Marion Kaplans book Analysis - Essay Example

?Secondary Source Analysis Marion Kaplan’s book Kaplan A. Marion’s, Dominican Haven: The Jewish Refugee Settlement in Sosua, 1940-1945., provides a splendid account of history of Sosua settlement in the Dominican Republic refuge founded in 1938 for emigrants of Jewish from Europe. Sosua was actually a small agricultural zone of settlement on the island’s north eastern shore, in which multiple refugees lived in the period of the Second World War. They were granted asylum by the authorities of the Dominican. Kaplan argues in the book that the memory of Sosua still lives on the local population and refugees even after the agricultural colony vanished. Marion Kaplan asserts, in this book, that the Dominican Republic was the only nation that provided asylum to refugees from Germany. In fact, the Dominican Republic dictator, Rafael Trujillo was very ready to offer a place to escape from the persecution of Nazi to about one hundred thousand Jewish refugees. According to Kaplan, this was a generous offer, provided that the population of the Dominican Republic was about 1.6 million. Kaplan says that Trujillo thought his actions would have the Roosevelt pleased. Trujillo’s policy of ethnic cleansing that resulted into slaughter of around twelve thousand black Haitian immigrants that were unwanted in 1937 tarnished the reputation he had in the international sector. Kaplan says that Trujillo was at the same time determined to attract the white, hence civilized immigrants. Trujillo only accepted whiteness as a precondition for immigrants, hence he considered not only the Jews who were persecuted in Germany, but also the ones persecuted in France after the victory he had in the Spanish Civil War. In the mind of Trujillo, the religious or political affiliations did not diminish the whiteness of the immigrants. According to Kaplan, although the whole world was developing restrictive policies on immigrants and even made barriers for the Jewish refugees, Trujillo had a rare exception. Racism was an underlying principle for the policy of immigration in Dominican Republic. However, the Jewish fell on the right side of the color line in this country. In Kaplan’s book, Trujillo had hopes that the refugees could possibly mobilize the resources in order to modernize the agriculture of Dominican Republic and its economy as well. He had expectations that the newcomers would have necessary support means that would keep them from being burden to the country. Nevertheless, the newcomers were not supposed to become any sort of competition to the local population. Therefore, agriculture was the only practical option they had left. Kaplan says that the American Jewish Joint Committee showed willingness to help the Jewish immigration to the country (Dominican Republic) hoping that Dominican would offer models for more Latin American Nations. However, the country saved approximately three thousand lives of the Jewish refugees through granting them a mere visa. Kaplan says that around two thousand Jews got way through the republic just before getting to the United States, their destination. If it were not due to lack of funding and support during war by the United States, Kaplan says that Trujillo would have welcomed more refugees. In fact, shortly after the war, one hundred more Jews got homes in the Dominican Republic. However, the opening of the United States and the founding of Israel displaced people who precluded the desire for new settlement places. Kaplan’s book generally is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter details the rescue operations of Dominican Republic beginning from the Dominican invitation and the Evian Conference. Chapter two discusses an analysis of preparatory negotiations between Trujillo’s government and the Jewish charities. The third and the fourth chapters put emphasis on the arrival of different refugees in Sosua. Chapter five and chapter six highlights the manner in which refugees settled and lived in Sosua and the challenges and problems that resulted from their settlement in Sosua. The final chapter, chapter seven, ends with the exodus of postwar, the memories of refugees and their families including children, and the memories of the local population of the Dominican Republic in relation to Sosua. Not so much Jewish refugees were left in Dominican Republic as majority of them moved to America because United States provided a more similar life to that which they were driven out of back in Europe. The first two chapters of Kaplan’s book illustrate reasons why Dominican Republic was so generous to the policy of immigration in relations to the German Jews. Kaplan focused on the strategies used by the Jewish aid organizations. The next four chapters discuss the social history of Jews immigrants to the Trujillo’s Dominican Republic. Kaplan details the financial support for the immigrants that were offered by the Jewish Joint committee. Because of this support and aid, the Jewish immigrants and Dominican laborers created new homes. Kaplan also confronts human stories of hundreds of Jewish refugees with the pressure and learning climate on the new professions and new language figure which are prominent in the book. The account of the artists, business men and employees from German that were forced to leave their own homes and begun new lives in Dominican Republic in which they become farmers in a climate that was tropical in nature, is based on some interviews and archival sources. Dominican Republic granted asylum through its authorities to the Jewish refugees. Kaplan argues in the book that the memory of Sosua still lives on the local population and refugees even after the agricultural colony vanished. Marion Kaplan asserts, in this book, that the Dominican Republic was the only nation that provided asylum to refugees from Germany. In fact, the Dominican Republic dictator, Rafael Trujillo was very ready to offer a place to escape from the persecution of Nazi to about one hundred thousand Jewish refugees. Kaplan outlines most of the strategies that the Jewish aid organizations used as well as their effects on refugees’ lives. Kaplan has researched and documented well in her book, the manner in which the refugees, with their new lives reality, copped. She also gave focused attention to the relationships with the local populations and the problems of psychology that were linked to the forced emigrants, as well as lack of information on the fate of friends and family left behind in Europe. The social history of refugees makes the better impressive part of Kaplan’s book. List of References Marion A. Kaplan. Dominican Haven: The Jewish Refugee Settlement in Sosua, 1940-1945. New York: Museum of Jewish Heritage, 2008. Read More