traditional Jewish wedding in 1868. The first synagogue was inaugurated in 1875. The Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe who settled in Argentina were called rusos (Russians) by the local population. In January 1919 in Buenos Aires, during a general strike, the police fomented pogroms that targeted Jews and destroyed their property. In the strike's aftermath, civilian vigilante gangs (the Argentine Patriotic League) went after so-called agitators (agitadores), and killed or wounded "scores of victims", including "numerous Russian Jews who were falsely accused of masterminding a Communist conspiracy". European Jews continued to immigrate to Argentina, including during the Great Depression of the 1930s and to escape increasing Nazi persecution. "In 1939 half the owners and workers of small manufacturing plants were foreigners, many of them newly arrived Jewish refugees from Central Europe". Jewish cultural and religious organizations flourished in the cities; a Yiddish press and theatre opened in Buenos Aires, as well as a Jewish hospital and a number of Zionist organizations. The Zwi Migdal organization established in the 1860s in Buenos Aires operated an international network of pimps exploiting Jewish girls from Eastern Europe. The largest Jewish cemetery in Latin America, La Tablada Israelite Cemetery, is located in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It was established in 1936 and houses over 150,000 graves. Status Today, approximately 180,500 Jews live in Argentina, down from 310,000 in the early 1960s. Most of Argentina's Jews live in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario. Argentina's Jewish population is the largest in Latin America, and the third-largest in the Americas (after that of the United States and Canada). It is the sixth-largest in the world. (See Jewish population) Additionally, Buenos Aires is the sixteenth largest Jewish city in the world by population. The government has recognized major Jewish holidays: it authorizes Jews to have two days of vacation each for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the first two and last two days of Passover. Historic Jewish colonies in Argentina Buenos Aires Province Carlos Casares Colonia Lapin Mauricio Hirsch Delfin Huergo Moctezuma Rivera Smith Entre Ríos Province Colonia Avigdor Basavilbaso (Lucienville) Bovril Carmel Clara Cohen General Campos Ingeniero Sajaroff La Clarita Pedernal Pueblo Arrua San Gregorio (Colonia Sonnenfeld) San Salvador Santa Isabel Ubajay Villa Dominguez Villaguay Wulfshon Santa Fe Province Capivara Ceres Las Palmeras Palacios Moisés Ville Virginia La Pampa Province Bernasconi General Acha Rolon Santiago del Estero Province Colonia Dora See also Andinia Plan Argentina–Israel relations