Latent Memory : Human Rights and Jewish Identity in Chile

Maxine Lowy

ISBN 10: 0299335801 / ISBN 13: 9780299335809

Published by University Of Wisconsin Press Apr 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - In the first half of the twentieth century, Jewish immigrants and refugees sought to rebuild their lives in Chile. Despite their personal histories of marginalization in Europe, many of these people or their descendants did not take a stand against the 1973 military coup, nor the political persecution that followed. Chilean Jews' collective failure to repudiate systematic human rights violations and their tacit support for the military dictatorship reflected a complicated moral calculus that weighed expediency over ethical considerations and ignored individual acts of moral courage.Maxine Lowy draws upon hundreds of first-person testimonials and archival resources to explore Chilean Jewish identity in the wake of Pinochet's coup, exposing the complex and sometimes contradictory development of collective traumatic memory and political sensibilities in an oppressive new context. Latent Memory points to processes of community gestures of moral reparation and signals the pathways to justice and healing associated with Shoah and the Jewish experience. Lowy asks how individuals and institutions may overcome fear, indifference, and convenience to take a stand even under intense political duress, posing questions applicable to any nation emerging from state repression.

Seller Inventory # 9780299335809

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Latent Memory : Human Rights and Jewish Identity in Chile
• Publisher: University Of Wisconsin Press Apr 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0299335801
• ISBN 13: 9780299335809
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 19D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 598 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In the first half of the twentieth century, Jewish immigrants and refugees sought to rebuild their lives in Chile. Despite their personal histories of marginalization in Europe, many of these people or their descendants did not take a stand against the 1973 military coup, nor the political persecution that followed. Chilean Jews' collective failure to repudiate systematic human rights violations and their tacit support for the military dictatorship reflected a complicated moral calculus that weighed expediency over ethical considerations and ignored individual acts of moral courage. 

Maxine Lowy draws upon hundreds of first-person testimonials and archival resources to explore Chilean Jewish identity in the wake of Pinochet's coup, exposing the complex and sometimes contradictory development of collective traumatic memory and political sensibilities in an oppressive new context. Latent Memory points to processes of community gestures of moral reparation and signals the pathways to justice and healing associated with Shoah and the Jewish experience. Lowy asks how individuals and institutions may overcome fear, indifference, and convenience to take a stand even under intense political duress, posing questions applicable to any nation emerging from state repression.

About the Author

Maxine Lowy is an editor, translator, and freelance journalist based in Santiago, Chile. Her work focuses on human rights and contemporary social issues. She is the author of Sembradoras de fe y esperanza: El legado de mujeres de comunidades cristianas populares. She created and coordinated the human rights website www.memoriayjusticia.cl.