Kinda ironic when you think about it but thanks I guess?

So in 1938 Jews began trying to flee Germany for wherever and whoever would take them. To solve this problem 32 Countries got together at the Evian Conference to come up with a way to distribute the refugees. Of these 32 Countries… one stepped up. That would be our hero the Dominican Republic who heroically took in 100,000 Jews led by the brutal dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. Why would he do this you may wonder? Well he figured taking 100,000 Jews would make the gene pool and therefore eventually the country whiter. I kid you not Jews fleeing for not being white were given refuge for being white. Ironic really.

Edit: Only 5,000 Jews ended up making it to the DR but the gov did authorize up to 100,000

Learn more here: [https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/dominican-republic-settlement-association-sosua-haven-in-the-caribbean](https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/dominican-republic-settlement-association-sosua-haven-in-the-caribbean)

An important thing to say would be that only a few hundred of them actually arrived

As someone from the north coast, Puerto Plata specifically. This is actually something you still feel today in Sosua. The Jewish families that settled there became a huge part of the town’s identity and early development. A lot of locals are genuinely proud of that history because those settlers helped build businesses, agriculture, and parts of the community that shaped modern Sosua. It’s not really viewed there as some weird historical footnote, but more as part of the town’s foundation

shoutout Sam Aronow for teaching me about this