Zwi Migdal
Encyclopedia
Zwi Migdal was an organization of Jewish white slave traders based in mostly Argentina
, which engaged in trafficking
of women from the shtetl
s of Eastern Europe
.
) Jewish Mutual Aid Society, the organization changed its name to Zwi Migdal in 1927, after the Polish
envoy in Argentina
filed an official complaint to the Argentine authorities, regarding the use of "Warsaw" in the name. The association's name was chosen to honor Luis Zvi Migdal, one of its founders.
, with branch offices in Brazil
(Rio de Janeiro
, São Paulo
and Santos
), United States
(New York
, Poland
(Warsaw
), South Africa
, India
and China
The Zwi Migdal Organization reached its peak in the 1920s: 430 rufian, or pimp
s, controlled 2,000 brothel
s with 4,000 women in Argentina alone. The organization's success stemmed from the fact that its members were bound by rules that were "based on order, discipline, and honesty." The network was well-organized and members cooperated closely to protect their interests.
or Russia
. He would advertise his search for young women to work in the homes of wealthy Jews in Argentina by posting an ad in the local synagogue. Fearful of pogroms and often in desperate economic circumstances, the parents would send their daughters away with these men, hoping to give them a fresh start. Another popular ruse was to find pretty girls and marry them, usually in a ceremony known as a "stille chupah" (Yiddish expression meaning a quick wedding ceremony). The girls bade their families farewell and boarded ships to Argentina believing that they were on their way toward a better future. Their period of training as sex slaves often started on the ship. Some of them were married off to local men so that they could obtain entry visas.
Prostitutes who failed to satisfy their clients were beaten, fined or sent to work in provincial houses. Every business transaction was logged. The rufianes held a "meat market" in which newly arrived girls were paraded naked in front of traders in places such as Hotel Palestina and Cafe Parisienne. These activities went on undisturbed because the brothels were frequented by government officials, judges and journalists. City officials, politicians and police officers were bribed. The pimps had powerful connections everywhere. The largest brothels in Buenos Aires housed as many as 60 to 80 sex slaves. Although there were brothels all over Argentina, most were in Buenos Aires, in the Jewish quarter on Junin Street.
's Jewish community. It was a supporter of Yiddish theatre
in Brazil
, but was attacked by Jews in Rio de Janeiro
for presenting Torah scrolls
. A great number of Jews who had come to Brazil did so as families
, and viewed prostitution
as immoral and "impure" influences. Zwi Migdal's attempt to relocate to Rio, after events in Buenos Aires
(discussed below), caused an increased battle against the group among Brazilian Jews
.
In Argentina, the group's activities were at times used to bolster Anti-Semitism
, a use that also occurred in Brazil, where the Jewish community also often opposed the organization. More specifically the group was cited in relation to negative views of Eastern European Jews
, who were at times seen as more prone to criminality
and/or political radicalism
within Argentine society, as opposed to German Jews
. The Chilean
Nicolás Palacios
used their crimes in claims Jews "dominated" Argentina's women and were "polluting" that nation.
, which was the center of Jewish cultural life in Buenos Aires. Despite their trade, Zwi Migdal members donated funds for the construction of synagogues and other community buildings. Community leaders were divided on whether to accept these donations, some fearing that accepting "dirty" money would legitimize the exploitation of women. Later the "tmeyim" (unclean), as they were known, were banned from synagogues and refused burial in the local Jewish cemetery.
from Zwi Migdal, and was looking for ways to destroy the organization. Slipping into his office one day, she gave detailed testimony on the workings of Zwi Migdal, thus enabling the police to launch an extensive investigation. The case was handled by an investigative judge
, Dr. Rodriguez Ocampo, who also refused to be bribed. The lengthy trial
ended in September 1930, with 108 criminal convictions. "The very existence of the Zwi Migdal Organization directly threatens our society," Judge Ocampo wrote in his verdict
, handing down long prison
sentences. The pimps appealed their sentences from prison in January 1931, and senior Justice Ministry officials released all but three of them. After this was reported in the media, public outrage convinced the authorities to rescind the releases. Later, hundreds of pimps were deported to Uruguay
, but slowly returned over the years, one by one.
By 1913, there were 431 brothels controlled by the Zwi Migdal in Rio de Janeiro
. They were concentrated in a few streets near downtown, in the Mangue neighborhood, a city zone where prostitution was commonplace and legally authorized.
The prostitutes, largely illiterate, poor and despised by the mainstream Jewish community banded together to form their own self benevolent societies. In 1906 they formed in Rio de Janeiro
their own Chesed Shel Emes
or Society of True Charity, formally registered as "Associação Beneficente Funerária e Religiosa Israelita" - ABFRI (Jewish Benevolent Association for Burial and Religion). Note that this organization was created and run by women exploited by Zwi Migdal and other Jewish crime syndicates, but they had no connection with criminal activities.
That social and religious organization was created and managed mainly by the Polish-Jewish prostitutes ("polacas") exploited by Jewish crime syndicates. Their main goals, they wrote in the founding charter, were: "to set up a synagogue, and there practice all the ceremonies of the Jewish religion; to grant sick members in need of treatment outside the city a third-class train ticket and three pounds sterling; to grant members a third-class funeral." Despite their troubled life and social despise, these women never forgot that they were Jewess.
Using their association savings, they purchased real-state properties and founded their own cemetery in 1916 and their own synagogue in 1942. In its heyday, several Brazilian cities had its own Chesed Shel Emes associations and several rabbis, all since deceased, were employed by the communities. Rio de Janeiro's Chesed Shel Emes association was the largest one. It was led by one of their own elected freely and called "Irmã Superiora" ("superior sister"), who used a large blue ribbon across her chest during reunions and feasts.
The Buenos Aires
police enforcement, led by Julio Alsogaray
, gave a deep blow in Jewish crime syndicates that affected their activities even in Brazil
. The destruction of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during the World War II eliminated the last links between South American and European Jewish crimes syndicates. After 1939, the Jewish women traffic ceased, but Jewish women could be found in the Brazilian prostitution zones until the end of the 1950s.
Rio de Janeiro's Chesed Shel Emes had four "Irmãs Superioras" ("superior sisters"); the last one was Rebeca Freedman, also known as Rebeka Fridman or "dona Beka" (Ms. Beka). The other women used to refer to her as their queen. Although born in Poland, she came to Brazil around 1916 from the United States when she was about 35 years old. Certainly she followed some connections between New York and Rio de Janeiro
crime syndicates. Deeply religious, she made her mission to perform the sacred tahara
ceremony of washing the dead and provide a proper Jewish burial for all her "sisters". She died in 1984 at the age of 103.
The Jewish women benevolent organizations ceased to exist as long their members died, married or moved to other cities. As no new member was associated, the number of "sisters" dwindled and their association assets were eventually donated to or purchased by the "respectable" Jewish associations. As part of the bargain, some women were accepted in their final days in Jewish rest homes for elderly people, but many of them died in deep poverty in public rest home with beggars. Some of them married Jews or non-Jewish men and were absorbed by the respectful Brazilian society. Most of the resistance to tell their History can be attributed to their descendants who live today a very comfortable and prominent life.
City, due to municipal ordinances, almost all the Jewish women tombs were removed in 1971 from their original place in Chora-Menino Cemetery to anonymous tombs close to the walls of the Butantã Jewish Cemetery. Recently, some members of the Jewish community respectfully graved in each tombstone the name of each woman there buried. In Rio de Janeiro
, the Chesed Shel Emes' Cemetery, located close to the Inhaúma Cemetery, with almost 800 tombs, is abandoned, but some social organizations work to protect, restore and preserve it.
"en krenk" (a sick one, similar to the German "ein Kranker"), and originally referred to a man with venereal diseases. The word "cafetão" (pimp) is derived from caftan, the long coat traditionally used by Eastern Europe Jews. The word "polaca" (Polish woman) is commonly used in countries where Portuguese is spoken, but in Brazil it became extremely offensive to Polish people because was used as synonymous to prostitute. So the words "polonesa" and "polonês" (Polish woman and Polish man) were created and are the only socially accepted in Brazil to name people from Poland. As Frenchmen pimps mainly from Marseille
also bought women from to work as prostitutes in Brazil, the word "francesa" (Frenchwoman) also had the same fate, but it is still used in Brazilian Portuguese without a pejorative meaning.
by Leonard Schrader
alludes to the activities of Zwi Migdal. The film's heroine assumes the identity of an Eastern European woman traveling to Buenos Aires to meet a prospective husband and in the process gets herself caught up in the prostitution network. The film, however, is motivated more by sensationalism than by indignation. Zwi Migdal was featured in I.B. Singer's "Scum" and Sholem Aleichem's "The Man from Buenos Aires."
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, which engaged in trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
of women from the shtetl
Shtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
s of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Origin of the name
Originally called the Varsovia (WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
) Jewish Mutual Aid Society, the organization changed its name to Zwi Migdal in 1927, after the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
envoy in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
filed an official complaint to the Argentine authorities, regarding the use of "Warsaw" in the name. The association's name was chosen to honor Luis Zvi Migdal, one of its founders.
History
The Zwi Migdal organization operated from the 1860s to 1939. After the First World War, it had four hundred members in Argentina. Its annual turnover was fifty million dollars at the turn of the century. Its center was Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, with branch offices in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
and Santos
Santos
Santos, originally Portuguese or Spanish for Saints , is a common surname in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries and the Philippines. Sometimes it can be the final part of a given name, generally preceded by the particle dos or de los...
), United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
), South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
The Zwi Migdal Organization reached its peak in the 1920s: 430 rufian, or pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
s, controlled 2,000 brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s with 4,000 women in Argentina alone. The organization's success stemmed from the fact that its members were bound by rules that were "based on order, discipline, and honesty." The network was well-organized and members cooperated closely to protect their interests.
Modus operandi
The organization lured girls and young women from Europe in several ways. For instance, a well-mannered and elegant-looking man would appear in a poor Jewish village in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
or Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. He would advertise his search for young women to work in the homes of wealthy Jews in Argentina by posting an ad in the local synagogue. Fearful of pogroms and often in desperate economic circumstances, the parents would send their daughters away with these men, hoping to give them a fresh start. Another popular ruse was to find pretty girls and marry them, usually in a ceremony known as a "stille chupah" (Yiddish expression meaning a quick wedding ceremony). The girls bade their families farewell and boarded ships to Argentina believing that they were on their way toward a better future. Their period of training as sex slaves often started on the ship. Some of them were married off to local men so that they could obtain entry visas.
Prostitutes who failed to satisfy their clients were beaten, fined or sent to work in provincial houses. Every business transaction was logged. The rufianes held a "meat market" in which newly arrived girls were paraded naked in front of traders in places such as Hotel Palestina and Cafe Parisienne. These activities went on undisturbed because the brothels were frequented by government officials, judges and journalists. City officials, politicians and police officers were bribed. The pimps had powerful connections everywhere. The largest brothels in Buenos Aires housed as many as 60 to 80 sex slaves. Although there were brothels all over Argentina, most were in Buenos Aires, in the Jewish quarter on Junin Street.
Influence of the organization
The organization had arms in several countries, and was a controversial presence in South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
's Jewish community. It was a supporter of Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, but was attacked by Jews in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
for presenting Torah scrolls
Sefer Torah
A Sefer Torah of Torah” or “Torah scroll”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah or Pentateuch, the holiest book within Judaism. It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish services...
. A great number of Jews who had come to Brazil did so as families
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
, and viewed prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
as immoral and "impure" influences. Zwi Migdal's attempt to relocate to Rio, after events in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
(discussed below), caused an increased battle against the group among Brazilian Jews
History of the Jews in Brazil
A Brazilian Jew is a Brazilian person of Jewish ancestry or a Brazilian who has converted to Judaism....
.
In Argentina, the group's activities were at times used to bolster Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, a use that also occurred in Brazil, where the Jewish community also often opposed the organization. More specifically the group was cited in relation to negative views of Eastern European Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, who were at times seen as more prone to criminality
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and/or political radicalism
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
within Argentine society, as opposed to German Jews
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
. The Chilean
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
Nicolás Palacios
Nicolás Palacios
Nicolás Palacios was a Chilean physician and writer born in Santa Cruz, best known for his writings on the "Chilean race" and national identity...
used their crimes in claims Jews "dominated" Argentina's women and were "polluting" that nation.
Shunning by Jewish community
As the pimps prospered, the Argentinian Jewish community rejected them. Articles condemning the rufianes appeared in the local press, and in 1885, the community established the Jewish Association for the Protection of Women and Girls. Notices posted on the walls of the Jewish quarter warned locals not to rent to the rufianes. Nevertheless, the pimps aspired to be part of the community. The wealthiest were patrons of the Jewish theaterJewish theater
The term Jewish theater may refer to:* Yiddish theater* Habimah* Secular Jewish culture* Association for Jewish Theatre...
, which was the center of Jewish cultural life in Buenos Aires. Despite their trade, Zwi Migdal members donated funds for the construction of synagogues and other community buildings. Community leaders were divided on whether to accept these donations, some fearing that accepting "dirty" money would legitimize the exploitation of women. Later the "tmeyim" (unclean), as they were known, were banned from synagogues and refused burial in the local Jewish cemetery.
Splinter groups
Zwi Migdal later split and a splinter group led by Simon Rubinstein established its own society named Ashkenazum. Once officially recognized, both associations bought plots of land on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and established their own cemeteries there.Downfall
The organization worked to force Raquel Liberman (Łódź, Poland 1900-Buenos Aires, Argentina 1935), a former prostitute, to returno to prostitution. Liberman had emigrated to Argentina with her husband, who died soon after, leaving her with two small sons. She used her savings to open an antique shop, which was raided by local pimps. Liberman contacted the police superintendent, Julio Alsogaray, whom she had heard would not accept bribesBribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
from Zwi Migdal, and was looking for ways to destroy the organization. Slipping into his office one day, she gave detailed testimony on the workings of Zwi Migdal, thus enabling the police to launch an extensive investigation. The case was handled by an investigative judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, Dr. Rodriguez Ocampo, who also refused to be bribed. The lengthy trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
ended in September 1930, with 108 criminal convictions. "The very existence of the Zwi Migdal Organization directly threatens our society," Judge Ocampo wrote in his verdict
Verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...
, handing down long prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
sentences. The pimps appealed their sentences from prison in January 1931, and senior Justice Ministry officials released all but three of them. After this was reported in the media, public outrage convinced the authorities to rescind the releases. Later, hundreds of pimps were deported to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, but slowly returned over the years, one by one.
Zwi Migdal in Brazil
The first boatload of young Jewish women arrived in Brazil in 1867. In 1872, the imperial Brazilian government extradited some Jewish pimps and prostitutes, but the criminal activities continued. The brothels were concentrated in a few streets near downtown, in the Mangue neighborhood, a city zone were prostitution was segregated and legally authorized. As most of the prostitutes came from Poland, they were called "polacas" ("Polish women") and this word acquired a scornful meaning in Brazilian Portuguese language.By 1913, there were 431 brothels controlled by the Zwi Migdal in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. They were concentrated in a few streets near downtown, in the Mangue neighborhood, a city zone where prostitution was commonplace and legally authorized.
The prostitutes, largely illiterate, poor and despised by the mainstream Jewish community banded together to form their own self benevolent societies. In 1906 they formed in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
their own Chesed Shel Emes
Chesed Shel Emes
Chesed Shel Emes was established in 1930 as a non-profit organization with a mandate to prepare members of the Jewish community for burial according to Orthodox tradition....
or Society of True Charity, formally registered as "Associação Beneficente Funerária e Religiosa Israelita" - ABFRI (Jewish Benevolent Association for Burial and Religion). Note that this organization was created and run by women exploited by Zwi Migdal and other Jewish crime syndicates, but they had no connection with criminal activities.
That social and religious organization was created and managed mainly by the Polish-Jewish prostitutes ("polacas") exploited by Jewish crime syndicates. Their main goals, they wrote in the founding charter, were: "to set up a synagogue, and there practice all the ceremonies of the Jewish religion; to grant sick members in need of treatment outside the city a third-class train ticket and three pounds sterling; to grant members a third-class funeral." Despite their troubled life and social despise, these women never forgot that they were Jewess.
Using their association savings, they purchased real-state properties and founded their own cemetery in 1916 and their own synagogue in 1942. In its heyday, several Brazilian cities had its own Chesed Shel Emes associations and several rabbis, all since deceased, were employed by the communities. Rio de Janeiro's Chesed Shel Emes association was the largest one. It was led by one of their own elected freely and called "Irmã Superiora" ("superior sister"), who used a large blue ribbon across her chest during reunions and feasts.
The Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
police enforcement, led by Julio Alsogaray
Julio Alsogaray
Julio Alsogaray was an Argentine Army general.-Life and times:Julio Alsogaray was born in Esperanza, Santa Fe to Julia Elena Bosch and Álvaro Enrique Alsogaray, in 1918...
, gave a deep blow in Jewish crime syndicates that affected their activities even in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. The destruction of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during the World War II eliminated the last links between South American and European Jewish crimes syndicates. After 1939, the Jewish women traffic ceased, but Jewish women could be found in the Brazilian prostitution zones until the end of the 1950s.
Rio de Janeiro's Chesed Shel Emes had four "Irmãs Superioras" ("superior sisters"); the last one was Rebeca Freedman, also known as Rebeka Fridman or "dona Beka" (Ms. Beka). The other women used to refer to her as their queen. Although born in Poland, she came to Brazil around 1916 from the United States when she was about 35 years old. Certainly she followed some connections between New York and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
crime syndicates. Deeply religious, she made her mission to perform the sacred tahara
Tahara
Tahara may refer to:* The Japanese city of Tahara, Aichi.* A Japanese surname.** Mutsuo Tahara, a Supreme Court of Japan justiceIn Judaism:* Ritual purification. See Tumah and taharah, Mikvah and Niddah.* Preparation for burial...
ceremony of washing the dead and provide a proper Jewish burial for all her "sisters". She died in 1984 at the age of 103.
The Jewish women benevolent organizations ceased to exist as long their members died, married or moved to other cities. As no new member was associated, the number of "sisters" dwindled and their association assets were eventually donated to or purchased by the "respectable" Jewish associations. As part of the bargain, some women were accepted in their final days in Jewish rest homes for elderly people, but many of them died in deep poverty in public rest home with beggars. Some of them married Jews or non-Jewish men and were absorbed by the respectful Brazilian society. Most of the resistance to tell their History can be attributed to their descendants who live today a very comfortable and prominent life.
Legacy
The cemeteries created by the Jewish prostitutes associations were the starting point to the reconstruction and interest in those women's History. They are being restored and preserved by members of the Brazilian Jewish community despite the heavy opposition of other members who feel uneasy or ashamed about the past of their friends, fellows or ancestors. In Cubatão City, São Paulo State, there is a Jewish cemetery who was recently restored. In São PauloSão Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
City, due to municipal ordinances, almost all the Jewish women tombs were removed in 1971 from their original place in Chora-Menino Cemetery to anonymous tombs close to the walls of the Butantã Jewish Cemetery. Recently, some members of the Jewish community respectfully graved in each tombstone the name of each woman there buried. In Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, the Chesed Shel Emes' Cemetery, located close to the Inhaúma Cemetery, with almost 800 tombs, is abandoned, but some social organizations work to protect, restore and preserve it.
Brazilian Portuguese vocabulary
The word "encrenca", nowadays meaning trouble, derived from the YiddishYiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
"en krenk" (a sick one, similar to the German "ein Kranker"), and originally referred to a man with venereal diseases. The word "cafetão" (pimp) is derived from caftan, the long coat traditionally used by Eastern Europe Jews. The word "polaca" (Polish woman) is commonly used in countries where Portuguese is spoken, but in Brazil it became extremely offensive to Polish people because was used as synonymous to prostitute. So the words "polonesa" and "polonês" (Polish woman and Polish man) were created and are the only socially accepted in Brazil to name people from Poland. As Frenchmen pimps mainly from Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
also bought women from to work as prostitutes in Brazil, the word "francesa" (Frenchwoman) also had the same fate, but it is still used in Brazilian Portuguese without a pejorative meaning.
Cultural and literary references
The 1999 movie Naked TangoNaked Tango
Naked Tango is a 1991 film written and directed by Leonard Schrader. It starred Vincent D'Onofrio, Mathilda May, Esai Morales and Fernando Rey.-Plot summary:...
by Leonard Schrader
Leonard Schrader
Leonard Schrader was an American screenwriter and director, most notable for his ability to write Japanese language films and for his many collaborations with his brother, Paul Schrader...
alludes to the activities of Zwi Migdal. The film's heroine assumes the identity of an Eastern European woman traveling to Buenos Aires to meet a prospective husband and in the process gets herself caught up in the prostitution network. The film, however, is motivated more by sensationalism than by indignation. Zwi Migdal was featured in I.B. Singer's "Scum" and Sholem Aleichem's "The Man from Buenos Aires."
Further reading
- Vincent, Isabel Bodies and Souls, Harper Collins ed., New York. ISBN 0060090235 / ISBN 978-0060090234
- Glickman, Nora - The Jewish White Slave Trade and the Untold Story of Raquel Liberman ISBN 0-203-90512-1 / ISBN 978-0-203-90512-8
- Argentine Jewry's dark secret (article in Ynet about Ilan Sheinfeld's book).
- The Case of the Zwi Migdal Society