Patagonia Perspectives

We set out to explore the legacy of the Jewish people in Patagonia. Gena's jewish family fled persecution during  World War II and settled in South America, alongside both many other jews and also a community of Nazis afraid of facing the consequences of their actions. Many of these jews have built communities in Patagonia where their lifestyles and identities are linked to the outdoors-a concept that feels very different from that of the American Jewish experience. 

We planned to travel through the major tourist destinations in Patagonia and talk to Jewish members of the communities we were in and to Gena’s family.

Ultimately, we felt surprised by how difficult it was to conduct the research we set out to do. But, we also realized that there is information to be gleaned from this difficulty. The legacy of Nazism in Argentina was strong, and we realized how tied up this often is with outdoor culture. We hope to use what we learned to motivate us in thinking about Jewish representation and visibility  in the outdoors.