A World Destroyed, A Nation Imposed: The 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

In October 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina commanded his army to kill all “Haitians” living in the Dominican Republic’s northwestern frontier, which borders on Haiti, and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Between 2 October and 8 October, hundreds of Dominican troops poured into this vast region,1 and, with the assistance of alcaldes pedáneos (submunicipal political authorities) and some civilian reserves, rounded up and slaughtered with machete perhaps 15,000 ethnic Haitians.2 Those killed in this operation—still frequently referred to as el corte (the cutting) by Domini-cans and as kout kouto-a (the stabbing) by Haitians—were mostly small farmers, many of whom had been born in the Dominican Republic (and thus were Dominican citizens according to the Dominican constitution) and some whose families had lived in the Dominican Republic for generations.3 Haitians were slain even as they attempted to escape to Haiti while crossing the fatefully named Massacre River that divides the two nations.4 After the first days of the slaughter, the official checkpoint and bridge between Haiti and the Dominican Republic were closed, thus impeding Haitians’ escape.5 In the following weeks, local priests and officials in Haiti recorded testimonies of refugees and compiled a list that ultimately enumerated 12,168 victims.6 Subsequently, during the first half of 1938, thousands more Haitians were forcibly deported and hundreds killed in the southern frontier region.7Dominican civilians and local authorities played disparate roles in the massacre. Some assisted the army by identifying and locating Haitians, while others helped Haitians hide and flee; the army recruited a few to participate in the killings. Generally these civilian recruits were prisoners from other areas of the country or local residents already tied to the regime and its repressive apparatus. Above all, local Dominican civilians were compelled by the army to burn and bury the bodies of the victims.8The extraordinary violence of this baneful episode provides a terrifying image not only of the brutality, ruthlessness, and Caligulesque features of the infamous Trujillo dictatorship but also of the potential depths of Dominican anti-Haitianism. Anti-Haitianism, moreover, has only grown and, above all, diffused during the last 60 years, as Haitian migrants to Dominican sugar zones and other areas—mostly far from the frontier regions—actually increased in number after the massacre. These migrants have been subjected to extraordinary exploitation and continual human rights abuses. In addition, there is a salient racial dimension to Dominican anti-Haitianism, as Haitians have been identified in the Dominican Republic as “black” in contrast to Dominicans who, evidently since the colonial era, have rarely constructed such identities for themselves (even though most also have not identified themselves—nor been identified by others—as “white”).9 Hence, narrating the history of the Haitian massacre as a story of anti-Haitian racism resonates powerfully with contemporary issues in Haitian-Dominican relations and comparative themes in world history, namely, hostility toward lower-class immigrants and the racial and ethnic conflict, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that marked the twentieth century.Yet to tell the history of the Haitian massacre through the lens of post-1937 Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic, indeed to tell it as a history of Dominicans versus Haitians, of one ethnic group or nation versus another, is misleading and may unwittingly reinscribe and essentialize what are, in fact, historically varying and contingent ways of imagining the Domini-can nation. The story of the Haitian massacre is also one of Dominicans versus Dominicans, of Dominican elites versus Dominican peasants, of the national Dominicans in the frontier, of in to local and, following the of anti-Haitian of the nation with more and from the is also a story of and or national identities to as a for the of the massacre to contemporary of ethnic conflict, and these themes and even of the story of this of is a moreover, that and also a one that the of a Dominican nation and as in and to Haiti and history is in recorded in the with Haitians and Dominicans lived in the frontier the of the massacre. testimonies into to 1937, Dominican national far from as to or of Haitians and Haitian In contrast to by official and in the Dominican Republic, Dominicans in the frontier were not in the a and by In fact, to the of and other Dominicans, a frontier and even to of Dominican a between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, a Dominican versus Haitian and and a ethnic for citizens of the Dominican In other the a and nation. The frontier to or a for this of a Dominican nation from these that the Haitian massacre as not only on Haitians living in the Dominican The Haitian massacre also as by the national on a and frontier world by ethnic Dominicans and ethnic the of the Haitian massacre as a between two of the Dominican nation and the of Dominican as on a the Dominican frontier, the frontier a Haitian-Dominican world of Haitian and with Dominican by a and on the Dominican of the and in Haiti during the half of the of the Haitians in the Dominican frontier helped what to a the of this of the the that a and one the Haitian and Dominican of the between Haiti and the Dominican Republic by during the with in certain above all in the southern this to and for local of Dominican political and on in the Dominican in the of on not born on Dominican as as between the two had of the and that and by living in (the and other areas far from the In many the political for frontier one Haitian from the massacre there were two the were residents the the of a for ethnic Haitian to Haiti to to the Dominican Republic for to in Haiti in the and to Dominican in the many of the and were in Haiti, for which residents frequently to Haiti or to Haitian ethnic Haitians and ethnic Dominicans in many and on Haitian and Dominican of and the a Dominican from the there as as they had many with his and they of ethnic Haitians and ethnic Dominicans living in the frontier had and families one of the in the small Dominican of of of of of Haitian Dominican and Dominican Haitian the of many that there were more Dominicans were many Dominicans residents had Haitian and and to some the two a or between ethnic Haitians and ethnic Dominicans in the in fact, there to The sugar Haitian and other were far from this region. ethnic Haitians in the and on small and with some to while ethnic Domini-can on and on the also or of as of the frontier and and and on and rights and on to in most In the such as and of and ethnic of to some with many Haitians as and and and such or in most of the there to have been more ethnic and more Haitians as for ethnic Dominicans in certain areas of the southern frontier, and were the of Haitian-Dominican in the frontier, identities as or In fact, the and the of the helped Haitian and In many the mostly of identified by as and and also features to were as they were by Haitians and these of and were more were between in the and and anti-Haitian from the certain of ethnic and of Dominicans of from Haitians on that for and as as to these were ethnic national Haitians born in the Dominican Republic were Dominican citizens according to the and the that they were as of the Domini-can nation by ethnic Dominican and by local Dominican Haitians that even born in Haiti the and for Dominican citizens they and had lived in the country for a number of ethnic Haitians not in the and in the Dominican frontier had Haitians as a and group as Haiti as the Domini-can Dominican Republic’s and the of the Trujillo and a of and ethnic and also the national of and between ethnic Haitians and ethnic Dominicans in the were with and even born of and of but not or had been the a Dominican of Haitian the for first lived to one this as were is one of the that killed the Haitians and Dominicans had other and and a civilian such as anti-Haitian and of a nation had or ways of and of the Dominican frontier with and of a Dominican nation and Dominican the Haitian in the Dominican frontier as a that the Dominican and the Dominican frontier, Dominican more and and and into the Dominican the Haitian migration to the frontier and migration to the sugar zones had Haitian and in as a to Dominican Haitian as to the to the country and the of the Domini-can had themselves been by Dominican and as and the to as one by and a it to of Dominican and had to and in with the by which and of Dominican and as as the of Haitian-Dominican in the Dominican of Dominicans to the of the Dominican frontier with in political the region. and from and these areas had for to the national the Dominican had been to of political and in the ethnic Dominicans and ethnic Haitians lived in a world to a from the of the nation. as in most of the Dominican to a and national and to the of and The had attempted for to the and in to Dominican and and and political The frontier also for the with which one the to Haiti to and and the that through a of also and from the and a had been a of official had been on the Dominican of the in to the frontier from in the the attempted to official or of for to through the of in in the and the frontier with the Haitian to to in the region. and by the were first in the of the twentieth on the frontier and to that the and of ethnic Haitians in that by the Haitian as there between the two In the that the first the first one that from the other of the Massacre have it it as it only to to and with but there is the the or of in has to the Dominican Republic is of these frontier areas with other Haitians, it Dominican to the in the national the as of the impeding the of Haitians into the Dominican frontier and potential Haitian to areas by the Dominican the Dominican to this in to Haitian and in the country and in the most and and political only for the Dominican the to the with imagining that to the to and and thus to and frontier for the Dominican officials of the and that from had been as a for and they were more and in a the Dominican Republic, which of In this by as a of the and thus the in contrast to Haiti, of a as as of and In more these that immigrants and but and and a that the as it may the Dominican to Domini-can and national in the of to to the as as racial of first The of with of Dominican to the of the of the the of and Dominican and in more as the of the this and the anti-Haitian of the vast of the were in the frontier to the massacre in fact, ethnic from the of the it also of the Dominican nation that with official and even by some local of the nation Haitians born on Dominican and perhaps some born in Haiti, with Dominican the first were in the also the the Dominican Republic the of Rafael with a few of from the small of Trujillo the Dominican in after it during the through the of the in Trujillo named by a small to in through his of the in a to a and the of the country and the Dominican Republic for with the of the and his potential to into his regime the and of the of these had with the and of the to and a with to and that had been in the of the Dominican Republic sugar in the to to the for the of these and of that Trujillo this of to a for the in the of the and also Trujillo to as the and of the of and of the and which to a far of into and even in the lived a mostly through and the national Trujillo a that had been to and for it in the and of the national its and of of thus the to and as Dominican had but to Haitian-Dominican and the frontier were for the as it to areas the of and of the the frontier for increased a by with the Haitian in the Trujillo also that the Haitian-Dominican and that the for into the Dominican a the indeed the The to the and the also as Trujillo to the national to and on and to local and through and political in the frontier with and in the in the toward frontier frontier played only a in the Trujillo regime from to The not in the and only one of the in this the of the a national frontier in more a few of whom the country after only and mostly as of for to Dominican and even in the Trujillo the and to the anti-Haitian that had In the of the Dominican in the frontier for official for and to with may have in the Dominican that or features with that it this of between Haitians and Dominicans and the the that to the Haitian that the and to a to the Trujillo it as to political and political the Haitian in areas to the Haitian were the Trujillo the of in the southern frontier in In the the regime to have been with Haitians in areas the by the two the and most the a there in the the Haitians the for the the regime ethnic Haitian residents to the and a for The Haitian of in to Dominican and authorities that of had lived there for had been by Dominican small number of ethnic Haitians were living and in in the frontier, there and were also in the these though they may have to some of were a by and by local also by and of Haitian versus Dominican In the of the of to a following a that had a to Trujillo this his Haitian but have the and have a Dominican of to this with a that one to his to the that and to a Dominican a in the of or which not evidently to a and the of Haitians as only to the frontier and In official from the of a national ethnic for In to whom have in the mostly Haitians, but born in the for which they as Dominicans and to to the Trujillo toward the frontier for local and may have been in of and the that Trujillo not to the and into his Trujillo had a number of anti-Haitian above all and in the These were of a small Dominican in the Trujillo and and, of the from and were also all born the of the and a had been diffused in and the with and this of anti-Haitian and or “Haitians” as the to the and political they for the Dominican the Trujillo to have a more to the frontier and the nation. not a or the regime in the to ethnic Haitians as ethnic in the frontier into Dominican and by the of national of and the of Dominican The of Haitian and of frontier and even to The Trujillo regime also up the in the In the of into with the of to a to the region. In to and the of for national and the of the between and the the number of in the frontier in the and and and national and that this the of the contiguous and and to of the the the of the Dominican number of the these were ethnic of Haitian thus to ethnic Haitians’ identities as Dominican citizens and of the Haitians themselves Dominican and to Trujillo during the in the Dominican Haitian had lived in the Domini-can of to the a and for of its the Trujillo to ethnic Haitians not as anti-Haitian but as a and assistance to political and to the Haitian born in on one of his to Trujillo had the of a for to the anti-Haitian in the Trujillo were and the Trujillo regime by a of a Dominican nation to not more the anti-Haitian of the Trujillo the to which Trujillo and the anti-Haitian of many of his and the during also his from anti-Haitian during the of his regime by and relations between Haiti and the Dominican In following of conflict, the two the of the Haitian-Dominican to a in the Dominican which in and the on the and of Haitian-Dominican political and After the of the Haitian while Trujillo the frontier between and the the of the the years, Trujillo also to the of for Haitian political and in the Dominican and official to Haiti in which and of to the his for the Haitian and the Haitian more in the Haitian and Dominican that the Dominican his Haitian to relations with Haiti and to with Haitian elites it to the Haitian and Haitian Trujillo to have the Haitian with to the of and of all Haitians of a certain that that Trujillo had the to his the not with the of and but by his to to Haitian elites as as the other and and Haiti that marked the Trujillo contrast with the official that of the massacre in relations with Haiti not the regime not to a between the two the there that Trujillo the the with Haiti to the of and ultimately the of the to a to by the and of the with national on of the to to and as as and and, in the of Haitian also the national to and in the frontier residents had of a and in world to to official to the to and with Haiti were by Dominican of and and by frontier residents in on Haiti for such as in to and Dominicans to to to Haiti and Haitians to to the Dominican Republic a of to the ethnic Dominicans and ethnic Haitians in the Dominican frontier had in the to Haitian and as as the of the frontier, to the were to and and may thus have to and ultimately to that to the between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in a between ethnic Haitians and ethnic Dominicans also had to in the frontier world in which and a nation in the of the Haitian massacre. massacre of the frontier by Trujillo that in Trujillo by and through the half of the the Cibao and frontier these the most to political with up political the The Cibao the of with Trujillo in these the frontier had been a of and for local the in that the to frontier Trujillo and and and in his and to political in many the of this 2 October 1937, during a in in Trujillo some have and the frontier in of the have and the of the the Dominicans were of the by Haitians living of and were thus from in the of have have already to the Haitians in Trujillo his of the massacre as a to and by Haitians living in the Dominican the first of a of that the massacre as from local between Dominicans and Haitians in the Haitians and to had already following of the first which the of few that were and had to and for what on October these were after a official in a two ethnic Haitians had into Haiti from the Dominican had not been forcibly but were of Dominican ethnic some had been killed in few Dominicans from the frontier that first Haitians were to and that in some Haitian were in such as the of as a to during the first days of the Haitians the were to to Haiti the bridge the official the on After had to the Massacre while to areas the Haitians on the Haitians were while to In with refugees in up for the the of and in other Dominican troops to for by the and some of to and were to the by with the that they were deported to In some were The the that were to the bridge they through the in of or to the in the most were and were in and the of In other Haitians to local and not to of The troops that it that Haitians to the group of some some in civilian and the Haitians in The of the killings. which troops and perhaps civilian reserves, not have been to such a number of Haitians the more have the Haitians were some of killed while to and were that Trujillo to a conflict, or to some of of the of this The of with civilian also that have more Haitians and to this the of nation and in the frontier world which Haitians were more or as Domini-can citizens and as of a national Those were in the of many Haitians were identified in the slaughter, had been the of the of the by of and after the were many that they they had they they they all the Haitians have they were all Domini-cans the were Those that they in were not were Dominican such a Dominican had one from the migration but they they were in or not had a a living in in had been the of the to the Dominican Republic as Haitian were born there Dominican were the were Dominican the a of ethnic Haitians’ in the Dominican nation to the massacre in the frontier, The that the and between Haitians and Dominicans on a frontier in which many had national and ethnic identities as as and and the on which army between “Haitians” and not Haitians whose families had lived in the Dominican Republic for and of Haitians and Dominicans is that the as a for that or other with the to the as of Haitian may have been from local had it in the to ethnic Haitians to the migration of were not or the to have been born in the country and not lived in to the massacre by Dominican to immigrants had were to the o

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