The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio ...

ignored and left to ruin suggests that the former missionaries were attempting to hide this.
In Kraus’ words, “The very fact that it was in storage for so long, and that it was in bad
need of restoration from water damage, etc, proves to me that the Catholic Church saw
this work as a threat.” 61 62 63
Figures 8 and 9: Both pictures are of the painting of the Virgin Mary in the Mission Concepción in San
Antonio. The left picture is a close up to better see the Stars of David and Hebrew letters above the head
which translate to “G-d.”
Conclusion
The proceeding pages have hopefully proved that there is a significant crypto-
Jewish influence in the San Antonio area. The historical evidence proves a motive for
crypto-Jews to have come to the New World to escape persecution and, specifically, a motive
for why they would have come to the San Antonio area. While the cultural and physical
evidence proves the impact crypto-Jews have left on the culture of the San Antonio area, and
outlines the traditions still observed within individual families.
It must be kept in mind that this is not an abstract subject since these are real 21 st
people living in the local community with real lives and real identities. The descendants of
crypto-Jews are a very diverse group and not every family has the same history or has the
same traditions. During the research process it was not surprising that a few problems arose
associated with this type of project. When first researching the existence of crypto-Jews in
the San Antonio area it was difficult to locate those who knew they were of converso lineage.
It became obvious that some people just did not care about or did not want to accept the
possibility of Jewish ancestry. Undoubtedly there are descendants of crypto-Jews in the area,
but if they are not aware of their lineage or do not want to be found then there is no way to
locate them. Also, it is necessary to place the descendants of crypto-Jews in San Antonio in
a bigger picture. For example, many crypto-Jews came to San Antonio during the Mexican
Revolution; however this is not original to crypto-Jews since many people were trying to
61 Laura, Kraus, 2005, Nothing Secret About Crypto Jews: Coming Out of the Judaic Closet in San
Antonio, New Voices, December 2005, Hhttp://www.newvoices.org/cgi-bin/articlepageprint.cgi?id=504H
(accessed January 31, 2007).
62 Laura Kraus, Immaculate Conception, 2006, photograph.
63 Ibid.
17