Jacobo Timerman

Jacobo Timerman

Jacobo Timerman (6 January 1923 – 11 November 1999) was an Argentine publisher, journalist, and author who was persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War. Born in Bar, Ukraine, Timerman and his family emigrated to Argentina in 1928.

Biography

Work and imprisonment in Argentina

During the 1960s, Timerman established himself as a popular journalist, and, before the decade had come to a close, was already able to found two different weekly news magazines. Later, from 1971 to 1977, Timerman edited and published the left-leaning daily La Opinión. Under his leadership, this paper publicized news and criticisms of the human rights violations of the Argentine government during the early years of the Dirty War as a result of investigations about his relationship with David Graiver. On 15 April 1977, Timerman was arrested by the military. Thereafter, he was subjected to electric shock torture, beatings, and solitary confinement. These experiences were chronicled in his 1981 book Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, and a 1983 movie by the same name. The Armed Forces who seized power in 1966, overthrowing president Illia, began a repressive and unpopular regime, characteristic for its violent actions against Argentina's universities and for its policy of establishing strict and conservative catholic morals.

Life in Israel

After his release from prison in September 1979, Timerman was forced into exile and went to Tel Aviv, Israel. A year after publishing Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, he released The Longest War. This book was a detailed and personal response to the first few months of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Return to Argentina

Sometime after the publication of The Longest War, Timerman moved to Madrid and then to New York. Finally, in 1984, he returned to Buenos Aires. Three years later, in 1987, Timerman released Chile: Death in the South, a critical examination of life under dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Timerman died in Buenos Aires on 11 November 1999.

The Catholic priest Christian von Wernich, personal confessor of provincial chief of police Ramón Camps, was convicted of involvement in his abduction and torture (and that of many others) on 9 October 2007.

Awards

In 1980, Timerman was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom by the World Association of Newspapers in recognition of his courage in defending the right to free expression and press freedom. He received the Conscience-in-Media Award in 1981, from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Also in 1981, he received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award from the Institute for Policy Studies. In 2000, he was named as one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years.

Family

Timerman has three sons. Héctor Timerman is an author and journalist and currently serves as Argentina's Foreign Minister. He was previously Consul in New York and was later appointed Ambassador to the United States of America in December 2007. Javier Timerman resides in New York with his wife and three children. Daniel Timerman lives in Israel with his three children.

See also

• List of memoirs of political prisoners
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• The Hillman Prize
• Marshall Meyer
• CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
• Héctor Germán Oesterheld
• List of war films based on books (post-1945)
• List of Peabody Award winners (1980–1989)

External links

• U.S. columnist Molly Ivins writes on the occasion of his death
• Timerman's testimony to the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons