Bowdoin College History Professor, Allen Wells comes to the University of Miami to discuss the origins and political situation of the controversial dairy cooperative, Sosúa, that was founded in the Dominican Republic by German-Jewish refugees who fled from the Nazis in 1940. Although President Franklin Roosevelt declined the their plea for entry into the United States, he did support their Dominican community financially. Wells will focus his lecture on the dialogue between Roosevelt, infamous Dominican President Rafael Trujillo, and the Dominican Republic Settlement Association (and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, who worked with and through the DRSA).

The outcome of these talks and agreements were crucial to the survival and welfare of the cooperative and essential to Roosevelt’s relationship with Trujillo, the same tyrant that massacred 15,000 unarmed Haitians not two years before. Wells, being the son of a Sosúa settler, has and will illustrate a personal connection with the topic, and will hold a Question and Answer session after the presentation.

View Flyer