History of The Jews in Latin America - Paraguay

Paraguay

Toward the 19th century, Jewish immigrants arrived to Paraguay from countries such as France, Switzerland and Italy. During World War I Jews from Palestine (Jerusalem), Egypt and Turkey arrived to Paraguay, mostly Sephardic Jews. In the 1920s, there was a second wave of immigrants from Ukraine and Poland. Between 1933 and 1939, between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia took advantage of Paraguay's liberal immigration laws to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. After World War II, most Jews that arrived in Paraguay were survivors of concentration camps. Today, there are 10,000 Jews mostly living in Paraguay's capital, Asunción. Most are of German descent.