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Sephardic Jews in Cuba - From all their Habitations
Judaism, Wntr, 2002 by Margalit Bejarano
The Treaty of Lausanne (1922) recognized the independence of the Turkish Republic, and guaranteed the rights of the religious minorities. The Jews, however, realized that within the framework of the new secular and national republic, they were expected to give up their cultural autonomy and the special status of the Jewish millet, and become Turkish citizens. The secular and nationalist orientation of the government weakened the authority of the religious institutions; religious schools were placed under the control of the central government and the study of Hebrew was prohibited.
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The nationalism of the republic did not cause the assimilation of religious minorities in modem Turkey. Riva Kastoryano argues that the passage from a pluralistic empire to a national state resulted in a Jewish segregation. (13) A large number of Jews, however, preferred to leave Turkey. Statistical data reflect the decrease in the number of Jews because of emigration overseas: The Jewish population of Istanbul (which was also the main destination of immigration from other parts of Turkey) decreased from 53,606 in 1914 to 47,035 in 1927; that of Edirne (on the Bulgarian frontier) diminished from 13,889 in 1914 to 5,697 in l917. (14)
Demographic Characteristics of the Immigrants
The first wave of immigration of Turkish Jews to Latin America started in the 1890s and reached its peak in the period between 1908 and 1914. Like their non-Jewish counterparts from the Ottoman Empire, the early Sephardic immigrants were mostly single men in search of better economic conditions, or those trying to evade compulsory service in the army. Compared with other countries in Latin America, Cuba was late in establishing an open door policy; immigration from the Middle East started only when the island obtained its independence (1902).
The study of Zeev Deutsch, based on the documents of HIAS, reveals that the policy of the organization was to direct Sephardic immigrants, who encountered difficulties in their adaptation to the United States, towards their settlement in Latin America. In 1919 HIAS assisted 200 Jews from Turkey to immigrate to Cuba. (15) According to oral histories, several Jews from Turkey who had emigrated previously to the United States preferred to settle in Cuba, influenced by economic opportunities, and by the linguistic affinity of Judeo-Spanish (or ladino) to the Castilian-Spanish of Cuba: "My father and my brothers arrived in New York, but they remained there only a short time. They went to Cuba because many people were going to Cuba... they went because of the language, since they didn't know English. In Cuba they felt better speaking in Spanish, and it was much easier to work, because they worked from house to house." (16)
The nuclei of settlement founded by the Sephardic Jews throughout Cuba prior to World War I became an important factor in determining the destination of the emigrants from their communities of origin, especially following the Greek occupation of Thrace, Macedonia and Anatolia (1919-1922). The invasion was accompanied by the slaughter of thousands of Moslems and Jews, and by the sacking and plunder of their property, which caused poverty and hunger. (17) Instead of individual young men looking for their fortune, the second wave of immigration became a mass flight, as described in the annual report of Chevet Ahim, the Sephardic Community of Havana: "The year 1924 was the year of the Jewish Sephardic immigrants. Due to their number it was necessary to take the most urgent measures in order not to leave in want our brothers who knocked on the door of our society. These immigrants were no longer young adventurers in search of riches, they were families with small children fleeing the misery that was caused by the change of regime in the Balkan states, who sought refuge in the free American countries, and among them in Cuba." (18)
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