Memories that Lie a Little: Jewish Experiences during the Argentine Dictatorship by Emmanuel Kahan

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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.

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