Conceptual and Methodological Clues for Approaching the Connections between Mexico and the Holocaust: Separate or Interconnected Histories?

Abstract

Connections between the Holocaust and Latin America have yet to be fully elucidated. Next to the US, Latin America collectively hosted the largest number of European refugees during the 1930s and 1940s. During the Second World War, it held a non-marginal place in a highly interconnected global scenario and hence it is essential to incorporate a transnational perspective to examine the multiple contacts, links, and exchanges created by social and political actors across the borders of nation-states and beyond the geographies of the Holocaust on the European continent. By tracing how individual and collective agents interacted at the levels of state, society, and community, it is possible to shed light on a complex history of interconnected and separate processes and decisions. Although Mexico was one of the Latin American countries that admitted a low number of refugees (ca. 2,000), its role as a host country constitutes a rich opportunity for exploring key issues of rescue, survival, and integration and the interconnections among governmental and non-governmental actors remained frequent and intense during the war and its aftermath. Methodologically, it offers some clues for bringing together macro- and micro-histories as well as historical analysis and oral history.