4 5 4 D O C . 4 5 5 T R A V E L D I A R Y
24. 7 o’clock in the morning, arrival Montevideo. Resolve sickness. Skyline
view of M. from insurance building. Quartered with Russian-Jewish Rosenblatt
family. Visit from German envoy. Stroll Ras Fereida, fine, black, nervous
fellow.[70]
Speaks French badly, even worse than I. Was shy with me, as are most.
In Uruguay I was met with genuine cordiality as rarely in my life. There I en-
countered love of their soil without any kind of megalomania. After arrival with
Rosenblatt and sons, splendid view onto city and harbor from insurance building.
The family very welcoming and trusting. He and she only Yiddish, the children
only
French.[71]
Prof. Eng. Maggiolo very kind, refined person, quiet and introverted, not at all
American. Eng. Castro younger, also nice person with charming red-cheeked little
son.[72]
25. First lecture with ceremonial
reception.[73]
Evening with Maggiolo and
Rosenblatts and German envoy, Traviata by Italian company. Very nice.
26. (Sunday) Coastal walk with mayor. Very pretty, with sunset. Tasteful beach
hotel was shown to me, built by a native. In the evening, Lohengrin played in my
honor. Fluctuated between good and comical. Not just because of the
performers![74]
Two students keep constant watch, that no unauthorized person ap-
proach me. A sweet servant was consigned to me, with whom I could only commu-
nicate through gestures.
Uruguay, happy little country, not only a kindly nature with pleasantly warm hu-
mid climate, but also with model social institutions. (Mother & child protection,
care for old people and illegitimate children, 8-hour workday, day of rest). Very lib-
eral, state completely separated from church. Constitution somewhat similar to the
Swiss
one.[75]
Montevideo architecturally pretty, in colonial style.
27. In the morning with senate president in factory for carving the native, very
beautiful and varied marble. Very astute but worn younger man, who is supposed
to take Lugones’s place on the Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the
League of Nations. Maggiolo and Castro as well as some others were also present.
Then visit to the new, almost completed government building. Very tasteful interior
in high Renaissance, carried out by an Italian-Swiss
architect.[76]
In the afternoon,
visit with the president of the republic and education minister. (Also to the Swiss
consul Guyer, who was a schoolboy in Aarau.) The former an interesting mind, the
latter in a very beautiful old Spanish building. Then
lecture.[77]
In the evening,
Rosenblatt family. Three sons, two married, and one not pretty but kind-hearted en-
gaged daughter.
28. 6 o’clock reception hosted by the German colony. Casual and pleasant ac-
companied by coffee. Probably only the most liberal showed up. In the evening for-
mal banquet put on by the Jews; League of Nations Commission for Immigration
[p. 27]
[p. 28]
[p. 29]
[p. 30]