Chapter Five. Nationalism, Education, And Identity: Argentine Jews And Catholic Religious Instruction

This chapter analyzes the reaction of Argentine Jews to the growing influence of the Catholic Church in Argentina in general, and in the field of education in particular, during the 1940s and 1950s. The religious education decree underscored the alliance between the army officers in power and the church bishops. The DAIA then launched a new campaign to persuade Jewish parents to have their offspring placed in the 'morality' classes rather than the Catholic religion classes. Peronist populism showed a greater readiness to promote the social and political integration of groups that had previously remained on the margins of the system.Keywords: Argentine Jews; bishops; Catholic Church; Peronist populism