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The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

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humanitarian sentiments <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Evian</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> and dispatched Virgilio Molina to<br />

represent the Republic and to announce that their country was willing and ready to admit<br />

<strong>Jewish</strong> refugees. Such an <strong>of</strong>fer was described as representing “one <strong>of</strong> the boldest<br />

masterstrokes <strong>of</strong> modern press agentry.” 38 Trujillo had earlier been approached during<br />

1937 by the American <strong>Jewish</strong> Congress for the same purpose. <strong>The</strong> Congress’<br />

representative, Dr. Howard Blake, described the potential benefits that would accrue to<br />

the Dominican leader: “Trujillo, the Emancipator! Trujillo, the Liberator!...Who would<br />

be the first to buy your tobacco? <strong>The</strong> Jews! Your c<strong>of</strong>fee? <strong>The</strong> Jews! Everything that<br />

you can export? <strong>The</strong> everlastingly grateful Jew!” 39<br />

Additional considerations drove Trujillo to <strong>of</strong>fer refuge to German and Austrian<br />

refugees. <strong>The</strong> introduction <strong>of</strong> lighter skinned Central European immigrants and Spanish<br />

Civil War refugees would allow the replacement <strong>of</strong> Haitian and West Indian workers and<br />

transform the racial demographics <strong>of</strong> his island nation while introducing outside capital<br />

38 Marion A. Kaplan, “’A Very Modest Experiment—<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> Refugee Settlement in Sosua, 1940-<br />

1945,” <strong>The</strong> Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 53 no. 1 (2008): 132.<br />

39 Dr. Howard Blake to Trujillo, January 5, 1937, 839.52 <strong>Jewish</strong> Colonization/1, RG 59, NA cited in<br />

Roorda, Dictator Next Door, 143. Dominican General Gregorio Luperon (1839-1897), cabinet minister and<br />

provisional president (1879-1880) promoted immigration from Cuba and Puerto Rico and during 1882<br />

unsuccessfully sought the resettlement <strong>of</strong> Russian Jews suffering Czarist pogroms. Letter to the central<br />

<strong>com</strong>mittee <strong>of</strong> the Alliance Israélite Universalle: “I have heard <strong>of</strong> the persecutions <strong>of</strong> the Jews in several<br />

European states and I venture to inform you that there is a country, the Dominican Republic, a vast and<br />

fertile country which has every prospect for the future. <strong>The</strong>re your co-religionists will be received with<br />

open arms. It is not merely hospitality which I take the liberty to <strong>of</strong>fer in the name <strong>of</strong> my government and<br />

people but also a secure citizenship (nationality) and land for farming purposes, land, which immediately<br />

after possession has been taken, will be<strong>com</strong>e the property <strong>of</strong> the settlers…I know…the people in Santo<br />

Domingo…will rejoice in the arrival in their midst <strong>of</strong> brethren prepared to share their fate with them.”<br />

Mark Wischnitzer “<strong>The</strong> Historical Background <strong>of</strong> the Settlement <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> Refugees in Santo Domingo,”<br />

<strong>Jewish</strong> Social Studies 4, no. 1 (January 1942): 48-50. Converted Jews had first <strong>com</strong>e to the island <strong>of</strong><br />

Hispaniola during the Spanish Inquisition but the first Sephardic Jews arrived in the Dominican Republic<br />

during the first twenty-five years <strong>of</strong> the Nineteenth Century and helped to develop a successful merchant<br />

class that benefited the local economy. Overall the Republic had a long tradition <strong>of</strong> social and religious<br />

tolerance towards its <strong>Jewish</strong> minority.<br />

213

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