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all Oral History
March 1, 2020

Nancy Marancenbaum

Nancy Marancenbaum was born and raised in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Her family carried Jewish roots that had been hidden over generations. Her father, who spoke little about the past, came from the Yugoslavia and Croatia region and had fled antisemitism. Her mother's family, whose maiden name was Cabrera, traced back to Toledo, Spain, and had been forced to convert during the Inquisition. Nancy grew up in a largely assimilated home, noticing differences such as not having a Christmas tree, but did not learn of her Jewish identity until she was in her twenties. Later, one of her brothers found the family name in a book listing Jews connected to Spain.

Nancy married her husband, a childhood neighbor whose family had come from Poland and settled in Bolivia by way of Buenos Aires. When she decided to marry, she pursued conversion and began studying to understand her heritage. Together with a small group of about fifteen Jewish friends in Santa Cruz, Nancy and her husband helped build a Jewish community, purchasing land for a cemetery and later a synagogue. In the absence of a permanent rabbi, families relied on a visiting cantor who flew in from Buenos Aires. Nancy learned to bake and provided challah bread for her community.

About twenty years ago, Nancy and her husband moved to Dallas, drawn by family already living there, including relatives who had survived the Holocaust. Their son had come to study at SMU on a scholarship and became a doctor, their daughter became a dentist after studying in Israel and Guadalajara, and another son also studied in the United States. In Dallas Nancy found a warm and welcoming community, becoming involved with Temple Emanu-El and other study groups. She embraced a deeper spiritual life, keeping Shabbat and kosher, and treasured her studies of Torah, Hebrew, and Jewish tradition, sharing what she learned with her family and expressing deep gratitude for her experiences.

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