Diario Libre today recounts the history of jews in sosua. good read: http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/el-judio-que-huyo-en-una-maleta-GE1143778
rough translation below:
Rudolf Herzberg left the line. Pretending that he was taking a bundle of clothing from the suitcase he used a stone to make a hole in its bottom, covered the mouth of his fifteen months old son, and hid him in the luggage in order to board the ship destined for Sosua, on the north coast of Dominican Republic.
It was 1940 and Herzberg and his wife Ilse were fleeing violent persecution of the regime of Adolf Hitler (President of Germany from 1933 to 1945) against the Jews. The purpose was to make Germany clear of this race, considered inferior. During the chase, they were forced to leave their homes and carry the Star of David, a Jewish symbol, on their clothing, to be easily identified. It is said that about six million of them were killed in the Holocaust.
Many German and Austrian Jews tried to go to America, but did not obtain the necessary visas to enter. Historians tell us that in the midst of the Great Depression, Americans remained reluctant to welcome them, fearing the competition for jobs and because of the social programs overload. The only countries that lent help were the Dominican Republic and the Philippines, which in 1938 granted 100,000 and 10,000 visas respectively, to receive a part of Jewish refugees following the agreement of the Conference of Evian, France, which sought to solve the situation of the descendants of the Hebrew people.
After arriving at the port of Genoa, Italy, the Nazi Gestapo (German secret police) did not authorize Herzberg's son to board the ship because only he and his wife had the aforementioned visa. Desperation drove him to put the child in a suitcase, and he was taken out minutes after boarding the ship.
"They took a huge risk, because if they had been discovered, they would be shot and tossed into the sea", Denny, the suitcase child, now 76 years old told Diario Libre.
"The journey took thirty days, we were in the third class, the food was very limited and I was malnourished when we arrived in the Dominican Republic", he said.
The book "Sos?a, p?ginas contra el olvido", published in May this year as a part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Jewish settlement in the country, collects about 36 stories of the ways the Jews came to Sosua.
"One of the stories that most strikes me is that of the married couple Julius and Esther Papernik, who were captured in France during a raid made by the French police in the street and sent to a German concentration camp where Esther gave birth. Upon being apprehended, was already in gestation, it was 1941, "said the historian of Jewish origin, Juli Wellisch.
As described in his book, the baby was given to some nuns who provided assistance in the place they were located. A year later, the couple managed to escape, and could find their son in the orphanage. The family arrived in Sosua in the summer of 1947.
"This event shows the world that we have always been welcoming people, that we are good people, and that we offer room to the neediest", said Michael Cohn, minister counselor of Chancery, also of Jewish descent.
Life in Sosua
In May 1940 the first group of Jews, composed of 38 people arrived in Sosua, joining 1,877 people who resided in the municipality, according to the census of 1935. Kurt, Koenin, Cohn, Aaron and Neumann are some of the Jewish names that are part of the memory of a Sos?a that was beginning to emerge.
The mean of transport was the horse. There was no electricity and the water came from wells. The houses were built of wood, they had outside toilets and the cooking was done on the fogon.
"Sosua was very pretty, but there was nothing. There was only one street with caliche. There was no high school, phone or television; we had radio, we listened to the stories and songs, went to school until noon, there was no danger, crime", recalls Joe Benjamin, one of the Jews who still live in the town.
"There was a small library but had almost nothing. There we no things found in the big cities. The food was never a problem, but there was little cultural incentive. It was a fairly isolated village", he said, lost in memories.
Those who lived in that time still remember Christopher Columbus School, today Colegio Luis Hess, honoring the man who was its director for many years, also of Jewish origin. The farms, the synagogue, the common dining room and all life on the spot.
"Had it not been for the Dominicans, none of us were alive. Definitely, Sosua and Dominican Republic are always in my heart!", said Denny, who now resides in the United States, but maintains a residence in Sosua and visits every year with his families.
rough translation below:
Rudolf Herzberg left the line. Pretending that he was taking a bundle of clothing from the suitcase he used a stone to make a hole in its bottom, covered the mouth of his fifteen months old son, and hid him in the luggage in order to board the ship destined for Sosua, on the north coast of Dominican Republic.
It was 1940 and Herzberg and his wife Ilse were fleeing violent persecution of the regime of Adolf Hitler (President of Germany from 1933 to 1945) against the Jews. The purpose was to make Germany clear of this race, considered inferior. During the chase, they were forced to leave their homes and carry the Star of David, a Jewish symbol, on their clothing, to be easily identified. It is said that about six million of them were killed in the Holocaust.
Many German and Austrian Jews tried to go to America, but did not obtain the necessary visas to enter. Historians tell us that in the midst of the Great Depression, Americans remained reluctant to welcome them, fearing the competition for jobs and because of the social programs overload. The only countries that lent help were the Dominican Republic and the Philippines, which in 1938 granted 100,000 and 10,000 visas respectively, to receive a part of Jewish refugees following the agreement of the Conference of Evian, France, which sought to solve the situation of the descendants of the Hebrew people.
After arriving at the port of Genoa, Italy, the Nazi Gestapo (German secret police) did not authorize Herzberg's son to board the ship because only he and his wife had the aforementioned visa. Desperation drove him to put the child in a suitcase, and he was taken out minutes after boarding the ship.
"They took a huge risk, because if they had been discovered, they would be shot and tossed into the sea", Denny, the suitcase child, now 76 years old told Diario Libre.
"The journey took thirty days, we were in the third class, the food was very limited and I was malnourished when we arrived in the Dominican Republic", he said.
The book "Sos?a, p?ginas contra el olvido", published in May this year as a part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Jewish settlement in the country, collects about 36 stories of the ways the Jews came to Sosua.
"One of the stories that most strikes me is that of the married couple Julius and Esther Papernik, who were captured in France during a raid made by the French police in the street and sent to a German concentration camp where Esther gave birth. Upon being apprehended, was already in gestation, it was 1941, "said the historian of Jewish origin, Juli Wellisch.
As described in his book, the baby was given to some nuns who provided assistance in the place they were located. A year later, the couple managed to escape, and could find their son in the orphanage. The family arrived in Sosua in the summer of 1947.
"This event shows the world that we have always been welcoming people, that we are good people, and that we offer room to the neediest", said Michael Cohn, minister counselor of Chancery, also of Jewish descent.
Life in Sosua
In May 1940 the first group of Jews, composed of 38 people arrived in Sosua, joining 1,877 people who resided in the municipality, according to the census of 1935. Kurt, Koenin, Cohn, Aaron and Neumann are some of the Jewish names that are part of the memory of a Sos?a that was beginning to emerge.
The mean of transport was the horse. There was no electricity and the water came from wells. The houses were built of wood, they had outside toilets and the cooking was done on the fogon.
"Sosua was very pretty, but there was nothing. There was only one street with caliche. There was no high school, phone or television; we had radio, we listened to the stories and songs, went to school until noon, there was no danger, crime", recalls Joe Benjamin, one of the Jews who still live in the town.
"There was a small library but had almost nothing. There we no things found in the big cities. The food was never a problem, but there was little cultural incentive. It was a fairly isolated village", he said, lost in memories.
Those who lived in that time still remember Christopher Columbus School, today Colegio Luis Hess, honoring the man who was its director for many years, also of Jewish origin. The farms, the synagogue, the common dining room and all life on the spot.
"Had it not been for the Dominicans, none of us were alive. Definitely, Sosua and Dominican Republic are always in my heart!", said Denny, who now resides in the United States, but maintains a residence in Sosua and visits every year with his families.
