{{Short description|Crimean Jewish immigrant to Argentina, businessman, brothel owner and human trafficker}} {{Infobox person | name = Simon Rubinstein | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = ca. 1880 | birth_place = [[Odessa]], [[Russian Empire]] | death_date = 1965 | death_place = [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]] | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = pimp, factory owner | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Simon Rubinstein''' or '''Rubenstein''' ([[Floruit|fl.]] 1900-1939) was an [[History of the Jews in Argentina|Argentine Jew]]ish businessman and pimp, who headed the criminal organization [[Ashkenazum]], an offshoot of the larger [[Zwi Migdal]], in the first half of the 20th century.
==Biography== Rubinstein arrived in [[Buenos Aires]] from [[Odessa]] in the year 1900, and quickly became the owner of a condom factory. He was a very successful businessman and was heavily involved in the silk trade of the country. At some point he became involved with the Zwi Migdal, which [[Sex trafficking|trafficked]] thousands of Jewish women from [[shtetls]] in [[Eastern Europe]] across the world for sex slavery.<ref>Bristow, Edward J. Prostitution and Prejudice: the Jewish Fight against White Slavery, 1870-1939. Schocken Books, 1983.</ref>
He founded a splinter group of the Zwi Migdal, called the Ashkenazum, and had over 700 agents working for him in Argentina. Members included pimps, madams, ''porteras'' as well as the spouses of the male members.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crossing Borders, Claiming a Nation: A History of Argentine Jewish Women, 1880–1955|last=Deutsch|first=Sandra McGee|date=2010|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-9260-6|location=Durham|pages=119}}</ref> He was the owner of most of the ''bordellos'' in [[San Fernando de la Buena Vista|San Fernando]], a city in the province of [[Buenos Aires Province|Buenos Aires]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sex & Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina|last=Guy|first=Donna J.|date=1991|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-7048-8|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sexdangerinbueno00guyd/page/120 120]|url=https://archive.org/details/sexdangerinbueno00guyd/page/120}}</ref>
Rubinstein was said to be so well connected that he stored the furniture for a Buenos Aires judge in one of his brothels.<ref>Vincent, Isabel. Bodies and Souls: the Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas. Vintage Canada, 2007.</ref> The Ashkenazum was a financial success, and like the Zwi Migdal, had a plot of land and a cemetery of its own on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.<ref>[https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3403899,00.html Kupferboim, Rona. “Argentine Jewry's Dark Secret.” Ynet News, Jewish World, 25 May 2007.]</ref> The sex trafficking trade was dismantled after a former member betrayed it to authorities, leading to the conviction and deportation of 108 pimps to [[Uruguay]].
==See also== * [[Sexual slavery]] *[[Alfonse Pogrom]] *[[Raquel Liberman]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Simon}} [[Category:1880s births]] [[Category:1965 deaths]] [[Category:Argentine pimps]] [[Category:Jews from the Russian Empire]] [[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Argentina]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Buenos Aires]] {{sex-stub}}