Jewish Community of the Philippines

“Quezon's Game”, the film centers around Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon and his plan to shelter Jews in the Philippines who were fleeing from Nazi Germany during the World War II era.

In 1938, Philippine President Manuel Quezon, future U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, and several other notable figures set out to rescue Jewish refugees from the ghettos of Germany and Austria. What seems within their power at first, turns out to be fraught with astronomical obstacles. On top of this, Quezon must battle a relapse of tuberculosis. In his final days, Quezon asks the question "Could I have done more?" before recollecting one of the least known, but most uplifting stories in Philippine history.

“Quezon’s Game” Movie Trailer

Jewish migration to the the Philippines started as early as the Spanish era. "Marranos" or crypto-Jews, Jews forced to be Christians, but practiced Judaism in secret, were in the islands as early as the 1500s. The influx of settlers in the 1800's and 1900's were driven by civil unrest or religious persecution in the West; and pursuit of more peaceful and prosperous lives. The open practice of the Jewish faith did not come until the American era, when the separation of church and state was better observed. Other faiths flourished outside the dominant Roman Catholicism.

Image: Jewish community in Manila during a Passover Seder celebration, 1925

1500's

During the country's Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the presence of Marranos is documented.  Brothers Jorge and Domingo Rodriquez who had gone to the Philippines were tried by the Inquisition in Mexico in 1593 and convicted of practicing Judaism, along with as many as eight others.

1800's

The beginning of a visible Jewish community can be pinpointed at 1870, when another group of brothers, the three Levy brothers and Leopold Kahn from Alsace-Lorraine arrived as refugees from the Franco-Prussian War. Their first commercial venture was Estrella del Norte importing Swiss watches. Setting a pattern that would be followed by many other enterprising Jewish immigrants, the Levys diversified into automobiles, perfumes and pharmaceuticals. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 creating a more direct trade route between Asia and Europe, Jews of Egyptian and Turkish origin began to join the small community. The seminal event in Philippine history the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century was also the seminal event in Manila's Jewish community.

A Syrian-Jewish trader, A.N. Hashim, who had arrived in 1892, helped Filipino patriot Jose Rizal escape from Dapitan. Having recently gained U.S. citizenship, Hashim circulated freely among both Spanish and U.S. forces, providing the latter with intelligence. Although he had landed in Manila with a suitcase of watches, after the war, Hashim took an interest in entertainment, beginning with a bicycle racetrack and later establishing the Manila Grand Opera House. He later diversified into government supply contracting (for both the U.S. and Filipino governments), mining, and import-export.

Merchants

• The Frieder Brothers: Alex, Phillip, Herbert, Morris, who owned a two-for-a nickel cigar business transferred their cigar manufacturing operation to Manila from New York 1918, to reduce production costs. The brothers then took two-year turns living in Manila and overseeing their Helena Cigar and Cigarette Factory. They also became active in Manila’s Jewish community of 150 men, women, and children. They worked actively to allow Jewish refugees to move to the Philippines between 1938-1941.
• Léopold Kahn, businessman, France. He became President of La Estrella del Norte. He introduced to the Philippines the first bicycle in 1889, the first phonograph in 1894, the first moving picture machine in 1899 and the first automobile in 1904.
• Adolphe Lévy, businessman, France. He was the founder of general merchandise store, La Estrella del Norte. He was the great-grandfather of actresses Susan Roces and Rosemarie Sonora.
• Plattring family, moved to Cebu City, Cebu around 1897.
  • Pesach Plattring (father)
  • Dorota Sommer (daughter) married Dawid Sommer.
  • Bernard Plattring (son)
  • Naftali Plattring (son), merchant. He married Antonie Plattring. He acquired Filipino citizenship in 1922, but was revoked in 1926, leaving him stateless. Around 1922, the family left the Philippines for Berlin, Germany. On 13 January 1942, he and his wife were deported to the Riga ghetto, where they were killed during the Holocaust.
    • Frederic Plattring (grandson), merchant.
    • Adolf Plattring (grandson), manager.
    • Fanny Deutsch (granddaughter)
    • Flora Hutschnecker (granddaughter) married Ukrainian Jewish-born American psychiatrist Arnold Hutschnecker.
    • Jeanette Schreiber (granddaughter)
  • Melchior Plattring (son) lived in Cebu City for 40 years and worked as pawnshop manager of the E. Michael & Co., Inc. before he died in 1937. He was the great-grandfather of actor Enrique Gil.
• Johannes Andreas Zöbel, pharmacist, Germany. He came to Manila with his wife Cornelia and established the Botica Zóbel pharmacy in 1834. He is the 4x great grandfather of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, CEO of the Ayala Corporation.

Soldiers

• John Jacob Gordon, soldier, Polish-born American - He was part of Admiral Dewey’s fleet during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He stayed, bought farmlands in Subic, and opened the first bar and restaurant in the area. He was the paternal grandfather of Senator Richard Juico Gordon.
• Henry Fleischer, soldier, Hungarian-born American - He arrived in the Philippines as a soldier in the ranks of the 6th Infantry Regiment, which was stationed in Negros for three years. He eventually owned coconut plantations there.
• Abe Strauss, soldier, German-born American - He was the father of actress Lilia Dizon, whose own son is actor Christopher de Leon.

Early 1900's

Among the 70,000 United States troops that served in that conflict were a number of American Jews who liked what they found and stayed on at the end of their tours of duty. Notable among them was John M. Switzer, who was a classmate of Herbert Hoover's at Stanford. Switzer was demobilised in Cebu in 1901, and by 1903 had developed a distribution business in canned goods through small Chinese merchants throughout the far-flung Philippine provinces. It was a business model that proved wildly successful, and brought his company and his leadership to the attention of Pacific Commercial Company, a Jewish-owned conglomerate, which acquired Switzer's company, and his services as Vice President, in 1911.

Meanwhile, Emil Bachrach, a Russian emigre to the U.S. in 1886, read extravagant newspaper accounts of Admiral Dewey's Manila Bay victory, and decided the Philippines was the answer to his numerous health conditions. He landed with US$1,000 in Manila in the early 1900's, establishing first a furniture company and eventually moving into automobiles. From private cars to taxi services, to provincial bus routes, Bachrach became a Director of the People's Bank and helped organize the Philippines first airline. Bachrach became a major benefactor of the Jewish community, and the community's second synagogue was named in his honor.

While identifying as Jewish, these early community members were not particularly religious. They viewed themselves, and the Filipinos viewed them, as Americans. The first congregation was not established until 1917, and the first synagogue was built in 1924, on land purchased in 1919. Two hundred Jews were members in 1925, with a ratio of about 3:1 of Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Religious services before 1924 had been haphazard. In 1905, a Mr. Ginsberg of Singapore had donated two Torah scrolls to be held as long as services for the High Holidays and Passover were conducted. When those services lapsed, in 1909 and 1910, Mr. Ginsberg reclaimed his Torahs. In 1919 a National Jewish Welfare Board was established, and began bringing in kosher food, wine and matzot. As the business community continued to grow, more religious Jews came to Manila.

Thomasites

• Morton Isidore Netzorg, educator, United States. He and his wife Katherine Smit-Netzorg moved to the Philippines in 1911 to be teachers. They stayed to establish businesses and nurture the Jewish community. They were detained at the Santo Tomas camp in World War II.

Holocaust survivors (1937-1941)

• Hans Broniatowski, Poland. He moved to the Philippines in 1938 and opened a restaurant in Bacolod.
• Frank Ephraim, Germany. He moved to the Philippines with his parents in 1939, where he spent the next 8 years of his life. He authored "Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror" (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003).
• Herbert Julius Zipper, musician, Austria. He became conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra in 1939.

Merchants

• Emil Bachrach, merchant, Russia. He arrived in the Philippines in 1901. He opened a furniture store the first Ford dealership in the PH; and owned the Philippine Air Taxi Co, which was sold to Andres Soriano to become the modern-day Philippines Airlines. His donations allowed the Jewish community in Manila to thrive.
• Ernest Emil Simke, merchant, Germany. He arrived in the Philippines with his Polish-born wife Rita Broniatowski-Simke in the 1920's to head the La Estrella del Norte branch in Bacolod. He served as Israel's honorary Consul-General in Manila.
• Benoît Ullmann, merchant, France. He arrived in the Philippines, where he established a company called American-French Depot at Plaza Moraga in Binondo, Manila that imported goods from around the world like Swiss timepieces and watches.

Others

• Leopold Villarosa Kahn, Philippines. Son to a rich businessman and part of the social elite, he was the King Consort of the 1926 Miss Philippines of the Manila Carnival.

WWll

During Hitler's rise to power, Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon offered to accept up to 10,000 German and Austrian Jewish refugees, partly due to the prodding of American brothers -- Alex, Philip, Herbert and Morris Frieder -- who owned a cigar business in Manila, after relocating from New York to reduce costs. Only 1,200 were able to migrate, as the islands were occupied by the Japanese.

Paula Brings, who arrived with her physician husband, recalls: "The Jewish community in Vienna had been listing job openings all over the world, and we had seen one for a professor of physics at the University of the Philippines. We applied, but it was too late to allow correspondences to run the normal course. We took a train to Amsterdam; there we borrowed money from a relative to pay landing fees in Australia. The main thing was to get out of Europe. We looked for work in Australia but it wasn't easy for a refugee over thirty. We wrote again to the Philippines and in March 1939 the job came through. The university paid for everything, including our passage. We even had enough to help my husband's brother through medical school in the States and to bring his mother here from Vienna---she barely made it out in time."

During World War II, the Japanese interned American Jews, but Austrian and German Jews, as citizens of Japan's allies, were mostly left alone. The most famous of the many Jewish businessmen catering to the troops was William Walton Brown. Again Mrs. Brings remembers: "The Japanese didn't bother us. The American Jewish group was interned but the rest of us were left to fend for ourselves.

Ernest Simke, who later became Israel's honorary Consul-General, noted that in Baguio, Jews were indeed interned: "Only a very small group of [Japanese] officers who were trained and educated in Germany were particularly unfriendly, but in no way aggressive. They did intern the Jews living in Baguio, probably because the Japanese commander there had been trained in the Third Reich. I had taken Filipino citizenship before the war and, when I presented my Filipino passport to the Japanese authorities in Bacalod after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, the officer took a long look at me, looked down at my passport, shook his head, sucked in his breath and said: You put chicken in oven, out should come chicken, not fish.

While most of the community made it through the war, their synagogue did not. Used as an ammunition depot by the Japanese, it was blown up. A new synagogue was completed in 1947. From a high of about 800, the community dwindled in the 1950's to about 300. The largest segment was still businessmen, with professionals and academics, including many of the remaining European refugees who did not move on to the US.

1950

The government of the Philippines was the only Asian government to vote in favor of Partition of Palestine in 1947, which led to the establishment of the State of Israel, which has been represented officially in Manila since September 1950.

In the 1960's and 1970's, the neighborhood surrounding the Bachrach Temple began to deteriorate, and Jews moved into the upscale Makati district. A new synagogue opened in downtown Makati in 1982. A nucleus of religious Syrian Jews from New York formed the bulk of subscribing members that helped finance the new building, along with funds realized from renting out the Bachrach Temple to a commercial entity. A rabbi, R. Benjamin Cohn arrived with his wife in 1987.

The synagogue is part of a beautiful complex that also houses a large function room above the synagogue, a spacious kitchen, a library, classrooms and a mikvah. A supplemental school provides for the Jewish education of the community's children aged 4 and up, with adult classes available as well. A new kindergarten, Ezt HaHaim, recently opened, and a separate school is being built within the synagogue compound. Services follow the Sefardi nusach but with an occasional Ashkenazi twist. Usually there is a minyan for services on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays as well as on Shabbat. A sit-down kiddush luncheon follows services on Shabbat. About 100 families hold synagogue membership, and it is estimated that there are between 200 and 500 Jews in Manila and the Philippines altogether. In Pampanga (about 3-4 hours drive from Manila), there is a Jewish club called The Bagel Boys. While the recent political situation in the Philippines has had some recent turbulence, this has not affected the Jewish community, and in spite of the Muslim presence in the southern Philippine province of Mindanao, the community, while careful about security, has not been threatened in any way since the first Gulf War.

• Leopoldo "Lee" Aguinaldo, II, artist, Philippines. Lee's mother, Helen Leontovich, was an American, descended from Russian Jews.
• Bernard Gaberman, businessman, Russia. He, along with Miguel Campos, Aristeo Lat, Eduardo Ortigas and Hermenegildo B. Reyes, founded the Makati Stock Exchange on 27 May 1963. This is one of the forerunners of the modern-day Philippine Stock Exchange.

2000

The current rabbi, Eliyahu Azaria is a native of Chicago. He and his wife, Miriam, moved to Manila with their two daughters in 2004, following study and rabbinic ordination (Midrash Sephardi) in Jerusalem. An experienced shochet, Rabbi Azaria works with a farm in Batangas to maintain a supply of kosher beef, chicken and veal, and also supervises kosher cheese and milk production. At the moment, there is no separate kosher restaurant, but meals can be arranged at the synagogue complex, and challah and wine are available there for purchase. Prepared kosher airline meals can be arranged at the larger hotels in Makati, and Rabbi Azaria has a list of kosher foods available in local supermarkets.

Currently Jews in Manila include business people and diplomatic families. The Asian Development Bank, headquartered in Manila, and foreign embassies add to the mix of long-term and short-term community members. Manila remains a comfortable home for business people who manufacture not just in the Philippines but elsewhere in Asia. While the community has shrunk considerably since the 1950's, it remains a vibrant, outgoing, friendly and welcoming Jewish community.

Supplemental Reading

• Abad, Levy. "The First Jews In The Philippines." Manitoba Filipino Journal, 9 November 2015. http://bit.ly/2IgwySB. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Ephraim, Frank. "Escape to Manila: from Nazi tyranny to Japanese terror." Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. http://bit.ly/2IfmZTU. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Generalao, Minerva. "A Date With A Rabbi, And History." Inquirer.net, 2019. http://bit.ly/2HSpMTY. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Goldstein, Jonathan. "Singapore, Manila, and Harbin As Reference Points for Asian ‘Port Jewish‘ Identity." Jewish Gen, 2019. http://bit.ly/2HVLiHI. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Goldstein, Jonathan. "Shaping Zionist Identity: The Jews Of Manila As A Case Study." Taylor Francis Online, 16 June 2009. http://bit.ly/2HTHKFD. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Gopal, Lou. "La Estrella Del Norte On The Escolta." Manila Nostalgia, 4 November 2014. http://bit.ly/2HUgM0w. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Harris, Bonnie. "From Zbaszyn to Manila: The Creation of an American Holocaust Haven." University of California Santa Barbara, 26 October 2018. Web. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Harris, Bonnie. "Manila Memories: History of Jews in the Philippines." Asian Jewish Life, 2015. http://bit.ly/2HWh47u. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Herrera, Ma. Victoria. The life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo. Quezon City: Vibal Foundation Ateneo Art Gallery, 2011. http://bit.ly/2HSYyMY. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• "History Of The Jews In The Philippines." Wikipedia.org, 26 September 2018. http://bit.ly/2HTUoEE. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• * Hoffman, Carl. "The Philippines: A Distant Haven From The Holocaust." The Jerusalem Post, 25 April 2017. http://bit.ly/2Wo8185. Retrieved: 6 June 2019.
• "Jewish Community, Synagogue, Makati, Philippines." The Jewish Association of the Philippines, 2010. http://www.jewishphilippines.net/. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• "Manila: The Jewish Presence." Tracing the Tribe, 23 May 2009. http://bit.ly/2HUpnAx. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• "Philippines: Israel And A Much Older Connection." Tracing the Tribe, 23 May 2009. http://bit.ly/2HUoYhv. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• "Philippines Jewish Community." Jewish Times Asia, May 2006. http://bit.ly/2HVXMit. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.
• Quezon, Manuel III. "Jewish Refugees And The Philippines, A Timeline" ABS-CBN News, 2019. http://bit.ly/2HX55X6. Retrieved: 5 June 2019.
• "Synagogues Of Philippines." Jewish Virtual Library, 2019. http://bit.ly/2HTgoj4. Retrieved: 4 June 2019.

Resources

Beth Yaacov Synagogue, Rabbi Eliyahu Azaria Jewish Association of the Philippines 110 H.V. de la Costa cor. Tordesillas West, Salcedo Village, Makati City, 1227, Philippines Tel: (632) 815 0265 Fax: (632) 840 2566 www.jewishphilippines.org

Israeli Embassy 23rd Floor, Trafalgar Plaza, H.V. de la Costa street, Salcedo Village, Makati City, Philippines Tel: (632) 892 5330/32 Fax: (632) 894 1027 Email: info@manila.mfa.gov.il

=========

I NEVER expected to find two tombstones at the Philippine Burgos Public Cemetery that had the Star of David etched on them. The discovery caused bewilderment as well as curiosity. On a simple tombstone was written: Hans Broniatowski born June 8, 1914 in Laurahutte, Germany; died July 6, 1940.

Just behind it was a tiny similarly-shaped tombstone inclined to the east as opposed to Hans' north-facing one had the inscription: to my little son John Simke July 16, 1944 September 15, 1944. Little John's first name looked like an "Ernest" but was badly defaced by the elements. A little sleuthing over the internet yielded that Ernest John Simke was Hans Broniatowski's nephew.

The infant's mother Rita Broniatowski was Hans' sister. Yet she was born in Siemianowitz, Poland and died in Manila in 1957. I later found out that Laurahutte and Siemanowitz were merged communes just very near Germany.

Online data on Hans had a dissimilar but close dates. He was supposedly born on August 6, 1914 and died in June 7, 1940. Are these Hanses one and the same? Are my conclusions correct as to consanguinity of the deceased? Was Ernest John Simke the son of Ernest Simke, Israel's honorary Consul-General in Manila? A photo of Ernest and Rita's wedding proved my hunch right. Simke came to the Philippines from China in 1920 and managed the La Estrella del Norte branch in Bacolod.

The Simkes were one of the Jewish families in the Philippines who chose to remain in the country and take on Filipino citizenship. Here's an account by a certain Paula Brings: I had taken Filipino citizenship before the war and, when I presented my Filipino passport to the Japanese authorities in Bacalod [sic] after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, the officer took a long look at me, looked down at my passport, shook his head, sucked in his breath and said: ˜You put chicken in oven, out should come chicken, not fish."

The Jewish people are a hardy, resilient lot. They have a sad history of suppression (e.g. Maccabean Revolt), dispersion or the Diaspora, and the infamous persecution during the Nazi Period. From 7th century Spain where Judaism was prohibited, Jews became unpopular for their activities. This was mixed with jealousy over their wealth. The feudal system in Western Europe forced the Jews to engage in finance and moneylending as sources of livelihood for they were excluded by the system contact with the soil. Moneylending was not approved by the Church. The first Marranos or secret jews Jorge and Domingo Rodriguez arrived in Spanish Philippines, they reportedly being residents in the 1590's.

In the Philippines, there are presently about 250 Jews. Salcedo Village has the one and only synagogue in the country, the Beth Yaacov Synagogue. The first one, Temple Emil named after Emil Bachrach a successful American-Jew of Russian descent who arrived in Manila in 1901 and the first to settle there permanently, was destroyed during the Japanese era. In a yet later search, Temple Emil was were Ernest Simke and Rita Broniatowski were married in 1941. Some famous Jews include the Levy brothers who fled Alsace-Lorraine with a stash of diamonds. They founded the La Estrella del Norte in Iloilo and later expanded to Manila.