their decisive help in understanding the historical and sociological perspective on the Argentinean Church, and for inviting me to participate in their Oral History seminars. I want to thank them also for their warm and invaluable friendship along the years. I am also very grateful to various librarians and archivists in Argentina from the Ministry of Exterior, and especially those of Catholic institutions, the Argentine Catholic Action archives and library, the Salesian Congregation, the Catholic Institute for Superior Studies, the Criterio collection, and several churches and monasteries that were helpful in finding sources from Buenos Aires area and in the interior. Without their help it xii Acknowledgments would have been very difficult to get access to primary sources which were often stacked far on the upper shelves of the libraries and archives. The Holocaust was a familiar topic to me. My parents had the good fortune to emigrate to democratic Uruguay before the Holocaust. Yet I belong to a generation that didn’t know their grandparents because they were murdered by the Nazis in Poland. I was led to study the Shoah with Prof. Israel Gutman and Prof. Yehuda Bauer. I want to thank both of them for their inestimable contribution to the knowledge of different aspects of the most tragic period in the Jewish history, and their encouragement and personal help at every stage of my research. From Prof. Marcel Dubois I learned much about the philosophy of Christianity, and his personal understanding of the Jewish-Christian dialogue greatly enriched my perspective. I would also like to thank a number of foundations and institutes, whose financial assistance made this work possible: the Vidal Sasson Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yad Vashem International Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, the Golda Meir Foundation which awarded a prize for a outstanding research, and the Havatzelet Foundation of the Kibbutz Artzi Movement. A number of individuals also helped in the final stages of the book: I want to thank especially Prof. David Bankier, whose intelligent suggestions and good will were of great assistance in turning my doctoral dissertation into a book. It was also a great honor to me to be able to work with Alifa Saadya, the editor of this English version, whose good will, important intellectual remarks, and professional work contributed greatly to the final result. During the years of research I spent much time in Buenos Aires and Jerusalem, and I am very grateful to my cousins Pola Aizenberg and Gladys and Dicky Fisher for their hospitality. And last, but assuredly not least, I want to thank my dear family: my husband Víctor, who was the first critical reader of the manuscript, for his unconditional help and support, and to our children, Guy, Amos, and Hagit for the tolerance and good will they always showed during the years of this research. Graciela Ben-Dror Introduction THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ARGENTINA AND THE JEWS Historical research regards the Holocaust of European Jewry as a unique event of special significance, not for the Jewish people alone, even though they were the primary victims of the Holocaust and were condemned to annihilation. The universal nature of the Holocaust rests, among other things, on the involvement of many other nations in some way, whether they admit it or not.