The Chuetas reclaim their legacy in the face of the threat of oblivion

PalmThe Chuetas, descendants of Mallorcan Jews who converted to Christianity but suffered antisemitism well into the 20th century, are now reclaiming their heritage and identity in the face of what they consider their main enemy: oblivion. This is explained by Chueta journalist Miquel Segura, who has dedicated much of his life to researching the group's past and who defends the need to preserve and disseminate a history he considers unique in Spain and a rarity worldwide. Although it is popularly stated that the Chuetas are descendants of Mallorcan Jews from one of the fifteen traditionally recognized lineages—Aguiló, Bonnín, Cortés, Forteza, Carpintero, Martí, Miró, Picón, Piña, Pomar, Segura, Tarongí, and Valón—the more complex lineage is more complex. "A Chueta is a descendant of Jewish converts, but not all Jewish converts in Mallorca are Chuetas," he explains.

In this regard, it is worth noting that the group would consist of the descendants of those converts who, despite the attempts at forced assimilation that began in 1435, continued to practice Judaism repeatedly. Historian Laura Miró, PhD from the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) with a dissertation on the Chuetas, adds that not everyone with these surnames is a Chueta, as many Jewish converts adopted Old Christian lineages at the time of their baptism. Over the centuries, crypto-Judaism disappeared, especially after the Acts of Faith of 1691, but social and legal discrimination persisted. Miró points out that at the end of the 18th century, measures began to be considered to grant rights to the Chuetas, demonstrating that they had not previously possessed any. Among these measures, she highlights the royal decrees of Charles III, which allowed them to practice any profession, live outside the old Jewish quarter, and prohibited insults against them. Segura defines this phenomenon as "anti-Xuetism," a form of antisemitism specific to Mallorca. He also recalls personal experiences of discrimination, such as the prejudice his marriage provoked: "People said that we Chuetas had tails or smelled bad," he explains.

Following the 1936 coup and the alliance between the Franco regime and Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, according to Segura, military personnel from these countries stationed in Mallorca intimidated the Chuetas of Palma. Some historians have hypothesized that a list was drawn up for their deportation, although, according to Miró, there is no direct evidence. Among the indications that make this possibility plausible are the existence of a book about the Chuetas with a Nazi seal in a German library, testimonies from people who claimed to have received anonymous letters and accounts of surveys, as well as the fact that some twenty women requested certificates of purity of blood in order to marry. Segura also states that there is a record of a meeting between a Gestapo representative and the Bishop of Mallorca, Josep Miralles, during which the latter allegedly said that if the Mallorcan Jews were deported, "the island would be empty."

Today, the situation is very different. Segura says there are about 20,000 Chuetas, but that the vast majority are no longer concerned with that identity. Given this reality, he points out that the current challenge is to prevent the Chueta legacy from falling into oblivion. In this regard, he highlights initiatives such as the unanimous approval in Parliament of a non-binding resolution to promote its dissemination.