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The Argentine Right and the Jews, 1919–1933

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Extract

In Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number, Jacobo Timerman exposed the anti-Jewish side of the official war against ‘subversion’ in Argentina during the late 1970s. His dramatic testimony is only the latest entry in the lengthy history of twentieth-century Argentine anti-Semitism. Researchers and observers have commonly identified anti-Semitism in that country with rightist factions within the upper strata, including members of such important élites as the military, clergy, and intelligentsia. While only a small minority of the Argentine populace fits into this category, the anti-Semitic right's visibility and fervor have inspired widespread concern and scholarly interest.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

1 Timerman, Jacobo, Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number, trans, by Talbot, Toby (New York, 1981)Google Scholar. While there is leftist anti-Semitism in Argentina, right-wing views were far more important in the period under study – and continue to be more important because rightists have been closer to power than leftists. On the general issue of Argentine anti-Semitism, see, among other works, Clementi, Hebe, ‘ Antisemitismo en la Argentina’, Todo Es Historia (1982), pp. 8–3 3Google Scholar; Dulfano, Maurice J., ‘Anti-Semitism in Argentina: Patterns of Jewish Adaptation’, Jewish Social Studies, vol. 31 (04 1969), pp. 122–44Google Scholar; Eisenberg, Dennis, The Re-emergence of Fascism (New York, 1968), pp. 279–95Google Scholar; Elkin, Judith Laikin, Jews of the Latin American Republics (Chapel Hill, 1980), pp. 83, 230–5Google Scholar; Mirelman, Victor A., ‘Attitudes Toward Jews in Argentina’, Jewish Social Studies, vol. 37 (Summer–Fall 1975), pp. 205–20Google Scholar; Schwartz, Kessel, ‘Anti-Semitism in Modern Argentine Fiction’, Jewish Social Studies 40 (Spring 1978), no. 131–40;Google ScholarSebreli, Juan José (ed.), La cuestión judía en la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1968)Google Scholar, including his essay with the same title, pp. 223–55; Senkman, Leo, ‘Crónica documentada del problema judío en la Argentina’, Nueva Presencia, nos. 1–4, 8–9 (0708 1977Google Scholar); Weisbrot, Robert, The Jews of Argentina: From the Inquisition to Perón (Philadelphia, 1979), pp. 209–25, 241–75Google Scholar. My perspective is similar to Lerner's, Natán in ‘Anti-Semitism and the Nationalist Ideology in Argentina’, Dispersion and Unity, vol. 17–18 (1973), pp. 131–9Google Scholar, and I borrow some terms from Germani, Gino, ‘Antisemitismo ideológico y antisemitismo tradicional, Comentario, vol. 9 (1962), pp. 5563.Google Scholar

2 In this century, Argentine rightists have upheld their views of society – hierarchical, capitalist, Catholic, and Latin – against the demands of immigrants, leftists, workers, democrats, and others who, they believe, undermine the social order. Their ideas are examined below, and in Barbero, María Inés and Devoto, Fernando, Los nacionalistas (1910–1932) (Buenos Aires, 1983)Google Scholar; Deutsch, Sandra McGee, Counterrevolution in Argentina, 1900–1932: The Argentine Patriotic League (Lincoln, Nebraska, forthcoming)Google Scholar; Navarro, Marysa, Los nacionalistas, trans. by Ciria, Alberto (Buenos Aires, 1968)Google Scholar; Alvarez, Enrique Zuleta, El nacionalismo argentino, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1975)Google Scholar. On the historiography of the right, see Hennessy, Alistair, ‘Fascism and Populism in Latin America’, in Laqueur, Walter (ed.), Fascism: A Reader's Guide. Analyses, Interpretations, Bibliography (Berkeley, 1976), pp. 272–80Google Scholar; and Alvarez, Zuleta, El nacionalismo, vol. 2; 565811.Google Scholar

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7 For a more detailed description of rightist beliefs at this time, see McGee Deutsch, Counterrevolution in Argentina, chapter 2

8 On labor during this period, see Rock, Politics in Argentina; and Walter, Richard J., The Socialist Party of Argentina, 1890–1930 (Austin, 1977), pp. 135–57.Google Scholar

9 Mirelman, Victor A., ‘The Semana Trágica of 1919 and the Jews in Argentina’, Jewish Social Studies, vol. 37 (06. 1975); p. 68Google Scholar; Solominsky, Nahum, La semana trágica en la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1971), pp. 1314.Google Scholar On anti-Semitism before 1919 see, for example, Mirelman, V. A., ‘Jewish Settlement in Argentina, 1881–1892’, Jewish Social Studies, vol. 33 (01. 1971), 89Google Scholar; Onega, Gladys S., La inmigración en la literatura argentina (Buenos Aires, 1969), pp. 109–23Google Scholar; Schwartz, ‘Anti-Semitism’; Sebreli, , La cuestión judía, pp. 223–30Google Scholar; Senkman, ‘Crónica documentada’; Solberg, , Immigration and Nationalism, pp. 135–6Google Scholar; José María Miró (pseud. Martel, Julián), La bolsa (Buenos Aires, 1891)Google Scholar.

10 On the Semana Trágica see, for example, Babini, Nicolás, ‘La Semana Trágica. Pesadilla de una siesta de verano’, Todo Es Historia (09. 1967), pp. 820Google Scholar; Godio, Julio, La semana trágica de enero de 1919 (Buenos Aires, 1972)Google Scholar; Romariz, José R., La semana trágica. Relato de los hechos sangrientos del año 1919 (Buenos Aires, 1952)Google Scholar; Rock, David, ‘Lucha civil en la Argentina. La Semana Tragica de enero de 1919’, Desarrollo Económico, vol. 11 (03. 1972). pp. 165215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Lewin, , La colectividad, p. 128.Google Scholar

12 Ibid., pp. 128–40. Sofer noted that over half of those arrested on 13 January were Jews, Russian, in From Pale to Pampa, p. 44.Google Scholar

13 Franceschi, in El Pueblo, 26 01. 1919Google Scholar; Romariz, , La semana trágica, p. 170Google Scholar; Piñero, Octavio A., Los orígenes y la trágica semana de enero de 1919 (Buenos Aires, 1956), p. 68.Google Scholar

14 La Prensa, 25–26 Jan. 1919; Avni, , ‘Argentine Jewry’, p. 160Google Scholar; Mirelman, , ‘The Semana Tragica’, pp. 6970.Google Scholar

15 La Prensa, La Nación, La Epoca, 10–15 Jan. 1919; La Prensa, 20–21 Jan. 1919.

16 La Prensa, 20–21 Jan. 1919; Argentina, Liga Patriótica, Estatutos (Buenos Aires, 1919).Google Scholar

17 I derived the number of brigades from listings in the press and in Liga congresses. The U.S. ambassador estimated in May 1919 that there were 52,000 Liguistas. See Ambassador Frederic J. Stimson to Secretary of State, Despatch no. 810, 8 May 1919, Washington, U.S. Department of State, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Argentina, 1910–29, General Records, Decimal File, M514, 835.00/71.

18 On the Liga's social base, see McGee Deutsch, Counterrevolution, chapter 3 and appendix.

19 On the Villaguay episode, see La Vanguardia, 15–21, 24–28 Feb. 1921; La Fronda, 27 Feb 1921; Argentina, República, Nacional, Congreso, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados, vol.6(18, 23 02. 1921; 1920Google Scholar series), pp. 311–16, 355–92, respectively; Lewin, , La colectividad, pp. 109–11.Google Scholar

20 Congreso, , Diputados, vol. 6 (23 02. 1921), p. 360.Google Scholar

21 La Nación, 29 March 1921.

22 Congreso, , Diputados, vol. 6(18 02. 1921), pp. 315–16Google Scholar; (23 Feb. 1921), pp. 358–63, 374, 377, 380.

23 La Nación, 17, 19 02. 1921; Congreso, , Diputados, vol. 6 (18 02. 1921), p. 315Google Scholar; (23 Feb. 1921), p. 374.

24 Mirelman, , ‘The Semana Trágica,’ pp. 72–3Google Scholar. This brigade was small compared, for example, with the male brigade of Cordoba, which had 275 members in 1919, according to La Voz del Interior, 23 Oct. 1919.

25 La Nación, 2, 11, 14 Mar. 1921; La Fronda, 3, 14 March 1921. Brigade officers were listed in the press and in Argentina, Liga Patriótica, Primcro de Mayo Argentino: Conmemoración del pronunciamiento de Urquiza en Entre Ríos (Buenos Aires, 1921).Google Scholar

26 Boletín Mensual del Museo Social Argentino, vol. 8 (Jan.–June 1919), pp. 36–37, 54. 84, 141. Nevertheless, a survey of opinions on Jewish immigration in Vida Nuestra, vol. 7(1919), pp. 145–86Google Scholar, showed that some prominent Argentines were more tolerant of Jews than Ordóñez and Amadeo.

27 Germani, ‘Antisemitismo’.

28 Nationalists in the late 1920s and early 1930s wrote for the journals Criteria and La Nueva República and belonged to Catholic study groups, the Liga Republicana, Legión de Mayo, Acción Republicana, and Legión Cívica Argentina. The best accounts of the nationalists are Navarro Gerassi, Los nacionalistas; and ZuletaAlvarez, El nacionalismo. Nationalists differed on some issues, but these disagreements were not as evident before 1933 as they would be after that year. It is difficult to estimate the size of these groups. The largest, the Legión Cívica Argentina, may have included as many as 30,000 in 1931 (La Fronda, 11 July 1931), but the intellectuals who wrote about the Jews were few in number. On the influence of Europeans, especially Maurras, see Alvarez, Zuleta, El nacionalismo, vol. 1, pp. 213–17Google Scholar; Carulla, Juan E., Al filo del medio siglo (2d ed., Buenos Aires, 1964), p. 241Google Scholar; Ibarguren, Carlos, La historia que he vivido (2d ed., Buenos Aires, 1969), p. 369Google Scholar; Irazusta, Julio, Memorias (Historia de un historiador a la fuerza) (Buenos Aires, 1975), pp. 153–4, 176Google Scholar. On the rightist role in the revolution of 1930 and the regime it installed, see Goldwert, Marvin, Democracy, Militarism, and Nationalism in Argentina, 1930–1966: An Interpretation (Austin, 1972), pp. 143Google Scholar; Potash, Robert A., The Army and Politics in Argentina, 1928–1945: Yrigoyen to Perón (Stanford, 1969)Google Scholar; Quesada, Julio A., Orígenes de la revolutión del 6 de septiembre de 1930 (Rosas e Yrigoyen) (Buenos Aires, 1930)Google Scholar; Irazusta, Julio, (ed.), El pensamiento político nacionalista, vol. 2: La revolución de 1930 (Buenos Aires, 1975).Google Scholar

29 Vida Nuestra, vol. 7 (1919), pp. 145–8, 173.Google Scholar

30 Ibarguren, Carlos, La crisis político del mundo (Buenos Aires, 1933), pp. 35, 38.Google Scholar

31 Gálvez, Manuel, ‘El deber de las clases dirigentes’, Criterio, vol. 4, no. 194 (19 11. 1931), p. 241Google Scholar; ‘Antisemitismo’, Criterio, vol. 5, no. 239 (29 09. 1932), pp. 300–1.Google Scholar

32 See Gálvez, , ‘Antisemitismo’, 300–;2Google Scholar, on the following discussion.

33 Unsigned, , La Nueva República (hereinafter, LNR), no. 43 (1 12. 1928).Google Scholar

34 LNR, no. 13 (5 May 1928).

35 LNR, no. 8 (15 March. 1928), no. 16 (25 May. 1928); no. 40 (10 Nov. 1928). On Radical policies toward the Jews, see Sofer, From Pale to Pampa, p. 47.

36 LNR, no. 3 (1 Jan. 1928).

37 LNR, no. 16 (25 May 1928).

38 See, for example, Carulla, Juan E., Valor ético de la revoluión de 6 deseptiembre 1930 (Buenos Aires, 1931), p. 75.Google Scholar On economic dependency in the 1930s and the right, see Falcoff, Mark, ‘Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz: The Making of an Argentine Nationalist’, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 52, no. 1 (02. 1972), 74101CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Irazusta, , Memorias, pp. 204–21.Google Scholar

39 Senex, , LNR, no. 93 (12 10. 1931).Google Scholar

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42 Germani, ‘Antisemitismo’.

43 LNR, no. 60 (30 Aug. 1930).

44 A.E.M., LNR, no. 92 (10 10. 1931).Google Scholar

45 D.B., LNR, no. 92 (10 10. 1931).Google Scholar

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48 Balda, Vicente,‘La hipocresía judaica’, Criterio, vol. 3, no. 154 (12 02. 1931), pp. 207–8Google Scholar; ‘El plan judío’, pp. 73–4.

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51 Timerman's main captor and interrogator was General Ramón J. Camps. On Camps and Timerman's other jailers, the interrogations, and the ideology of military hardliners, see Timerman, , Prisoner, pp. 1011, 29–31, 55–7, 72–6, 101–3, 127–8, 130–2, 163Google Scholar. For Camps's view of Timerman and his justification of the ‘dirty war’, see ‘Los documentos inéditos del caso Timerman’, Gentey la Actualidad, vol. 16, no. 832 (2 07 1981), pp. 49Google Scholar; and Latin American Weekly Report (4 Feb. 1983).