Skip to Main Content

Genealogy Guide: Argentina

AGJA – Asociación de Genealogía Judía de Argentina (Jewish Genealogical Society of Argentina)

 

Their (Spanish-only) website (www.agja.org.ar) lists the available databases. To access the information, you can write in English to: consultas.agja@gmail.com. Most requests (simple database searches) are processed free of charge. These are the current (as of September 18, 2015) AGJA databases (information provided by Estela Rappaportt and Victor Armony):

  • Cemeteries: about 100 in Argentina, with over 230,000 records; also some cemeteries from Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Cuba.
  • Marriages: about 15,000 records from synagogues, mostly in Buenos Aires: Paso, Libertad, Chalom, NCI, Camargo, Amijai, Moisés Ville.
  • Death Notices: from La Nación (since 2002) and from some local newspapers.
  • Arrivals: 40,000 records of Jewish immigrants (from Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos, Jewish Colonization Agency lists, and some European ports of departure).
  • Bar Mitzvah: 600 records from NCI and Amijai congregations.
  • Burzaco Home (Adults and Children): 6,500 records.
  • Montes Street Children Home: 4,000 records.
  • National Census of 1895: complete listings.
  • Birthdays: 1,500 records from Amijai congregation.
  • Colonies’ Schools: partial data.
  • 1960 Israelite Commercial Yearbook: 20,000 records (names only).
  • Plaques in Temples: 440 records from Piedras temple.
  • Jewish Colonization Agency: selected documents.

Also note

AGJA holds a non-digitized collection of relevant documents, genealogy-themed books, and other publications (e.g. family name dictionaries), mostly from the Paul Armony memorial genealogy collection, which can be consulted at the Fundación IWO (Buenos Aires).

AGJA’s cemetery data up to July 2015 has been incorporated into the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry. Note: JewishGen’s Burial Registry may contain additional data from Argentinean cemeteries not found in AJGA’s databases.

Some volunteers (Estela Rappaportt, Eva Fried, Nejama Hansman) have recently completed the digitization of 10,000 ketubot (Jewish nuptial agreements) from Paso Street Temple and are about to start photographing the ketubot at Libertad Street Temple. 

Much of the AGJA’s overview of research in Argentina has been translated into English in an InfoFile hosted by JewishGen. The file includes the addresses, fees, and research policies of local, national, and Jewish archives in Argentina, many of which accept inquiries by mail for a small fee. Note: This file was last updated in September 2000.

Tables of contents for AGJA’s publication, Toldot, in Spanish, are available here.

The AJGA website also provides a list of helpful links. 

 

AMIA – Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (core organization of the Jewish community in Argentina)

Reunir (Reunite) Program aims to find people in Argentina from searches that come directly through AMIA: www.amia.org.ar. Contact: reunir@amia.org.ar (you can write in English).

AMIA's burial database allows you to search by first name or family name (paternal, maternal, by marriage), refining by birth or death date, in AMIA’s 4 Buenos Aires area cemeteries: Tablada, Berazategui, Liniers and Ciudadela [Spanish only]. Note: It is unclear how much of this database has been incorporated into the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry. 

CEMLA – Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos (Center for Latin American Migration Studies)

They host a Buenos Aires passenger arrival database (1882- 1960), which is available at no charge [Spanish only].

Archivo General de la Nación (National Archives)

The holdings of the Archivo General de Nación can be searched here. These include immigration records, consular certificates, and more.

Registry Offices - Vital Records

Civil registration began in Argentina in August 1886. Civil registers of birth, marriage, and death from 1886 to the present are held at Argentina’s provincial registry offices. Find contact information for the registry offices for Buenos Aires and all other areas: here. 

 

Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People

Located on the campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, their Argentine holdings include original records documenting the Baron de Hirsch agricultural colonies, as well as community, school, and personal files. For a more detailed description of their holdings, please click here.