Like its neighbors Uruguay and Argentina, Paraguay is a traditional destination for emigrants from Europe. The country’s Jewish community, however, remains very small because of discriminatory immigration rules, and is concentrated in the capital city, Asunción. Nonetheless, there is antisemitism in Paraguay, and it is imported primarily from the German Reich. Bernhard Förster and his wife Elisabeth, who is Friedrich Nietzsche’s sister, attempt to found an “Aryan colony” called Nueva Germania beginning in 1886. This project is, however, a failure.

In the 1930s, Paraguay undergoes political upheaval. From 1932 to 1935, the country wages the Chaco War against it neighbor, Bolivia. As a consequence of the war, Paraguay’s national territory is expanded by around half. Following a military coup against the ruling liberal party, the “Febreristas” take power for 18 months starting in February 1936. Although ideologically heterogeneous, the instigators of the coup are mostly illiberal, nationalist and antisemitic in their views. The new dictator, Rafael Franco, harbors sympathy for European fascism, especially for Hitler.

In 1937, immigration requirements are tightened: The Paraguayan consulates in Europe are instructed to stop issuing visas for “displaced persons from other countries.” This measure is clearly directed against European Jews, as it also states that Paraguay only needs “productive” immigrants – that is, those who work in agriculture. As in other Latin American countries, this ostensible argument serves to keep Jewish immigrants out of the country. In 1939, the army, church and parliament join together to fight against the realization of a project of the Jewish aid organization HICEM, which wants to establish agricultural colonies for refugees in Paraguay.

Debates in the Paraguayan parliament about a purported “semitic invasion” also make clear that antisemitism is widespread in the country. In total, about 1,000 Jewish immigrants settle permanently in Paraguay. Some Paraguayan consuls, however, sell thousands of visas to refugees who migrate onward to Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay.