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New York.– The Museum of Jewish Heritage will unveil a new exhibit today focusing on a little known outpost of the faith.

The exhibit is called "Sosua: A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic."

The bilingual exhibition documents the plight of Jewish people that resettled in the country during the late 1930s to escape Nazi occupation and genocide.

The Dominican government offered to provide refuge for up to 100,000 Jews in an abandoned plantation called Sosua.

"Because of their generosity, we were saved and there was never an incident of anti-Semitism in the Dominican Republic," said Joachim Benjamin, a Dominican Jew.

"This is a story that belongs to the humanity, and even when it started as a sad story, it ended as a happy story," added Michelle Cohen Friedlander, another Dominican Jew.

Sousa still exists as a thriving town today.

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COMMENTS
8 comment(s)
Written by: gouletcolonial This user is banned, 17 Feb 2008 4:39 AM
From: Cuba, it is a secret the censors are looking for me
Today we salute Mr Benjamin and Mrs Friedlander as witnesses to history and a shining moment in Dominican history in particular,,,Dominican school children should be told this story over and over....when the world turned away the Dominican Republic was there for these unfortunate souls a haven from a terrible storm that raged across the world...The lesson it teaches still profound to this day
Written by: BLANCO, 17 Feb 2008 10:23 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Nice words I could not have said it better myself
Written by: Leandro, 17 Feb 2008 12:23 PM
From: Dominican Republic
WOW MAN YOU LET ME SPEECHLESS WITH YOUR SPEECH. THAT TELL THE WORLD WE ARE A GENERAL PEOPLE. AND WE ARE VERY OPEN TO HELPED AND LOVE THE OTHER NOT MATTER YOUR BACKGROUND (GOD HAD GAVE US A BEAUTIFUL GIFT).
Written by: gouletcolonial This user is banned, 18 Feb 2008 8:45 AM
From: Cuba, it is a secret the censors are looking for me
how can I reach senor Francisco Pimentel .?....I would like to speak with him...
Written by: Bizc8, 18 Feb 2008 12:51 PM
From: United States
This story reaches the deepest corner of my heart. It allows me as a Dominican to express how proud I can be to say that we were the only ones who would safeguard the Chosen People of God during a time of extreme, relentless persecution. As a Christian, a Dominican-Christian, I find solace and joy in this story knowing that a reward surely awaits this nation for having provided a home for the chosen people of the Living God - Yahweh who I serve. The God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses.

God bless the Dominican Republic.
Written by: JCjua, 21 Feb 2008 11:26 AM
From: United States, New York
“Sosúa: A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic”

Venue: Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Times: Sundays 10am–5:45pm.
Mondays 10am–5:45pm.
Tuesdays 10am–5:45pm.
Wednesdays 10am–8pm.
Thursdays 10am–5:45pm.
Fridays 10am–3pm.
Through Jul 25.

Address:
36 Battery Pl at 1st Pl
Financial District
Phone: 646-437-4200

Travel: Subway: R, W to Whitehall St; 1 to South Ferry; 4, 5 to Bowling Green
Written by: JRRubirosa, 9 Mar 2008 12:49 AM
From: United States, Port Washington, LI (New York)
Dominican Republic.......................ROCKS
Written by: Tassos54, 12 Mar 2008 8:25 PM
From: United States, NYC
Yes, the DR rocks, indeed. And I, for one, am very glad that this piece of history is absolutely true. However, there is much more to it. This was the time of the Parsley Massacres of Trujillo against the Haitians, when thousands were butchered like cattle. That too is a fact. This was the time of organized "blanquismo". The idea was to open the doors of the DR to white Europeans, not because they were Jews, or Spaniards trying to escape Franco, but because they were white and because Trujillo was obssessed with making the future generations in the DR whiter. While it is true that the people of the DR welcomed the new arrivals and saved their lives, the motivation behind it was purely Trujillo's racial obsession.This comment is not made to diminish the rightful pride of the Dominican people, but merely to point out a fact. To avoid anonymity, I am, Most respectfully, Anastasios Sarikas, NYC, a friend and admirer of the DR and the Truth.
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