History of the Jews in Uruguay

The arrival of Jews to the Banda Oriental goes back to the 16th century, when conversos began settling there. The Spanish Inquisition was not a significant force in the territory, and the first recorded Jewish settlement there was in the 1770s. When the Inquisition ended in 1813, it paved the way for Jews being more accepted in Uruguay throughout the 19th century.

Significant Jewish immigration to Uruguay began in the late 19th century, with the arrival of Jews from Brazil and Argentina.{{Cite web |title=Nuestra historia |url=https://cciu.org.uy/nuestra-historia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603102104/https://cciu.org.uy/nuestra-historia/ |archive-date=3 June 2023 |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=CCIU |language=es }} At the beginning of the 20th century, Uruguay became an attractive destination for Jews due to the secularism and prosperity following the reforms carried out during the Batlle era.{{Cite web |date=2021-03-18 |title=Iglesia, batllismo y la responsabilidad de llevar la administración estatal a todos los rincones de la república {{!}} La Mañana |url=https://www.xn--lamaana-7za.uy/opinion/iglesia-batllismo-y-la-responsabilidad-de-llevar-la-administracion-estatal-a-todos-los-rincones-de-la-republica/ |access-date=2024-12-19 |language=es}}Juan Rial, "The Social Imaginary: Utopian Political Myths in Uruguay (Change and Permanence during and after the Dictatorship)", in Saúl Sosnowski and Louise B. Popkin, eds., Repression, Exile, and Democracy: Uruguayan Culture (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1993), 59-82. {{ISBN|9780822312680}}. The largest Jewish population was in Montevideo, whose Villa Muñoz neighbourhood received a large amount of the European Jewish immigration that came to Uruguay, which led it to become the Jewish quarter of the capital.{{Cite web |title=La historia del barrio Villa Muñoz, un rincón europeo |url=https://espectador.com/abrancancha/barriohistorias/la-historia-del-barrio-villa-munoz-un-rincon-europeo |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=El Espectador 810 |language=es-UY}} Jewish schools and the first synagogue were established there in 1917 by a small Ashkenazi community.{{Cite web |title=Así lo veo yo |url=http://columnistas.montevideo.com.uy/uc_48775_1.html |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=Montevideo Portal}}

The first recorded minyan happened in 1912.{{Cite web |last=leo |date=2023-08-13 |title=Historia de los judíos en Uruguay |url=https://aurora-israel.co.il/historia-de-los-judios-en-uruguay/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816140649/https://aurora-israel.co.il/historia-de-los-judios-en-uruguay/ |archive-date=2023-08-16 |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=Aurora |language=es}} Despite the majority of Ashkenazi immigration, a significant number of Sephardim from the Ottoman Empire settled in the country.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Historia de la Comunidad |url=https://www.sefaradi.com.uy/nosotros/historia-comunidad |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240325024055/https://www.sefaradi.com.uy/nosotros/historia-comunidad |archive-date=2024-03-25 |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=www.sefaradi.com.uy |language=es-es}} Most of them were poor and working-class, so upon their arrival they lived in tenements located in neighborhoods such as Ciudad Vieja, Palermo and Barrio Sur.{{Cite web |title=Barrio Sur {{!}} Municipio B |url=https://municipiob.montevideo.gub.uy/node/185 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702061933/https://municipiob.montevideo.gub.uy/node/185 |archive-date=2022-07-02 |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=municipiob.montevideo.gub.uy}} In 1915, 30 Jewish families from Belarus and Bessarabia settled in the rural area of the Paysandú Department and established an agricultural settlement, Colonia 19 de Abril.{{Cite book |last1=Vidart |first1=Daniel |url=https://anaforas.fic.edu.uy/jspui/bitstream/123456789/9985/1/Nuestra_tierra_39.pdf |title=El legado de los inmigrantes II |last2=Pi Hugarte |first2=Renzo |publisher=Editorial "Nuestra Tierra" |pages=52 |trans-title=Our land, the legacy of immigrants II}} Around that time, a Jewish cemetery was also established in the city of La Paz, 20 kilometers from Montevideo.{{Cite web |title=Se conmemoró el centenario del Cementerio Israelita de La Paz {{!}} Intendencia de Canelones |url=https://www.imcanelones.gub.uy/noticias/se-conmemoro-centenario-del-cementerio-israelita-paz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126095718/https://www.imcanelones.gub.uy/es/noticias/se-conmemoro-el-centenario-del-cementerio-israelita-de-la-paz |archive-date=2020-11-26 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=www.imcanelones.gub.uy}}

In the early years of the century, as the Jewish community in Uruguay grew, different institutions were founded to bring it together and help the newcomers settle and adapt.{{Cite web |title=JUDÍOS EN URUGUAY - Dicionário de História Cultural de la Iglesía en América Latina |url=https://dhial.org/diccionario/index.php/JUD%C3%8DOS_EN_URUGUAY |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=dhial.org}} After World War I, the number of Ashkenazim in Uruguay increased significantly, with the arrival of Jews from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia escaping antisemitism.{{Cite book |last=Porzecanski |first=Teresa |title=Historias de Vida de Inmigrantes Judíos al Uruguay |year=1986 |location=Montevideo |pages=14–16 |language=es}} The majority of Jewish immigration to Uruguay took place in the 1920s and 1930s. A large percentage of Jewish immigrants during this period were German Jews and Italian Jews.{{cite web |url=http://brecha.com.uy/index.php/politica-uruguaya/3385-judios-italianos-en-uruguay |title=Italian Jews in Uruguay |date=14 March 2014 |publisher=Brecha|language=es}}

Uruguayan Jews initially made a living in small retail trade and peddling, with some becoming craftsmen and artisans.{{Cite web |title=Uruguay Virtual Jewish History Tour |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/uruguay-virtual-jewish-history-tour |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}} In time, they moved up the economic scale, and many became the owners of large stores or medium-sized businesses. They became primarily middle-class, particularly as many of them were by then second or third-generation Uruguayans. Their economic advancement was aided by the creation of Jewish loan and assistance funds, which evolved into Jewish banks.{{Cite web |last=Arregui |first=Miguel |title=La fulgurante vida de Reus y del Banco Nacional antes de estrellarse |url=https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/la-fulgurante-vida-de-reus-y-del-banco-nacional-antes-de-estrellarse-20171220500 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010214940/https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/la-fulgurante-vida-de-reus-y-del-banco-nacional-antes-de-estrellarse-20171220500 |archive-date=2023-10-10 |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=El Observador}}

File:Rosh Hashana Montevideo 1932.jpg greeting card in Yiddish.]]

The Uruguayan government's open immigration policy waned during Gabriel Terra's rule in the 1930s.{{Cite web |title=Uruguay, una cloaca de degenerados, se cierra sobre sí mismo |url=https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/uruguay-una-cloaca-de-degenerados-se-cierra-sobre-si-mismo-2018131500 |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=El Observador |language=es-UY}} During the Terra dictatorship (1933–38), immigration restrictions were imposed with the passing of laws establishing several reasons for refusing entry into the country.[https://www.ort.edu.uy/pdf/departamento-de-estudios-judaicos/teliasriodejaneiro.pdf La campaña anti-inmigratoria en La Tribuna Popular y El Debate. 1936 - 1937. Universidad ORT] However, despite the fact that some refugee ships were refused entry to Montevideo "for failure to meet requirements", the arrival of Jews to Uruguay continued during the 1930s.{{Cite web |title=Apuntes contra el olvido: El episodio del Conte Grande. SMU |url=https://www.smu.org.uy/publicaciones/noticias/noticias93/conteg.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430021016/https://www.smu.org.uy/publicaciones/noticias/noticias93/conteg.htm |archive-date=2024-04-30 |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=SMU |language=es}} In 1936 the Uruguayan division of B'nai B'rith was established.{{Cite web |title=Historia - B'nai B'rith Uruguay |url=https://www.bnaibrith.org.uy/quienes-somos/historia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117125916/https://www.bnaibrith.org.uy/quienes-somos/historia |archive-date=2019-11-17 |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=www.bnaibrith.org.uy}}

Once settled in Uruguay, Jews were grouped based on their origin, however in 1940, with the union of the Israelite Community, the Sephardic Israelite Community, the Nueva Congregación Israelita, and the Hungarian Israelite Community, the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay (CCIU) was formed, as a central and representative organization of the entire community.{{Cite web |title=Información Institucional |url=https://wordpress-1020357-3605331.cloudwaysapps.com/informacion-institucional/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330083317/https://cciu.org.uy/informacion-institucional/ |archive-date=2023-03-30 |access-date=2023-11-04 |website=CCIU |language=es}}

With the rise of Nazism in Europe and the subsequent outbreak of World War II, the arrival of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe to Uruguay increased. The German Jews were mostly middle class, including bank employees, skilled workers, cattle breeders, researchers, lawyers and physians.{{Cite book |last=Facal Santiago |first=Silvia |title=Recorriendo el largo camino de la integración: los judíos alemanes en Uruguay |year=2006 |language=es |trans-title=Traveling the long road to integration: German Jews in Uruguay |doi=10.4000/alhim.1412 |doi-broken-date=}} Since by the end of the war in 1945, Uruguayan law did not allow the entry into the country of people who could not prove that they had the economic resources to live on their own, in January 1945 the government stipulated that people who had relatives already residing in Uruguay would be exempt from this obligation.{{Cite web |last=administrador |title=Un fuerte homenaje uruguayo a las víctimas de la Shoá y los sobrevivientes |url=https://centroshoa.org.uy/2015/03/04/un-fuerte-homenaje-uruguayo-a-las-victimas-de-la-shoa-y-los-sobrevivientes/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Centro Recordatorio del Holocausto de Uruguay |language=es}} Thus, from January to September 1946, approximately 1,578 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust settled in the country, most of whom were from Poland, Germany and Hungary.{{Cite web |last=ESTILOGRAFICA |title=La llegada de los sobrevivientes de la Shoá a Uruguay a través de la orden Ministerial del 25 de enero de 1946. |url=https://cicals.org/ponencia/la-llegada-de-los-sobrevivientes-de-la-shoa-a-uruguay-a-traves-de-la-orden-ministerial-del-25-de-enero-de-1946/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=CICALS 2024 |language=es}}

During the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which involved the mass exodus of Jews from Arab and Muslim countries, primarily to Israel, more than 18,000 Jews immigrated to Uruguay, including a number of Russian Jews and Hungarian Jews.{{Cite web |date=2017-04-29 |title=Shaná Tová: miles de uruguayos celebran el Año Nuevo judío {{!}} Noticias Uruguay y el Mundo actualizadas - Diario EL PAIS Uruguay |url=https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/shana-tova-miles-uruguayos-celebran.html |access-date=2024-03-04 |archive-date=29 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429035403/https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/shana-tova-miles-uruguayos-celebran.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}

Uruguay, which had supported the creation of a Jewish homeland during the 1920 San Remo conference, was one of the first nations to recognize Israel, and the first Latin American country to do so.{{Cite web |title=Actividad por Aniversario de 75 años de relacionamiento entre Uruguay e Israel. |url=https://www.gub.uy/ministerio-relaciones-exteriores/comunicacion/comunicados/actividad-aniversario-75-anos-relacionamiento-entre-uruguay-israel |access-date=2023-09-04 |website=Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores |language=es |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904001206/https://www.gub.uy/ministerio-relaciones-exteriores/comunicacion/comunicados/actividad-aniversario-75-anos-relacionamiento-entre-uruguay-israel |url-status=live }} It was the first Latin American country and fourth country overall in which Israel established a diplomatic mission. It was also one of the few nations to support Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and oppose internationalization of the city.{{Cite web |last=Gold |first=Natalia |title=Verónica Alonso propone trasladar embajada de Uruguay en Israel a Jerusalén |url=https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/veronica-alonso-propone-trasladar-embajada-de-uruguay-en-israel-a-jerusalen--2019220165141 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816081503/https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/veronica-alonso-propone-trasladar-embajada-de-uruguay-en-israel-a-jerusalen--2019220165141 |archive-date=2022-08-16 |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=El Observador}} Its diplomatic mission in Jerusalem was upgraded to the status of an embassy in 1958, but subsequently moved to Tel Aviv after the enactment of the Jerusalem Law.{{Cite web |author=ToI Staff |title=Uruguay to open diplomatic office in Jerusalem, foreign minister announces |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/uruguay-to-open-diplomatic-office-in-jerusalem-foreign-minister-announces/ |access-date=2023-09-04 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904143540/https://www.timesofisrael.com/uruguay-to-open-diplomatic-office-in-jerusalem-foreign-minister-announces/ |url-status=live }}

In 1952 the American Jewish Year Book estimated that Uruguay had about 40,000 Jews. However, in 1960 it was estimated at 50,000, the time in history when there were more Jews in the country.{{Cite web |last=Congress |first=World Jewish |title=World Jewish Congress, Community in Uruguay |url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/UY |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302122515/https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/UY |archive-date=2024-03-02 |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=World Jewish Congress |language=EN}}

The community experienced a serious decline in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of emigration.{{Cite news |title=Uruguay's Dwindling Jewish Community Falls Victim to Its Zionist Spirit |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/2019-05-16/ty-article/.premium/uruguays-dwindling-jewish-community-falls-victim-to-its-zionist-spirit/0000017f-e9ac-d639-af7f-e9ff8f3f0000 |access-date=2024-03-04 |work=Haaretz |language=en}} By the mid-1990s, there were no Jews in the upper echelons or military, and little Jewish representation in the legislature. In 1994, a Holocaust memorial was opened on the Rambla in the Punta Carretas neighborhood.{{Cite news |date=2014-12-03 |title=Memorial del Holocausto |url=http://www.montevideo.gub.uy/ciudad-y-cultura/arquitectura-y-patrimonio/memorial-del-holocausto |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20190222200905/http://www.montevideo.gub.uy:80/ciudad-y-cultura/arquitectura-y-patrimonio/memorial-del-holocausto |archive-date=2019-02-22 |access-date=2024-12-22 |work=Intendencia de Montevideo. |language=es}}

File:Public menorah in Punta del Este.png in Punta del Este.]]

As of 2009, 20,000-25,000 Jews live in Uruguay, with 95% residing in Montevideo.{{Cite journal |last=Telias |first=David |title=100 años de presencia institucional judía en Uruguay II |url=https://www.ort.edu.uy/pdf/departamento-de-estudios-judaicos/presenciainstitucionaljudiaenuruguay2.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Departamento de Estudios Judaicos |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904001207/https://www.ort.edu.uy/pdf/departamento-de-estudios-judaicos/presenciainstitucionaljudiaenuruguay2.pdf |archive-date=4 September 2023 |access-date=4 September 2023}} Throughout the country, there are prominent organized communities in Punta del Este and Paysandú.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-25 |title=La población judía de Punta del Este se duplicó durante la pandemia del COVID-19 |url=https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2022/05/25/la-poblacion-judia-de-punta-del-este-se-duplico-durante-la-pandemia-del-covid-19/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=infobae |language=es-ES}} As of 2003, there were 20 synagogues, but only six of them held weekly Shabbat services, and one functioned every day.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

In 2017, a Holocaust memorial in Montevideo was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, with phrases such as "The Holocaust of the Jewish people is the biggest lie in history" and “Gas chambers were a fraud.”{{cite web |title=Uruguayan Holocaust memorial vandalized with antisemitic slurs |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/uruguayan-holocaust-memorial-vandalized-with-antisemitic-slurs-507543 |website=The Jerusalem Post |date=16 October 2017 |access-date=24 June 2024}}{{cite web |title=Uruguayan Holocaust memorial vandalized with anti-Semitic slurs |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/uruguayan-holocaust-memorial-vandalized-with-anti-semitic-slurs/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=24 June 2024}}{{cite web |title=Holocaust Memorial Vandalized In Uruguay |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/385156/holocaust-memorial-vandalized-in-uruguay/ |website=The Forward |date=15 October 2017 |access-date=24 June 2024}} This act of vandalism followed a renovation of the memorial which attempted to clean up the monument from previous acts of antisemitic vandalization.{{cite web |title=Renovated Uruguay Holocaust Memorial Monument Rededicated |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/2016-06-04/ty-article/renovated-uruguay-holocaust-memorial-rededicated/0000017f-e368-d7b2-a77f-e36fa2ad0000 |website=Haaretz |access-date=24 June 2024}}

{{Main|Category:Uruguayan Jews}}

;Past

• Zoma Baitler (1908-1994), artist and diplomat[http://www.portondesanpedro.com/autor-curriculum.php?id=244 Bio of Zoma Baitler] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804025725/http://www.portondesanpedro.com/autor-curriculum.php?id=244 |date=4 August 2020 }} {{in lang|es}}
• Monsieur Chouchani (died 1968), mysterious scholar
• Chil Rajchman (1914-2004), Holocaust survivor and entrepreneur
• José Gurvich (1927-1974), painter
• Carlos Sherman (1934-2005), writer
• Itsik Vaynshenker (1914–1978), writer and journalist

;Present

• Mauricio Rosencof (born 1933), former guerrilla fighter, playwright, poet and journalist
• George Davidsohn (born 1936), businessman, founder of Davidsohn Global Technologies
• Luis Camnitzer (born 1937), artist, art critic and writer
• Benjamín Nahum (born 1937), historian and academic
• Alberto Couriel (born 1935), public accountant and politician
• Teresa Porzecanski (born 1945), anthropologist and writer
• Hugo Fernández Faingold (born 1947), academic and politician, Vicepresident of the Republic (1998-2000)
• Ricardo Ehrlich (born 1948), engineer, Intendant of Montevideo (2005-2010)
• Henry Cohen Engelman (born 1954), physician and academic
• Gisele Ben-Dor (born 1955), conductor
• Roberto Kreimerman (born 1958), engineer and politician
• Sergio Gorzy (born 1958), sports journalist
• Isaac Alfie (born 1962), economist, Minister of Economy and Finance (2003-2005)
• Jorge Drexler (born 1964), singer/songwriter, Academy Award for Best Original Song 2004
• Alejandro Stock (born 1965), artist
• Suzie Navot, constitutional law scholar
• Freddy Nieuchowicz, aka Orlando Petinatti (born 1968), radio host
• Daniel Hendler (born 1976), actor
• Álvaro Brechner (born 1976), film director, writer and producer
• Marcelo Lipatín (born 1977), football player
• Gabe Saporta (born 1979), singer/songwriter/bassist
• Andy Ram (born 1980), retired professional tennis player
• Marcel Felder (born 1984), tennis player, gold medal at the 2013 Maccabiah Games
• Ariel Behar (born 1989), tennis player
• Camila Rajchman (born 1994), singer and television personality.

{{portal|Uruguay|Judaism}}

• List of synagogues in Uruguay
• Israel-Uruguay relations
• Holocaust Memorial, Montevideo
• Uruguayan Jews in Israel

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Judaism in Uruguay}}

• {{cite book|last1=Pi Hugarte|first1=Renzo|last2=Vidart|first2=Daniel|author-link=Renzo Pi Hugarte|author-link2=Daniel Vidart|title=El legado de los inmigrantes|publisher=Nuestra Tierra|location=Montevideo|year=1970|url=http://www.periodicas.edu.uy/Nuestra_tierra/pdfs/Nuestra_tierra_39.pdf|language=es}}
• [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Uruguay.html Uruguay: Virtual Jewish History Tour] - Jewish Virtual Library
• [http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Worldwide+Community/Connecting+to+Community/Uruguay.htm Uruguay] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915041024/http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Worldwide+Community/Connecting+to+Community/Uruguay.htm |date=15 September 2012 }} - Jewish Agency for Israel
• {{cite web|url=http://www.multiculturalismoenuruguay.com/Docs/Entrevistas/Judios%20-%20Maria%20Emila%20Perez%20Santancieri.pdf|title=Jewish Montevideo|access-date=2013-04-19|author=María Emilia Pérez Santarcieri|language=es}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.nativ.org.uy/menu/comunidadS.pdf|title=Uruguayan Jewish Community|access-date=2013-04-19|author=Magalí Werba|author2=Enrique Horowitz|language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102190921/http://www.nativ.org.uy/menu/comunidadS.pdf|archive-date=2013-11-02|url-status=dead}}

{{Americas topic|History of the Jews in}}

{{South America in topic|History of the Jews in}}

{{Ethnic groups in Uruguay}}