Salomón resnick and the judaica project: Translation strategies and representation in the making of jewish-argentines (1933-1946)

Objective/Context: This article examines the role of translators as agents and translation as a mediating strategy to establish Jewish-Argentine identities in Argentina, from the rise of Nazism until the end of the Second World War. It presents the case study of Jewish-Russian immigrant Salomón Resnick and his publishing project Judaica (1933-1946). The journal translated Jewish literary works to positively influence the opinions of Argentine intellectual elites about Jews, while aiding in the construction of Spanish-language Jewish-Argentine identities and culture. Methodology: A qualitative textual analysis of articles and works of fiction, original pieces and works translated by Judaica, as well as reviews of translated books of Yiddish literature by Argentine literary critics. These primary sources are interpreted vis-à-vis the global and local sociopolitical contexts to identify motives, editorial choices, and reception. Originality: This article adds to the historiography of Resnick’s work and Judaica by unveiling the logics and strategies behind the representations and narratives about Jewishness produced by Judaica and the importance of the local context in these editorial choices. It also reveals how members of the Argentine cultural elite reacted to the journal and Resnick’s translated Yiddish literature. Conclusions: While Judaica was limited in its reach and failed to measurably influence new Jewish-Argentine generations and effectively neutralize antisemitism, a study of reception in Argentina’s literary circles signals that it had relative success in positively influencing the cultural elite’s conceptions about Jews, Jewishness, and Jewish literature.