Memories That Lie a Little: Jewish Experiences During the Argentine Dictatorship

At first glance, this book might appear to be yet another study on anti-Semitism in Argentina, supplementing those portraying this Southern Cone country as a Nazi shelter and perpetrator of anti-Jewish acts. Accounts of the last military dictatorship (1976-1983), which was responsible for the disappearance of thousands of people of Jewish origin, have contributed to this image. Memories that Lie a Little, however, challenges this view, shedding new light on Jewish experiences during the military dictatorship. Based on extensive archival research, it maps the positions of a wide range of Jewish organizations toward the military regime, opening the way for a better understanding of this complex historical period.

If, then, the dictatorship was not actually anti-Semitic in the strictest sense of the term, why is it remembered as such? Historical research is complemented here by a reconstruction of the ways in which the notion of the regime’s anti-Semitism was crafted from early on, and an examination of its uses, as well as the changes that this narrative underwent in the following years.

Emmanuel Nicolás Kahan PhD. in History (2013), National University of La Plata, professor at this university, and a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (Argentina). He is the academic coordinator of the Jewish Studies Program at the Institute for Economic and Social Development. He has published several books. In 2013, he received the Latin American Jewish Studies Association’s Best Dissertation Award and in 2015, he was awarded the Academic Endeavor Award by the National University of La Plata.