Claudia Sheinbaum : “Survival Story: Sheinbaum’s Jewish Family Escapes Holocaust in Bulgaria”

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Mexico’s first female and first Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said her mother was born in Mexico. Geneological documents show she was born in Bulgaria and survived the Holocaust. Illustration by Odeya Rosenband. Photos by Luis Antonio Rojas/Bloomberg via Getty Images and the Jewish Documentation and Research Center of Mexico.

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By Andrew Silverstein
June 14, 2024

Claudia Sheinbaum, who recently secured the position of Mexico’s first female president, has seldom discussed her Jewish heritage or family history. She has previously mentioned that her grandparents fled Bulgaria in 1940 and that her mother, Annie Pardo Cemo, was born the following year in Mexico City.

In a letter to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada in 2009, Sheinbaum, who was then a politically active climate scientist, wrote, “My maternal grandparents came to Mexico fleeing Nazi persecution. They were saved by a miracle.”

A recent investigation by Forward using birth, wedding, immigration, and transportation records from Europe, Mexico, and British Mandate Palestine suggests that Sheinbaum’s family did not escape before the Holocaust but rather survived it.

Exploring Claudia Sheinbaum’s Family History

Annie and her parents were part of the thousands of Jews who spent the war in Nazi-aligned Bulgaria. According to records from the Jewish Agency of Haifa, Annie was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the family arrived in Palestine in 1944 before settling in Mexico in 1946.

It appears that Sheinbaum and her mother may have unknowingly misrepresented their story due to the challenges faced by Jewish refugees during that time. The family had to resort to purchasing Mexican documents to establish their new life in Mexico, a common practice among Jewish refugees.

Efforts to reach out to Sheinbaum’s campaign team for comments on this new information were unsuccessful. When questioned, Sheinbaum’s mother denied being born in Bulgaria and living in Palestine before Mexico.

Annie’s uncle, Enrique Semo, a well-known Mexican historian, confirmed that Annie’s mother spent the war in Bulgaria and later joined him in Mexico City after a brief period in Palestine.

Throughout her presidential campaign, Sheinbaum faced attacks on her identity, including false claims that she was not born in Mexico. Despite the scrutiny, she has stood by her Mexican heritage and atheistic beliefs, downplaying her Jewish background.

The revelations about Annie being born in Bulgaria do not impact Sheinbaum’s eligibility to lead Mexico, as she was born in the country and meets the requirements for presidency.

The uncovered family history sheds light on the challenges faced by Holocaust survivors and refugees in Mexico and the lengths they went to in order to establish themselves in a new homeland.

This hidden chapter in Sheinbaum’s family history underscores the enduring impact of the Holocaust and the resilience of those who survived it.

Sheinbaum’s Family Journey: From Bulgaria to Mexico

Annie’s grandparents, the Pardos and the Semos, were Sephardic Jews from Bulgaria who eventually settled in Mexico. Annie’s maternal grandparents initially planned to move to Cuba, while her parents remained in Bulgaria before fleeing and reuniting in Mexico City.

Enrique Semo, Annie’s uncle, recounted the family’s escape from Bulgaria to France and eventually to Mexico in a 2012 essay. The journey was filled with challenges, including legal obstacles and the need to secure visas for safe passage.

The family’s arrival in Mexico in the 1940s marked the beginning of a new chapter, but they continued to face difficulties as Jewish refugees in a country that viewed them as undesirable.

Continued in Part 2…