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Record Type*: Speeches .

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*REQUIRED INFORMATION 11111111111111111111111111111111111 I / / / /

INTRODUCTION

OF JACOBO TIMERMAN

BY U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM HARKIN

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS DINNER Los ANGELES

OCTOBER 22, 1981 "THE PRISONER IS BLINDFOLDED, SEATED IN A CHAIR, HANDS TIED

BEHIND HIM. THE ELECTRIC SHOCKS BEGIN. No QUESTIONS ARE PUT TO HIM.

BUT AS HE MOANS AND JUMPS WITH THE SHOCKS, THE UNSEEN TORTURERS

SPEAK INSULTS. THEN ONE SHOUTS A SINGLE WORD, AND OTHERS TAKE IT UP:

'JEW...JEW...JEW!...JEW!' AS THEY CHANT, THEY CLAP THEIR HANDS

AND LAUGH.

"GERMANY IN 1939? No, ARGENTINA IN 1977. WERE THE TORTURERS AN

OUTLAW BAND, A GANG OF ANTI-STATE TERRORISTS? NO, THEY WERE PART

OF THE STATE: MILITARY MEN FROM ONE WING OF THE ARMED FORCES THAT

CONTROLLED THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT IN 1977 AND STILL DO. .

"AND THE VICTIM: WAS HE SOME UNLUCKY SOCIAL OUTCAST? No, HE WAS

JACOBO TIMERMAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF A LEADING BUENOS AIRES DAILY

NEWSPAPER, LA OPINION. AND IN A SENSE HE WAS LUCKY. FoR UNLIKE

15,000 OTHER ARGENTINIANS WHO WERE SEIZED BY THE MILITARY OVER THE

LAST FIVE YEARS, HE LIVED." -2-

THAT WAS WRITTEN BY ANTHONY LEWIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN

HIS REVIEW OF JACOBo TIMERMAN'S BOOK, "PRISONER WITHOUT A NAME,

CELL WITHOUT A NUMBER."

FROM HIS BIRTH IN 1923 IN THE UKRAINE, THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD

IN ARGENTINA, FROM THE PAGES OF HIS NEWSPAPER, LA OPINION, THROUGH

HIS IMPRISONMENT AND TORTURE AT THE HANDS OF THE ARGENTINE MILITARY;

FROM THE PAGES OF HIS MOST POWERFUL BOOK, THROUGH HIS NEW LIFE IN

ISRAEL, AND NOW FROM HIS HEART AND HIS LIPS, THE ESSENCE OF JACOBO

TIMERMAN CAN BE SUMMED UP THUS: AN ARDENT ZIONIST AND ARDENT

DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

REGARDING THE FIRST, IN HIS BOOK WHEN JACOBO WAS BROUGHT BEFORE

THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL, EACH ROUND OF QUESTIONING WAS BEGUN IN THE

SAME WAY BY ITS PRESIDENT, COLONEL BATTESTI: "ARE YOU A JEW?"

"YES, MR. PRESIDENT." "ARE YOU A ZIONIST?" "YES, MR. PRESIDENT."

"WHEN DID YOUR ZIONIST ACTIVITIES BEGIN?" "AT THE AGE OF 8, MR.

PRESIDENT, MY MOTHER ENROLLED ME IN A SPORTS CLUB CALLED MACABI."

LATER TIMERMAN ASKED THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR WHY HE WAS IN

PRISON, AND THE MINISTER ANSWERED, "YOU ADMITTED TO BEING A ZIONIST,

AND THIS POINT WAS REVEALED AT A MEETING OF ALL THE GENERALS. -3-

"BUT BEING A ZIONIST IS NOT FORBIDDEN." "No, IT IS NOT FORBIDDEN

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, IT ISN'T A CLEAR-CUT ISSUE, BESIDES YOU

ADMITTED TO IT AND THE GENERALS ARE AWARE OF THIS.

THE GENERALS WHO GOVERN ARGENTINA WERE DISTURBED BY HIS NEWSPAPER

ARTICLES, BY HIS PUBLISHING:THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WERE ABDUCTED

BY THE GOVERNMENT AND 'DISAPPEARED,' AND BY DEMANDING THE GOVERNMENT

ACCOUNT FOR THEM. HE PRINTED APPEALS OF PARENTS, RELATIVES AND

FRIENDS OF THE DISAPPEARED.

IN THE 6 YEARS THAT HE WAS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, ARGENTINA HAD

6 PRESIDENTS. AND EACH ONE OF THOSE 6 FOUND REASON TO PUNISH

LA OPINION BY CLOSING IT FOR PERIODS OF TIME.

DESPITE SUCH HARASSMENT AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE DIRECTED AGAINST

HIM AND HIS FAMILY, JACOBo TIMERMAN PERSISTED. ON MARCH 31, 1977,

JACOBO TIMERMAN WAS THE ONLY NEWSPAPER EDITOR IN ALL OF ARGENTINA

WHO DARED TO MEET WITH PATRICIA DERIAN, U.S. ASST SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. THE NEXT DAY, THE PRINTING DIRECTOR OF HIS

NEWSPAPER WAS KIDNAPPED -- AND HAS NOT BEEN HEARD FROM SINCE. SLl-

STILL, TIMERMAN PERSISTED. AND ON APRIL 15, 1977, THEY CAME

FOR JACOBO HIMSELF. 20 ARMED MEN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES, INVADED HIS

APARTMENT IN BUENOS AIRES. THEY LED HIM OFF TO 6 MONTHS OF SOLITARY

CONFINEMENT, FOLLOWED BY 2 YEARS IMPRISONMENT, INTERRUPTED ONLY BY

OCCASIONAL TRIPS TO THE TOILET, MEALS, AND SESSIONS WITH HIS

TORTURERS AND THE ELECTRIC SHOCKDEVICES.

IT IS A SMALL FOOTNOTE IN HISTORY, BUT WORTHY OF BEING REMEMBERED

AND RE-TOLD, THAT IN THE SAME MONTH THAT TIMERMAN WAS ARRESTED AND

ACCUSED BY THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT OF BEING A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-

MARXIST CONSPIRACY -- ANATOLY SCHARANSKY WAS BEING ACCUSED OF BEING

A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-CAPITALIST CONSPIRACY BY THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT.

THEN, AGAIN WITHOUT EVER HAVING ANY CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST HIM,

HE WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON, STRIPPED OF ALL OF HIS PROPERTY, HIS

NEWSPAPER, EVERYTHING...STRIPPED OF HIS ARGENTINE CITIZENSHIP, AND

PERMANENTLY EXPELLED FROM HIS COUNTRY.

JACOBo TIMERMAN CAN, WITH MORE CLARITY THAN ANYONE I HAVE EVER

MET, CUT THROUGH THE CLOUDED RHETORIC OF THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES AND

ANSWER THE TWISTED SEMANTICS OF THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE -5-

THERE IS SOME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'AUTHORITARIAN' REGIMES AND

TOTALITARIANI REGIMES WHO REPRESS THE BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS OF THEIR

CITIZENS.

THE SEMANTICS OF THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS

VIOLATIONS HAS COINED THE WORDS 'QUIET DIPLOMACY.' EARLIER THIS

SPRING DURING THE HEARINGS ON THE NOMINATION OF ERNEST LEFEVER,

THE POSITION OF ASST SECRETARY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, JACOBO TIMERMAN

WAS IN WASHINGTON. AND HE WAS ASKED ABOUT 'QUIET DIPLOMACY," AND

IN 8 WORDS DESTROYED THIS MYTH, AND I BELIEVE HELPED TO DEFEAT THE

APPOINTMENT OF ERNEST LEFEVER. JACOBO SAID VERY SIMPLY AND ELOQUENTLY,

"SILENT DIPLOMACH IS SILENCE. QUIET DIPLOMACY IS SURRENDER."

TIME AND TIME AGAIN, JACOBO HAS SAID THAT WE MUST SPEAK OUT,

REMINDING US THAT OUR PUBLIC POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS SAVES LIVES IN

A WAY THAT QUIET DIPLOMACY CAN NEVER DO,

MOST RECENTLY, I SAW JACOBO IN WASHINGTON.. :HE WAS THERE TO

RECEIVE THE LETELIER-MOFFITTHUMAN RIGHTS AWARD. HE WAS IN ISRAEL

AT THE TIME, AND WAS ADVISED NOT TO TAKE IT, OR TO ACCEPT IT, AND

LET SOMEONE ELSE RECEIVE IT ON HIS BEHALF. INSTEAD, ONCE AGAIN HE -6-

CLIMBED IN AN AIRPLANE AND FLEW TO WASHINGTON TO ACCEPT THE AWARD

HIMSELF. AND, HERE IS WHY HE DID IT, IN HIS OWN WORDS:

"FORCES THAT WE BELIEVED WERE DEFEATED ARE REAPPEARING.

PLURALISTIC,;DEMOCRATIC; AND EGALATARIAN SOCIETY IS THREATENED BY

THE TOTALITARIANISM OF THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT. THE PRIMARY

OBJECTIVE OF ALL THOSE FORCES IS TO CREATE FEAR WITHIN US, A FEAR

THAT WOULD PARALYZE AND SILENCE US. A FEAR THAT WOULD KEEP US

APARE, AND MAKE US WORRY THAT ACCUSATIONS THROWN AT OTHERS MIGHT

FALL UPON US AS WELL. AFTER FEAR COMES SILENCE. SILENCE IN THE

FACE OF ATTACKS ON OTHERS IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING ATTACKED, IN ORDER

TO LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ARROUSING THE FURY OF THE

MCCARTHYITES. FOR THIS AS WELL, I AM HERE TODAY."

AND FOR THIS AS WELL, JACOBO, WE ARE HERE THIS EVENING. WE ARE

HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR TO THOSE TORTURERS OF THE LEFT

AND THE RIGHT, THAT WE ARE GOING TO PULL THEM FROM THE DARK CORNERS

OF THEIR TORTURE CHAMBERS. THAT WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THEM OUT

OF THE SILENCE OF THOSE PRISON CELLS AND MAKE THEM STAND IN THE

BRIGHT SUNSHINE OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE AND UNIVERSAL DENUNCIATION. -7-

AND WE ARE HERE TONIGHT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHOSE

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE STILL BEING VIOLATED. THAT WHATEVER MOMENTARY

ABERRATIONS MAY HAPPEN IN OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, THAT THE PEOPLE

OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE TRUE TO OUR HERITAGE, AND WE WILL

CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR UNIVERSAL OBSERVANCE OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

JACOBO, IT IS US WHO ARE HERE TONIGHT WHO ARE HONORED BY YOUR

PRESENCE. ON BEHALF OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PARTY_ _ _

AND I ARE PROUD TO PRESENT YOU WITH THE

AWARD FOR LIFE-LONG COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS. I -

INTRODUCTION

OF

JACOBO TIMERMAN

BY U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM HARKIN

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS DINNER Los ANGELES

OCTOBER 22, 1981 "THE PRISONER IS BLINDFOLDED, SEATED IN A CHAIR, HANDS TIED

BEHIND HIM. THE ELECTRIC SHOCKS BEGIN. NO QUESTIONS ARE PUT TO HIM.

BUT AS HE MOANS AND JUMPS WITH THE SHOCKS, THE UNSEEN TORTURERS

SPEAK INSULTS. THEN ONE SHOUTS A SINGLE WORD, AND OTHERS TAKE IT UP:

'JEW..,JEW...JEW!...JEW!' AS THEY CHANT, THEY CLAP THEIR HANDS

AND LAUGH.

"GERMANY IN 1939? No, ARGENTINA IN 1977. WERE THE TORTURERS AN

OUTLAW BAND, A GANG OF ANTI-STATE TERRORISTS? 0, THEY WERE PART

OF THE STATE: MILITARY MEN FROM ONE WING OF THE ARMED FORCES THAT

CONTROLLED THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT IN 1977 AND STILL DO.

"AND THE VICTIM: WAS HE SOME UNLUCKY SOCIAL OUTCAST? No, HE WAS

JACOBO TIMERMAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF A LEADING BUENOS AIRES DAILY

NEWSPAPER, LA OPINION. AND IN A SENSE HE WAS LUCKY. FOR UNLIKE

15,000 OTHER ARGENTINIANS WHO WERE SEIZED BY THE MILITARY OVER THE

LAST FIVE YEARS, HE LIVED. -2-

THAT WAS WRITTEN BY ANTHONY LEWIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN

HIS REVIEW OF JACOBO TIMERMAN'S BOOK, "PRISONER WITHOUT A NAME,

CELL WITHOUT A NUMBER.

FROM HIS BIRTH IN 1923 IN THE UKRAINE, THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD

IN ARGENTINA, FROM THE PAGES OF HIS NEWSPAPER, LA OPINION, THROUGH

HIS IMPRISONMENT AND TORTURE AT THE HANDS OF THE ARGENTINE MILITARY;

FROM THE PAGES OF HIS MOST POWERFUL BOOK, THROUGH HIS NEW LIFE IN

ISRAEL, AND NOW FROM HIS HEART AND HIS LIPS, THE ESSENCE OF JACOBO

TIMERMAN CAN BE SUMMED UP THUS: AN ARDENT ZIONIST AND ARDENT

DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

REGARDING THE FIRST, IN HIS BOOK WHEN JACOBO WAS BROUGHT BEFORE

THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL EACH ROUND OF QUESTIONING WAS BEGUN IN THE

SAME WAY BY ITS PRESIDENT, COLONEL BATTESTI: "ARE YOU A JEW?"

"YES, MR. PRESIDENT." "ARE YOU A ZIONIST?" "YES, MR. PRESIDENT."

"WHEN DID YOUR ZIONIST ACTIVITIES BEGIN?" "AT THE AGE OF 8, MR.

PRESIDENT, MY MOTHER ENROLLED ME IN A SPORTS CLUB CALLED MACABI."

LATER TIMERMAN ASKED THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR WHY HE WAS IN

PRISON, AND THE MINISTER ANSWERED "YOU ADMITTED TO BEING A ZIONIST,

AND THIS POINT WAS REVEALED AT A MEETING OF ALL THE GENERALS." -3-

"BUT BEING A ZIONIST IS NOT FORBIDDEN." "No, IT IS NOT FORBIDDEN

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, IT ISN'T A CLEAR-CUT ISSUE, BESIDES YOU

ADMITTED TO IT AND THE GENERALS ARE AWARE OF THIS.

THE GENERALS WHO GOVERN ARGENTINA WERE DISTURBED BY HIS NEWSPAPER

ARTICLES, BY HIS PUBLISHING.THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WERE ABDUCTED

BY THE GOVERNMENT AND 'DISAPPEARED,' AND BY DEMANDING THE GOVERNMENT

ACCOUNT FOR THEM. HE PRINTED APPEALS OF PARENTS, RELATIVES AND

FRIENDS OF THE DISAPPEARED.

IN THE 6 YEARS THAT HE WAS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, ARGENTINA HAD

6 PRESIDENTS, AND EACH ONE OF THOSE 6 FOUND REASON TO PUNISH

LA OPINION BY CLOSING IT FOR PERIODS OF TIME.

DESPITE SUCH HARASSMENT AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE DIRECTED AGAINST

HIM AND HIS FAMILY, JACOBO TIMERMAN PERSISTED. ON MARCH 31, 1977,

JACOBO TIMERMAN WAS THE ONLY NEWSPAPER EDITOR IN ALL OF ARGENTINA

WHO DARED TO MEET WITH PATRICIA DERIAN, U.S. AsST SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. THE NEXT DAY, THE PRINTING DIRECTOR OF HIS

NEWSPAPER WAS KIDNAPPED -- AND HAS NOT BEEN HEARD FROM SINCE. - LI-

STILL, TIMERMAN PERSISTED. AND ON APRIL 15, 1977, THEY CAME

FOR JACOBO HIMSELF. 20 ARMED MEN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES, INVADED HIS

APARTMENT IN BUENOS AIRES. THEY LED HIM OFF TO 6 MONTHS OF SOLITARY

CONFINEMENT, FOLLOWED BY 2 YEARS IMPRISONMENT, INTERRUPTED ONLY BY

OCCASIONAL TRIPS TO THE TOILET, MEALS, AND SESSIONS WITH HIS

TORTURERS AND THE ELECTRIC SHOCKDEVICES.

IT IS A SMALL FOOTNOTE IN HISTORY, BUT WORTHY OF BEING REMEMBERED AND RE-TOLD, THAT IN THE SAME MONTH THAT TIMERMAN WAS ARRESTED AND

ACCUSED BY THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT OF BEING A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-

MARXIST CONSPIRACY -- ANATOLY SCHARANSKY WAS BEING ACCUSED OF BEING

A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-CAPITALIST CONSPIRACY BY THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT.

THEN, AGAIN WITHOUT EVER HAVING ANY CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST HIM,

HE WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON, STRIPPED OF ALL OF HIS PROPERTY, HIS

NEWSPAPER, EVERYTHING...STRIPPED OF HIS ARGENTINE CITIZENSHIP, AND

PERMANENTLY EXPELLED FROM HIS COUNTRY.

JACOBO TIMERMAN CAN, WITH MORE CLARITY THAN ANYONE I HAVE EVER

MET, CUT THROUGH THE CLOUDED RHETORIC OF THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES AND

ANSWER THE TWISTED SEMANTICS OF THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE -5-

THERE IS SOME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'AUTHORITARIANI REGIMES AND

'TOTALITARIAN' REGIMES WHO REPRESS THE BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS OF THEIR

CITIZENS.

THE SEMANTICS OF THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS

VIOLATIONS HAS COINED THE WORDS 'QUIET DIPLOMACY.' EARLIER THIS

SPRING DURING THE HEARINGS ON THE NOMINATION OF ERNEST LEFEVER,

THE POSITION OF ASST SECRETARY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, JACOBO TIMERMAN

WAS IN WASHINGTON. AND HE WAS ASKED ABOUT 'QUIET DIPLOMACY," AND

IN 8 WORDS DESTROYED THIS MYTH, AND I BELIEVE HELPED TO DEFEAT THE

APPOINTMENT OF ERNEST LEFEVER. JACOBO SAID VERY SIMPLY AND ELOQUENTLY,

"SILENT DIPLOMACH IS SILENCE. QUIET DIPLOMACY IS SURRENDER."

TIME AND TIME AGAIN, JACOBO HAS SAID THAT WE MUST SPEAK OUT,

REMINDING US THAT OUR PUBLIC POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS SAVES LIVES IN

A WAY THAT QUIET DIPLOMACY CAN NEVER DO.

MOST RECENTLY, I SAW JACOBO IN WASHINGTON.. .HE WAS THERE TO

RECEIVE THE LETELIER-MOFFITTHUMAN RIGHTS AWARD. HE WAS IN ISRAEL

AT THE TIME, AND WAS ADVISED NOT TO TAKE IT, OR TO ACCEPT IT, AND

LET SOMEONE ELSE RECEIVE IT ON HIS BEHALF. INSTEAD, ONCE AGAIN HE -6-

CLIMBED IN AN AIRPLANE AND FLEW TO WASHINGTON TO ACCEPT THE AWARD

HIMSELF. AND, HERE IS WHY HE DID IT, IN HIS OWN WORDS:

"FORCES THAT WE BELIEVED WERE DEFEATED ARE REAPPEARING.

PLURALISTIC,;DEMOCRATICi AND EGALATARIAN SOCIETY IS THREATENED BY

THE TOTALITARIANISM OF THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT. THE PRIMARY

OBJECTIVE OF ALL THOSE FORCES IS TO CREATE FEAR WITHIN US, A FEAR

THAT WOULD PARALYZE AND SILENCE Us. A FEAR THAT WOULD KEEP US

APARE, AND MAKE US WORRY THAT ACCUSATIONS THROWN AT OTHERS MIGHT

FALL UPON US AS WELL. AFTER FEAR COMES SILENCE. SILENCE IN THE

FACE OF ATTACKS ON OTHERS IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING ATTACKED IN ORDER

TO LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ARROUSING THE FURY OF THE

MCCARTHYITES. FOR THIS AS WELL, I AM HERE TODAY."

AND FOR THIS AS WELL, JACOBO, WE ARE HERE THIS EVENING. WE ARE

HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR TO THOSE TORTURERS OF THE LEFT

AND THE RIGHT, THAT WE ARE GOING TO PULL THEM FROM THE DARK CORNERS

OF THEIR TORTURE CHAMBERS. THAT WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THEM OUT

OF THE SILENCE OF THOSE PRISON CELLS AND MAKE THEM STAND IN THE

BRIGHT SUNSHINE OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE AND UNIVERSAL DENUNCIATION. -7-

AND WE ARE HERE TONIGHT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHOSE

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE STILL BEING VIOLATED. THAT WHATEVER MOMENTARY

ABERRATIONS MAY HAPPEN IN OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, THAT THE PEOPLE

OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE TRUE TO OUR HERITAGE, AND WE WILL

CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR UNIVERSAL OBSERVANCE OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

JACOBO, IT IS US WHO ARE HERE TONIGHT WHO ARE HONORED BY YOUR

PRESENCE. ON BEHALF OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PARTY,

AND I ARE PROUD TO PRESENT YOU WITH THE

AWARD FOR LIFE-LONG COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS. "THE PRISONER IS BLINDFOLDED, SEATED IN A CHAIR, HANDS TIED

BEHIND HIM. THE ELECTRIC SHOCKS BEGIN. No QUESTIONS ARE PUT TO HIM.

BUT AS HE MOANS AND JUMPS WITH THE SHOCKS, THE UNSEEN TORTURERS

SPEAK INSULTS. THEN ONE SHOUTS A SINGLE WORD, AND OTHERS TAKE IT UP:

'JEW...JEW...JEW!...JEW!' AS THEY CHANT, THEY CLAP THEIR HANDS

AND LAUGH.

"GERMANY IN 1939? No, ARGENTINA IN 1977. WERE THE TORTURERS AN

OUTLAW BAND, A GANG OF ANTI-STATE TERRORISTS? NO, THEY WERE PART

OF THE STATE: MILITARY MEN FROM ONE WING OF THE ARMED FORCES THAT

CONTROLLED THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT IN 1977 AND STILL DO.

"AND THE VICTIM: WAS HE SOME UNLUCKY SOCIAL OUTCAST? No, HE WAS

JACOBO TIMERMAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF A LEADING BUENOS AIRES DAILY

NEWSPAPER, LA OPINION. AND IN A SENSE HE WAS LUCKY. FoR UNLIKE

15,000 OTHER ARGENTINIANS WHO WERE SEIZED BY THE MILITARY OVER THE

LAST FIVE YEARS, HE LIVED." -2-

THAT WAS WRITTEN BY ANTHONY LEWIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES IN

HIS REVIEW OF JACOBO TIMERMAN'S BOOK, "PRISONER WITHOUT A NAME,

CELL WITHOUT A NUMBER."

FROM HIS BIRTH IN 1923 IN THE UKRAINE, THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD

IN ARGENTINA, FROM THE PAGES OF HIS NEWSPAPER LA OPINION, THROUGH

HIS IMPRISONMENT AND TORTURE AT THE HANDS OF THE ARGENTINE MILITARY;

FROM THE PAGES OF HIS MOST POWERFUL BOOK, THROUGH HIS NEW LIFE IN

ISRAEL, AND NOW FROM HIS HEART AND HIS LIPS, THE ESSENCE OF JACOBO

TIMERMAN CAN BE SUMMED UP THUS:

AN ARDENT ZIONIST AND ARDENT DEFENDER OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

REGARDING THE FIRST, IN HIS BOOK WHEN JACOBO WAS BROUGHT BEFORE

THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL, EACH ROUND OF QUESTIONING WAS BEGUN IN THE

SAME WAY BY ITS PRESIDENT, COLONEL BATTESTI: "ARE YOU A JEW?"

"YES, MR. PRESIDENT.. "ARE YOU A ZIONIST?" "YES, MR. PRESIDENT...

"WHEN DID YOUR ZIONIST ACTIVITIES BEGIN?" "AT THE AGE OF 8,

MR. PRESIDENT. MY MOTHER ENROLLED ME IN.A.SPORTS CLUB CALLED MACABI.

LATER TIMERMAN ASKED THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR WHY HE WAS WAS

IN PRISON, AND THE MINISTER ANSWERED, "YOU ADMITTED TO BEING A

ZIONISTAND THIS POINT WAS REVEALED AT A MEETING OF ALL THE GENERALS," -3-

"BUT BEING A ZIONIST IS NOT FORBIDDEN." "No, IT .IS NOT FORBIDDEN

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IT ISN'T A CLEAR CUT ISSUE, BESIDES YOU

ADMITTED TO ITIAND THE GENERALS ARE AWARE OF THIS.

YES, THE GENERALS WERE AWARE OF THIS BECAUSE ONE MORNING IN

APRIL 1977, 20 ARMED MEN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES INVADED HIS APARTMENT

IN BUENOS AIRES. THEY SAID THEY WERE OBEYING ORDERS FROM THE

10TH INFANTRY BRIGADE OF THE 1ST ARMY CORPS. "THEY BLINDFOLD ME,

THEY THROW ME TO THE FLOOR IN THE BACK OF THE CAR, COVER ME WITH

THE BLANKET, STICK THEIR FEET ON TOP OF ME AND JAM WHAT FEELS LIKE

THE BUTT OF A GUN AGAINST ME, No ONE SPEAKS."

HE IS LED OFF TO WHAT SUBSEQUENTLY BECAME 6 MONTHS OF SOLITARY

CONFINEMENTJ INTERRUPTED ONLY BY OCCASIONAL TRIPS TO THE TOILET,

MEALS, AND SESSIONS WITH HIS TORTURERS AND THE ELECTRIC SHOCK DEVICES.

SIX MONTHS LATER, HE WAS BROUGHT BEFORE A WAR COUNCIL. AND

AFTER A l-HOUR SESSION, THE COUNCIL RULED THERE WAS NO REASON TO

HOLD HIM UNDER ARREST. HOWEVER, INSTEAD OF RELEASING HIM, THE

ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT KEPT HIM UNDER HOUSE ARREST FOR 2 ADDTIONAL YEARS. -'4-

THEN, AGAIN WITHOUT EVER HAVING ANY CHARGES EVER BROUGHT AGAINST

HIM, HE WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON, STRIPPED OF ALL OF HIS PROPERTY,

HIS NEWSPAPER, EVERYTHING, STRIPPED OF HIS ARGENTINE CITIZENSHIP,

AND PERMANENTLY EXPELLED FROM HIS COUNTRY.

HE CHOSE TO GO TO ISRAEL TO LIVE.

IN JUNE OF THIS YEAR, JACOBO ADDRESSED THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA IN WASHINGTON, DC. HE MADE THE FOLLOWING

STATEMENT:

"I WOULD LIKE TO SPEND MY TIME IN ISRAEL, DEDICATE IT TO THE

BEAUTIFUL ADVENTURE OF RECONSTRUCTING A JEWISH STATE, A DEMOCRATIC

AND PEACEFUL ISRAEL, PARTICIPATING IN THE ENORMOUS ENDEAVOR OF

CORRECTING HISTORY AND ENDING THE MOST TERRIBLE AGGRESSION AGAINST

HUMAN RIGHTS RECORDED BY HISTORY -- THE ENDLESS BARBARISM OF ANTI-

SEMITISM. BUT I HAVE CONTINUED TO TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD AND TO

ADD MY VOICE TO THE CRY TO HUMAN RIGHTS."

THAT VOICE HAS NEVER FALTERED. HE HAS ALWAYS DONE WHAT NEEDED

TO BE DONE, AND SAID WHAT NEEDED TO BE SAID. IN HIS NEWSPAPER,

LA OPINION, HE WOULD PUBLISH THE NAMES OF THOSE ARGENTINES WHO WERE -5-

ABDUCTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND 'DISAPPEARED,' AND DEMANDED THAT

THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT FOR THEM. HE PRINTED APPEALS OF PARENTS)

RELATIVES AND FRIENDS OF THE DISAPPEARED.1

IN THE 6 YEARS THAT HE WAS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, ARGENTINA

HAD 6 PRESIDENTS. AND EACH ONE OF THOSE 6 FOUND REASON TO PUNISH

LA OPINION BY CLOSING IT FOR PERIODS OF TIME,

DESPITE SUCH HARASSMENT AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE DIRECTED AGAINST

HIM AND HIS FAMILY, JACOBO TIMERMAN PERSISTED. ON MARCH 31, 1977,

JACOBO TIMERMAN WAS THE ONLY NEWSPAPER EDITOR IN ALL OF ARGENTINA

WHO DARED TO MEET WITH PATRICIA DERIAN, U.S. AsST, SECRETARY OF STATE

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. THE NEXT DAY, THE PRINTING DIRECTOR OF HIS

NEWSPAPER WAS KIDNAPPED. HE HAS.NOT BEEN HEARD RROM SINCE.

STILL, TIMERMAN PERSISTED. AND ON APRIL 15, 1977, THEY CAME

FOR JACOBO HIMSELF.

IT IS A SMALL FOOTNOTE IN HISTORY, BUT WORTHY OF BEING REMEMBERED

AND RETOLD, THAT IN THE SAME MONTH THAT TIMERMAN WAS ARRESTED AND

ACCUSED BY THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT OF BEING A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-

MARXIST CONSPIRACY -- ANATOLY SCHARANSKY WAS BEING ACCUSED OF BEING

A MEMBER OF A ZIONIST-CAPITALI$T CONSPIRACY BY THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT. -6-

THERE IS NO ONE WHOM I HAVE MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, BOTH PUBLIC

OR PRIVATE, WHO CAN WITH MORE CLARITY CUT THROUGH THE CLOUDED

RHETORIC OF THE NEG-CONSERVATIVES AND ANSWER THE TWISTED SEMANTICS

OF THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THERE IS SOME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES AND TOTALITARIAN REGIMES WHO REPRESS THE

BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS OF THEIR CITIZENS -- THAN JACOBO TIMERMAN.

THE SEMANTICS OF THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS

VIOLATIONS HAS COINED THE WORDS "QUIET DIPLOMACY." EARLIER THIS

SPRING, DURING THE HEARINGS ON THE NOMINATION ON ERNEST LEFEVER,

THE POSITION OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, JACOBO TIMERMAN

WAS IN WASHINGTON. AND HE WAS ASKED ABOUT 'QUIET DIPLOMACY,' AND

IN 8 WORDS DESTROYED THIS MYTH, AND I BELIEVE HELPED DEFEAT THE

APPOINTMENT OF ERNEST LEFEVER. JACOBO SAID VERY SIMPLY AND ELOQUENTLY,

"SILENT DIPLOMACY IS SILENCE. QUIET DIPLOMACY IS SURRENDER."

TIME AND TIME AGAIN, JACOBO HAS SAID THAT WE MUST SPEAK OUT,

REMINDING US THAT OUR PUBLIC POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS SAVES LIVES

IN A WAY THAT QUIET DIPLOMACY CAN NEVER DO. b -7-

MOST RECENTLY, I SAW JACOBO IN WASHINGTON. HE WAS THERE TO

RECEIVE THE LETELIER-MOFFITT HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD, HE WAS IN ISRAEL

AT THE TIME, AND WAS ADVISED NOT TO TAKE IT, OR TO ACCEPT IT, AND

LET SOMEONE ELSE RECEIVE IT ON HIS BEHALF. INSTEAD, ONCE AGAIN

HE CLIMBED IN AN AIRPLANE AND FLEW TO WASHINGTON TO ACCEPT THE

AWARD HIMSELF. AND, HERE IS WHY HE DID IT, IN HIS OWN WORDS:

"FORCES THAT WE BELIEVED WERE DEFEATED ARE REAPPEARING,

PLURALISTIC, DEMOCRATIC, AND AGALATARIAN SOCIETY IS THREATENED BY

THE TOTALITARIANISM OF THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT. THE PRIMARY

OBJECTIVE OF ALL THOSE FORCES IS TO CREATE FEAR WITHIN US, A FEW

THAT WOULD PARALYZE AND SILENCE Us. A FEAR THAT WOULD KEEP US

APART, MAKE US WORRY THAT ACCUSATIONS THROWN .AT OTHERS MIGHT FALL

UPON US AS WELL. AFTER FEAR COMES SILENCE. SILENCE IN THE FACE

OF ATTACKS ON OTHERS IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING ATTACKED, IN ORDER

TO LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ARROUSING THE FURRY OF THE

MCCARTHYITES, FOR THIS AS WELL, I AM HERE TODAY,"

AND FOR THIS AS WELL, JACOBO, WE ARE HERE THIS EVENING. WE ARE

HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR TO THOSE TORTURERS OF THE LEFT -8-

AND THE RIGHT, THAT WE ARE GOING TO YANK THEM OUT OF THE DARK

CORNERS OF THEIR TORTURE CHAMBERS. THAT WE ARE GOING TO TAKE

THEM OUT OF THE SILENCE OF THOSE PRISON CELLS AND MAKE THEM

STAND IN THE BRIGHT SUNSHINE OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE.

AND WE ARE HERE TONIGHT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHOSE

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE STILL BEING VIOLATED, THAT WHATEVER MOMENTARY

ABERRATIONS MAY HAPPEN IN OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, THAT THE PEOPLE

THE UNITED STATES BE TRUE TO OUR HERITAGE, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO

FIGHT FOR UNIVERSAL OBSERVANCE OF THOSE BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

JACOBO, IT IS US WHO ARE HERE TONIGHT WHO ARE HONORED BY YOUR

PRESENCE. ON BEHALF OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE,

AND I ARE PROUD TO PRESENT YOU WITH THE

AWARD FOR LIFE-LONG COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS. evi981 ~be ~t~trj~ork ~ime0

The Final Solution in Argentina "At dawn one morning in April 1977, some twenty armed- men m civilian clothes- invade our apartment in midtown Buenos. Aires. They say they are obeying orders from the Tenth Infantry Brigade of the First Army Corps... . Theyblindfold me, throw me to the floor in the back.of the car, cover me with the blanket, stick their feet on top of me, and jam what feels like the butt of a gun against me. No one speaks."-Jacobo Timerman

Timerman lived. And he has used that grace to write In spare words, Timerman shows us a sophisticated PmSONER WTHOUT A NAME, an. extraordinary book about his experience. It is the society falling into irrationality and savagery - a sav- E. WITH0UT a NUMER most grippingand the most important book I have agery in which nearly everyone silently acquiesces. picture of our century's spe- By JacoboTimerman. read in a long time: gripping in its human stories, not He gives an unforgettable Translated from the Spanish by Toby-Talbot. only of brutality-but of courage and love; important cial contribution to civilization: state terrorism. us how, in our world, the most'ter- this 164pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $10.95. because it reminds It happened in Argentina. But those who read rible fantasies may become fact. book around the world will understand the universal . Not just autobiography, By ANTHONY LEWIS or political analysis, or a application. It could happen, it has happened else- I victim's cry in the night, It is all these things. Timer- where. Argentine anti-Semitism copied the Nazis'. HE prisoner is blindfolded, seated in a chair, man describes what he suffered in prison and what he The guards' behavior was much like that described by hands tied behind him. The electric shocks thought, and how he and Argentina got to where they Huber Matos when he got out of a Cuban prison in 1979. begin. No questions are put to him. But as he were. The New Yorker came close in the title it used In some of the cells where he was kept, Timerman sut- moans and jumps with the shocks, the unseen tortur- when it published part of the text last month: "Reflec- fered a humiliation and torment that Soviet psychiat- ers speak insults. Then one shouts a single word, and. tions." Timerman writes with passion, but a passion ric prisoners have described: having to ask a guard others take it up: "Jew . .. Jew .. . Jewl ... Jewi" As controlled almost to the point of detachment. The ef- for permission to use the toilet and often being turned they chant, they clap their hands and laugh. fect is devastating. down. Germany in 1939? No. Argentina in 1977. Were the The methods of modern tyranny repeat themselves. torturers an oiatiaw band, a gang of anti-state terror- With this reality. compare the political-science abt- ists? No, they were part of the state: military men straction that has served since last Jan. 20 as a prem- from one wing of the armed forces that controlled the ise of United States human-rights policy: the theory Argentine Government in 1977 and still do. William Safire on Eric that right-wing governments are merely "authoritar- And the victim: Was he some unlucky social out- Partridgeand language3 Ian" and do less damage to human rights than "totali- cast? No. he was Jacobo Timerman, editor and pub- tarian" Communist regimes. lisher of a leading Buenos Aires daily newspaper, La The principal author of that theory is Jeane Kirkpat- Opinidn. And in a sense he was lucky. For, unlike rick, United States Ambassador to the United Nations. 15,000 other Argentinians who were seized by the mill- Elaborating it in 1979 in the magazine Commentary, tary over the last five years, he lived. she wrote that, unlike Communists, "traditional auto- Universitypresses: once crats" observe "traditional taboos." For example, Anthony Lewis-is a columnist for The New York in a while a best seller they respect "habitual patterns of family and per. Times. 13 Continued on Page 30

... *. &.7Cop~vi 8 A*O1B8ITh.NmYeMTh~. 7 ~ , . he disappeared frot there - kind. sonal relations." apparently, as he pieced it. to- His newspaper had printed I thought about Ambassador stories gether later, because the United the military disliked, but I read Timer- it had Kirkpatrick when States Assistant Secretary of not carried on a sustained man's description of the Mi- State for Human Rights, Patri- challenge to the junta; and ralles family: father, two sons cia Derian, was coming to Ar- Timerman had maintained per. and a daughter-in-law. Timer. sonal gentina and would almost cer- relationships with some man heard them tortured, and tainly ask to see Timerman; military figures. When United they were not the only ones. some in the military thought States officials asked the Argen- "Of all the dramatic situa- others might release him as a tine Government why he was tions I witnessed in clandestine good-will gesture and wanted to being held, they got back only prisons," he writes, "nothing prevent that. vague innuendos-- about his can compare to those family In October 1977, he was taken financial dealings or his connec- groups who were tortured often before a military tribunal, tions with "Israeli terrorists. ": together, sometimes separately which said there was no basis The lack of a rational explana- but in view of one another. . . . for charges against him and he tion is in fact an important The entire affective world, con. should be released. He was not. aspect of what happened - to structed over the years with ut- In April 1978, he was taken Timerman and thousands of most difficulty, collapses with a home and held there under others. For Argentina has been kick in the father's genitals ... -house arrest: not allowed to in the grip of unreason. One,of or the sexual violation of a leave the apartment, with Timerman's purposes is to ex- daughter. Suddenly an entire armed guards present at all plore the origins of that phe- culture based on familial love, times. nomenon, and he does so con. devotion, the capacity for In June 1978, the Argentine vincingly in terms both of Ar- mutual sacrifice collapses.... Court ruled that, be- gentina's particular history and "From my cell, I'd hear the Supreme cause there were no charges of right-wing fanaticism gener- whispered voices of children against him, he must be ally. - trying to learn what was hap- released. He was not. In , the clandestine prisons pening to their parents, and I'd In September 1979, the Su- where he was held, the guards witness the efforts and of daughters preme Court for the second time torturers were required to to win over a guard, to arouse a ordered his release. The gener. attend what was called "The feeling of tenderness in him ... als in the Government were Academy" - a weekly lecture, divided on what to do. Under. usually by an Army intelligence in order to learn officer, what was hap- heavy pressure from the Carter on World War III. The pening to her mother, to have an Administration and members of war had already begun, they orange sent to her, to get per- the Congress, the generals heard: an onslaught by left- mission for her to go to the bath- reached a Solomonic decision. wing terrorism that could not be room." The Argentine Ambassador to Without any authority resisted by democratic govern. in law, ments or democratic Washington, Jorge A. Aja Espil; they annulled Timerman's citi- methods. writing to The New York Times zenship, confiscated his news- Timerman thought the listeners recently in defense of his Gov; paper and all other property, might not realize it, but the logic ernment, cited the case of and expelled him from the coun- was the same as that offered by Jacobo Timerman as an exam- the Nazi Party in Germany as it try, without a chance to appeal rose to power. ple of-its "independent judici- to the courts, by taking him ary." The Argentine courts, he under guard to a plane for Is- The Argentine armed forces, said, rael. Timerman comments: Timerman says, have long lived "are open to him as they in are to any person." . "Need one add that Argentine a hermetic world, the officers What happened to Timerman linked by family with each other newpapers.- jurists, political ald was this: friends of the government, Jew- with certain civilians who At 2 in the morning on April ish community leaders - all cdoperate in intermittent mill- 15, 1977, 20 armed men in civil- those who will one day claim tAry rule. They want life to be ian clothes clear-cut, orderly; they resent raided his apart- they knew nothing, like the Ger- to ment in mans who claimed the point of hatred, of obses- Bunos Aires. They total un- sive handcuffed him, covered his awareness of the existence of fantasy, the disorderly con- head with a blanket, threw him concentration camps - con- temporary developments in sd- on the floor of his own car and gratulated the government for ence, religion, literature. xThe fears and'hatreds drove off with him. They said. obeying a court ruling and faith- of the were acting on orders of military were intensified in the they fully respecting the majesty of 1970's the First Army Corps. When his Justice?" by a real threat: wide- wife telephoned that corps, she He is not a forgiving man. He spread urban terrorism in Ar- was told that no one there knew names names in this book: gentina. As the left-wing guer- tor- rillas anything about turers, generals, anti-Semitic conducted their killings It. He had disap- and extortions, peared. journalists, Jewish leaders who a right-wing se- The family next heard of him do not want to make a fuss. But cret organization matched those tactics, on May 25, six weeks later. then his role is not to forgive. It murdering not just al. Timerman telephoned and said is to be a witness - for the rest leged terrorists but lawyers who he was now in national police of us. defended them in court and headquarters and could be vis- Why was Timerman kid- journalists who argued that the correct response -ted for three minutes. In June napped, tortured, detained? to terror was There is no formal, legal answer not counter-terror but law. In 1976 the to that question, because no military took over the Government, and charges were ever made various mili- tary units began practicing ter- against him. And there is no rorism clear explanation of any other with impunity. The military Government in- .--FiYou admitted to being a Z6nist, and this point was dicated some of its fears of the re- vealed at a meeting of all the modern world by its decrees, Timerman -says. generals." It imposed "But being a Zionist strict moral as well as political is not for- censorship. bidden." It-banned sociology, A Final Solution:, and it de- philosophy and "No, it isn't forbidden, but on psychology as the pended on a silence that would university majors. other hand it isn't. a clear- It forbade cut issue. eventually legitimize the new the use of Freudian Besides, you admitted techniques to it. And the generals state. That in turn depended on in hospital psychiatric services. are aware the world's acquiescence. Psychiatrists. were a special ) of this." target. Fifteen armed men The very first questions put to Last month Argentinals For- came to. abduct the president of Timerman after his kidnapping eign Minister, Oscar Camili6n, the Argentine Federation of were: Are you Jewish? Are you dismissed the question of "so- Psychologists from her hospi.- a Zionist? Is La Opini6n Zion- called human rights" in diplo- tal,-dragging her down the hos- ist? Curiously, Timerman reck- macy. "We Argentines will pital corridors by her hair. ons that his answers - yes - reach our goal of national con- "Argentina has three main saved his life. The interrogators ciliation," he said. "We will enemies," one ideologue of the thought they had a key figure in create reasonable stability in military regime said. "Karl the world Jewish conspiracy our institutions, and the world Marx, because he tried to de- and wanted to save'him for a -will sooner or later accept, the stroy the Christian concept of show trial. way we Argentines find to live society; Sigmund with Freud, be- It is of course ourselves." cause he tried not only Jews to destroy the who have suffered in Argentina Christian concept But at the crucial time the of the family; - or the Soviet Union world and Albert Einstein because or the did not accept the Argen- he other tyrannies of the earth. tine military's tried to destroy the Christian In- way to reason- deed Timerman, able concept of time and space." The really speak- stability, which was the ing to himself, enemies were three warns against peace of death. The world, in the of the prin- feeling "sorry for ourselves cipal creators of the as form of Amnesty International: modern Jews." Most of those and world - and all were Jews. killed in the Organization of Ameri- Argentina, he can States . Timerman's picture of emphasizes, were and the Pope and the' anti- not.Jews. "But in the solitude Carter Semitism at work' in Argentina-' of Administration, pro- prison," he goes vided is especially significant. Anti- on, "it is so sad the essential.: informa- to be beaten for being Jewish. tion. Semitic literature is studied in There is such despair military academies and when they widely torture you for being Jewish. It "Only -public knowledge,"' sold on the streets. Zionism is seems so humiliating to have Timerman writes, "can alter, to described as a more dangerous. been born." some extent, the course of these enemy than Communism. While events, this downward slope in in prison. Timerman was asked The other factor that saved the march of history." We are him was international attention blessed as about a secret trip Menachem readers and as about in- Begin supposedly to his case. The point human beings that this witness. made to Ar- ternational concern survived. gentina, and about' 'Zionist is more im- 0, portant, much schemes to seize Patagonia and mdre, than a sin- turn it- Into gle life saved. In some ways the a second Zionist most state, "Andinia." terrible aspect of life in When -Timerman' was Argentina -after the military before took over the' military Ptribunal, in 1976 was the si- each lence. Some round of questioning was 15,000 people were begun kidnapped and in the same way by its presi- never seen dent, Colonel Clodoveo Battesti: again. Sometimes bodies would be found, or a released prisoner "Areyou a Jew?" would report seeing someone "Yes, Mr. President ... " tortured or killed in a secret "Are youaZionist?" prison. Mostly they just .van-. "Yes, Mr. President ..- ished. When mothers of the dis- "When did your Zionist activi- appeared tried to publicize the ties begin?". horror, they were ignored. With "At the age of 8, Mr. Presi- ..a very few dent. honorable excep- My mother enrolled me in tions, the newpapers printed a sports club called Macabi." J nothing. The Government re- Once Timermay was unex- sisted all attempts even to pub- pectedly taken from prison and lish the names of those who had brought before the Minister of disappeared. the Interior. (The reason, -it The silence may be the turned most out, was that Patricia'. chilling thing in Derian had this chilling forcefully raised the book. Before he became a vic- issue of his imprisonment that tim, Timerman spoke with a day with President Jorge Ra- naval officer who said that all fael Videla.) The Minister, who suspected terrorists must be ex- had known Timerman for years, terminated. Timerman wanted to see asked, his physical "What do you mean by all?" condition. Timerman asked why The officer answered: he was "All . . . in prison. . about 20,000 people. And their, relatives, too - they must be eradicated - and also those who remember their names. ... Not a trace or a witness will remain."