German-speaking emigration to Uruguay 1933–1945

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The German-speaking emigration to Uruguay 1933-1945 covered about 7,000 to 7,500, a more accurate number of those refugees in the port of Montevideo went ashore can not be determined. Uruguay took in more Jews in relation to its population than any other country in Latin America. Uruguay is therefore one of the most important asylum countries for refugees before National Socialism, even if the phrase “Uruguay's immigration paradise” did not apply unreservedly to emigrants.

"Immigration paradise" with restrictions

In the first decades of the 20th century, Uruguay was regarded as a model democratic country in South America , but this changed from 1929 when conservative and authoritarian forces gained strong influence in the country. From 1933 onwards, this also had an impact on immigration legislation, which is not only seen as a reaction to the National Socialist expulsion policy, although anti-Semitic resentment arose in the Uruguayan press and reached its peak in 1938/39. Starting in 1938, entry was made more difficult for political refugees in particular, and immigrants were required to present a certificate of good conduct from the Secret State Police , as well as references to political attitudes and honesty. Nonetheless, immigration via the “tourist secret route” was tacitly tolerated or with a very open interpretation of the law, with the trade in visas playing an important role. A first-class boat ticket plus 600 pesos “showcase money” were enough to obtain a visa. In contrast to the legislation in Bolivia and Chile , there was no racist argument in Uruguay's immigration laws . However, under the dictatorship of Gabriel Terra , the sick, the disabled and others who would have been a burden for the state welfare were excluded from immigration.

Anti-fascist resistance in Uruguay

The Pestalozzi School was founded in Montevideo in 1935 . It emerged from a parents' initiative that opposed the National Socialist conformity of the German school in Montevideo.

In 1936, the German theologian and resistance fighter founded Annemarie Ruebens in Colonia Valdense the house Ruebens . The country school home became an important meeting point for emigrants from Uruguay and Argentina and made it possible for many emigrant children to spend holidays.

Places of remembrance

A memorial plaque on the lock bridge in Hamburg commemorates the brothers Rudolf and Otto Hirschfeld. Her clothing store was the first address for upscale clothing in Hamburg until 1938 . One of her customers was the lover of the Uruguayan Consul General in Hamburg, who reacted immediately after the November pogroms in 1938 and obtained a visa for the Hirschfeld brothers and a letter from the Consul General to the Gestapo , which enabled them to leave the country immediately.

See also

literature

  • Irmtrud Wojak , Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn u. a. (Ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1998, 2nd unchanged edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-21999-5 , pp. 437–446.
  • Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a foreign country. Exile in Uruguay 1933 - 1945 , Berlin; Hamburg: Association A, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86241-407-9 .
  • Hermann Schnorbach: For a different Germany. The Pestalozzi School in Buenos Aires (1934–1958) . dipa-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-7638-0353-X .
  • Wolfgang Kießling: Exile in Latin America. 2nd expanded edition. Verlag Philipp Reclam jun., Leipzig 1984.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Irmtrud Wojak, Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , special edition, 2nd, unchanged edition, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 437–446, here p. 437 ; Wegner speaks of "around 10,000 German-speaking Jewish and some non-Jewish political emigrants who found refuge in Uruguay between 1933 and 1943/44", Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a foreign country. Exile in Uruguay 1933 - 1945 , Berlin; Hamburg: Association A, 2013, p. 9.
  2. ↑ a b c Knut Henkel: Destination New World . In: the daily newspaper of December 11, 2013.
  3. ↑ Irmtrud Wojak, Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , special edition, 2nd, unchanged edition, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 437–446, here p. 438 .
  4. ↑ Irmtrud Wojak, Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , special edition, 2nd, unchanged edition, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 437–446, here p. 439 .
  5. ^ What the other political statements of the dictator Gabriel Terra contradicted. He justified the establishment of concentration camps in Germany and warned against “Jewish-Communist” immigration. Cf. Irmtrud Wojak, Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , special edition, 2nd, unchanged edition, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 437–446, here p. 440.
  6. ↑ Irmtrud Wojak, Uruguay , in: Claus-Dieter Krohn (ed.), Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration 1933–1945 , special edition, 2nd, unchanged edition, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008, pp. 437–446, here p. 440 .
  7. ↑ Hermann Schnorbach, For Another Germany. Pp. 203-205; also: Wolfgang Kießling: Exile in Latin America. Pp. 123-125.
  8. ↑ Sonja Wegner: Refuge in a Foreign Land , pp. 265–267

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