B"H

Jewish Tours

Buenos Aires, Argentina

ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA, South American Federal Republic, general population (2004) 39,150,000; Jewish population 190,000.

THE SHADOW OF NATIONALISM: 1930–1946

Agricultural Settlement

Between 1936 and 1944, several hundred families who fled antisemitic persecution in Germany were absorbed into the settlement project. Many of them settled in Entre Ríos, where they founded the colony of Avigdor. In the succeeding period, however, more families left the land, and in 1962 there were fewer settlers than there had been in 1898 (5,907 compared to 6,755 at the earlier date). The families who remained in 1962 were smaller in size than those of 1898 (an average of less than three members as against over five to a family at the earlier date) and belonged to an older age group. On the other hand, the number of non-Jews in the colonies was almost double that of the Jewish colonists (about 10,220). In 1964 the number of Jewish farmers who lived on and cultivated their land in the colonies was estimated at 782 families. The overall territory under Jewish ownership was 450,000 hectares. Despite the fact that there were Jewish farmers who were well established on their soil, especially in the south of Buenos Aires province, the future of the Jewish colonies was uncertain in the late 1960s.

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