LESUNG: Uruguay als Zufluchtsort für Juden

In the organizer's words:

Uruguay as an example of a place of refuge for German-speaking Jews in South America

With: Sonja Wegner (historian & author, Wiehl)
Moderator: Britt Weyde (ila - Information Center Latin America, Bonn)

Free admission

The question of "stay or go" is one that people ask themselves again and again; we can see it in the news every day. During the Nazi dictatorship, this question was existential for German Jews. Those who decided to leave and found a host country survived. Uruguay, the smallest country in South America, proved to be a generous and tolerant country that offered refuge to around 10,000 German-speaking persecutees, giving them the opportunity to build a new life there.

A look at the refugee debate in Germany, the EU and many other countries shows how topical the issue still is. What can we learn from Uruguay's treatment of refugees from the German Reich? What were the problems then and now? The author explores these questions in her lecture based on the life stories of refugees.

Sonja Wegner published the book "Zuflucht in einem fremden Land - Exil in Uruguay 1933 - 1945" in 2013. It was based on interviews with contemporary witnesses with the aim of giving the emigrants a voice and integrating their personal stories into the larger story.

In cooperation with: ila - Informationsdienst Lateinamerika e.V. (Bonn), Verlag Assoziation A (Berlin/Hamburg), Deutsch-Spanischer Kulturkreis Antonio Machado e.V. (Cologne), GERMANIA JUDAICA - Kölner Bibliothek zur Geschichte des Deutschen Judentums e. V.