TOWARD A CONVZIJENCZA: JUAN PERON AND THE JEWS OF ARGENTINA. 1943- 1949 by Jeffrey Marder B.A., University of Western Ontario, 1990 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History O Jeffrey K. Marder 1996 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY February 1996 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Nat:onal Library Bibliotheque nationale 1*1 ol Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliographic Services Branch des services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington mav~a.Ontaro Oltawa (Ontario) KIA KIA ON4 ON4 Your fib Vofie ;?Ownee Our hle Nofre r?l?renc* The author has granted an k'auteur a accorde une licence irrevocable non-exclusivs licence irr6vocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant h la Bibliotheque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell copies of roproduire, preter, distribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa these in any form or format, making de quelque maniere et sous this thesis available to interested quelque forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes interessees. The author reiains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propri@t@du the copyright in his/her thesis. droit d'auteur qui protege sa Neither the thesis nor substantial these. Ni la these ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent &re imprimes ou his/her permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-612-17005-5 PAETIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE 1 hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of whicR is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the lfirary of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or pgblication of this work for financial gain shall ~otbe allowed without my written permission. Titie of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay Author: - 4 (signatur@ (name) I (date) NAME: Jeffrey Marder DEGREE: TITLE: Toward a Convivencia:Juan Per6n and the Jews of Argentina, 1943- 1949 EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Chair: Jack Little /. Ronald Newton, Professor Richard Boyer, Professbr Alberto c&& Professor Department of Political Science Simon Fraser University External Examiner Date: 1 February 1996 ABSTRACT ne coup of 4 Jme 1943, and the accompanying upsurge in antisemitic activity, initiated I.. prisj of'crisis for Argentina's Jewish community; Juan Perbn's subsequent transformation of Argentine politics created further difficulties. Using, primarily, newspaper sources from the Argentine Jewish community, the thesis analyzes the response of the Delegaci6n de Asuciaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA) to the issues of antisemitism, Jewish immigration, and Peronism. Encouraged by the June coup, Nationalist thugs began a campaign of antisetnitic violence. Littlc effort was made to suppress this activity by a government which itself was strongly influenced by Argentine Nationalism: by October 1943 two ultranationalists occupied cabinet posts, and a third, Col. Filomeno Velazco, later became Buenos Aires Police Chief. In calling for greater government assistance for its own efforts against the antisemitic campaign, the Jewish community, under the leadership of the DAIA's MoisCs Goldrnan and Ricardo Dubrovsky, levelled criticism delicately. At the same time, as awareness grew of the tragedy in Europe, Argentine Jewry lobbied for higher Jewish immigration. In late 1945, Peronist politics began to create new pressures on Argentine Jewry. As forces within the community strongly opposed Per6n1sbid for the presidency, the DAIA worked hard to maintain Jewish political neutrality. Per6n1s February 1946 victory did not end antisemitic violence; yet the DAIA developed a cordial relationship with Per611, who slowly isolated his government's most extreme Nationalists. While the Jewish leadership lost patience with Police Chief Velazco, the anly government official whom the community openly attacked was Santiago Peralta, the antisemitic Director of Immigration. By mid 1947 Peralta and Velazco had been ousted. Though their departure owed more lo Per6n's efforts to improve relations with the United States, the Jewish leadership was pleased. The iii estab~ishmntof the State of Israel offset an immigration poiicy which still did not welcome Jews to hi-geniina. More irmportantiy, the antisemitic campaign died down after 1947. Argentina's Jews, however, still faced a challenge in the populist rule of Per6n. Per6n did not use the Peronist Organizaci6n Israelita Argentina (OW) to co-opt the community, but rather to facilitate open cordiality and the exchange of favours. The DNA's own efforts to please the president may have protected community "interests" but they did not represent general Jewish opinion which. the evidence suggests, did not support Percin. ACKNOWLEDGIMENTS I would like to thank my senior supervisor Ron Newton, who led me to the study of Argentina's Jews under PerBn, and who provided rany valuable, critical suggestions as my thesis began to take form. Alr~i~~~tl~r Freund assisted me with his translations of German language material. f have greatly appreciated the cffort of Charles Steele who spent many long hours as my computer consultant and word processing ridvisor. My parents, Morton and Annette. have provided unending support and encouragement 11~rougt10ut my studies. I owe special thanks to Sandra MacPherson who read many draft versions of the thesis, Icnt me her much-needed editing skills, and asked me many important questions, forcing me to rethink several of my conclusions. Sandra has helped in many other ways as well, and it would be impossible to relate lhc full extent of her support. CONTENTS ... ABSTWCT ........................................................................................................................................................ 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER ONE .THE JEWS OF PERON'S ARGENTINA: DEMOGRAPHY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY ......... 4 CHAPTER TWO .FIGHTING NATICNALIST ANTISEMITISM ....................................................................15 CHAPTER THREE .JEWISH IMMIGRATION UNDER PERON ..................................................................... 39 CHAPTER FOUR .THE OIA BETWEEN PERON AND THE JEWS ................................................................51 CHAPTER FIVE .CONCLUSION ..........................................................*...............................*.......................... 72 NOTES ............................................................................................................................................................... -78 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................................... 99 INTRODUCTIION Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, in their story "La fiesta del Monstruo." describe it rilob of uncultured political fanatics making their way to a rally where their leader, el Momtrrro, will speak. Unruly from the start, the men become angry and violent when a Jewish student, who accidentally stcps into their path, refuses to show el Monstruo due respect. The group attacks the unfortunate Jew, stow him to death, and, as a final affront, strips his body of anything valuable before hurrying off to the Plaza de Mayo where their leader is to address the nation.' Set in 1947, "La fiesta del Monstruo" can be interpreted as a fictionalized representation of the extremism of Juan Per6nfsNationalist supporters.' The crudity of the sketch typifies the popular understanding of Per6n's relationship with Argentina's Jews. Per6n's opponents readily manipulated the Jewish question as part of their political program: they distorted the facts, hastily and erroneously characterizing Perdn as an antisemire. In this undertaking they found North American dies: U.S. efforts to neutralize Per6n by portraying Argenriria as a "Nazi menace" culminated in the State Department's publication in 1946 of the "Blue Book," which purported to show the country's links with the In Chapter One, with a critical survey of the literature dzscribing Per6n's relationship with Argentina's Jews, I begin the task of drawing an accurate picture from the proliferation of hasty, politically-moiivated writing. Despite its hyperbole, "La fiesta del Monstruo" is not wholly divorced from reality. In the 1940s Nationalist supporters of Per6n did behave abominably toward Argentina's Jewish community . Synagogues were defaced, antisemitic graffiti appeared throughout Buenos Aires, and individual Jews were repeatedly taunted and provoked. Moi-eovei-, such attacks took place, as in Borges' story, in a political context. Allegations that