Bright Picture of Jewish Life in So. America Painted by Nahum Goldmann

South America is one region in the Jewish world where the scene is almost uniformly bright and serene, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the administrative committee of the World Jewish Congress, said today after a flying tour of the continent.

South American Jewry, economically comfortable, enjoying good relations with its non-Jewish neighbors and peace within its own ranks, and with a strong Jewish tradition, is beginning to realize its importance to world Jewry and to take on responsibilities commensurate with its stature, Dr. Goldmann said in an interview at the St. Moritz where he is stopping over for a few days before returning to Geneva.

Dr. Goldmann cited the decision of Argentine Jewry to raise 5,000,000 pesos ($1,250,000) this year in a joint drive for relief of Jewish war victims and upbuilding in Palestine. Inauguration of the drive was the chief purpose of his visit to South America. The sum is more than six times the amount raised in the last such campaign, two years ago. Jewish populations in other South American countries are undertaking similar drives for amounts proportionate to their numbers, he said.

“Argentine Jewry can be taken as more or less typical of South American Jews,” Dr. Goldmann said. “It numbers 400,000, none very rich but many quite wealthy and the majority of comfortable middle class position. Eighty to eighty-five percent are from Eastern Europe. There is a comparatively small but economically important Sephardic group from Turkey and North Africa and another important minority of German Jews, increased in the past few years by refugees.

“Since the immigration does not go back more than forty years, and most of the Jews in South America came over fifteen to twenty years ago, assimilation has not yet made any headway, and the Jewish populace is strongly East European in religious and cultural character. On the other hand, the factionalisms of Europe have died out, and the degree of unity is striking. Reform Judaism plays no role. Zionism is very strong, and while there may be non-Zionists, there is no anti-Zionist faction. There is a small left wing group, but in general the Jewish population is quite homogeneous economically so that there is comparatively little cause for friction in that sphere.

“The central organization of Argentine Jewry, called the ‘DAJA’, represents practically the entire Jewish population. The organization is thoroughly democratic. Argentine Jewry, like all Argentina, is democratic-minded.”

Anti-Semitism has practically been liquidated in South America since the beginning of the European war, Dr. Goldmann said. The governments of the southern continent, he explained, anxious to preserve strict neutrality, clamped a lid on all foreign propaganda as soon as the war started, thus ending the intensive Nazi anti-Semitic agitation which for a time had threatened to make real inroads. Without this artificial stimulus, anti-Semitism rapidly waned, Dr. Goldmann said. Leading members of various South American governments, including the Argentinean Foreign Minister, assured Dr. Goldmann that anti-Semitism in their countries was negligible or non-existent.

“Their statements can be taken as more than formal assurances,” Dr. Goldmann said. “They are true. The populations down there are of such mixed origin that they cannot be anything but tolerant.”

On the other hand, Dr. Goldmann said, South American governments tend to encourage Spanish culture, to some extent at the expense of Jewish culture. Public addresses in Yiddish, for instance, are forbidden in Buenos Aires, he said, but the ban is not discriminatory, since it applies to all foreign languages. In spite of it, Dr. Goldmann obtained permission to speak in Yiddish, and addressed a mass meeting attended by 25,000 Jews.

The most distinctive center of Jewish culture, and in other ways one of the most interesting Jewish developments in South America, Dr. Goldmann said, is the group of agricultural colonies founded by Baron de Hirsch in the large and rich area around Mosesville, “the Jerusalem of the Argentine.”

“When I arrived there a police escort–not Jews–met me,” he said. “The police band was there. They played ‘Hatikvah’ and the policemen shouted ‘Viva Dr. Goldmann!'”

The people in the de Hirsch colonies are even less assimilated than the city dweller, Dr. Goldmann said. A Yiddish culture movement is strong among the young people. While a large part of the younger generation drifts into the cities, enough remain on the land to perpetuate the colonies. The population is stable at about 3,000. The settlers have developed their lands well and live comfortably.

South American Jews, Dr. Goldmann said, are very much interested in everything that concerns the Jews of this country, and would welcome opportunities to establish closer links with their brethren in the north.