JEWISH VICTIMS OF REPRESSION IN ARGENTINA UNDER MILITARY RULE (1976–1983)

Raul Alfonsin's rise to power in 1983 as Argentina's democratically elected president put an end to a traumatic decade of unprecedented violence for that country. This research was motivated by the conviction that the repressive policies of the juntas demand close study. This conviction is embodied in the report ‘Nunca Mas’ (Never Again), by the National Commission on the Disappearances of Persons (CONADEP, Comision Nacional Sobre la Desaparicion de Personas). Such attempts to publicize the activities of the juntas from 1976 to 1983, in the hope of preventing the recurrence of these crimes, require scholarly research and reflection upon the nature, scope and dynamics of repression under the juntas. The author brings to bear for this study seven years' experience as a member of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International, during most of which I supervised the organization's research on the Americas. A further motivation for this study is my own understanding of my Jewish ethical and historical legacy, one which demands respect for the individual as such. This is an indivisible part of my people's preoccupation with survival, universalism and particularism being complementary concepts. The Jewish claim to the right to be different can be ensured only in a world which grants the same right to all nations, groups and individuals. The Argentina of the juntas was not such a place, and only when it is a country fully respectful of the basic rights of all citizens will the free existence of a Jewish community there be guaranteed. The suffering of Jews under the juntas warrants separate study because the juntas included virulent antisemites who sought out Jews for especially harsh treatment. Under the juntas, being Jewish was generally a cause for added suffering for the perceived ‘subversive elements’.