3965  WWII Argentina

Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 18:45:46 +0000
From: Sergio Vandekier <sergiovandekier990@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: WWII Argentina

***Not a tango subject, this may not interest you.*** Tango during the
Second Great War could be an interesting subject.

Igor asks: "I wonder, how WWII was felt in Argentina?.

>The war was all around. Were there immigrants from Europe escaping the

war?

>Where there immigrants from Germany, Eastern Europe after it was over?
>

How did it feel ?"

There is a novel : Honor Bound (Hardcover)
by W. E. B. Griffin and its sequel by the same author that I found very
interesting. I highly recommended. The book describes in detail the
situation in Argentina during WWII. A group of US spies go to Argentina
with the purpose of neutralizing the help Argentina was providing to Germany
in the South Atlantic.

Argentina declared itself "Neutral" . There was great influence of the
Argentine armed forces in the nationalistic governments of that period. The
navy seemed to sympathize with the allies but the army favored the axis
powers. The main concern at he time was to fight or to neutralize "the
communist threat" that according to them seemed to be growing in the unions.
Argentina declared war on Germany on the last day of the conflict in order
not to jeopardize its standing in the post war era.

It was a period of turmoil with frequent confrontations between land owners,
capitalists, and the unions.

Despite of that, Argentina ranked among the 10 richest countries in the
world and life in general was prosperous and peaceful. The decrease in
industrial imports from Europe accelerated industrialization as the foreign
need for Argentine raw materials increased.

In the peak period of the worlds oversee migration, 1821-1932, six
countries absorbed 90 per cent of the total, and among these six, Argentina
ranked second in the number of immigrants, with a total of 6,405,000. The
only other Latin American country on the list is Brazil, with 4,431,000. The
United States, of course, came first with about 5 times as many as
Argentina. (11, page 54).

After the war immigrants continued to arrive from all over Europe, but
mostly from the catholic parts of Europe.

Many came from Poland, Bulgaria, the Balkans, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia;
among them many of Jewish ancestry.

In conclusion further facilitating the process of absorption was the
receptive and usually friendly attitude maintained by Argentina toward
immigrants, European immigrants had always been accorded preferential
treatment by Argentine constitutions, treaties and laws. Religious freedom
in this predominantly Catholic nation was guaranteed... by the Constitution
of 1853. Foreigners might be stereotyped...but rarely were they
discriminated against, rejected or isolated because of their nationality.
Only rarely did Argentina react against supposed threats to its Europeanized
culture. "

This never caused persecution, discrimination or deportation. Not even
during the recent economical crisis of 2001 when immigrants from the rest of
South America and Eastern Europe continued arriving.

Best regards, Sergio