With a few exceptions, anti-Semitism is now a negligible factor in the Latin American countries, Aron Neumann, editor and publisher of “A onde Vamos,” widely-read Jewish weekly magazine published in Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, declared here today upon his arrival in the United States.
Mr. Neumann stressed, however, that certain Arab groups in Latin America, backed by elements from abroad, are attempting to foment anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism and to poison the friendly relations that have existed between Jews and Arabs locally for many years.
Active in the Zionist movement in Brazil, Mr. Neumann asserted the 800,000 Jews in the countries of Latin America are anxious to maintain close contact with the Jewish communities in the United States and Israel. He said that many good Jewish schools can be found in the Latin American countries, but they suffer from a lack of teachers and textbooks. There is a need for the establishment of a Jewish teachers seminary in Latin America, or even a Jewish university, to provide teachers and intellectual workers for the Jewish communities, he emphasized.
Deeply interested in cementing unity among all the Jewish communities in Latin America, Mr. Neumann is now promoting a plan for issuing a special Spanish edition of his weekly for distribution in all 20 Latin American countries. The Spanish editions would reflect the life of the Jews in these countries. It is in this connection that he visited a number of countries en route from Brazil to the United States. While in New York he secured the cooperation of “Newsweek,” one of the largest American weekly magazines, to help him get acquainted with the intricacies of a modern publication.
During his stay in this country, Mr. Neumann will confer with prominent Zionist and non-Zionist leaders and will visit Jewish institutions. “The majority of the Jews in the Latin American countries,” he said, “have strong Zionist feelings and are attached to Israel not by philanthropic contributions alone. “In most of the countries, the economic situation of the Jews is very satisfactory, he reported.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
