Trying to make sense of Brazil

2021 Jul 22 | ©

Anita Novinsky, leading scholar on history of Jews in Brazil, dies at 98

Academic founded Museum of Tolerance at the University of Sao Paulo, studied Portuguese and Spanish Jews who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity

[Image description: Anita Novinsky.]

Anita Novinsky, a leading Brazilian scholar on the Portuguese Inquisition and the history of Jewish presence in Brazil, passed away in Sao Paulo on Tuesday. She was 98.

The author of several books, she founded and served as chairperson of the Museum of Tolerance at the University of Sao Paulo, where she received a PhD in social history.

“Professor Novinsky shed light on a dormant knowledge and rescued significant roots within the history of Brazil, unveiling the Jewish contribution since the arrival of the Portuguese caravels,” or 15th-century ships, said Claudio Lottenberg, president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, Brazil’s umbrella Jewish organization. “Were it not for her, much of this universe would still be asleep. Not only did she research, but also has guided seminal works that make Brazilian Jewish history shine bright.”

Born in Poland, Anita Waingort Novinsky immigrated to Brazil with her family when she was a 1-year-old and later became a Brazilian citizen. She specialized in the study of New Christians, also known as conversos or marranos — Portuguese and Spanish Jews who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, yet continued to practice Judaism in secrecy and pretended to be fervently Catholic while out in public. Their descendants are also known as bnei anusim.

Continue reading.