Jacobo Timerman (1923–1999)
Author of Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number
About the Author
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Works by Jacobo Timerman
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1923-01-6
- Date of death
- 1999-11-11
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- journalist
news commentator - Organizations
- La Opinión (Argentina)
- Short biography
- Jacobo Timerman was born in the Ukraine, moved with his family to Argentina in 1928, and was deported to Israel in 1980. He returned to Argentina in 1984. Founder of two Argentine weekly newsmagazines in the 1960s and a commentator on radio and television, he was best known as the publisher and editor of the newspaper La Opinión from 1971 until his arrest in 1977. An outspoken champion of human rights and freedom of the press, he criticized all repressive governments and organizations, regardless of their political ideologies.
- Nationality
- Ukraine (birth)
Argentina
Israel - Places of residence
- Bar, Ukraine
Argentina
Tel Aviv, Israel
Madrid, Spain
New York, USA
Members
Reviews
This is the most chilling book that I have read in many years. Perhaps, had I not read this book within the first week of the election of Donald Trump to the office of president of the United States, it might not have had the same impact on me. I've always been curious about the "disappeared" Jews of Argentina since the years 1972-1973 when I met young Argentine dissidents when I was a volunteer nurse in Israel. Years afterward, I was horrified by Nathan Englander's novel about this subject, show more "A Ministry for Special Cases" because I never really stopped to ponder what could have happened to the "disappeared".
The author of this memoir, Jacobo Timerman, was a Soviet-born Jewish long-time journalist and publisher of the Argentine newspaper La Opinion. With the overthrow of power by a military junta in Argentina, the government swung from extreme Left to extreme Right. Timerman was taken prisoner without knowledge of why he had been arrested, tortured repeatedly and kept in prison for two years before he was stripped of his Argentine citizenship and expelled from that country.
There were so many lines in this memoir that shook me up that, by the time I had recorded them all for myself, it seemed as if I had written down half of the book. Timerman deals with many questions about totalitarianism. He talks about the repression of news, the use of torture, the extreme hatred concentrated on prisoners who are Jewish, the false idea of a Jewish "global conspiracy", the silence of fellow Jews, the hatred directed at Jews through acts of anti-Semitism (my own grandson's Jewish preschool at our local Jewish Community Center had a bomb threat this month), the fear of Zionism and Israel (my dearest family are kibbutz members), and eliminating the "enemy".
Maybe I would not feel so threatened by this had I not lost my maternal grandparents in the crematoria of Nazi Europe. However, what happened in Argentina did not take place in the 1930's. It took place less than fifty years ago, during my own lifetime, in yet another country with a large Jewish population, that of Argentina. Come 2017, and my own country, the United States of America, now has a president who is preaching hatred and the fear of others. I am truly terrified.
"The ideology motivating the Argentine military stems more from a notion of the world they reject than from a world they would like to attain. They would be unable to pinpoint or outline the reality they care to see materialize in Argentina, but could quickly describe what it is they hate. If asked what they want, their answer will be: A decent country, respectful of family life and patriotism. But ask them what they don't want, and then you'll be able to understand their view of the world and the difficulties they encounter when they must govern in accordance with such hatreds. On the other hand, as in every totalitarian mind, hatreds are transformed into fantasies and conform to a view of the world that matches these fantasies, and these very fantasies lead to the development of their operational tactics."
"For a totalitarian mind, there are no existing contradictions to justify a pluralistic, tolerant society. Nothing exists but enemies or friends."
"They could never explain what it was they wished to construct, but were always categorical in terms of what they wished to annihilate."
"Everything that happened once can happen again." show less
The author of this memoir, Jacobo Timerman, was a Soviet-born Jewish long-time journalist and publisher of the Argentine newspaper La Opinion. With the overthrow of power by a military junta in Argentina, the government swung from extreme Left to extreme Right. Timerman was taken prisoner without knowledge of why he had been arrested, tortured repeatedly and kept in prison for two years before he was stripped of his Argentine citizenship and expelled from that country.
There were so many lines in this memoir that shook me up that, by the time I had recorded them all for myself, it seemed as if I had written down half of the book. Timerman deals with many questions about totalitarianism. He talks about the repression of news, the use of torture, the extreme hatred concentrated on prisoners who are Jewish, the false idea of a Jewish "global conspiracy", the silence of fellow Jews, the hatred directed at Jews through acts of anti-Semitism (my own grandson's Jewish preschool at our local Jewish Community Center had a bomb threat this month), the fear of Zionism and Israel (my dearest family are kibbutz members), and eliminating the "enemy".
Maybe I would not feel so threatened by this had I not lost my maternal grandparents in the crematoria of Nazi Europe. However, what happened in Argentina did not take place in the 1930's. It took place less than fifty years ago, during my own lifetime, in yet another country with a large Jewish population, that of Argentina. Come 2017, and my own country, the United States of America, now has a president who is preaching hatred and the fear of others. I am truly terrified.
"The ideology motivating the Argentine military stems more from a notion of the world they reject than from a world they would like to attain. They would be unable to pinpoint or outline the reality they care to see materialize in Argentina, but could quickly describe what it is they hate. If asked what they want, their answer will be: A decent country, respectful of family life and patriotism. But ask them what they don't want, and then you'll be able to understand their view of the world and the difficulties they encounter when they must govern in accordance with such hatreds. On the other hand, as in every totalitarian mind, hatreds are transformed into fantasies and conform to a view of the world that matches these fantasies, and these very fantasies lead to the development of their operational tactics."
"For a totalitarian mind, there are no existing contradictions to justify a pluralistic, tolerant society. Nothing exists but enemies or friends."
"They could never explain what it was they wished to construct, but were always categorical in terms of what they wished to annihilate."
"Everything that happened once can happen again." show less
I read this book for the Global Reading theme of writers at risk. Timerman was a journalist in Argentina during the 70's and was imprisoned and tortured during the dirty war. He is a good writer, and the descriptions of his experiences are harrowing. He intersperses descriptions of his imprisonment with political critique, is critical of extremists on both the right and the left, and also of the moderates who didn't stand up to terror. It's pretty horrible to read about the imprisonment and show more torture and realize that these are still going on in various parts of the world, and, as in the case in Guantanamo, happening in our name.
He also talks about anti-semitism and how as a Jew and Zionist, he was singled out and given worse treatment, and how, for a variety of political reasons, the Jewish community in Argentina and in Israel did not address this. Some interesting thoughts about internalized oppression. "...the Holocaust teaches us the need to understand the Jewish silence and the Jewish incapacity to defend itself; it lies in the Jewish incapacity to confront the world with its own insanity, and with the significance of anti-Semitic insanity. The Holocaust will be understood not so much for the number of victims as for the magnitude of the silence. And what obsesses me most is the repetition of silence rather than the possibility of another Holocaust." show less
He also talks about anti-semitism and how as a Jew and Zionist, he was singled out and given worse treatment, and how, for a variety of political reasons, the Jewish community in Argentina and in Israel did not address this. Some interesting thoughts about internalized oppression. "...the Holocaust teaches us the need to understand the Jewish silence and the Jewish incapacity to defend itself; it lies in the Jewish incapacity to confront the world with its own insanity, and with the significance of anti-Semitic insanity. The Holocaust will be understood not so much for the number of victims as for the magnitude of the silence. And what obsesses me most is the repetition of silence rather than the possibility of another Holocaust." show less
One of the most harrowing books I've ever read. An amazing entreaty against violence of both the left and the right, and a heartbreaking analysis of contemporary anti-Semitism. Comparable at some points perhaps to Koestler's Darkness at Noon, except that it deals with torture in a more direct (and horrifying, since it's nonfiction) way. I wish this were required reading in schools.
This is unlike any other political prisoner's memoir I've ever read -- not that I've read many, perhaps five -- in that Timerman was an actual political activist and not just an ordinary person who got swept up in the ever-rising tide of persecution. The setting is Argentina but, as Timerman himself pointed out, his story could just as easily have taken place in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany or any of scores of other countries.
I enjoyed this and it really made me think, but it's not for show more everyone. It's not written in chronological order; Timerman skipped around quite a lot, at times describing the tortures he went through, at times talking about the anti-fascist newspaper he founded which lead to his imprisonment, at times reflecting on the state of Argentina and what leads an entire country to behave this way. Timerman was Jewish and believed he was imprisoned in large part because of that, so he spent many pages talking about anti-Semitism in Argentina.
I think this would be a good book for people wanting to learn recent Argentine history, as that is a topic examined at length. I really admired Timerman for taking a stand, knowing full well just what he was getting into, but doing it anyway because someone had to. But if you're simply looking for a book on what it's like to be a political prisoner, there are better ones out there for that. show less
I enjoyed this and it really made me think, but it's not for show more everyone. It's not written in chronological order; Timerman skipped around quite a lot, at times describing the tortures he went through, at times talking about the anti-fascist newspaper he founded which lead to his imprisonment, at times reflecting on the state of Argentina and what leads an entire country to behave this way. Timerman was Jewish and believed he was imprisoned in large part because of that, so he spent many pages talking about anti-Semitism in Argentina.
I think this would be a good book for people wanting to learn recent Argentine history, as that is a topic examined at length. I really admired Timerman for taking a stand, knowing full well just what he was getting into, but doing it anyway because someone had to. But if you're simply looking for a book on what it's like to be a political prisoner, there are better ones out there for that. show less
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- Rating
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