Paper by the Coordinator included in a Brazilian university textbook

The paper titled "The Anti-Immigration Campaign in *La Tribuna Popular* and *El Debate*: 1936–1937" by David Telias, Coordinator of the Department of Jewish Studies, presented at the "4th Brazilian Conference on Jewish Studies," which took place in November 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, was included in the book "Judaism and Modernity: Their Multiple Interrelationships" published in 2007 by the Rio de Janeiro State University.

Interview with David Telias, Esq.

- What was the topic of your presentation?

- In our collective imagination, Uruguay in the first half of the 20th century is seen almost as a paradise where various waves of immigrants arrived and settled in with virtually no difficulty. It is clear that, when compared to the rest of the region—and especially Argentina—this could well be said to be the case. However, I believe we should not underestimate the anti-immigrant movements that existed in Uruguay, particularly after the effects of the 1929 international crisis began to be felt there.

This, combined with the rise of fascist ideology in certain political circles in our country and the rise of Nazism following the alliance between Hitler and Mussolini, fueled growing hostility toward the new waves of immigration, which conservative circles—as represented in those newspapers—labeled “exotic.”

On the other hand, these sectors were aligned with the ruling political power, supporting the anti-Batllista dictatorship of President Gabriel Terra (1931–1938), and it was during the period analyzed in this paper that the reform—or tightening—of the so-called Anti-Immigration Law took place. What we analyze in this paper is how these media outlets argued in favor of this reform of the law, and what their conception of “exotic” immigration was, particularly Jewish immigration.

-Why did you decide to study this particular subject?

- Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't entirely my own decision. I did it at the invitation of Daniela Bouret at the time, with whom we worked on this for several years, including after the book was published, since in 1998 we were the producers of a historical-art exhibition held at the Cabildo de Montevideo, titled Equipaje de Ilusiones, which dealt with Jewish, Armenian, and Republican Spanish immigration to our country.

- What was the hypothesis that was proposed?

- Let’s say that the presentation does not put forward a specific hypothesis, since the aim on this occasion was to present a series of sources—primarily from the press—that have been overlooked due to a collective imagination that, as is often the case, is highly selective. But the fact is that neither *La Tribuna Popular* nor *El Debate* were minor publications; rather, they were very important for their time in terms of their daily circulation. It should be noted that, although both are presented as anti-immigrant, their characteristics are not entirely the same.

While *El Debate* focused on tightening restrictions under the 1936 anti-immigration law, rarely mentioning Jews, *La Tribuna Popular* was clearly anti-Semitic and expressed clear concern about Jewish immigration among the various groups arriving at the time.

There were other media outlets aligned with them, such as *La Mañana*, for example. Since the presentation had to be limited in time and scope, I chose these two because they were, in a way, the standard-bearers during that period—which was the most turbulent, precisely because of the proposed reforms to the law.

- What led to the anti-immigration campaign?

- There are many reasons for this. I believe the main one is economic. The law that was amended in 1936 had been enacted in 1932, at a time when Uruguay was beginning to feel the effects of the 1929 crisis. Added to this was a favorable international context. In other words, this wasn’t happening only in Uruguay. The most compelling evidence was the 1938 Evian Conference, at which no country in the world was willing to accept Jews fleeing Nazism, arguing on the one hand a supposed inability to create the conditions to receive them, but relying on the anti-immigration laws that all countries had in place. There is the exceptional case of the Dominican Republic, but even there the offer was made subject to existing restrictive legislation.

- What new insights does the study offer?

- Nationally, perhaps not much, considering that it is based on research we began several years earlier and was first published in the book *Between Matzah and Mate: Jewish Immigration to Uruguay: A History in the Making*, which we co-authored with Daniela Bouret and Álvaro Martínez. Published in late 1997 by Banda Oriental, it had a significant impact at the time, as it was the first work of its kind published in Uruguay. As for Brazil and the other countries that were involved in the conference in some way, I believe it has had a significant impact, given that very little is generally known about Uruguay, and the image people have of it is very different from what the research reveals.

-What aspect of your research sparked the most interest among the event organizers?

- I think, first of all, the fact that I’m from Uruguay. Unfortunately, for various reasons, Uruguayans are becoming less and less involved in the international academic community. But then there’s the fact that they encountered a view of Uruguay that was quite different from what they expected.

- What is the book that includes your article about?

- Extremely diverse, as it brings together a selection of dozens of papers presented at the 4th Conference on Jewish Studies, organized every three years by the Jewish Studies Program at the Rio de Janeiro State University. Undoubtedly, sociological and anthropological works on Brazilian Judaism predominate. But there are also works of microhistory, as well as analyses of international political issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Interview published in July 2008