Populism and Ethnicity
Peronism and the Jews of Argentina
A groundbreaking interpretation of Juan Perón's regime that challenges assumptions of fascism and antisemitism.
Description
Juan Perón's decade-long regime, from 1946 to 1955, is often presented as Nazi-fascist and antisemitic – claims that are strongly rooted in Argentina's collective unconscious and popular culture. Challenging this widely held view, Raanan Rein asserts that there was greater Jewish support for Perón than previously believed, and that fewer antisemitic incidents took place in Argentina during Perón's rule than during any other period in the twentieth century. Recovering the silenced voices of Jewish Argentines who supported Peronism from the beginning, Populism and Ethnicity is a historical, sociological, and political analysis that describes the many positive changes experienced by the Jewish community as a direct result of Perón's presidencies. Perón and his wife Eva gave numerous speeches denouncing antisemitism, and Perón's Argentina was the first Latin American country to open an embassy in the newly established State of Israel. Arguing that no president before Perón so unambiguously rejected discrimination against Jews, Rein shows that many Jews secured more important posts in government in the 1940s and 1950s than in previous years, among them members of the Argentine Jewish Organization, which became a section of the ruling Peronist party. Deconstructing the myth of antisemitism during Perón's regime, Populism and Ethnicity looks deep into the heart of international memory for the truth behind Jewish-Argentine relations.
Reviews
"Raanan Rein's book (translated from the 2015 Spanish version, Los muchachos peronistas judíos: Los argentinos judíos y el apoyo al Justicialismo) is a comprehensive history lesson, not only of one of the most massive and defining political movements in Argentina, namely Peronism, but also of the migration, arrival, settlement, and melting of the Jewish community into the fabric of the country." H-Net
"A comprehensive history lesson, not only of one of the most massive and defining political movements in Argentina, namely Peronism, ... Populism and Ethnicity, debunks the long-held belief that President Juan Domingo Perón and his wife, Eva Duarte de Perón, promoted antisemitism in Argentina. Instead, through reports, stories, and documents in different fields including journalism, television, and politics, among others, Rein demonstrates Perón's support of the Jewish community in Argentina and how that support facilitated this community's inclusion in mainstream society." HNet