Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Anti-semitism in Argentina is Lower Among Educated People, Poll Shows

October 12, 1962
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

A private toll of opinion conducted here today established that considerable anti-Jewish sentiment exists in Buenos Aires but that the incidence of anti-Semitism tends to diminish the higher the educational level of the individual.

Among university graduates the incidence of admitted anti-Semitic feelings was found to be lower than among those with less formal education. The highest incidence of unfavorable opinions about Jews among high school students was found in private schools.

The poll indicated that 42 percent of those unfavorably inclined to ward Jews did not read a newspaper regularly. Those who read two or more newspapers daily displayed the lowest degree of such feelings. Among male youths as a group, the highest incidence of anti-Semitic feelings was found to be among these in the 17 to 18-year bracket.

The poll was taken immediately after the execution last May of Adolf Eichmann and some of the questions dealt with opinion about the case. Most of those polled indicated the belief that Israel was “not correct” in the manner in which it captured the former Nazi colonel in Argentina. The majority disagreed with the sentence against him.

The poll showed that, by income groups, disapproval of the death verdict was expressed by 64 percent of the wealthier class, 54 percent of those in the middle income bracket and 48 percent in the lowest economic status. The higher-income group also had a majority- 53 percent–of those who felt Israel had no right to seize Eichmann in Argentina.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement