The Dominican Republic is located on the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the nation of Haiti to its west. By the end of the fifteenth century, Jews are escaping to the island from persecution by the Inquisition; but they are soon expelled under Spanish decree. The Spanish crown colony of Santo Domingo is conquered by Haiti in 1805 and declares its independence in 1844.

Although Dominican society harbors resentment against Haitians, the young Dominican Republic scarcely has antisemitic prejudice. In fact, following Russian pogroms in the 1880s, President Gregorio Luperón welcomes Jewish settlers.

The political conditions in the country remain unstable into the 20th century. The United States occupies the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924; in 1930, General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina seizes power with the help of American troops. His regime is marked by political assassinations, a rampant cult of personality, and a thinly veiled system of nepotism and patronage. The Trujillo administration (“El Trujillerato”) lasts until his assassination in 1961 and is one of the bloodiest periods of Latin American history. Even under Trujillo, the country’s overall pro-Jewish tendencies are maintained.

At the Évian Conference, the country volunteers to take in 10,000 Austrian and German victims of persecution. There are clear motives and difficult strings attached to this generous gesture. The potential settlers will have to work in agriculture, finance their own passage and settlement, and be open to marrying local Dominicans. Trujillo the dictator wants to use the opportunity to import well-educated, light-skinned young Europeans into the country who will populate northern regions of the Dominican Republic and “whiten” the country. In addition, he wants to exploit this show of generosity so as to distract from the international outcry over the October 1937 murder of as many as 20,000 Haitians by the Dominican Army under Trujillo’s orders.

The Caribbean country’s offer to take in refugees, later extended to as many as 100,000 Jewish refugees, is initially met with reticence. The quota is never reached. In total, more than 3,000 Jews travel to the Dominican Republic. Many of the immigrants settle in newly founded agricultural colonies in the 1940s, notably Sosúa. Most of them continue onward to the United States.