VIGNETTES "FROM ARGENTINA TO MONTREAL"

This article first appeared in the October/November 2003 edition of In Montreal.  Our thanks to Federation CJA for allowing us to use it in our newsletter.

Don't cry for me Argentina

There was a time early in the 20th century when Argentina was considered one of the wealthiest nations in the world. And like Canada, it attracted thousands of Jews, fleeing persecution in Europe and the Middle East. But years of political corruption and economic mismanagement led the country into a downward spiral, which came to a head in late 2001, when the government defaulted on its foreign loans and was forced to devalue the peso.
Almost overnight, fortunes were lost, much of the middle class was impoverished and tens of thousands of Argentinians took to the streets in protests and riots.
For many of Argentina’s Jewish community, already on edge following two terrorist attacks in the 1990s, the economic crisis of 2001 signaled the start of a search for new homes. Some made Aliyah to Israel, others settled in Miami. Still others chose the safety and security of Canada, known around the world for its close-knit Jewish communities. Here are the stories of several young Jews who left friends and loved ones behind in Buenos Aires in search of a better future in Montreal.

Guido Glait

As a political reporter for a Buenos Aires newspaper, Guido Glait had a front-row seat for the economic crisis that ripped through Argentina at the end of 2001.

He had chronicled the political and economic problems that fed the country’s misfortune and witnessed the public’s violent reaction to government-imposed austerity measures in early 2002, when hundreds of thousands of regular Argentinians took to the streets in demonstrations that often degenerated into riots and looting.
And though Glait did not lose his job as a result of the economy’s freefall, he had seen enough omens to realize that his country’s future was not very bright.
“All of the businesses were laying people off and those of us who were still working were suddenly earning a lot less money,” he says.
And the country’s problems were not confined to the economic arena, either. As unemployment numbers rose and poverty rates skyrocketed, those facing destitution turned to desperate measures, sparking a crime wave that had been unprecedented even in a country that had been under military rule for much of the last century.
“It became dangerous to live in Buenos Aires,” Glait says. “If you owned a car, you knew that somebody would steal it. If you owned a house, you couldn’t sleep at night.”
Faced with the most difficult decision of his life, Glait elected to inquire about emigration from the only country he had ever called home. Canada, with its global reputation for multiculturalism and tolerance, seemed like as good a choice as any.
“I chose Canada mostly because of its welcoming attitude to immigrants,” he says.
Guido Glait, âgé de 28 ans, est arrivé à Montréal en juin et il prend actuellement les cours de français du gouvernement pour se mettre au niveau. Une fois ces cours complétés, il entamera sa recherche d’emploi, quoiqu’il doute trouver un job en journalisme avant de s’être mis quelques années d’expérience au Canada sous la ceinture. Sa petite amie, qui en est à sa dernière année d’études universitaires, anticipe le rejoindre à Montréal l’été prochain.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, leaving all my friends and family behind,” Glait says. “But one day I would like to start a family and I think it is better to do that in a first-world country like Canada.”
 

Marcelo Hoffman & Karina Schatz

Il y a quatre ans, lorsque Marcelo Hoffman et Karina Schatz se trouvaient sous la Houppa et qu’ils avaient promis de partager le reste de leur vie ensemble, ils n’avaient jamais imaginé que ce serait ailleurs qu’à Buenos Aires.

Même lorsque la crise économique de 2001 frappa l’Argentine, le couple a tout de même continué de mener une vie confortable, même selon les normes nord-américaines. Ils avaient de bons emplois : Marcelo, un comptable, était à la tête du service des taxes d’une compagnie internationale de services de courrier, et sa femme, Karina, un designer industriel, était propriétaire d’une petite entreprise de conception de kiosques et postes d’accueil pour les foires et expos. Ils habitaient dans un appartement aisé et ils étaient propriétaire d’une voiture.

Mais la pauvreté et le chômage, qui affectaient tant d’Argentins, ont engendré le désespoir chez plusieurs d’entre eux. Une vague de crimes a déferlé sur la capitale; vols et kidnappings devenaient monnaie courante. Les larges boulevards de Buenos Aires n’étaient plus sûrs après la tombée de la nuit.

« J’avais très peur. Nous devions penser à notre avenir », nous explique Karina. « Si nous avions des enfants, pourrions-nous prendre une marche le soir avec eux? »

So rather than wait for the situation to deteriorate further, Hoffman and Schatz began to inquire about emigrating. By speaking with friends who had moved to other parts of Canada, they learned that Montreal, with its rich cultural life, was the best choice for them.

“We wanted to be in a place where things happen,” Schatz says. “Montreal seemed to be a city with a lot of culture, much like Buenos Aires. And it was also important for us to be in a city with a strong Jewish community.”

The couple arrived here at the end of March and, within a month each had found jobs in their fields, thanks to a contact they had made at a Passover Seder hosted by Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS).

Hoffman, 32, and Schatz, 29, admit that it has not been easy leaving their families behind in Argentina, but they are thankful for the tools of technology, like telephones and the Internet, which have enabled them to keep in close touch with their loved ones. It’s an advantage, Hoffman points out, that his own grandparents didn’t have when they moved to Argentina from Eastern Europe early in the last century.

“They traveled by ship and arrived in a country where they didn’t know the language,” he says. “At least we live in an age with long-distance telephones, the Internet and air travel. It made our decision (to leave) a little easier.”

Viviana Reichman

When Viviana Reichman was 18, she spent three months in the United States on a student exchange program. Though she had been born and raised in Argentina, she says she immediately fell in love with the North American way of life and, in particular, the quick pace of its business culture.

“The moment I returned to Argentina, I knew that I didn’t want to stay there anymore,” she says.

But it took the economic crisis of 2001, which led to a rash of instability and layoffs, to finally prompt Reichman to pursue her dream. The city of Montreal, which she had heard about through an ex-boyfriend who had once spent a month here, seemed like a logical destination.

“It’s a very European city and the people are very friendly,” she says of her new home. “It’s probably the one city in North America that is most similar to Buenos Aires.”

Reichman, 31, arrived on her own in March. With seven years of experience in hotel and restaurant management, she quickly landed a job as Food Service Coordinator for the Gelber Conference Centre, thanks to a referral she received from her JIAS counselor. She is responsible for planning menus and arranging the preparation of food for all meetings and events that take place in the Centre and at FEDERATION CJA’s Cummings House.

Working inside Cummings House has enabled Reichman to quickly integrate into the city’s Jewish community. So far, she says she likes what she sees.

“I feel very comfortable being Jewish here,” she says. “In Argentina, there is a lot of anti-Semitism. You can’t walk down the street with a kippah and when you go to a synagogue, you see policemen at the door.”

Though Reichman admits that she is not particularly looking forward to her first Canadian winter, she says it is not the weather, but prospects for a better future that compelled her to move to Montreal.

“I’m still young and I have my future to think about,” she says. “If I have kids one day, I think it is better to raise them in a country like Canada.”
 

Adrian Ghenadnik and Paula Altclas

For Adrian Ghenadnik and Paula Altclas, it was never a matter of whether they would leave Argentina, but rather a question of which city they would choose as a home to begin their new lives abroad.

Their decision was clinched early in 2002, when the couple traveled to Montreal, partly on a scouting mission.

“We loved the place and decided to go ahead with the paperwork and the other preparations,” says Ghenadnik. “We were looking for a place that combined the best of North America and Europe, and you can’t find a better combination than here in Montreal.”

Contrairement à la majorité des récents émigrés argentins qui ont quitté leur pays à cause de l’instabilité économique du pays, Adrian et sa femme, tous deux âgés de 32 ans, ont mijoté cette décision depuis quelques années pour améliorer leur condition de vie. Le couple a en effet bien passé la crise économique du pays; Paula Atlclas, une avocate, était une partenaire dans un cabinet d’avocats, et son mari a plusieurs années d’expérience en marketing sous la ceinture chez Proctor & Gamble, ainsi que dans une entreprise de technologie de l’information. Le couple a gardé ses fonds d’économie en dollars US, et ils furent donc à l’abri de la dévaluation du peso argentin.

Yet for Ghenadnik in particular, moving abroad was an ambition of his ever since he was a teenager. He had spent four childhood years living in Delaware and many of his relatives, including his mother, live in New York City.

“There is democracy in Argentina, but what you don’t have is what you would call a code of values,” he says. “There is no real respect for the law.”

The adjustment to life in Montreal has gone surprisingly well, they say, thanks in large part to the magic of Contact ProMontreal, which quickly set Ghenadnik up with a great job as a marketing consultant at RKG, a large consulting firm that specializes in the pharmaceutical industry. Altclas, who is expecting the couple’s first child in January, is currently upgrading her French skills and will wait to deliver her baby before attempting to enter the local work force.

In the meantime, they are enjoying life in their new home and are constantly welcoming the stream of relatives who have come up to Canada to visit with them