Abstract
Juan Perón, who governed Argentina from 1946-1955, and Getúlio Vargas, who led Brazil from 1930-1945, employed different strategies to integrate domestic Jewish populations into the political framework of their administrations, either as foils and scapegoats, or as willing participants in their regimes. In Brazil, Vargas’ government segregated, deported, and marginalized its domestic Jewish population. In Argentina, Perón attempted to co-opt Jewish communities by encouraging them to join a Peronist Jewish organization, which could be used as a two-way conduit for political negotiation. An anti-Jewish, integralist Catholic Church was present in both cases. However, its influence within the two administrations varied significantly, due to differences in the personal political dispositions of Perón and Vargas and the political power structure of their administrations. I argue that the strength of the Church in key environments such as the leader’s cabinet, the diplomatic service, and the military elite was a decisive factor in the positive or negative treatment of Jews. Using in-depth qualitative research, my work shows that the Latin American Catholic Church had long seen Jews as outsiders capable of corrupting the Christian nature of society, who threatened the Church’s unchecked religious authority. Where it could, the Church and its allies used persuasive and coercive power to marginalize Jews from equal chances at economic opportunity and the exercise of their natural rights.