An Annotated Bibliography
By Ivan Tomic

Traditional historical accounts have been constructed primarily by those in power, for it is always easiest for those in power to record and publicize their own perspectives. As a result, many so-called official histories neglect to retell the experiences of the oppressed and marginalized sectors of the population. Without written records, the stories of these groups are forgotten. In effect, silence erases their very existence.

Reconstructing an accurate history, one that includes the perspectives of all social groups during a specific period of time, is a difficult process, but it is not impossible. This list attempts to begin that process. Each book is a powerful testimony to the horrors individuals experienced during Argentina’s infamous “dirty war” in the 1970s. At times they are deeply disturbing, at others extremely controversial. But each one is a riveting story of survival and of hope.

***

Actis, Munú, Cristina Aldini, Liliana Gardella, Miriam Lewin, and Elisa Tokar. That Inferno: Conversations of Five Women Survivors of an Argentine Torture Camp. Trans. GrettaSiebentritt. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2006. Print.

In 1998, twenty years after Videla’s military coup, five women began meeting on Saturday afternoons to talk about the suffering and torture they endured while imprisoned in the concentration camp at The Mechanics School of the Argentine Navy (ESMA) during the 1970s. Although their conversations have been translated into English, they are completely unmonitored and unedited. Their conversations highlight the way in which being female affected their experiences in the concentration camp; one of the women was repeatedly molested by the guards, another raped, and another watched helplessly as a pregnant woman was shot to death. Littered throughout these women’s conversations is a long debate about the nature of human criminality. They continually grapple with explaining the incomprehensible—how it is that one human being can knowingly impose extreme amounts of physical and psychological pain on another. The women wonder at the casual cruelty of the people involved in torture. How can a torturer torture and then nonchalantly go out to enjoy a dinner of delicious food and animated camaraderie? They also discuss the similarities between Argentina’s military methods and Hitler’s Nazism, as well as the difficulty of leading a normal life after their release.

Cover, “Dirty Secret, Dirty War: The Exile of Robert J Cox”

Cox, David, and Robert John Cox. Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1976-   1983 : the Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox. Charleston, S.C.: Evening Post Pub. with Joggling Board, 2008. Print.

Robert Cox writes in the foreword that this is the book he could not write, for even after twenty-five years after Argentina’s dirty war, he still finds it too painful to relive the memories of that time. The book, written by his son David, tells of the price he and his family paid for Cox’s commitment to truthful reporting. As editor of the Buenos Aries Herald, he continued printing information regarding disappearances, even though doing so was strictly censored by the Argentine government. His actions eventually caused the forced exile of his family. The book also explores Cox’s role as a British citizen living in Argentina during the country’s most infamous period of history.

Graham-Yooll, Andrew. A State of Fear: Memories of Argentina’s Nightmare. London: Eland, 1986. Print.

Editor for the Buenos Aries Herald for 10 years, Graham-Yooll was forced into exile with his family during Argentina’s dirty war. His book records the terrifying experience of daily life in Argentina before he was forced to flee, as well as the difficulty of reporting in a country with repressive censorship. A witness to countless of the junta’s crimes, including murder, false arrest, and violence, Graham-Yooll expertly captures the constant terror he felt. The book also traces his return to Buenos Aires in 1980, and the difficulty of coming to terms with haunting memories.

Cover, “The Little School”

Partnoy, Alicia. The Little School: Tales of Disappearance & Survival. San Francisco, Calif.: Cleis, 1998. Print.

The Little School is a fictionalized account of Alicia Partnoy’s experience as a disappeared person during Argentina’s dirty war. The story is a glimpse into what she saw, felt, and heard during the more than three months she spent in a secret detention camp (euphemistically called “the Little School”) before she was moved to a state prison, where she remained for over two years. The book reveals the way in which Partnoy held on to humanity and created solidarity with the other captives. It also implicitly defines torture as acts committed by those who physically impose pain on others. The torturers were the guards and officers of the Little School, not the high-ranking military commanders of Videla’s army. Partnoy focuses on the small details of her experience that kept her from losing her sanity, such as repeating her name to herself each time she wakes up, being thankful that her large nose allows her to peek below the blindfold she is forced to wear at all times, and making twenty-five little bread balls so that she can play with them. In this way, Partnoy creates an extremely powerful narrative that exposes the atrocities of one of the most far reaching acts of genocide.

Marchak, M. Patricia., and William Marchak. God’s Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 1999. Print.

In this extremely powerful book, Marchak traces Argentina’s dirty war, including the history leading up to the coup in 1978. By recounting interviews with Argentine citizens, she explores the complex factors behind the success of the junta’s heinous crimes that were carried out in spite of long-standing international norms against genocide and other crimes against humanity. The interviews, though often graphic, upsetting, and depressing, are strong testaments to the terror, repression, and abuse Argentine citizens suffered during this period of history. It is a book about personal experience, coping, survival, and rebuilding a nation and its people.

Timerman, Jacobo. Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number. New York: Knopf, 1981. Print.

Jacobo Timerman, a Jewish Argentine journalist, chronicles his experience as a disappeared person during Argentina’s dirty war. As founder and editor of La Opinión, a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Buenos Aires, Timerman dared to print the truth, even though doing so meant subjecting himself to criticism from both the right and the left. His biography is remarkable in its ability to expose the universal human tendency to justify oppression and torture. In a book that is part narrative and part essay, Timerman uses his experience to stress the importance of political journalism during both times of peace as well as during periods of repression and violence. He compares the situation in Argentina during Videla’s dictatorship to that of Nazi Germany and points out the way in which he was targeted by the junta simply for being Jewish.

Winchester, Simon. Prison Diary, Argentina. London: Chatto & Windus, 1983. Print.   

A British reporter and writer for the Sunday Times, Winchester was on the Malvinas Islands when General Videla’s forces invaded. Accused of spying for the British army, he was captured by the junta and imprisoned in the town of Ushuaia of for 77 days. The book, a collection Winchester’s diary entries as well as letters he received while in prison, captures both mundane prison life – boredom, fatigue, hunger – and the omnipresent feeling of terror.