JRF doctors bring aid to Dominican Republic

By Lauren Matthew

June 6, 2008

When countries throughout the world were closing their doors to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, the Dominican Republic left theirs open.

According to Dr. Alan Goldsmith, the leader of a recent mission by the Perth Amboy Jewish Renaissance Foundation's Lifeline International to the Dominican Republic, this happened for the wrong reasons. But that doesn't change that it happened and lives were saved.

"None of the countries, including the United States, were taking any of the Jews from Germany," Goldsmith noted.

The Dominican Republic's dictator, Rafael Trujillo, opted to allow 100,000 Jews into the country, Goldsmith explained, in order to smooth things over with the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he noted, didn't like Trujillo much; his policy of hatred (which ultimately led to what history books deem a massacre) toward the Haitians didn't sit well with the president.

"[Trujillo] thought by taking in the Jewish immigrants... that would put him in good light with President Roosevelt," Goldsmith said.

But only 760 Jews actually came into the country. There was, Goldsmith continued "no way out of Germany after a certain point."

Volunteers visited Sosua -- the city where Jews settled coming into the Dominican Republic -- in April, and they had the chance to meet with families established because they were let out of Germany.

"We met with a lot of the original settlers," Goldsmith said.

Those included Luis Hess, now 100 years old, who immigrated to the Dominican Republic during the Holocaust, and a man who arrived as a 15-month-old, Goldsmith noted.

The team of volunteers spent a few days in Sosua, he said, and had a chance to visit the town's synagogue, as well as meet with local historians.

"[They] told us stories of what people were doing [when they settled]... most weren't farmers, but a kibbutz started there," Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith, a physician, is a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations through the U.N. Economic and Social Council. His work, he said, is geared toward helping people cope with malnutrition. Goldsmith received a letter from the Dominican government asking "to help them out, medically speaking," he said, in December as a result of Hurricane Noel. Goldsmith was asked, as part of a diplomatic delegation, to go back to the Dominican Republic with the National Jewish Committee and a Dominican group.

"We do missions periodically into the Dominican Republic, working with the population there... we always seek out the Jewish populations," Goldsmith said.

A memorable interaction with one woman during the visit brought a problem prevalent in Jewish communities in the United States into focus.

When she asked Goldsmith for his help, he said he'd help her however he could. Goldsmith noted that he figured she was asking for medical help.

"She asked 'Can you bring Jews?'" Goldsmith said.

The woman told him that the community there feels very isolated; he responded by telling her that even here, Jews feel that way.

"We had different sessions and different meetings, and it was truly an uplifting experience of seeing what's left," Goldsmith said.

While there is now a synagogue in Santo Domingo, which was established after World War II, Goldsmith said he estimates that there are "probably about 300 Jews" in the Dominican Republic.

Next on the agenda, he said, is mission work for Ethiopia; Lifeline International and the Renassiance Foundation (the first faith-based health care center with Federal funding in country, Goldsmith said) are in the planning stages to work in the Ethiopian capital and fly out to Gondor. The trip will take place after Sukkot.

"That's a mission we're really looking forward to," Goldsmith said.

Additionally, he noted, a memo of understanding has been drafted with the Israeli medical organization with a worldwide scope that would allow doctors to be pulled from nearby countries for work on missions in those areas.