From 1889 onwards, thousands of Jews from the Russian Empire, and later from Poland, Syria and Morocco, arrived in Buenos Aires. Many settled around Once station and in Villa Crespo, where they built synagogues, Yiddish newspapers, textile workshops and a theatre of their own; today they form the largest Jewish community in Latin America. Twelve stops between the station square, the corner of the Yiddish newspapers, the street of textile wholesalers, the great synagogue on Calle Paso, the community centre bombed in 1994, the corner where the community fought the Zwi Migdal traffickers, the archive pulled from the rubble, the Jewish people's theatre, the Abasto market and Gardel's record producer, the gateway to Villa Crespo, Pugliese's corner and the Atlanta football ground. Approximate audio duration: 26 minutes.
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El Once y Villa Crespo: los rusos que llegaron con un idioma, un teatro y un club de fútbol
Desde 1889, miles de judíos del Imperio ruso, y después de Polonia, Siria y Marruecos, llegaron a Buenos Aires. Muchos se instalaron alrededor de la estación Once y en Villa Crespo, donde levantaron sinagogas, diarios en ídish, talleres textiles y un teatro propio, y hoy forman la comunidad judía más grande de América Latina. Doce paradas entre la plaza de la estación, la esquina de los diarios en ídish, la calle de los mayoristas textiles, la gran sinagoga de la calle Paso, la mutual que volaron en 1994, la esquina donde la comunidad enfrentó a los tratantes de la Zwi Migdal, el archivo rescatado de los escombros, el teatro popular judío, el mercado del Abasto y el editor de Gardel, la puerta de Villa Crespo, la esquina de Pugliese y la cancha de Atlanta. Duración aproximada de audio: 26 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~26 min of audio · 8.2 km on foot (~2 h 5 min walking) · about 2 h 45 min in total
You are in Plaza Miserere, among street vendors, buses and people hurrying out of the station. In the middle stands the mausoleum of Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentina's first president, by the sculptor Rogelio Yrurtia. Everyone calls this area Once, though no district by that name exists on the map: officially you are in Balvanera.
The name comes from the railway station in front of you, Once de Septiembre, the Eleventh of September. It recalls the revolution of 11 September 1852, when Buenos Aires broke away from the Confederation. And the station brought everything else: trade, warehouses, ch…
2
Corrientes and Pueyrredón: a Neighbourhood That Spoke Yiddish
You are at the corner of Corrientes and Pueyrredón, one of the busiest crossings in Once. Line B of the underground runs beneath your feet. A hundred years ago, more Yiddish than Spanish was heard on these pavements.
Yiddish was the everyday language of Eastern European Jews: a blend of medieval German, Hebrew and Slavic languages, written in Hebrew letters. In Buenos Aires it had its own daily papers. Di Idishe Tsaytung appeared in 1914 and Di Presse in 1918, and for decades both were sold at the kiosks of this district.
Around these blocks there were libraries, trade unions, schools, polit…
3
The Street of Fabrics and the Cuentenik
You are at Larrea and Lavalle, in the commercial heart of Once. Look at the shop windows: bolts of fabric, curtains, wholesale clothing, haberdashery, bundles going in and out of the storerooms. This is still one of the great textile hubs of the city.
That character was shaped largely by Jewish immigrants. Many arrived with no capital and no Spanish, and started with the humblest trade of all: selling door to door. They were known as cuenteniks, a word half Spanish and half Yiddish.
The cuentenik carried a case full of fabric, sheets or clothing lengths and made the rounds of the suburbs and…
4
The Great Synagogue on Calle Paso
You are in front of the Great Synagogue on Calle Paso, one of the largest in Once. Look at the facade and the Hebrew inscriptions. For decades the neighbourhood's Ashkenazi Jews, those from Eastern Europe, prayed behind that door.
The community began to organise in the city long before the great immigration. In 1862 a small group of Western European Jews gathered to pray on Yom Kippur and founded the first congregation. Their synagogue, the first in the country, stands on Calle Libertad, facing Plaza Lavalle.
But when thousands of immigrants arrived from Russia, Poland and Lithuania, the cen…
5
Pasteur 633: 9.53 on 18 July
You are in front of Pasteur 633, headquarters of AMIA, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association. Look at the concrete barriers on the pavement and the names remembered outside the building. This is the site of the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history.
AMIA was founded in 1894 as a burial society, the Chevra Kadisha, to give the dead a Jewish funeral. Over the years it became the hub of the community: job bank, welfare, education, culture. It housed offices, archives and the research institute you will see a few blocks from here.
On 18 July 1994, at 9.53 in the morning, a van packed …
6
Junín and Lavalle: the Community Against the Zwi Migdal
You are at the corner of Junín and Lavalle. Today it is just another corner of Balvanera, with apartment blocks and shops. In the early twentieth century this area was known for its brothels.
Buenos Aires was then a city of immigrants, with far more men than women. Trafficking rings brought young women from Europe, deceived with promises of marriage or work. Among those networks was one run by Jewish pimps from Eastern Europe.
It was organised as a mutual aid society called Varsovia, Warsaw. In 1927, after protests from the Polish government, it changed its name to Zwi Migdal. Many of its vi…
7
IWO: the Archive Pulled from the Rubble
You are in front of Ayacucho 483, home of the IWO Foundation, the Jewish Research Institute. From outside it looks like any other house. Inside it holds one of the most important archives of Jewish culture in Latin America.
IWO, known in English as YIVO, was founded in 1925 in Vilna, now Vilnius, then the great cultural capital of Eastern European Jewry. Its aim was to study and preserve the language, history and daily life of the Yiddish world. In 1928 it opened a branch in Buenos Aires.
During the Second World War the Nazis looted and destroyed the Vilna headquarters. The Buenos Aires bran…
8
The IFT: a People's Theatre in Yiddish
You are in front of the IFT Theatre, on Calle Boulogne Sur Mer. The three letters stand for Idisher Folks Teater: Jewish people's theatre. It is one of the liveliest traces of Yiddish culture in Buenos Aires.
In the early decades of the twentieth century the city had a commercial Yiddish theatre circuit, with companies touring from Europe and New York. Melodramas, operettas, comedies of errors. Audiences packed the halls to hear their own language on stage.
In 1932 a group of workers and amateurs founded a different kind of theatre: independent, without stars, with plays about working life a…
9
The Abasto: Gardel and the Businessman from Czernowitz
You are in front of the old Abasto Market on Avenida Corrientes. Look at the great concrete vaults and the stepped lines of the facade. The Art Deco building opened in 1934, and for half a century it was the city's wholesale fruit and vegetable market.
Around the market grew a district of porters, stallholders, cheap eateries and tenements. Italian and Spanish immigrants lived here, and Jews too, who ran stalls and shops in the area. And here grew up Argentina's most famous singer: Carlos Gardel, the Morocho del Abasto.
Gardel's story has an almost forgotten Jewish partner. Max Glücksmann wa…
10
Villa Crespo: the Neighbourhood Born from a Factory
You are on Avenida Corrientes at Ángel Gallardo, at the entrance to Villa Crespo. Look north-east: the avenue leading off from this corner is called Estado de Israel, State of Israel. It is a clue to what you will find on the other side.
Villa Crespo was born in the late nineteenth century around a factory: the National Footwear Factory, founded in 1888 on Avenida Corrientes. The district took its name from Antonio Crespo, mayor of the city in those years. Tenements and workers' houses went up around the factory.
In the early decades of the twentieth century Jewish immigrants arrived, mostly…
11
Malabia: Pugliese, Marechal and Everyone's Neighbourhood
You are at the corner of Corrientes and Malabia. Look at the sign on the underground station: it is called Malabia, Osvaldo Pugliese. It was named in honour of one of the great tango bandleaders, who was born in Villa Crespo in 1905.
Pugliese was not Jewish: he was the son of Italians. And that says a lot about this neighbourhood. Here, the boy from the knitting workshop and the boy with the bandoneon grew up on the same block, went to the same school and listened to the same radio.
Villa Crespo is also the setting of one of Argentina's most famous novels. In Adán Buenosayres, published in 1…
12
Atlanta: the Club of the Bohemians
You are in front of the stadium of Club Atlético Atlanta, on Calle Humboldt. Look at the colours: blue and yellow. Atlanta's fans are known as los bohemios, the bohemians, and for decades this has been the football club most closely identified with the Jewish community of Buenos Aires.
Atlanta was founded in 1904 and, after moving several times, settled in Villa Crespo. Many of its members, officials and fans were Jewish residents of the district. For the children of immigrants, adopting a football club was a way of becoming porteños.
The stadium is named after León Kolbowski, a Jewish offic…
How long does the "Once and Villa Crespo: the Jewish Buenos Aires of Yiddish, Textiles and Theatre" audio tour take?
It has about 26 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 8.2 km walking route (~2 h 5 min on foot). Plan roughly 2 h 45 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "Plaza Miserere: the Gateway to Once" (coordinates -34.6097, -58.4058). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Buenos Aires and pick "Once and Villa Crespo: the Jewish Buenos Aires of Yiddish, Textiles and Theatre". No account required to start.
