History of the Jews in Honduras

Jews have lived in Honduras since the times of the Inquisition. Today more than 40[1]–50 Jewish families live in the country and has more than 390 jewish people that had gained the Honduran residence in the last decade and thousands of non determined descendants all along the Honduran population. The community is concentrated primarily in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. Other families are found in the port city of La Ceiba.

Jewish Hondurans
הונדורס ערבים
Jewish home in Tegucigalpa.
Total population
390 (Immigrants with residence)
Languages
Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino
Religion
Judaism, Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Germans, Polish, Romanians, Arabs

History

Arrival of Jews in Honduras

Sephardic Jews had crossed the Atlantic Ocean bound for America on Spanish ships, many of them transformed into future settlers, some were officials of the crown, others sailors and merchants, etc. His vision was to reach a piece of land in order to found his home, in the Archives of the Indies both in Seville, 3 and in the viceroyalties you can check the list of the migratory flow from Europe to America and its transfer to all the continent, The municipality of Trinidad in the Department of Santa Bárbara, has deep Jewish historical antecedents and is related to Jewish society according to the investigations carried out. There are many other municipalities with the same foundational antecedents, but more Christianized.

When the Province of Honduras was founded and the city of Comayagua was designated as its capital, several of these Jews settled there, then they were distributed throughout the Honduran territory as it grew in commercial importance, as a policy between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. was in the conservative administration of Captain General José María Medina, when the National Congress issued an Immigration Law, which was produced on February 26, 1866, thus giving way to foreigners who wanted to reside in the country, the Political Constitution of 1876 reflected the importance of immigration in the national territory, both of people from North America.

20th century

Between 1875 and 1915 (before World War I) 45 million Europeans crossed the Atlantic in search of better living conditions on the American continent, of which 2,500,000 were Jews.

In the case of Honduras, the arrival of European Jews itself has its origin in the year 1920, between this year and 1940 the majority of Jews who arrived in the country were Ashkenazis of German, Polish and Romanian origin fleeing the Second World War, specifically in 1939 a total of 455 Germans were registered and 95 were Jewish; the following year, a Decree was issued in the administration of Doctor Vicente Mejía Colindres (1930) in which the Immigration Office was created, attached to the Ministry of the Interior, 7 also a Law that authorized foreigners of Arab ethnic groups , Chinese, Turkish, Syrian, Armenian, Palestinian, black and individuals called colies8 must bring Five thousand Silver Pesos and that they would make a deposit to the state coffers of five hundred Silver Pesos, per person, within two months in the country9 Later, after more study of the contribution of immigration to the driving force of the country, an Immigration Law was issued in 193010, 25 Jewish citizens were naturalized between 1946 and 1956, 19 of them were Poles, which was equivalent to 76% of the naturalizations completed.

The First World War led many Jewish merchants and financiers to take their fortunes out of Europe, some moving to the United States and Latin American countries (mainly the Southern Cone) and others to Russia. [Citation needed] In 1939 World War II would begin and The leader Adolf Hitler had promised to expel the Jews in Germany and on the continent, of this gesture thousands were massacred in Nazi extermination centers, those who were able to flee, they did so mostly to America.

The president of Honduras allowed the entry of Jews during World War II, receiving the influence of the local Jewish community. In 1950 there were 40 Jewish families in Honduras. After the Second War there was a brief boom in the community thanks to the arrival of dozens of new immigrants, but at the beginning of the 1950s most of them would emigrate to the south of the continent to Argentina and Chile where their governments were inclined to receive Jews and States. United, settling especially around Miami.

Already at the end of the 20th century during the government of Rafael Leonardo Callejas, due to the economic crisis, more than a third of the local Jewish community would make Aliyah towards Israel, the United States and Argentina, depriving the youth community of maintaining the tradition. Currently Juan Orlando Hernández, has led a pro-Israel government since his election in 2014, Israel being one of his greatest allies and the first country to recognize him after the massive allegations of electoral fraud that involved Hernández's re-election that led to protests and subsequent repression that caused 30 deaths.

Present day
Anti-semitic and anti-Arabic graffiti in San Pedro Sula that says "Out with trash Arabs, out with the Jews, coup plotters and assholes, long live Mel and the Revolution". Antisemitsm has risen in Honduras since the 2009 coup.

On 3 August 1997, the community in San Pedro Sula dedicated the Maguen David Synagogue to serve as a community centre for future generations.

With the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, the local Jewish community became embroiled in the controversy.[2] Rumors swirled throughout the Honduran media of Jewish and Israeli involvement in the coup d'état.[3] A commentator on Radio Globo, David Romero Ellner, suggested on the air that perhaps it would have been better if the Jews had been exterminated in the Holocaust.[4] His comments drew ire from ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa and the Anti-Defamation League.[5]

In recent years, some Honduran Jews have made aliyah to Israel.[6][7]

Recently, Rosenthals have been implicated with longstanding corruption and other crimes.[8] Yankel Rosenthal, a former minister of investment, was arrested on October 6th, 2015 after landing at Miami airport. He, together with his cousin Yani and uncle Jaime Rolando, a four-time presidential candidate and newspaper owner, were also charged with money laundering and other services that support the international narcotics trafficking activities of multiple Central American drug traffickers and their criminal organisations. [9] Seven of their businesses were labelled under the US Kingpin Act as "specially designated narcotics traffickers". They have been accused of transferring drugs money between accounts in New York and Honduras between 2004 and 2015.[10]

Jewish community and religion in Honduras
Maguen David Synagogue in San Pedro Sula is the one of the most famous non-Christian religious temples in Honduras.

The first synagogue that an attempt was made to found in the city of Tegucigalpa was carried out by mediation of the president of the Jewish community, Mr. Helmut Seidel, in the middle of the 20th century, it did not have good results and later a small one was built that was destroyed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and rebuilt in 2003, it is now the Shevet Ajim Synagogue. Jewish society in the city of San Pedro Sula, where there was a permit to establish and build its own temple, the Maguen David Synagogue. Currently there are only two congregations, one in Tegucigalpa and the other in San Pedro Sula, there are no schools Jews, but some few rabbis.

Notable Honduran Jews

Many Honduran Jews have made many attributions to society, among them standing out in fields such as politics, journalism, business, and other areas such as medicine.

Jewish Surnames in Honduras

In Honduras the following Central European surnames are Ashkenazi Jewish; Hispanic surnames appear related to certain local populations of Hispanic Jewish origin. Apart from this, in general they did not start in Jewish families, and if that were the case, a genealogical investigation is necessary to determine if it was inherited from them or from their slaves or indigenous people sponsored by them:

Sephardic

Anchecta, Arias, Behar, Benveniste, Bueso, Caballero, Cáceres, Calderón, Carbajal, Carmona, Castellanos, Castro, Cuenca, Curiel, Chávez, De Toledo, Domínguez, Enamorado, Espinoza, Fajardo, Fernández, Fuentes, Gómez, Guzmán, Lara, López, Leiva, Luna, Navarro, Núñez, Pardo, Perdomo, Pérez, Pinto, Paz, Rivera, Romero, Rodríguez, Tábora, Toledo, Torres, Trejo, Ventura, Zaldívar.

Azhkhenazim

Rosenthal, Starkman, Seidel, Goldstein, Silverstein.

See also

Footnotes
  1. "The Jews of Honduras". The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
  2. Ravid, Barak (2009-10-09). "Rumors of Jewish, Israeli involvement swirl around Honduran coup". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  3. Malkin, Elizabeth (2009-10-06). "Radio Host's Remarks Add Troubling Note to Honduran Crisis". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  4. Cuevas, Freddy (2009-10-06). "US slams Honduran radioman's anti-Semitic remarks". Associated Press. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  5. Schmidt, Blake (2009-10-08). "Zelaya Condemns Radio Host's Comments on Holocaust". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  6. "Ynetnews News - Making Aliyah: Over 19,000 new olim in 2010". Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  7. "Ynetnews Jewish Scene - 100-year-old man among 2012's olim". Ynetnews.com. 1912-02-15. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  8. "Trasciende detención de Yankel Rosenthal en Miami, EUA - Diario La Prensa". Laprensa.hn. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  9. "Treasury Sanctions Rosenthal Money Laundering Organization". Treasury.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  10. "Honduras football boss Yankel Rosenthal charged in US". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-01-19.

References
  • Amaya Banegas, Jorge Alberto (2000). Los Judíos en Honduras [The Jews of Honduras] (in Spanish). Editorial Guaymuras. ISBN 99926-15-58-3.
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