Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel will go to Brazil next week to receive that government’s highest civilian award, the Gra Cruz of the Ordem Cruzeiro do Sul (Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross), for his contributions to international peace. The award will be presented to Wiesel by Abren Sodre, Foreign Minister… More ▸
Brazil has protested to Iran for publishing and distributing a Portuguese translation of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” The Iranian charge d’affaires in Brasilia, Mouhmud Entiaz, was called to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, where he was harshly admonished. He was told that the “Protocols” are a racist and anti-Semitic falsification forbidden by law… More ▸
As a colony of Portugal, Brazil was affected by the 300 years of repression of the Portuguese Inquisition, which began in 1536. At the First International Congress on the Inquisition, held here recently, scholars contended that the impact of the Inquisition is still felt in Brazil. Prof. Gerald Nahon of the Religious Sciences Section of… More ▸
Most people have heard of the Spanish Inquisition, but the Portuguese Inquisition is relatively unknown. An important aspect of the First International Congress on the Inquisition, held here in May and in Lisbon in February, was bringing to light the impact of the Inquisition on Portugal and its colony, Brazil. Professor Angel Alcala of Brooklyn… More ▸
The National Bishops’ Conference of Brazil has issued a 187-page “Guide for a Catholic-Jewish Dialogue in Brazil,” according to Rabbi Henry Sobel, coordinator of the National Commission for Catholic-Jewish Dialogue sponsored by the Bishop’s Conference there. Sobel, who heads the commission of five Jewish and five Catholic leaders, is rabbi at Congregacao Israelita Paulista in… More ▸
At least four outspoken anti-Israel candidates were defeated in the national and state elections held November 15, according to the final results just published. One of them is Pastor Elias Boaventura, former head of the Methodist University in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo State. Boaventura signed an agreement earlier this year with Palestine Liberation Organization representative Farid… More ▸
A World Jewish Congress delegation visiting here last week submitted to the Foreign Ministry the secret United Nations War Crimes Commission file on Austrian President Kurt Waldheim which labeled him a Nazi war criminal. The file, dating from 1947, recommended that Waldheim stand trial for “murder” and “putting hostages to death” when he was a… More ▸
Brazil’s Jewish community of about 150,000 is a tiny percentage of the country’s 130 million people, but there is a significant number of Jewish candidates for office in this year’s November 15 election. Those elected to the federal legislature will also draft Brazil’s new Constitution. While the Jewish community, as community, does not take a… More ▸
Jews as individuals have always worked on human rights and social justice during Brazil’s authoritarian regimes, but there has been no community stance. Rabbi Henry Sobel of Congregacao Israelita Paulista here is considered the outstanding example of an individual who is a leader of the community, and at the forefront of the human rights struggle…. More ▸
During the days of the dictatorship of Getulio Vargas here (1930-1945), many Jews, especially Communists, were in the forefront of the human rights struggle. Many were jailed or expelled from Brazil. A not-able example is Olga Prestes, Jewish wife of the leader of the Communist opposition. She was deported to her native Germany in 1941… More ▸
