Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 ISSN 0259-2339 The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship and Post-Dictatorship: The Holocaust DVWKH+RUL]RQRI,GHQWLßFDWLRQ$OLHQDWLRQDQG Negotiation for the Jewish Community

Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan Researcher Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales Universidad Nacional de / CONICET Laura Schenquer Researcher Instituto de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales del Litoral / CONICET Argentina Received: 4/5/2016 - Accepted: 27/7/2016 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15359/tdn a.32-60.7

Abstract 1976, external voices that denounced the regime for perpetrating genocide were We live in an era in which the Ho- heard publically around the world. This locaust has become a universal trope of historic trauma. The Nazi genocide article analyzes some uses of the Holo- has come to be known as the greatest caust during the military dictatorship in disaster of civilization and, as such, Argentina, questioning the ways in which simply mentioning it or comparing the memory of the Holocaust stirred or it to other repressive events stirs blocked feelings and the collective imagi- or blocks meanings about specific nation on the repressive regime’s practices. events. In the case of Argentina, Keywords: Holocaust, Latin American dic- the resonance of the memory of tatorships, military regime in Argentina, the Holocaust penetrated the or- Jews, , memory and the igins of the most recent military past, historiography of Argentina dictatorship. As early as the year Resumen Vivimos en una era en la que el Holocausto se ha convertido en un tropo universal del trau- ma histórico. El genocidio nazi adquirió el

Vol. 32 N.º 60 Julio-diciembre 2016 131 Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 carácter del mayor quiebre civilizatorio, Southern Cone dictatorships, the por lo que su mera mención y compara- Rwanda and Bosnia genocides, ción con otros acontecimientos represi- etc.), stirs or blocks meanings about vos permite activar o bloquear sentidos those specific events. sobre acontecimientos específicos. En el caso argentino, las resonancias de la me- In the case of Argentina, the reso- moria del Holocausto penetraron en los nance of the memory of the Holo- orígenes mismos de la última dictadura caust penetrated the very origins of militar. Tan pronto como en 1976 fueron the most recent military dictators- visibles y públicas las voces que, desde el exterior del país, denunciaban al régimen hip. As early as 1976, external voices por perpetrar un genocidio. Este artículo could be heard around the world propone analizar algunos usos del Holo- denouncing the regime for perpetra- causto durante la dictadura militar en ting genocide. In fact, Kahan (2014) Argentina problematizando los modos points out that this accusation even en los que la memoria del Holocausto preceded the claims made by human activó o bloqueó sentidos e imaginarios rights organizations about people sobre las prácticas del régimen represivo. detained-disappeared. Palabras clave: Holocausto, dictaduras latinoamericanas, régimen militar en Ar- This paper analyzes three uses of the gentina, judíos, Jacobo Timerman, me- Holocaust during the military dictator- moria y pasado, historiografía argentina ship in Argentina. Based on Huyssen’s proposal, we will draw a roadmap hi- ghlighting concrete cases in which the Introduction memory of the Holocaust stirred or blocked meanings and imaginations on Columbia University professor the practices of the repressive regime. of German and Comparative We will begin with an analysis of a text Literature, Andreas Huyssen, written by journalist Jacobo Timerman (2007:17) believes we live in an era prior to his release, in which he calls in which the Holocaust has become himself a Jewish victim of the dictator- “the universal trope for historical ship and claims that a “new Holocaust” trauma.” The Nazi genocide has (Elie Wiesel. Direct translation of su- come to be known as the greatest ggestions made by Jacobo Timerman break with civilization in the on Friday, 20th of July 1979) was being world’s history and, as such, its produced in Argentina. We will analyze simple mention or comparison to how Timerman promoted his claim in other repressive events (such as the 1979 in the context of the arrival in the

132 The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer Atribución-No-Comercial SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Julio-diciembre / 2016 Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 ISSN 0259-2339 country of Holocaust writer and survi- the last dictatorship at the same vor Elie Wiesel; a claim that was shut time that Timerman was abducted. down, however, by the very leaders of His arrest on April 15, 1977 was the Argentine Jewish community. the result of a crisis that worsened over several months. The problem Our second example is of the T.V. mi- lay in the newspaper’s sources of niseries entitled “Holocaust.” The pro- financing: David Graiver, a principal gram was announced to air in 1978 shareholder, was believed by military but after two years of that date it had authorities to be the administrator still not been televised, leading the of the funds of the political-military media to speculate that the censorship organization .1 had blocked its broadcast. This case will demonstrate how the Holocaust The Argentine press announced opened the doors for the miniseries to Timerman’s arrest by publishing the be televised, thus making public and memorandum distributed by the visible the authoritarian, repressive Zone I Command. During the next mechanisms of the military regime. few weeks, La Nación and Clarín feed public opinion with articles on Lastly, we will analyze how the topic of “the Graiver Case” referring to the the Holocaust was again raised during connections between the financial the first years after the recovery of de- group “subversive” organizations, mocracy in Argentina as a horizon of and even former Minister of the comparison for the experience of those Economy Jose Ber Gelbard. The who had been labeled as detractors of media highlighted the connection the dictatorship during its final years: between the financial group and Marshall Meyer. and Perón’s Minister, who had pressured the Civita Group to sell From the “New Holocaust” to the “Mini-Holocaust” in Argentina 1 The Armed Forces expected Timerman to turn over the funds used to finance La Opinión provided by Graiver, the alleged Journalist Jacobo Timerman directed banker for the Montoneros. These were several successful journalistic funds received from the ransom paid for endeavors in Argentina. In 1971 he the release of the Born brothers, whom founded La Opinión, which quickly the Montoneros had kidnapped. For became one of the major media more on the case, see the works of Bor- relli, M. (2011) and Rein, R. (2011) and outlets in the country; that is, until it the research of Gasparini, J. (2007) and was impounded by authorities during Mochkofsky, G. (2003).

The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons 133 Atribución-No-Comercial Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 the shares of to David Nehemias Resnizky, emphasized in a Graiver (Saborido, 2004; Cecchini/ meeting with DAIA’s Board of Direc- Mancinelli, 2010: 45-48). tors that “subversion and corruption, insofar as they are enemies of the While nationalist magazines like Ca- country, are also enemies of the Jewi- bildo claimed the case was the greatest sh community” (Informativo DAIA, Jewish-Marxist conspiracy in the history No. 92, 05-06/77, pp. 16-17). Later, of Argentina (Saborido, 2004), Carta DAIA leaders Juan Gurevich, Marcos Política magazine, headed by Mariano Korenhendler, Ricardo Gordon, and Grondona, published an unsigned arti- Naum Barbaras requested a meeting cle that indicated that the Graiver Case with then-Minister of the Interior evinced that “the Jewish question had Albano Harguindeguy in which they not been resolved in Argentina” (Carta expressed with conviction that they Política, 06/77, p.12). For its part, the were awaiting the results of the gover- Jewish press reflected the misrepresen- nment’s investigation on the Graiver tation of the accusations, which were Case. “We would like as much as an- causes of deep concern for the leaders- yone else clarification of the facts and hip of the Jewish collective. punishment of those culpable whe- ther Jews or non-Jews” (Informativo The Graiver Case and Timerman’s DAIA, No. 92, 05-06/77, p. 6)2. arrest coincided with the rapproche- ment of the Delegation of Argentine It is likely that the country’s political Jewish Associations’s (Delegación de climate of accusations led the DAIA to Asociaciones Israelitas , or abandon its position of neutrality, whi- DAIA) discourse to the military regi- le its new stance helped keep an open me which included support to “fight dialogue between the DAIA and the against subversion”. In May of 1977, regime’s officers, who made all efforts one month after Timerman’s arrest, to accommodate the Jewish leaders’ re- the Jewish entity abandoned its tradi- quests3. However, this new alignment tional position of “non-participation” 2 For a detailed analysis of the different or political neutrality (non-aligned stages of the DAIA’s relationship with with any government) and began to military authorities, see Laura Schenquer’s support the military proclamations of doctoral dissertation (2012). taking action to reestablish order. In 3 For example, the government granted the the context of the accusations made DAIA’s request to shut down the Milicia and Odal newspapers for publishing anti- against the Jewish community after Semitic literature. The so-called BANADE the Graiver Case, DAIA President, Archive includes an intelligence report

134 The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer Atribución-No-Comercial SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Julio-diciembre / 2016 Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 ISSN 0259-2339 did not prevent Resnizky from questio- In August of 1979, one month be- ning the arbitrariness of Jacobo Timer- fore the arrival of the Inter-Ameri- man’s arrest. In 1977, for example, he can Commission on Human Rights declared in response to questions from (OEA) and Timerman’s release, members of the World Jewish Con- the presence in of gress in Washington, D.C. that “the Auschwitz survivor and writer Elie Judeo-Argentine community is deeply Wiesel was confirmed. At the time, concerned for the continued, unexp- Wiesel was in charge of the Holo- lained imprisonment of Jacobo Timer- caust Memorial Museum Project in man” (Nueva Presencia, 12/10/77, p. 1). Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Carter Administration. There are contradictory opinions about the role played by the DAIA Wiesel’s visit, organized by Ameri- during this period. Some say it acted can-born Rabbi Marshall Meyer, rec- as an intimidated entity –particularly tor of the Latin American Rabbinical after the abduction of the President’s Seminary, was authorized by the Mi- son –while others argue this claim ci- litary Junta which granted his visa to ting as evidence the series of speeches in which Resnizky denounced the in- carceration and requested the release of the director of La Opinión.4 researchers, this event marked the coopt- ing and intimidation of the Jewish entity. from the SIP (Secretariat of Public See: Ignacio Klich (1986), Margarite Feit- Information) which shows the course of lowitz (1998: 101-107), Gabriela Lotersz- the DAIA’s requests to the government. tain (2008: 30) and Paul Katz (2011). For SIP analyzed the 3rd installment of the their part, among those who defended the collection “Imperialism, Communism, DAIA’s position during those years and and Judaism” entitled “What is Judaism?” who especially highlighted that the enti- and concluded that “it constitutes an ty petitioned incessantly for Timerman’s attack against the Jewish collective that release are Director of Nueva Presencia could lead to violent reactions exploitable Herman Schiller, Rabbi Roberto Graetz, by the subversion.” Memorandum a member of the APDH, and journalist No. 51 produced by the Directorate of Moshe Wainstein. For more information, Intelligence on August 9, 1976. Folder see Nueva Presencia, 11/27/81, pp. 10-11 4. Pages 446-453. BANADE Archive, and 18; Testimony of R. Graetz in “Informe CONADEP. Especial sobre detenidos y desaparecidos 4 According to Plaza de Mayo Mothers Re- judíos.” 1976-1983. DAIA, January, 1984 nee Epelbaum and Frida Rosenthal, the (CES-DAIA Archive); and the letter by kidnapping of the DAIA President’s son M. Wainstein to the director of La Razón, coincided with the moment in which the Patricio Peralta Ramos on 11/9/1984. N. DAIA stopped receiving them. For several Resnizky’s personal archive.

The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons 135 Atribución-No-Comercial Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 visit the country5. The Rabbi’s wife, 1979”. SRL Archive, Marshall Naomi Meyer, remembers that the in- Meyer Collection. Box 2). vitation was charged with a clear po- This document foreshadowed what litical intention: “Marshall brought would later be the principal argument Elie Wiesel to Argentina to pressure of his book Prisoner Without a Name, the government to release Jacobo. The Cell Without a Number6, in which he idea was to try to mobilize the world used the testimony of his captivity to by disseminating the case in the inter- emphasize the anti-Semitic nature of national press” (Gabriela Lotersztain the mechanism of repression impo- interview with Naomi Meyer, DVD 1, sed by the Argentine military regime. No. 1, undated, [1996-2006], IDES). This, however, hid the fact that the Jacobo Timerman also believed that military regime acted according to Wiesel’s visit would bring awareness the national security doctrine and to his imprisonment in the context of that the persecution was of the inter- the harassment of Jews in Argentina: nal enemy, who they considered to First of all, we must have a clear be “subversive.” Timerman, in turn, idea of who is ELIE WIESEL and insisted that the repression harassed what he signifies for the Jewish and victimized the Jewish communi- people which he symbolizes. ty, giving rise to interpretations that If in such crucial moments in the compared the Argentine experience history of the Jewish community to the Holocaust: in Argentina this symbol arrives Nobody is taking us to the gas in the country, he should only chambers. But can Elie Wiesel come in function of what he sym- try to explain that anti-Semitism bolizes: Discover what are the begins only with the roots and evils that beset the community, that its effects can be felt after why is the community without many years and that Argentine defenses against the aggressions Jewry is aiding and abetting the of which it is a victim (…) We can- fortification of these roots? Can not destroy anti-Semitism, but we he explain that there is anti-Se- must try to avoid its destroying mitism without soap? (Direct us. (“Elie Wiesel. Direct transla- translation of suggestions made tion of suggestions made by Jaco- by Jacobo Timerman. Friday, bo Timerman. Friday, 20th of July 20th of July 1979).

5 Telegram by Adolfo Smolarz to Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (SRL Archive, Telegram 6 Published in English in 1981 and translated 8/1/79). into Spanish in 1982 (Rein, 2011: 218).

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Anti-Semitism “without gas chambers When journalists asked Wiesel about or soap” characterized the local repres- the country’s image abroad, he replied sion and its methods as unfaithful that the United States was concerned copies of those used by the Nazis in about the human rights situation and Europe. By drawing a parallel with the that “the entire world, all over, knows “trope” for Nazi brutality, Timerman about Jacobo Timerman. I hope to be attempted to raise the awareness of the able to see him. I am a man of moral international public so that it, in turn, questions, not political. But in this would pressure the military regime, sa- case I feel we must touch on the poli- botaging its jealously guarded image at tical” (Buenos Aires Herald, 9/1/79, p. the official level. The report of the geno- 9). Despite the fact that Wiesel was cide and anti-Semitic nature of the Ar- unable see Timerman in home deten- gentine dictatorship had no recepients, tion, he did announce his intention at least not at the local or political level. of doing so and the importance the The case was quite different abroad, journalist’s imprisonment had acqui- however, where Rabbi Morton Rosen- red on an international scale.9 thal and Burton S. Levinson of B’nai B’rith’s Anti-Defamation League, loca- Elie Wiesel’s visit and the failed at- ted in the United States, denounced tempt to compare the local situation the Argentine dictatorship using the to the Holocaust, benefited the local same terms expressed by Timerman.7 Jewish leadership, that, on more than one occasion, had denied allegations Wiesel’s visit in 1979 was announced that the military dictatorship was by all major media outlets. Wiesel, promoting official anti-Semitism and however, was not willing to compare also denied the rumors of possible the Argentinean situation to the Ho- massive evacuations by the State of Is- locaust, being of the opinion that the rael to save the Jewish population in Nazi Holocaust could not be compa- Argentina.10 The Jewish entity claimed red to other processes of segregation, persecution, or even extermination 9 At Ezeiza International Airport at the end of a population by the State.8 of his visit, Wiesel stated that despite inter- vention by US Ambassador Castro, Argen- tine military authorities would not allow 7 For information on the Rosenthal-Levin- him to see Timerman (Buenos Aires Her- son report presented on September 28, ald, 9/5/79, p. 1). 1976 to the United States Congress, see 10 On at least two occasions, the media Schenquer (2012). published the DAIA’s denial of an alleged 8 According to Agamben, it was for this massive evacuation plan of Jews to Brazil very reason that Elie Wiesel coined the (Mundo Israelita, 7/1/78, p.15; DAIA term “Holocaust” (2002: 28).

The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons 137 Atribución-No-Comercial Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 that “Jews were being terrified” from say that anti-Semitism is not a real abroad with unfounded reports of offi- problem in this country” (The Miami cial anti-Semitism in Argentina. Herald, 7/3/81, pp. 1 and 14). However, the DAIA was not the He later added that, “People don’t go only entity to oppose these types of around shooting Jews in the streets. comparisons that drew parallels or For the press, the assimilation of the connections between the Holocaust Jews is less dramatic, but it is by far and the Argentine dictatorship. The the biggest battle they face in the liberal rabbis at the Latin American country” (Hadassah, 02/83, p. 7). The Rabbinical Seminary held a similar liberal leader seemed to understand opinion insofar as they felt it was an that anti-Semitism in Argentina had exaggeration to present local events not escalated to such critical levels as as the “new Holocaust.” to declare it a threat to the continuity of Jewish life in the country. For his Rabbis Roberto Graetz at Emanu-El part, Rabbi Graetz made similar state- and Marshall Meyer at Bet-El (both ments during one of his usual Friday congregations in Buenos Aires) de- services at the congregation, fighting nounced Jacobo Timerman’s situa- to involve community members in tion and accompanied each request the complaint of disappeared people, for his release. They would also con- although without referring to it as a firm one-time acts of anti-Semitism. vehement problem against the Jews: However, when consulted about La- tin American dictatorships and their In a totalitarian society, what anti-Semitic nature, they recommen- should the Jew’s position be regar- ded avoiding false assessments which ding a regime that is generically be- the international press overplayed, gi- nevolent toward him, [emphasis ad- ded] but that steps over thousands ving them a morbid, yellow tone. of citizens? The defense of life and In an interview about the Argenti- the search for justice are intimate- nean situation, Rabbi Meyer said ly related (…) Given the reality of a dissapered person, when a Jew that, “What some people in the timidly drops his shoulders and United States think is simply not timidly exclaims “he must have true, that here they shoot Jews in the done something!”, he is depriving streets. It also doesn’t make sense to his Judaism of all ethical content that justifies the fight for our con- Information Bulletin, No. 104, undated tinued survival (Emanu El, Year 1, [08-09/81], p. 2). No. 1, 1979, pp. 10-12).

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The reference to Jews as witnesses The television miniseries Holocaust and not as the reason for the disa- (NBC, Marvin J. Chomsky, Dir.) ppearances opened the way for reflec- was broadcast in the United States tion on who were victims referred. in April of 1978 and constituted the Graetz departed from Timerman’s first massive dissemination of infor- interpretation of an anti-Semitism wi- mation on the Holocaust to American thout soap, which Timmerman used citizens. Reproduced later in several to describe the repressive practices of countries, it was seen by millions of the Argentine dictatorship. people around the world and held the absolute record of viewership. Howe- Without denying the fact that ver, despite the flow of information the regime’s control could have been the cause for not accompany that highlighted the miniseries’ suc- the Timerman’s accusations, it is cess, Argentina would not join the list important to consider other reasons of countries to broadcast the show. that discouraged presenting the Shorlty after the announced arrival to military regime in terms of an anti- the Argentinian TV, Carlos Polak, a Jewish genocide. We propose that the prominent member of the Fraie Sch- universe of meaning that awakened time Group, Secretary of Culture of the anti-Semitic practices in those the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid So- times were not those that Timerman ciety (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argen- denounced, but rather “common” tina or AMIA) and judge appointed practices, such as attacks, graffiti, by the Alfonsin Administration in bomb threats, etc., acts that took 1984, questioned from the pages of place over a much longer period Nueva Presencia, “Who in our country than the dictatorship.11 These anti- fears the [series] ‘Holocaust’?” Jewish practices, denounced by the leaders of the Jewish community, The article stand that the series had were unassociated with the repressive been broadcast in several different violence spread by the State. countries, but was still prohibited in Argentina, and while it had been an- Holocaust Miniseries: Tensions, de- nounced to air in 1978, “hidden for- bates and considerations on a parti- ces” had pressured to block it. Polak cularly Jewish experience suggested that its absence on Argenti- ne television was “directly related to 11 Kahan (2015) distinguishes between “everyday or public” anti-Semitism and growing anti-Semitism in our coun- “clandestine” anti-Semitism. try” (Nueva Presencia, 8/24/79, p. 5).

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Beyond this perception, the reasons however, and again brought up the de- for airing the program where related to bate on the miniseries, which would the images and stories the series told12: eventually lead to its being broadcast. however, would the dictatorship really On October 28, 1980, engineer Jai- have been willing, in 1978, to show me Rozenblum was interviewed on images of death camps and the subjec- the Channel 9 program “Videoshow” tion to horrible conditions of deten- hosted by Enrique Llamas de Mada- tion similar to those described by exi- riaga about the characteristics and led Argentinians who denounced the condition of Jews in Argentina. The regime that same year for systematically interview focused on an alleged ambi- violating human rights? Or should we guous conduct by Jews regarding their believe that given the inability to draw “loyalty” to , their reluctance to a parallel between the Holocaust and assimilate to “national society,” and the Argentine dictatorship, the coun- their mistrust of “Argentineness” (Nue- try’s failure to televise the series was va Presencia, 10/31/80).13 due to more trivial and local reasons? Despite the fact that most of the year The country’s failure to broadcast the had been plagued by attacks and the show generated a series of questions desecration of Jewish cemeteries, the re- about the regime’s cultural policies. action to the dissemination in television Nueva Presencia, for example, publi- of anti-Semitic statements had a strong shed an opinion column by Luis Gre- effect on the mobilization and stance gorich in which he questioned the taken by the Jewish community. The censorship and strongly criticized the DAIA, for example, issued a statement culture industry promoted by the dic- condemning “anti-Semitic stories” du- tatorship. The object of Gregorich’s ring times “in which the Republic is criticism were the films featuring the making the bravest efforts to overcome duo Alberto Olmedo and Jorge Por- cel, which objectified women. 13 This was not the only occasion on which statements by Enrique Llamas de A later episode centered the discus- Madariaga regarding the lack of loyalty sion on anti-Semitism in Argentina, of Jews in Argentina would stir up problems. During the Falklands Conflict, 12 Something similar took place in Chile the journalist asked in a radio broadcast where Chilean television bought the “why did all the groups mobilize, except rights of transmission in 1980, but did the Jews?” This statement, which was not not televise the miniseries until as recently actually true, once again brought up a series as 1990, after the country’s transition to of debates on the integration of Jewish life democracy. in Argentina (Kahan, 2014).

140 The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer Atribución-No-Comercial SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Julio-diciembre / 2016 Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 ISSN 0259-2339 the bloody effects of the injuries left by to suggest those measures it may deem the violence in recent years” (Informati- necessary in order to rectify the situa- vo DAIA, No. 98, 11/80, p. 5). tion. After this exchange, rabbis were included at the end of transmissions Part of the DAIA’s intervention stra- on state channels --as it was done to tegy was to seek official statements with Catholic priests-- and the process condemning the attitude of journalist to air “Holocaust” in the country, Llamas de Madariaga. According to which was still prohibited, began. For Mario Gorenstein, the newly appoin- the entity’s leaders, the show’s broad- ted chairman of DAIA, the choice cast would revert the agitation that to seek official condemnation lay in attempted to dilute the magnitude of the fact that the Jewish community the extermination of six million Jews believed the television was controlled (Informativo DAIA, No. 104). by the State and, therefore, the pro- gram would not have been televised The negotiations to broadcast the without the “prior approval of com- miniseries, however, would not see petent official agencies” (Informativo immediate results; the country would DAIA, Nº 98, 11/80, p.3). have to wait until December of 1981 The first condemnation would come to watch “Holocaust” on Argentine after a meeting between the DAIA, national television. The transmission headed by chairman Mario Gorens- of the miniseries on Channel 9 was tein, and the Minister of the Inte- celebrated in Mundo Israelita magazi- rior Albano Harguindeguy. After the ne’s column “De semana en semana;” meeting, during which complaints but it also speculated whether, in the were also made regarding the desecra- context of the dictatorship, the series tion of graves at the Jewish cemetery which contained images of torture in Liniers, Harguindeguy issued a sta- and execution would be televised “un- tement condemning the anti-Semitic cut” --an allusion to the censorship. expressions for “going against the While the leaders of the Jewish com- purest traditions of our Nation” (In- munity would welcome the possibi- formativo DAIA, No. 98, 11/80, p.7). lity of the series being broadcast on Moreover, the Jewish entity sought an local television, its presentation by interview with General Llamas, State journalist Horacio Carballal, former Secretary of Public Information --and Sub-Secretary of Culture in Gene- brother of journalist Enrique Llamas ral Lanusse de facto government, de Madariaga--. He required the DAIA was widely criticized by the Jewish

The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons 141 Atribución-No-Comercial Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 community, claiming that “during dictatorship. This perspective can the hurried description before” and also be found in Leonardo Senkman’s after transmission, nothing was said writings who questioned how the of who the victims of the Holocaust series was sold via advertising: “In play --the Jews-- were, thereby “repressing are the hermeneutic connotations of the memory of the victims”: what some want to be interpreted as the Jewish Holocaust.” (Nueva After pointing out various as- Presencia, 18 de diciembre de 1981: pects concerning what we might 10). Senkman’s analysis, as well call the “technical form” of the as Meyer’s regarding Timerman’s miniseries, the person chosen use of the Holocaust to refer to the by Channel 9 to make the intro- Argentinean situation, brought- ductory remarks made a series of “explanatory” assessments of the up the limitations of equating the “production and its interpreters” different experiences: and said the events to follow fo- The humanist temptation to cused on the “pain of the Weiss interpret the Jewish Holocaust family.” With an extreme dose dissolves all historical, concrete of descriptive “asepsis,” the com- specificity of the tragedy of the mentator carefully avoided highli- Holocaust, vaporizing any in- ghting the profound nature of comparable peculiarities; because the Jewish martyrology in the te- wanting to equate it with the te- lefilm. For him, the whole drama rrible genocide of other peoples is seems to have been reduced to the to bastardize it. And not because “unfortunate events of the Weiss the corpses of the Jews who were family.” Does he not know that gassed at Auschwitz are more hu- the “Weiss family” in the film is man than the millions of Arme- simply a symbol of the misfortu- nians, Gypsies, Poles, Ibo, black ne suffered by all Jewish people? or Japanese killed in genocides. (Mundo Israelita, 12/19/81, p.8). The peculiarity of the Holocaust consisted of the unequivocal in- Neither Carballal nor the members tent by the Nazis to systematically of the Jewish community proposed exterminate every last Jew that to think the fiction’s lager14 as lived on the face of the earth. Ge- representative of the concentrationist nocide is not enough to account experience imposed by the Argentine for the tragedy of the Holocaust. A dictatorship, concentration 14 E.N.: lager, in German, in general to camps, the violation of human describe concentration camp such as in rights and the brutal Reich that Vernichtungslager and Arbeitslager

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shot millions of men is not enou- lieve we can compare the Holocaust gh. Because the Holocaust, mo- of 6,000,000 to what is happening reover, can only be understood here. The Holocaust was a frighte- in its Jewish specificity if it is un- ningly unique act in which Jews were derstood that the “final solution killed for professing their faith” (Paz to the Jewish problem” was the total extermination of only that y Justicia, 10/5/83, p.21). people. (...) Deep down, the hu- manist temptation also plays into For these types of statements is that the hands of the guilty conscien- is not striking the debate between ce of those who deny the Holo- Meyer and the journalist and director caust or those who do not blame of Nueva Presencia, Herman Schiller, passivity or lack of responsibility when they shared the leadership of for the fate of the Jews (Nueva Pre- the Jewish Movement for Human Ri- sencia, 12/18/81, p. 10). ghts (Movimiento Judío por los De- rechos Humanos, MJDH) created in October of 1983 to march against the Holocaust and Dictatorship Du- Military Self-Amnesty Law. ring the First Years After the Reco- very of Democracy In 1984, in the context of the or- ganization of the 41st anniversary In 1983 and 1984, in a climate very ceremony of the Warsaw Ghet- unlike to the censorship of the pre- to Uprising, Moshe Wainstein, a vious years, Rabbi Meyer justified member of the MJDH, remembers his rejection of the illustrative use the controversy when Schiller and of the Holocaust and, in turn, exp- other members of the movement lained the reasons that led him to wanted to give the ceremony in demand its literal use:15 “I do not be- commemoration of the Holocaust a look that would serve as a reflec- 15 According to Todorov (2012), the tion on the repressive situation re- Holocaust can be remembered “literally” cently experienced in Argentina. which would imply its “intransitive” They wanted the movement to ca- recovery in which the “preservation of its rry the message of the comparison truth” depends on not going beyond the 16 act itself; or as an “example” which would of “both genocides.” allow it to be used, without denying its singularity, as a demonstration or model 16 For more on this debate, see the articles to help understand other historical published by Moshe Wainstein and situations, such as the Argentine military Fernando Sokolowicz: Nueva Presencia, dictatorship. 05/11/84, p. 6 and Nueva Presencia,

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Despite the tension within the We are gathered here tonight be- MJDH, the commemoration of the cause we remember. Memory is a Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was held on vital bridge where past, present April 25, 1984, at the foot of the obe- and future merge. (...) In Argen- lisk. Not only did the movement’s slo- tina, we lived our own long night of horror and crime in which our gan –“Never forget or forgive. Never compatriots stood aside, silent ... again a Holocaust” –show acceptance in a silence dictated by fear, or of the comparison or illustrative use of comfort, or unbelief, or lack of the trope, but Marshall Meyer him- human solidarity, or lack of com- self, during his speech at the event passion and sensitivity. agreed to establish links between the Nazi and Argentine dictatorships, re- When the European communi- ty refused to take Hitler or the gardless of his previous opposition. persecution of the Jews seriously, His speech highlighted the duty to it wrote its own death sentence. remember, which characterized the All of Europe must pay the price period of transition and recovery of for their lack of an appropriate democracy (Goldstein 2006). The response. Argentines have lived a Holocaust began to spread beyond mini-holocaust [emphasis added] the Jewish experience as a symbol of during the years of military dicta- the fight against forgetting, tied to it torship. Our land is still drenched never being repeated and by virtue of in innocent blood. The Argentine the demand for justice: people demand justice. (Nueva Pre- sencia, 6/1/84, pp. 2 and 6). While it is true that parallels were 12/16/83, p. 31, respectively. It is also drawn between one event and the important to mention that the meaning behind the 1984 commemoration was other, the term mini-holocaust is still not the only difference between Meyer interesting as it refers to the “trope” and Schiller. Meyer, who was close to but not in its entirety, rather as a par- President Alfonsin and a member of tial, weakened repetition, perhaps ba- CONADEP (the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons in sed on a comparison of the number Argentina), chose not to criticize the of victims, which, in turn, is an argu- government for making the decision to ment for the particularity of the Holo- let the military judge itself or, in other caust, of its inability to be transferred words, “self-purge.” In this context, and its uniqueness. What is indeed Schiller rebuked the rabbi, saying, “What would you have said if Nazi war criminals clear, as a connection between one were judged by the Germans themselves?” event and the other, is the role not (Nueva Presencia, 2/17/84, pp.1 and 3).

144 The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer Atribución-No-Comercial SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Julio-diciembre / 2016 Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 ISSN 0259-2339 of the victims but of the voluntary/ horizon of identification of the trau- involuntary witnesses, the general po- ma Argentinean citizens were facing. pulation, whose diverse yet seemingly always negative attitudes varied from But these narratives that were willing fear to a total lack of awareness. This to compare the local experience with is the point that resounds in Meyer’s the Holocaust were not the most ac- speech and that is proof that in both cepted or widespread and were even events there were Argentinians and a topic of controversy among the Germans who did nothing about the members of the Jewish community horror. The rabbi addressed them de- themselves. It was not until almost manding they to claim for justice and a decade later that the Holocaust be- to make the consequences of Nazi ho- came socially accepted as a symbol of 17 rrors become a lesson. the tragedies in different areas. The narratives that allowed an illustrative use of the Holocaust ran the risk of si- Conclusion lencing the particularities of the diffe- rent events with which it is compared. This paper has shown us how early in the Argentinean experience the After Timerman’s release, he fought Holocaust emerged as a universe of to multiply the voices that recogni- meaning used to question the coun- zed the Argentine Jewish experience try’s own experience with dictators- during the dictatorship. Despite the hip. From Timerman’s testimony to anxiety that the low impact of Elie the debates during the first years after Wiesel’s visit must have caused him the recovery of democracy, for many (Wiesel made no reference to the in the local Jewish community the Argentine holocaust in 1979), Ti- Nazi genocide was reason enough to merman once again contacted him denounce the way in which the mi- to co-author a book of their testimo- litary dictatorship operated. On the nies as survivors of totalitarian regi- one hand, this allows us to disprove mes. The project would fail, however, the claim that only recently did we and Timerman wasted no time in enter an “era in which the Holocaust 17 has become a universal trope for In the Southern Cone countries, the discussion of the Holocaust less as an historical trauma” (Huyssen, 2007: actual event and more as a “metaphor” for 17) given that we have shown that as what was happening in those countries was early as the 1970s there were voices adopted in the context of the transition to willing to propose the Holocaust as a democracy. For more on the globalization of the Holocaust, see E. Jelin (2002).

The Use of the Past During the Last Military Dictatorship ... Licencia Creative Commons 145 Atribución-No-Comercial Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan and Laura Schenquer SinDerivadas 3.0 Costa Rica. Temas de nuestra américa Vol. 32 N.° 60 Julio-diciembre / 2016 ISSN 0259-2339 accusing the renowned Holocaust denunciation of the country’s own ex- survivor, in a missive sent to Rabbi perience. Despite this setback, howe- Marshall Meyer, of his refusal to con- ver, Timerman’s testimony would be- nect one experience with the other: come the canon of interpretation of the military dictatorship and of the I have often wondered about the particular treatment of Jews during book we did with Elie. We were in East Hampton, at one of the mi- those years. The problems that arose llionaires’ homes that Elie liked to during the first years after the reco- flatter. We worked very hard for very of democracy are simply illus- ten days and left East Hampton by trative: there the trope of the victim car. Elie took my part of the book became validation of the practices of but did not give me a copy of his. memory and recognition of the dicta- He only read it to me out loud and torship’s persecutory politics. said he wanted to make some co- rrections. (...) Bob Bernstein [the Since then we could hypothesize that editor] called our representative the trope of the Holocaust has served several times saying he wanted to to validate different narratives: that of edit the book and would raise any those who sought to liken the tragic offer Simon & Schuster, or whoe- dimension of their experience and ver, had made. When I got out of engrave their names along the path the car, with my suitcase and my typewriter, I told Elie: “See you of historical trauma and that of those tomorrow.” And I never saw him who engraved their condition as sin- again. (...) He never even left me his gular victims of the historical process. copy of the book. The whole mat- ter disgusts me. When the disgust Bibliographic References passes, I will review what I wrote and I will send you a copy. Oh, my 1. Newspapers, Bulletins and dear rabbi! So many things, and so Archives much money, in the name of the Holocaust (SRL Archive, Letter by Acerca de un polémico afiche. (11 de mayo, J.T. to M.M., 6/29/80). 1984). Nueva Presencia, p.6. Anti-Semitism called price of Jewish life in Ar- The possibility that a recognized sur- gentina (3 de julio, 1981). The Miami vivor of the Nazi genocide would legi- Herald, pp.1 y 14. timize Jacobo Timerman’s testimony Argentina’s Fighting Rabbi (febrero, 1983). and stance caused tension in one Hadassah, pp. 7-9. Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argen- of the first cases in which the Ho- tinas (5 de junio, 1977). El titular de la locaust emerged as an example and DAIA denunció a los antisemitas que

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intentan enturbiar el actual proceso. Nobel prize-winner claims disappearance. Informativo DAIA, N. º 92, pp.16-17. (5 de septiembre, 1979), Buenos Aires Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argenti- Herald 5. p.1. nas (5 de junio 1977). El ministro del Otra vez el olvido (19 de diciembre, 1981). Interior recibió a una delegación de la Mundo Israelita, p.8. DAIA Informativo DAIA, Nº 92, p.6 Polak, C. (24 de agosto, 1979). ¿Quién le teme Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas a «Holocausto» en nuestro país? Nueva (noviembre, 1980). Solicitada de la DAIA Presencia, p. 5 contra provocación antisemita en Videos- ¿Por qué la TV argentina no emite Holo- how. Informativo DAIA, N. ° 98. p. 8. causto? (13 de febrero, 1981). Nueva Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argen- Presencia, p.2. tinas (noviembre, 1980). La respues- Texto completo del diálogo entre Llamas de ta judía a la provocación. Informativo Madariaga y J. Rozenblum (31 de oc- DAIA, N. ° 98: 3-4. tubre, 1980). Nueva Presencia, pp. 8-12. Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas Timerman, J. (29 de junio, 1980). Carta de J.T. (noviembre, 1980). Los hechos antisemi- a M.M. Archivo del SRL. tas están reñidos con el sentir argentino. Voces de aliento, críticas y sugerencias: Dere- Informativo DAIA, N° 98, pp 5-7. Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas chos Humanos y Racismo. (16 de di- (s/f.e. [08-09/81]). Campaña Distorsio- ciembre, 1983). Nueva Presencia, p.31 nante. Informativo DAIA, N. º 104, p. 2. Wainstein, M. (27 de noviembre, 1981). Dete- Dirigentes comunitarios mantuvieron un nidos- Desaparecidos: un nuevo hito diálogo cordial con Kissinger. (1 de en la ardorosa polémica interna des- junio, 1979). Mundo Israelita. p.15. atada en la comunidad judía. Nueva El fantasma de Dreyfus (10 de diciembre, Presencia, pp. 10-11 y 18. 1977). Nueva Presencia, p. 1. Wiesel, E. (20 de julio, 1979). Direct translation Elie Wiesel on what makes a Jewish writer of suggestions made by Jacobo Timerman on tick (1 de septiembre, 1979). Buenos Friday, 20th of July 1979. Archivo SRL, Aires Herald, p. 9. Colección Marshall Meyer. Caja 2. Genocidio humano u Holocausto judío (18 de diciembre, 1981). Nueva Presencia, p. 10. Graetz, H. (1979). Dilemas del ser judío. Ema- 2. Books and Journals nu El, año 1, N. º 1, 10-12. Gregorich, L. (30 de noviembre, 1979). Una Goldstein, Y. (2006). El judaísmo argentino censura que fomenta la obscenidad. de fin de siglo XX: del olvido a la re- Nueva Presencia, p. 10. cuperación de la memoria colectiva. Los judíos (junio, 1977). Carta Política, pp 10-14 En A. Huberman y A. Meter (eds.), Los judíos argentinos y los derechos huma- Memoria y representación. Configuracio- nos (5 de octubre, 1983). Paz y Justi- nes culturales y literarias en el imaginario cia, pp. 20-25. judío latinoamericano (pp. 41-63). Rosa- Marshall Meyer escogió luchar por la vida (1 de rio: Beatriz Viterbo Editora. junio, 1984). Nueva Presencia, pp. 2 y 6. Huyssen, A. (2007). En busca del futuro per- Meyer, N. (s/fe.). Entrevista realizada por dido. Cultura y memoria en tiempos de Gabriela Lotersztain. [DVD 1], nº 1, globalización. Buenos Aires: Fondo de s/f.e. [1996-2006], IDES. Cultura Económica.

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Kahan, E.(2011). Discursos y representacio- Lotersztain, Gabriela. (2008). Los judíos bajo nes en conflicto sobre la actuación el terror. Argentina 1976-1983, Buenos de la comunidad judía durante la úl- Aires: Editorial Ejercitar la Memoria. tima dictadura militar: análisis de los Mochkofsky, Graciela. (2003). Timerman. Informes sobre ‘los detenidos-despa- El periodista que quiso ser parte del po- recidos de origen judío’ 1984-2007. der (1923-1999), Buenos Aires: Edit. En Kahan, E., Schenquer, L., Setton, Sudamericana. D. y Dujovne, A. (comps.). Margina- Rein, Raanan. (2011). ¿Judíos-argentinos o argen- dos y consagrados. Nuevos estudios sobre tinos-judíos? Identidad, Etnicidad y diás- la vida judía en Argentina. Buenos Ai- pora. Buenos Aires: Editorial Lumiere. res: Edit. Lumiere. Saborido, J. (2004). El antisemitismo en la . E. (2014). Recuerdos que mien- Historia argentina reciente: la revista ten un poco. Vida y memoria de la expe- Cabildo y la conspiración judía. Revis- riencia judía durante la última dictadura ta Complutense de Historia de América, militar. Buenos Aires: Prometeo. Klich, I. (1986). Política comunitaria duran- 30, pp. 209-223 te las juntas militares argentinas: la Timerman, J. (1982). El caso Camps, punto fi- DAIA durante el proceso de reorga- nal [Preso sin nombre, celda sin número]. nización nacional. En L. Senkman Buenos Aires: Editorial El Cid. (comp.), El antisemitismo en Argentina. Todorov, Tzvetan. (2002). Los abusos de la me- [pp. 274-309].. Buenos Aires: CEAL. moria. Buenos Aires: Paidós.

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