Eighty years after the Nuremberg Trials and forty years after the Junta Trials—reason enough to compare and discuss these two landmark proceedings. After all, they share several important similarities. The trials against the military junta in Buenos Aires were among the first applications of the concept of crimes against humanity, a legal category that was originally developed during the Nuremberg Trials. However, there are also many differences. Not least, the proceedings in Argentina were demanded by the population—especially by the courageous women of the Plaza de Mayo—while the Nuremberg Trials were conducted by the Allied victors.
Director Safferling took part in two events on this topic at the invitation of the German Embassy: one at the University of Buenos Aires, where an exhibition on interpreters at the Nuremberg Trials is also being shown, and another at Di Tella University. The President of the Academy’s Board of Trustees, Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, was also among the experts participating in the events. In addition, Professor Safferling visited the Parque de la Memoria, built in remembrance of the disappeared victims of the junta. (bk)
