The newly created Argentine government commission investigating the disappearance of individuals under previous administrations during the “dirty war” in the mid1970’s will also review the cases of an estimated 1,500 Argentinian Jews, according to a member of the commission.
Rabbi Marshall Meyer, one of two Jews appointed to the 16-member commission last month by President Raul Alfonsin, confirmed at a news conference today at the Argentine Consulate General here that the plight of missing Jews will be investigated along with the estimated 15-17,000 “disappeared ones.”
Meyer, who is director of the Latin American Rabbinical Assembly, and Dr. Gregorio Klimovsky, of the Latin American branch of the World Jewish Congress, were appointed to the commission whose taks will be to “receive charges and evidence on cases (of disappearances) and submit them to courts… investigate the whereabouts of missing persons… estab lish the whereabouts of missing children separated from their parents or guardians… with the alleged purpose of repressing terrorism.”
Meyer denounced the previous military government in Argentina, describing it as a”fascist” and “Nazi regime” and called the past nine years “a long cruel night.” He said the election last October of Alfonsin, a candidate representing the Rabical Civic Union, was “a heartening development. ” He suggested that the elections and change to a democratic pluralistic society in Argentina would mark a significant change in the history of Latin America.
NEW GOVERNMENT TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM
On the issue of anti-Semitism in Argentina, which the previous military junta did little to combat, Meyer stressed that the Alfonsin government will do its utmost to assure the Jewish community that anti-Semitism is not government policy. He noted the presence of Jews within the new government.
“That there is no anti-Semitism in Argentina I am not prepared to say,” Meyer declared. “Of course there is anti-Semitism in Argentina just as there is in the United States.”
But the major difference between the previous Argentine junta and the newly elected government, Meyer said, is that, for example, if vandals now commit an anti-Semitic attack against a synagogue, they will be tracked down and apprehended, and punished according to the laws of the state. “This was not true in the past, “he said.
Meyer is in the U.S. attempting to contact former Argentinions who fled the country during the reign of terror by rightwing groups to gather new information for usage by the commission in its investigations. He noted that there are an estimated 65,000 former Argentinians living in the New York area.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
