The Archives About the System of Forced Disappearance of Persons in Argentina

Book Chapter

Summary *

The archives on the victims of enforced disappearance in Argentina, an historizationEmilio CrenzelCONCIET-University of Buenos Aires, ArgentinaThis article proposes a history of the archives on the disappeared in Argentina from the military dictatorship to the present day. First, I will present the constitution of archives on the disappeared during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983) by their denouncers. Secondly, I will examine the constitution of the archive of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP), created in 1983 after the return to democracy by President Raúl Alfonsín to investigate the fate of the disappeared. Thirdly, I will analyze how between 1985 and 2003 the archives on disappearances diversified as a result of the initiative of human rights organizations that created new collections, uncovered others produced by the repressive forces and managed to make public the archives of powerful actors on the international scene. Finally, the constitution of the National Archive of Memory in 2004 will be analyzed, which brings together, under the orbit of the State, the available archives on the disappeared. The article proposes a historicization of the archives on the disappeared in Argentina that shows that their collection and classification strategies have been shaped by the political struggles to give meaning to this criminal past. Information provided by the agent in SIGEVA