Holocaust in Panama

Relates that 50 immigrant German families settled in Panama in 1922, among them several Jews (although the stipulation had been for Catholics only). The settlers encountered many hardships and eventually split up. The Jews remained in two areas - Cotito in Volcan, and Palo Alto in Boquete. Their relations with Christian neighbors were minimal. In Cotito there were four houses (20 Jews) and in Palo Alto six (36 Jews). The fascist pro-Nazi Arnulfo Arias became president of Panama in October 1940. Together with Hans von Winter, business councilor in charge of the German Legation, he planned the massacre of the Jewish settlers. Guatemalan police chief Fernando Gómez Ayau was invited to reorganize the national police in Panama and to train the twelve assassins who shot all the Jews in June 1941. A Swiss family was also attacked, by accident, arousing protests from the Swiss government. Arias was deposed in September 1941. He appropriated all the land of the murdered Jewish settlers for himself and was still using the land in 1980. Gómez Ayau returned to Guatemala after Arias was deposed. Winter returned to Germany after the U.S. entered the war. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)