Jewish immigration during the Holocaust era became difficult because before 1933 the doors of different countries began to be restricted by economic depression, and after 1933 were further restricted by anti-Semitism, resulting in an anti-immigration phobia. Between 1918 and 1933 the gates of Latin America were open to Jewish immigration and immigration in general, but from 1933 to 1945 only about 84,000 Jewish refugees were allowed in.
In Chile the circumstances were different. The presidential election in late 1938 changed the history of Chile. The elected president, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, opened the door to the refugees, while other countries closed it. Their triumph was due to the vote of the Chilean Nationals in incredible circumstances. At the end of their existence, the Chilean Nacis under the command of their leader Jorge González von Marées criticized the German anti-Semitic fury and the Chilean Germans and their descendants in Chile for not joining the country in which they had already resided for three generations. Our little Chile accepted between 13,000 and 15,000 Jews in the Holocaust years.
The Jewish immigrants, who were blamed for taking the work of the Chileans, contributed new industries and methods, made products that had to be imported before, saving foreign currency to Chile.
Keywords:
German Jewish immigration to Chile, Holocaust, Germany Nazi, Pedro Aguirre Cerda and immigration, Nazism, Jews in Chile.
