The Diverse Uses of the Holocaust in Public Debates in Argentina

Abstract

This chapter will address various narratives and actors involved in the materialisation of these latest representations of the Holocaust from the restoration of democracy in Argentina (1983) up until the government of Mauricio Macri (2015–2019). Although this covers an extensive period, we propose to examine some of the moments that consecrated this memory in order to understand the ways in which the Holocaust has intervened in the public agenda. During this period in particular, Holocaust memory broadened the horizons of actors who invoked it—from Jewish institutions to human rights organisations and state agencies—and it connected, not always harmoniously, what happened to the Jews during the Nazi years with the human rights violations that took place in Argentina. In this sense, our approach is to trace the differentiated meanings through which references to the extermination of the Jews of Europe during the Nazi years entered into dialogue with, or strained the debates on, national political issues, with the understanding that this was one of its singular dimensions: the memory of the Holocaust operated as a narrative that enabled interpretations of what was happening in this South American country to be conveyed