This section includes information about the history of the Holocaust as it relates to Ecuador, the Jewish community there, and the refugees who fled Nazi Europe and found refuge in Ecuador. Also included are entries of how the Holocaust is commemorated in present-day Ecuador through remembrance, education programs, and teacher training sponsored by the Jewish community.

Note: This site is based on the old JOE’s Web site, and many of the links in this new site — for example, to the Web, articles, and photographs — have been disabled over the years.  We are trying to re-establish those links — but please bear with us, as some may not be recoverable.  Please contact us if you are able to assist in reconnecting  these disabled links.

Historical Documents

• Agreement Between the Colegio Alberto Einstein (Quito) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (March 2012)

• Appeal for Testimony and Artifacts

• Dr. Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero: First Ecuadorian Recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem (June 23, 2011)

• Photos from the Ceremony Honoring Dr. Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero as “Righteous Among the Nations” (June 23, 2011)

• Dedication of Plaza Lidice (Intersection of Veintimilla & Foch streets) — Quito: January 27, 2014

• Documents Related to the Recognition of Dr. Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem

• El Dr. Muñoz Borrero recibe el Reconocimiento de Yad Vashem, by Dr. Efraim Zadoff (June 20, 2011) 

• Message About the Holocaust Education Program in Memory of Former Ecuadorian Consul Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero — Colegio Experimental Alberto Einstein (Quito) [in English]

• YouTube Video About Ecuadorian Consul Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero [in Spanish]

• Note from Eva Zelig regarding the March 4, 2012, issue of “La Hora” on the Holocaust and Ecuador

• Ecuadorian Ministry of Education decree creating a new educational unit at all public schools on “Human Rights and the Holocaust” (September 2008)

• First Holocaust Remembrance Day (2008) — Remarks by Dr. Jorge Salvador Lara, on the Occasion of the First Holocaust Remembrance Day — January 2008 (Quito)

• Second Holocaust Remembrance Day (2009) — Holocaust Commemoration Program — January 2009 [in Spanish with English translation]

• Third Holocaust Remembrance Day (2010) — Program, Additional Material & Remarks by Pedro Steiner — January 27, 2010

• Holocaust Remembrance Day 2012 (in the Nationial Assembly/Asamblea Nacional, Quito): Invitation, Program & Photographs — Asamblea se sumó a actos de recordación en memoria de las víctimas del Holocausto; se rindió homenaje a Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero

• Holocaust Survivors and Their Testimony (Sobrevivientes del Holocausto y Sus Testimonios) — a project of the Colegio Experimental Alberto Einstein (Quito) of Survivors in Ecuador

• Mendelsohn Festival & Music of Terezin (so-called “degenerate” music) — performed at Casa de la Música, Quito (September 2009)

• Shoah Memorial in Guayaquil (photo: December 2011)

• Shoah Memorial in Quito, September 1943 — One of the First in the World

• Shoah Memorial Dedication, Quito — May 1997 (photograph)

• Statement concerning Ernesto Fuchs, Josef Vondracek, and Karel Linhart who saved many (perhaps up to 500) Jewish lives as honorary Ecuadorian consuls in Prague, in 1939 (provided by Alberto Dorzaun and Charles (Carlos) Beck [in Spanish with English translation]

• Statement on Behalf of Sr. Don José Ignacio Burbano, Ecuadorian Consul in Bremen, Germany, who issued visas to Ecuador to 40 Jewish families during World War II, thus saving their lives [in Spanish with English translation] 

• Article appearing in El Comerico (Quito), dated January 29, 2010, about the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and referencing the Third Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 2010)