Abstract

In Argentina the dirty war of 1974 lead to the death of thousands of people by torture or illegal abduction orchestrated by the State. However since 1983 when the dictatorial military regime came to its end, the Argentinean nation started a transitional stage of democratic exercise of memorialization aiming to set accounts with the past. Nevertheless, the multiplicity of societal actors involved in the reconstruction of the recent history are often in struggle when it comes to the agreement on how to give meaning to a past of violence and repression. Today, after years of political struggle and controversy, a coalition of humanitarian groups together with the government of the city of Buenos Aires have created the Museo de la Memoria, a museum that opened its doors this month to honor the memory and ideals of those who were killed and abducted during the dirty war, today internationally know as the “Dissapeared”. This Museum of Memory intends to incorporate to the public realm the private histories of the victims of state terror to rewrite a tragic chapter of the history of Argentina that was characterized by a culture of secrecy and terror. This paper will present how this museum of memory is now bringing the voices of the “Dissapeared” to the public sphere using the space of the museum as a forum.