The struggle of Memoria Abierta to broaden awareness about State terror and its consequences in the Argentinean society here finds the opportunity to provide easier access to the sources that have been created and compiled along 34 years of striving after Memory, Truth and Justice.
This historical heritage of fundamental importance to study, interpret and gain insight into our recent past is now made available to the wider public in compliance with international standards and regulations.
This space –which comes to replace the previous online catalogue- represents a significant breakthrough that will spread the practice of consulting the documentary heritage of that period, making it possible to:
Gain access to the documentary databases held by the human rights organizations that form Memoria Abierta (Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Fundación Memoria Histórica y Social Argentina, Madres de Plaza de Mayo – Línea Fundadora, Servicio Paz y Justicia).
Browse through the Oral Archive catalogue that gathers over 650 testimonies in audiovisual format relating to the State terror period, the 60s-70s social and political life and the different steps taken by Human Rights organizations and civil society in their search for Truth and Justice.
Explore the Photographic Archive that in most cases offers digital versions of all images.
Search resources, both in hard and soft copy, of funds supported by Memoria Abierta, such as the “Luis Moreno Ocampo - Fiscalía (Cámara Federal)” fund, the María del Rosario Cerruti fund and the personal archive of Adelina de Alaye, among others.
Research digital collections like the Private Letters Collection, the Banners Collection or the Posters Collection.
Delve into Bibliography and Documentary Research Studies on fields such as the Condor Plan or the Clandestine Detention Centres in Argentina.
Memories in the city. Signs of State terrorism in Buenos Aires
The objective of this publication is to give the reader a series of ways in which to view the city of Buenos Aires in a reflective manner. It puts forward an alternative way of looking at the city by revealing the suppressed history of each area where the last military dictatorship focused its terror so that they become places of remembrance.
The topography of cities is made up by layer upon layer of memories of the past. Although not always apparent in the hustle and bustle of city life, buildings, street corners, sidewalk tiles, and the nameplates of city squares and streets carry out their normal function while also revealing absences and sending messages from the past.
The ways in which those who are missing are remembered have multiplied in recent years. Their names are inscribed on the posts and structures of varied street signs and on the nameplates of institutions, classrooms, auditoriums and sports stadiums. The missing are also remembered by commemorative plaques and popular initiatives that have changed the names of squares and streets and have also featured special sidewalk tiles.
This book is composed of 9 sections which cover 240 traces of State terrorism in the 48 neighborhoods of the city. It includes information about 202 places that pay homage to those who are missing as well as 38 illegal detention centers. The information is from 34 testimonies in the Oral Archive of Memoria Abierta and includes 327 photographs and 63 maps.
Memories in the city has been produced with the support of the Netherlands Embassy in Argentina.
Memoria Abierta was formed in 2000 with the objective of providing a social memory that influences Argentine political culture, contributes to the construction of a national identity and consolidates democratic coexistence.
Memoria Abierta gathers, preserves, organizes and disseminates the documental files of human rights organizations as well as the archives of individuals and institutions that are related to State terrorism. It produces testimonies on social and political life in the 60’s and 70’s and works on the spatial dimension of memory of the period of political violence in Argentina.
To fulfill its aims of transmission of memory and the provision of easy access to documents, Memoria Abierta develops educational tools, composes texts and audiovisual material and stages exhibitions which offer representations of the past establishing connections with contemporary events and situations.
Our work methods promote alliances with groups and organizations of civil society and the state to encourage the creation of spaces for debate. Memoria Abierta participates in the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience along with other regional and global institutions that work to prevent all forms of authoritarianism.
The organizations that make up Memoria Abierta are:
Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (Permanent Assembly for Human Rights - APDH)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (Center for Legal and Social Studies -CELS)
Comisión de Homenaje a las Víctimas de Vesubio y Protobanco (Commission of Homage to the victims of Vesubio and Protobanco - two of the dictatorship’s illegal detention centers)
Fundación Memoria Histórica y Social Argentina (Argentine Historic and Social Memory Foundation)
Madres de Plaza de Mayo - Línea fundadora (Mothers of Plaza de Mayo - founding line)
Servicio Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice Service – SERPAJ)
Audio-visual Legal Registries
Memoria Abierta collaborates with the process of justice participating in the examinations the court performs to the places that were used for illegal detention. By visiting the sites where clandestine detention centers (CDC) operated, we produce -with the images and information obtained during the inspections- interactive presentations that contribute to the reconstruction and understanding of what happened at these sites.
These presentations are later used by the courts involved in the judgment of the crimes of the past, particularly in those referred to the trial "Primer Cuerpo del Ejercito".
During these examinations the judge and witnesses go the site trying to find proof and evidence to support the testimony of those who were detained at CDC.
In this crucial step towards victims´ reparation, the judge develops a written record that is combined with photographs, audiovisual fragments and architectural drafts that conform the Audio-visual Legal Registries (ALR).
Memoria Abierta has collaborated since 2006 in developing different ALR, some of which we published in this website, while we emphasize the importance of these documents, and the judicial processes they belong to, for the search of Memory, Truth and Justice.
