Become a Member
Features

The Shoah refugees who helped re-invent a corner of the Caribbean

The dictator of the Dominican Republic offered Jews safe haven from Hitler. The result was a thriving town on the country’s north coast

March 25, 2020 12:02
5 min read

The Dominican Republic is a popular winter tourist destination, but few realise its role as an escape haven of a different sort.

For thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1940s, the north coast of the Dominican Republic offered refuge and welcome in return for hard work and enterprise.

While the history of a Jewish community in Sosua — a beach town in the Puerto Plata province — is trumpeted in Dominican Republic tourist pamphlets, finding its remnants can be elusive. The tour desk at a local hotel claimed that the Jewish museum and synagogue were closed.

However this correspondent was lucky enough to find a driver, Renaldo, who knew better. Renaldo also boasted about Sosuan chorizo and said it was the Jews who developed the pork sausages the town is famous for.