Museum for Argentine Jewish ranchers stays open despite leadership feud

A museum dedicated to Argentine Jewish ranchers and gauchos in Villa Dominguez remains open despite a leadership feud. The director of nearly 40 years resigned in January 2025, and no successor has been named. Water damage was reported last year. The museum is jointly run by the municipality and the Jewish community.

A museum dedicated to the history of Argentine Jewish ranchers, farmers, and gauchos in Villa Dominguez remains open and operating despite months of tension between its former director and the local government, the head of the Entre Rios Jewish community confirmed. The Villa Dominguez Jewish Museum about the Jewish Colonies drew international attention late last year after visitors reported water damage affecting walls, documents, and historical objects. The concerns arose months after the resignation of Osvaldo Quiroga, the local historian who had led the museum for nearly 40 years. Community head Marina Garber acknowledged the tensions that led to Quiroga's resignation in January 2025, and that since then a successor has not been named. The museum is jointly run by the municipality and the Jewish community, a hybrid arrangement that created tensions when images of the damage spread online. The Jewish colonies of Entre Rios, established in the late 1890s by Jewish immigrants mostly from Eastern Europe, represent one of the largest waves of Jewish agricultural settlement in the Americas. The museum attracts Argentine and international visitors interested in the stories of the Jewish gauchos. The national government includes the tourist trail as part of a religious tourism program.