Documents of Jewish communities, organizations and schools in Brazil
Extent and Medium
13 microfilm reels, 35 mm
67 digital images, JPEG
Creator(s)
- Comunidad Judi?a de Brasil
Biographical History
The history of the Jews in Brazil is quite long and somewhat complex, since it extends from the very beginning of European colonization in the new continent . Jews began to settle in Brazil since the Inquisition arrived in Portugal in the sixteenth century .They arrived in Brazil during the period under Dutch rule, settling in Recife, where the first American synagogue was built in early 1636. Most of these Jews were Sephardim who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal towards the religious freedom of the Netherlands. Adam Smith attributed much of the development of Brazil's sugar industry and cultivation to the arrival of Portuguese Jews who were expelled outside Portugal during the Inquisition. After the first Constitution of Brazil in 1824 that granted the freedom of religion, several Jews began to arrive little by little to Brazilian territory. Many Moroccan Jews arrived in the 19th century , mainly due to the rubber fever . Also, several waves of Jewish immigration occurred during the rise of Nazism in Europe. In the late 1950s , a new wave of immigration brought thousands of Jews from North Africa. Today, Jewish communities are developed in Brazil and there are several Jewish and Zionist groups, clubs, schools, etc. Some minor anti-Semitic events and events occurred mainly during the 2006 Lebanon War as vandalism of Jewish cemeteries. Brazil has the ninth largest Jewish community in the world and the fourth in the continental level, counting around 107,329 people in 2010, according to the IBGE Census. The Brazilian Jewish Confederation (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil. By 2015 the Jewish population had declined to 94,500 members, mainly due to the low birth rates of the community, the aging of the Jewish population and the process of secularization of the young people who leave the ties with the community. [Source: Wikipedia]
Archival History
Arkhiyon ha-merkazi le-toldot ha-ʻam ha-Yehudi
Acquisition
Source of acquisition is the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, CAHJP (Arkhiyon ha-merkazi le-toldot ha-ʻam ha-Yehudi). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received this collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in October 2017.
Scope and Content
Records from various Jewish communities in Brazil, including Amazonas, Belém, Bello Horizonte, Manaus, Niterói, Pará, Porto Alegre, Quatro Irmãos, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Maria, Santos, and São Paulo. Features board minutes, protocols, statutes, membership registries, birth and death records, lists of Jewish residents, correspondence and reports, account ledgers, newspaper clippings, publications and articles, a photo album (digital file BR/BL79), school and pedagogical materials, and other documents.
System of Arrangement
Arranged in 14 series: 1. Pará-Belém: Communities and institutions; 2. Belém: Communities and synagogues, education, culture, and miscellaneous records; 3. Porto Alegre: Correspondence, didactic, pedagogic materials for students, and publications; 4. Rio de Janeiro: Journals, bulletins, financial records, school files including lists of students, and miscellaneous materials; 5. São Paulo: Statutes of various Jewish associations, newspapers and bulletins; 6. Amazonas: Prayers, private correspondence: Rabi Rafael Encaua, Chief Rabbi of Salé (Morocco), Jacob Isaac Azulay and Ben-Sion Hayut in Salé to Moshe ben Gigi in Amazonas (Manaus?); 7. Bello Horizonte: Rituals, explanations of system of B'nai Brith, and booklets; 8. Itacoatiara: Private materials (Marriage contract); 9. Manaus: Statues, personal inscriptions files and miscellaneous materials; 10. Niterói: Programs, flyers, invitations, bulletins; 11. Quatro Irmãos: Private materials (Ketuba); 12. Santa Maria: Photograph of teachers and students; 13. Santos: Regulation of the synagogue (Synagoga Israelita de Santos); 14. Miscellaneous materials: Israel publications and a lists of 786 personal contributors. Organization of microfilm reels: Reel 1: Belém (File BL 1 to BL 20); Reel 2: Belém (File Bl 21 to Bl 30); Reel 3: Belém (File Bl 30 to Bl 48; Bl 53; Bl 54); Reel 4: Belém (File Bl 48 to Bl 52); Reel 5: Belém (File Bl 52; Bl 56); Reel 6: Belém (File Bl 55; Bl 57 to Bl 75); Reel 7: Belém (File Bl 75 to Bl 78); Reel 8: Pará-Belém (File Pa 1 to Pa 6); Reel 9: Pará-Belém (File Pa 6 to Pa 10); Reel 10: Pará-Belém (File Pa 10 to Pa 13); Reel 11: Pará-Belém (File Pa 13 to Pa 22); Reel 12: Pará-Belém (File Pa 22 to Pa 25); Reel 13: Pará-Belém (File Pa 26a to Pa 29); Reel 14: Pará-Belém (File Pa 30 to Pa 39). Digital File: BR/BL79. NOTE: Missing reels/missing files: Pará-Belém Pa 40 to Pa 72; Belem Bl 1 to Bl 78; Porto Alegre Po 1 to Po 31; Rio de Janeiro Rio 1 to Rio 51; São Paulo Sa 1 to Sa 17; Amazonas Am 1 to Am 3; Bello Horizonte BH 1 and BH 2; Manaus Ma 1 and Ma 2; Niterói Ni 1 to Ni 4; Quatro Irmãos Qu 1 and Qu 2; Santa Maria SM 1; Santos Sa 1; Israel 1 and Unclear Material 2 and 3.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Arkhiyon ha-merkazi le-toldot ha-ʻam ha-Yehudi
Corporate Bodies
- B'nai B'rith
Subjects
- Porto Alegre (Brazil)
- Quatro Irmãos (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)--History.
- Jews--Brazil--History--Registers.
- Jewish refugees--Brazil--History--20th century.
- Jewish communities (ushmm)
- Synagogues--Brazil---History--20th century.
- São Paulo (Brazil)
- Belém (Brazil)
- Manaus (Brazil)
- Itacoatiara (Brazil)
- Santos (São Paulo, Brazil)
- Brazil.
- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)--History--20th century.
- Zionism--Brazil--History--20th century.
- Amazonas (Brazil)
- Niterói (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- Pará (Brazil)
- Zionism--Associations, institutions, etc.
- Synagogues
- Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
- Jewish religious schools--Brazil--History--20th century.
- Brazil--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
- Sephardim--Brazil--History--20th century.
- Santa Maria (Brazil)
Genre
- Registers.
- Death registers.
- Reports.
- Minutes.
- Correspondence.
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
- Document
- Birth records.
- Protocols.
- Financial records.
- Albums.