Thousands of Jews gathered yesterday at the large Cervantes Hall here to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Baron Maurice do Hirsch, the “father” of Argentine Jewry, as the Chairman, Dr. N. Rappaport, described him.
Messages were received from the Argentine Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Colonisation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Dr. Calderon addressed the meeting in the name of the Provincial Government of Entre Rios, where many of the Ica colonies are situated, and the former Governor of Entre Rios, Senator Ir. Laurencena, sent a message of greeting. Dr. Sagarna, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Argentine, who is a native of Entre Rios and knows the Jewish colonies well, was also present at the gathering.
You co-religionists of Baron de Hirsch, Dr. Altamira Salasar said, speaking officially in the name of the Argentine Government. In honouring the memory of Baron de Hirsch as it is doing now, the Argentine Government feels that it has a mandate from the country to express its gratitude to one of those visionaries to whose activities our country owes in part the development of its riches. There are very few men who accomplish such great things with their wealth as Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Baron Maurice de Hirsch was a great man, a model of a man, a model of what a rich man should be. He knew how to return to society the wealth society had created.
You are a fruitful people, Dr. Salasar concluded. Plessed be your contribution to our building, and to our spirit. You are the realisation of Baron de Hirsch’s dream, the dream of the great Baron who was born a hundred years ago, and who will never die in the memory of this country.
Dr. Louis B. Calderon, speaking on behalf of the Government of Entre Rios, said that the meeting was nothing more than an act of recognition due to Baron de Hirsch on the part of the Jewish public, for whose well-being he had done so much and had expended so much labour and love, serving it with all his vast fortune and his great ability.
We Argentinians, too, he went on, especially those of us who live in the sunny land of Entre Rios, also owe gratitude to Baron de Hirsch, because we live among those who are enjoying the fruits of his great work of social and practical justice.
The Jewish workers in Entre Rios are productive workers, and therefore they enjoy our respect and they are welcome among us, Dr. Calderon went on. And that is why the Government of Entre Rios is taking part in this gathering to honour Baron de Hirsch.
The Government of my Province has sent me here to express to you the feeling of our entire population who consider the men of the Jewish colonies as part of themselves, because they are men of work and of peace, whose work goes to the advancement of our Province, regarding it as their real homeland. That is why we join with you in sincere gratitude to Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
