Holocaust studies have long centered on perpetrators and victims who survived persecution in Europe under Nazi rule, rather than on overseas refugees. When addressing flight and exile, research has focused mainly on the English-speaking world – especially the United States – and Israel. Latin America, while receiving more attention than Asia or Africa, still occupies a marginal place in the field.
If Latin America has been peripheral in Holocaust historiography, can its inclusion contribute substantially to the discipline, or does it merely fill in minor gaps within globalized Holocaust research? Does it go beyond a mere “regional” concern to ask how Holocaust memories are transmitted within the Latin American diaspora? What are the distinctive characteristics of its postmemory?
Conversely, what insights can the study of the Holocaust’s impact in Latin America offer to the broader history of the Americas? About 100,000 Jewish refugees fled to Latin America—a notable figure, though small relative to the millions living there. Can the region’s Holocaust legacies illuminate key aspects of twentieth- and twenty first century Latin American societies? What connections emerge between Holocaust memory and local experiences of dictatorship, repression, and genocidal violence?
Furthermore, how does examining the Holocaust from a Latin American perspective help to provincialize European history? What can scholars of Austrian and German history learn from stories of flight, displacement, and repeated migrations?
Yael Siman (Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico) moderates a discussion with contributors to The Holocaust and Latin America (ed. Gleizer/Kahan/Siman, 2025) on future directions for research in this field.
Alejandra Nudman (Archivo Judío de Chile) examines the collection of oral testimonies from Holocaust survivors with a focus on the Chilean experience. She highlights the uniqueness of oral testimony and the significance of firsthand narratives in the construction and preservation of collective memory.
Ariel Raber (Center for Jewish Studies, IDES, Argentina) investigates the immigration, settlement, and reception of Holocaust survivors in Argentina. His research explores how transnational Jewish organizations such as the JDC and HIAS collaborated with local institutions of the Jewish community to provide assistance and support to the survivors after World War II.
Valeria Navarro Rosenblatt (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile) studies the political experiences of Jews in Chile. She approaches Holocaust remembrance through the prism of human rights violations and state repression during Chile’s dictatorship, tracing the echoes of Holocaust memory in this context.
Wanda Wechsler (Center for Jewish Studies, IDES, and Arturo Jauretche University, Argentina) analyzes the representation and uses of Holocaust memory in Latin American museums. She analyzes how this memory has taken hold since the advent of democracy in Argentina (1983-2019), becoming established through its materialization in the public sphere and the expansion of the number of actors involved.
Oliver Kühschelm (Institute of Rural History, Austria) researches the history of Austrian Jews who fled to Uruguay. He explores the meanings of Heimat—home and homeland—from transnational and intergenerational perspectives, and examines how the memory of the expulsion of Jews has entered Austrian public debates and the ways it has been used.
20260729T154520260729T1715America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires3.1. The Holocaust and Latin AmericaSV303MSA Buenos Aires 2026buenosairesconference@memorystudiesassociation.org
