Life in Sosúa
Barbara Bandler Steinmetz
When they arrive in the Dominican Republic in 1941, the Jewish refugees are welcomed by the local residents. Barbara says they were “treated like family” by the Dominicans. Despite such hospitality, life in Sosúa proves to be difficult. The New York City-based American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has set up a separate arm, the Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA), to establish Sosúa as an agricultural community. The settlement is located on an abandoned banana plantation purchased by General Trujillo himself. Though the area offers some access to fresh water, the soil is poor, the terrain often too rocky to be plowed, and there is little usable infrastructure. At first, Sosúa lacks even a basic sewage system. “I remember the smell of sewage hovering in the air,” Barbara recalls. Even the drinking water drawn from a nearby stream is contaminated and has to be boiled.
View of the settlement for Jewish refugees with a view of the bay, Sosúa, Dominican Republic.
Transcript
Barbara: Now Sosúa, in-- Sosúa was actually started in 1940-- the December or-- December of 1940. And so it was-- it was a relatively new settlement, and it was a piece of property that had once been farmed by the United Fruit Company. They tried to grow bananas there. They couldn't. The soil was not very good for agriculture, but nevertheless, this was going to be the settlement. There were some buildings that were left over from the United Fruit days, and that was-- those were in the late '20s, early '30s, so they were relatively old buildings. Puerto Plata, at the time that we arrived, was more than what you would imagine a third-world country to be. It was a very primitive part of the world, extremely primitive, and very sparsely populated. Sosúa, which is a town about 10 miles east of Puerto Plata, was just a piece of land with a few buildings on it left over from the United Fruit Company days. And what was going to happen is there was an agreement between all the settlers and the DORSA, which was the Dominican Republic Resettlement Association, and the Dominican government to farm this land. And they-- we were actually going to homestead so that we were given a plot of land, and we were to build a building. There weren't any houses. There were just buildings, and people were just put into the buildings. But that's what the plan was-- that everybody was to build a house. They'd have a piece of land, and there was going to be a financial exchange. I mean, you-- everyone was going to be paid a certain amount of money for the work, but then all of this money had to be paid back to the-- the Joint, to the DORSA.
And [PAUSES FOR 3 SECONDS] so what-- what happened when they got there, they immediately had to start working. All of these professional people had to become builders, because they had to build their buildings. They had to become farmers. They had to try and grow their crops. They-- there was no grocery store where you can go and buy groceries. But they were given a cow and a horse, so they had to learn to milk the cows, and-- and it was-- it was summertime when we got there in-- at the end of June. And it was the rainy season, so there was mud, and it was hot. You can't believe how hot it is. I mean, the tropics are really hot, and there were bugs and mosquitoes and tarantulas. And these were-- [LAUGHS] these were Europeans that were totally unaccustomed to that kind of a life and that kind of a world. And-- and my parents built a house, and-- and I will show you the picture of the house later. And we lived in this little community, and lo and behold, it is amazing how these bunch of Jews, coming from Europe, did somehow or other make a settlement. They did milk their cows, and they-- and they cooked. We had-- we had a-- a a joint kitchen. All the women took their turns cooking for everyone. We had a joint dining hall. Everyone ate together. The houses did not have individual kitchens. It was really a communal-- communal living.
And-- and they farmed. Their-- their crops were not successful. As a matter of fact, they were very unsuccessful. They tried growing tomatoes. The tomato crop-- crop failed. They were-- they were digging. When it rained, there was mud that was way up to the top of their boots. And these men, who were just not used to working in this-- in this soil that was sandy-- it was full shells. It was craggy and rocky, and they worked very, very hard. And not only did they work very hard in that unbelievable heat, but people got diseases.
"All of these professional people had to become builders, because they had to build their buildings. They had to become farmers. They had to try and grow their crops."
USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, Interview 38619
Early refugees to Sosúa found a few structures they could salvage from the banana plantation, some dilapidated houses, and a milking barn. The first settlers were housed in one large building until they could build their own homes and prepare fields in which to grow their own food. Most of the Jewish settlers lacked any experience in construction or farming. They were typically highly educated European professionals, including teachers, psychologists, doctors, dentists, writers, and musicians. These men, women, and children had escaped Europe and found themselves thrust into a foreign culture where they needed to milk cows and plant crops to survive. Alexander spent his days at the dairy and laboring in the fields, while Margit worked in the communal kitchen.
Almost nothing about the routine of life in Sosúa is familiar to the Bandlers and the other refugees. The weather, landscape, customs, work routine, food, fashion, music—even the very language—of this Caribbean island located between Cuba and Puerto Rico are all alien. The gap between the poor, rural residents of Sosúa and the once-privileged European refugees leads at times to mutual mistrust. Yet the Sosuans overwhelmingly welcome the Jewish settlers, and in turn, the grateful immigrants attempt to learn elements of Dominican culture. “I don’t know if the colony would have survived at all” without the help of the Sosuans, Barbara admits. Sosúa slowly takes shape as the refugees adapt to their new life and their neighbors’ expectations.
Barbara’s residence permit for the Dominican Republic, issued June 29, 1941.
Courtesy of Barbara Bandler Steinmetz
Photo of Alexander Bandler in Sosúa, c. 1941.
Courtesy of Barbara Bandler Steinmetz
Children entering the gate of the Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) school, Sosúa, Dominican Republic.
One of the first institutions the Jewish settlers founded was a school, La Escuela de Cristóbal Colón. Children enrolled in the nursery school were taught in German, while those in elementary school—like Barbara and Ann—studied in German and Spanish. Sosuans also attended the school, which helped to cement communal connections between the locals and the new arrivals. The school still exists, though it has been renamed Colegio Luis Hess in honor of German-Jewish refugee Kurt Luis Hess (1908-2010), a dedicated teacher at the school for many years. Unlike most of his fellow refugees, Hess arrived before World War II erupted, married a local woman who converted to Judaism, raised a family with her, and remained in Sosúa for the rest of his life. Jewish immigrants typically saw the Dominican Republic as a temporary refuge. Though indebted to Trujillo for the lifeline he had cast them, the vast majority of the Jewish arrivals hoped to make their way to the United States, rather than turn Sosúa into their permanent tropical homestead.
Barbara clearly remembers confronting the oppressive heat and humidity in Sosúa in a time before air conditioning. She also recalls with wonder the strange environment the Bandlers found themselves in: “Our beds all had mosquito netting. At night we had to turn the sheets down to make sure there were no cockroaches or tarantulas in the bed.” The lack of plumbing meant that Barbara and her family had to make use of primitive outhouses. At night, she says, “someone had to go out with a rifle to the outhouse with the children to kill the tarantulas or other critters.” While a gun may not sound especially effective against a spider, the Hispaniolan Giant Tarantula is indeed formidable and aggressive, boasting a leg span of up to 8 inches—about the size of an adult male’s hand. Large spiders weren’t the only problem Barbara and the other settlers had to contend with. Dysentery and malaria were rife. Alexander suffered a terrible bout of dysentery that nearly killed him. Margit’s health deteriorated as well, and she developed a life-threatening heart condition.
Transcript
Barbara: As I said, there was-- there were a lot of people that were severely ill and became severely ill. And I'm just trying to remember a couple of experiences in Sosua, and one of them was our bathrooming experience, because, of course, we had outhouses. And we were told that we were never-- the children were told that we were never to go to the bathroom by ourselves, because there were tarantulas around. And-- but you know kids. Kids will do anything. And I remember going to the bathroom and seeing a huge tarantula and screaming and hollering, and they came, and they shot the tarantula. But it was-- and every night, when we went to sleep, we slept under mosquito netting. And-- but every night, before you went to sleep, you had to undo your bed to make sure that there weren't any tarantulas under your sheets or any other kinds of bugs, because that's where they would go hide. They would go hide under, you know, kind of dampish, dark places. So we had to make sure that we-- that we cleared all the area of-- of any of these insects.
"...but every night, before you went to sleep, you had to undo your bed to make sure that there weren't any tarantulas under your sheets..."
USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, Interview 38619
The Hispaniolan Giant Tarantula (phormictopus cancerides), known in the Dominican Republic as a 'cacata.'
Barbara Bandler Steinmetz' Timeline
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Rome-Berlin Axis Agreement
Italy, under fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, concludes an alliance with Germany's Hitler. Mussolini later issues anti-Jewish legislation and enforces persecution of Italian Jewish community.
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Barbara Bandler is born in Győr, Hungary
Her parents, Margit and Alexander Bandler, are Hungarian citizens but live in Italy, where Alexander owns a hotel on the Adriatic island of Lussinpiccolo, just off the coast of what is today Croatia. They return to Italy soon after Barbara’s birth
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Publication of the “Race Manifesto” in Italy
Published anonymously but drawn up by a scholar with close ties to the Fascist government, the article outlines in ten clauses a theoretical framework for the concept of race in Fascist Italy, according to which Italians are essentially Aryan and Jews do not belong to the Italian race.
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Italy adopts antisemitic laws
Italy adopts a series of antisemitic “Race Laws.” A September 5, 1938 law prohibits Jews from studying or teaching at Italian public schools and universities. A September 7, 1938 law retroactively annuls Italian citizenship granted to Jewish immigrants to Italy after 1919 and revokes permanent residency in Italy for foreign Jews, requiring them to leave the country within six months. Like the Nuremberg Race Laws and other Nazi legislation, additional laws prohibits marriage between Jews and “Aryans,” define who is Jewish, and require all Italian Jews to register, as well as placing restrictions on professional activities and business ownership.
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Italy and Germany sign the “Pact of Steel”
Expanding on the alliance between the two countries since the Rome-Berlin Axis of October 1936, in the “Pact of Steel” (officially the Pact of Friendship and Alliance) Italy and Germany agree to military cooperation and mutual defense. Despite this agreement, Italy remains neutral during the first year of the war, only entering the war as Germany’s ally in June 1940.
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Rafael Trujillo and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee sign an agreement
The document formalized the first wave of Jewish immigration to a 26,000 acre agricultural settlement in Sosúa, on the northern coast of Hispaniola. The New York City-based American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee set up a separate arm, the Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA), to establish Sosúa as an agricultural community.
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France formally surrenders to Nazi Germany
Much of France falls to Nazi domination. Parts of southern France are governed by a Nazi collaborator government headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, called the "Vichy" regime after its capital.
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Vichy France enacts anti-Jewish legislation
The collaborationist Vichy government enacts a series of anti-Jewish laws in accordance with Nazi policy.
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Germany orders closure of US diplomatic missions
After the US State Department orders the closure of German consulates in the United States because German diplomats are suspected of spying, Germany and Italy order all American consulates in Axis-occupied Europe to cease operation, closing the door for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution to apply for immigration to the United States.
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Bandlers set sail for the Dominican Republic
Aboard the Portuguese ship Nyassa, the family sail for the Caribbean, making a stop at Ellis Island on the way.
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DORSA establishes a hotel in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic for new Jewish settlers
Disease, fatigue, poor sanitation, the brutal sun, and the emotional distress of dislocation all take their toll on the island’s new Jewish residents. DORSA organizers recognize the need to provide ailing refugees with a place to recuperate from their exertions, and ask Alexander and Margit Bandler to manage the refuge.
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The Battle of the Caribbean
In an attempt to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material by targeting their points of origin in the Caribbean, German and Italian submarines torpedoed 263 ships in the Caribbean, including two Dominican ships. The S. S. Presidente Trujillo and the San Rafael, both named by the Dominican president after himself, were sunk, and 25 crew members were killed.
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Allies denounce Nazi mass murder of Jews
Reports of the Nazi plan to murder all of the Jewish people in Europe begin to circulate in the second half of 1942 and are widely reported in U.S. newspapers in late November. On December 17 1942, the Allied governments denounce the mass murder of European Jews under Nazi control. Though Nazi crimes are now publicized, Allied forces do not target Nazi killing installations or prioritize the rescue of Jews.
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Ads for Margit Bandler’s cosmetics company appear in American Jewish newspapers
Lori (Elenor) Mayer, one of Margit’s childhood friends who had immigrated to Boston in the mid-1930s, sees the advertisement in 1945, and sends a letter to Margit in Jarabacoa. Lori and her husband, Eugene, later secure work visas for the Bandlers to enter the U.S.
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Nazis install new fascist government in Hungary
Nazis arrest Hungarian leader Miklos Horthy and install a new government under Ferenc Szalasi, leader of the fascist and radically antisemitic Arrow Cross Party.
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Mass executions of Budapest Jews
Between December 1944 and January 1945, approximately 20,000 Jews from Budapest's ghetto are taken to the banks of the Danube, where they are murdered and their bodies thrown into the river.
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Soviet forces liberate Budapest
After nearly two months, Soviet forces succeed in liberating Budapest from Nazi and Hungarian fascist control. Approximately 100,000 Jews survive, mostly thanks to protections offered by foreign diplomats such as Raoul Wallenberg.
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Bandler family leaves the Dominican Republic for the U.S.
With little notice, Barbara boards a bus to Santo Domingo, then a plane to Miami, FL, then another bus to Boston, MA where she and her family begin their new American life.
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Sosúa project dwindles
By the late 1940s, only 275 settlers remain in Sosúa, which had once been home to many hundreds more refugees. DORSA’s experiment under Trujillo never becomes a profitable agricultural settlement, though a successful dairy cooperative founded by Jewish immigrants flourishes there for decades.
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Hungarian People's Republic established
Soviet forces had remained in Hungary after liberating the country from Nazi occupation in 1944. After the war, Hungary had held democratic elections, but under Soviet influence the Communists successively neutralized all other parties until, in 1949, voters were presented with ballots with only one party list. The newly elected Communist legislature adopted a new, Soviet-style constitution and became a Soviet satellite.
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Barbara becomes a U.S. citizen
Just a few months before her 16th birthday, Barbara takes the oath to become a United States citizen.
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Barbara Bandler graduates high school
She and her boyfriend, Howard Steinmetz, make plans to wed, but her father insists she complete her college education before marrying. The two reach an agreement, and Barbara and Howard are married in 1956, after Barbara is accepted to college.
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Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Student demonstrations in Budapest calling for political and social reforms grow into a broad-based, nationwide popular uprising against the Soviet-backed government of the Hungarian People's Republic. Despite the movement's initial success, the revolution is brutally crushed by Soviet military intervention. Some 200,000 people flee the country in the course of the revolution.
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Rafael Trujillo assassinated
Trujillo’s reign grows notoriously bloody throughout the 1950s, though his repression is not felt in Sosúa. Still, political unrest, economic woes, and scandal plague the General’s rule. In May 1961, the embattled dictator is assassinated by a group of conspirators who ambushed his turquoise Chevrolet Bel Air. Trujillo’s death sets off a period of political instability in the Dominican Republic that drives many of the few remaining Jewish residents to emigrate.
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Barbara and Howard move to Boulder, CO
After vacationing in Colorado for decades, the pair finally decide to settle permanently.