Holocaust Studies: A Welcoming Country

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Clarissa

November 13, 2015

So here is the response to our question of which country was the only one that agreed to accept European Jews to save them from Hitler in 1938:

The Dominican Republic.

Congratulations to reader niedermen who provided the right answer.

Unfortunately, the reasons for the DR’s welcoming stance vis-à-vis Jews were not warm and fuzzy. The Dominicans were in the grip of their long-time obsession of needing to distinguish themselves from the “really black” Haitians who share the Hispaniola island with them. The Dominican authorities believed that the presence of white European Jews would civilize the country enough to distinguish it from the “barbaric” and “uncultured” “really black” Haitians.

What a disgrace on all sides, really.

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19 responses to “Holocaust Studies: A Welcoming Country”

Stringer Bell

November 13, 2015

Growing up in India, I was always told that ours was the only country in the world where Jews were not persecuted. Assimilating other religions and cultures into ours has always been the cornerstone of our nation-building narrative, though, so maybe there’s some truth to that. We do have our own flavor of Islam and Christianity.

So, as an aside, when Cliff talks about muslims not liking music and dancing I have to laugh because you just have to watch the end credits of a bollywood film and look at the contribution of muslim singers/songwriters/choreographers to the film industry. It’s to the point where right wing hindus complain that bollywood is dominated by muslims, haha.

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 13, 2015
  
  What happened, then? How come I keep encountering an absolutely virulent, vicious anti-semitism among people from India? I always thought that Jews were not very relevant to India since there has never been a significant community there. But what’s going on now, all of a sudden? I have had to end several personal relationships because of this, and I have no explanation.
  
  And this is not Indian Muslims I’m talking about, in case anybody jumps to that conclusion. I don’t know any Indian Muslims. In my case, the people who came out as extremely anti-semitic were 2 Sikhs (not related to each other), one Catholic, and one Hindu.
  
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  1. Stringer Bell
    
    November 13, 2015
    
    Wow. I don’t know why, either. Are these people living in the west? I only say this because the jewish community in India is so insignificant that I doubt anyone could know enough about them to come to any conclusions, good or bad.
    
    India’s such a hodge-podge, though. While we pride ourselves on not persecuting Jews, Hiter’s biography sells like hotcakes there. Not because they’re anti-semites but because they’re so fed up with the system that they dream of a strong, authoritarian who’d swoop in and solve all their problems.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      November 13, 2015
      
      Yes, these are immigrants. Three of them are fellow academics. Nicest people ever until this thing starts pouring out of them.
      
      “Not because they’re anti-semites but because they’re so fed up with the system that they dream of a strong, authoritarian who’d swoop in and solve all their problems.”
      
      I recommend Stalin. He, at least, died in his own bed and in a victorious state. (This is a joke, of course.)
      
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      1. Stringer Bell
        
        November 13, 2015
        
        Oh, we’ve got you covered.
        
        This guy, an MP, belongs to one of the most powerful political dynasties in India.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._K._Stalin
        
        M. K. Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953. He was named after Joseph Stalin, who died later that week. His political career began when, as a 14 year old, he campaigned in the 1967 elections. In 1973, Stalin was elected to the General committee of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
        
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        Clarissa
        
        November 13, 2015
        
        “M. K. Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953. He was named after Joseph Stalin, who died later that week. His political career began when, as a 14 year old, he campaigned in the 1967 elections. In 1973, Stalin was elected to the General committee of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).”
        
        Oh wow. I know one Lenin from Venezuela but I have never heard of a Stalin. 🙂
        
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    2. cliff arroyo
      
      November 13, 2015
      
      “we pride ourselves on not persecuting Jews”
      
      Maybe it’s sour grapes? Since there were never enough Jews in one place at one time (with high enough a profile) to persecute they convinced themselves they didn’t want to?
      
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      1. Stringer Bell
        
        November 13, 2015
        
        I know you’re being flippant here but I’ll answer anyway. Nope. Not sour grapes.
        
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2. cliff arroyo
  
  November 13, 2015
  
  “when Cliff talks about muslims not liking music and dancing”
  
  When did I do that? (beyond maybe noting that some schools of Islamist thought consider that music is forbidden by the Koran and hadith). A few theocratic regimes in recent years have limited and/or banned music.
  
  I remember a really fascinating documentary on belly dancers some years ago (centered but not limited to Egypt) that featured a lot of interviews with dancers of various …. social ranks. I’d never thought of that as an interesting topic but it was fascinating in whole bunches of different ways.
  
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J. Otto Pohl

November 13, 2015

In 1937 there was a series of massacres, a genocide by reasonable definitions, of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. It is called the Parsley Massacre because Creole speakers find the word perejil difficult to say and this is how Dominican soldiers determined who was Haitian.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19880967

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 13, 2015
  
  That’s exactly what my student was researching. 🙂
  
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cliff arroyo

November 13, 2015

I’ll add to the topic here, that when someone suggested the DR my first thought that it was part of some kind of “Europeanizing” campaign since as a general rule in Latin America the less European the population the more intellectuals and politicians ache for a European and/or white identity.

I also remember reading about a cultural campaign imagining some deep connection with Spain (and therefore Europeanness and whiteness). In a pinch apparently even some white jews would be useful for convincing themselves how European and white they are…..

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 13, 2015
  “In a pinch apparently even some white jews would be useful for convincing themselves how European and white they are…..”
  
  Absolutely. And even today, there are too many Dominicans who will go on and on and on about how much whiter and, hence, better they are than Haitians. When Hispanidad is not enough to support that idea, they will turn to anything else that comes in handy.
  
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el

November 13, 2015

Wait, you hasn’t answered the most important question: why hasn’t The Dominican Republic accepted the Jews in the end?

You know, Holocaust is a huge topic in Israeli high school history classes, but what you have written in your last posts is not studied. I studied Nazi ideology, but not like you put it in “why Hitler hated Jews” post. And, if I understood correctly, it was not your interpretation, but the heart of the matter according to most historians, right?

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 13, 2015
  
  Oh, but it did. There was quite a big (for that small country) settlement of Jewish families in the DR. Since then, most of them have left for the US.
  
  I don’t conduct any research in the area of Holocaust Studies but it so happens that right now I’m reading a lot of Holocaust scholarship both for work and for my own enlightenment. So I’m simply retelling what I find in my readings. I will also post reviews of the actual sources I read once I’m done. I’m discovering some fascinating stuff!
  
  You are right, though, none of this is my analysis or interpretation. I’m not qualified to produce them.
  
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  1. el
    
    November 13, 2015
    
    \ I will also post reviews of the actual sources I read once I’m done. I’m discovering some fascinating stuff!
    
    Waiting for the reviews and also for more posts on the topic. Very interesting.
    
    \ Oh, but it did. There was quite a big (for that small country) settlement of Jewish families in the DR.
    
    Once it was obvious the DR won’t accept all Jews, did nobody even say anything? “We did all we could by talking, the Jews may sink or swim now”?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      November 13, 2015
      
      Yes, it was pretty cold. The British rejected the pleas to let Jews settle in Palestine by saying very directly that “It is more convenient for us to antagonize Jews than antagonize Muslims.” Everybody knew what was happening but there was no profit in doing anything. So nobody did anything.
      
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  2. NG
    
    November 13, 2015
    
    “There was quite a big (for that small country) settlement of Jewish families in the DR. Since then, most of them have left for the US.”
    
    I have a copy of The Holocaust Chronicle at home and it says that although DR committed to the settlement of 100,000 Jewish refugees in return for millions of dollars in payments from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee under the rubric of the Sousa Project, it actually only admitted 500.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      November 13, 2015
      
      The whole thing actually started back in 1882 when the country’s leadership started importing Jews to “whiten” and “Europeanize” the country.
      
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