Language:
English
Year of publication:
1990
Titel der Quelle:
Contemporary Jewry
Angaben zur Quelle:
11,1 (1990) 3-28
Keywords:
Trujillo Herrera, Rafael
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
;
Jewish refugees
;
Jews History
;
Sosúa (Dominican Republic)
Abstract:
Rafael Trujillo, president of the Dominican Republic, had reasons other than humanitarian ones for offering Sosúa, a town on the northern coast, to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. (Less than 1,000 of the projected 100,000 ever made it.) Besides economic, demographic, and racial considerations (a desire for more "whites" in the country), Trujillo hoped to deflect international opinion away from his massacre of Haitians. He also hoped that, by helping the Jews, American Jewish leaders would exert pressure on Congress to improve economic relations with his country. Notes that the Dominican Republic was the only country to offer a haven for Jewish refugees at the Evian Conference. Relates episodes in which some Jews attempting to reach the Dominican Republic from Europe were forced to pay large sums, or were even murdered for their money. Thus, financial gain was a prime motivation for Trujillo's policy.
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