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The Colegio Cristobal Colon, founded
in 1941 by the Jewish colony of Sosua.

lation and develop the island.
Those whose lives were spared
seem less inclined to question his
intentions.
"For me, the question is not why
he did it. I am thankful he did it,"
said Katz, who lost his sister in the
Holocaust.
Other residents echo his senti-
ments. "The Jewish community is
very thankful to the Dominican
Republic and the Dominican people.
The truth is, he did a good deed,"
said one descendant of a settler.
The American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee helped orga-
nize resettlement efforts and made an
initial investment of $200,000, which
was to be paid back as the community
became self-supporting. The purchase
agreement with Trujillo, transferring
the land to the settlement association
and granting citizenship and religious
freedom to all refugees, was signed in
January 1940.
On May 10, the first shipload of
refugees arrived by Portuguese ship on
the shores of Hispafiola, the
Caribbean island that Haiti shares
with the Dominican Republic.
Over the next few years, more than
600 Jews came to Sosua, mainly from
Germany and Austria. After learning
the basics of farming, settlers could
purchase 80 acres of land, 10 cows, a
mule, and a horse, explained Katz,
who recalled paying $10 per month
for his low-interest homestead loan.
The Sosua Jews built workshops, a
sanitation system and a clinic. They
established a school and a dairy,
Productos Sosuas, both of which are
still in use today. They brought malar-
ia under control too, said Katz, who
managed the dairy for 29 years and
made very good cheese.
The transition from urban sophisti-
cate to tropical farmer was not easy;
once the war ended, many Jews emi-
grated to the United States. Those
who stayed have developed Sosua into

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