‘The disappeared’ of Argentina

Between 1976 and 1983 in Argentina, the military ruled the country. Thousands of mainly young, left-wing Argentinians went missing. Known as 'the disappeared', they were taken to detention centres, such as Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada, known as ESMA in the capital, Buenos Aires. Around 5,000 prisoners passed through its gates. Most were killed. As well as the murders and torture, hundreds of babies were taken from pregnant prisoners and given away to military personnel and families who supported the government. In December 1983 the Argentinian president Raul Alfonsin signed a decree putting the military junta responsible on trial. In 2010, Candice Piete spoke to one of the survivors, Miriam Lewin. (Photo: ESMA. Credit: Reuters)

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Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest, the disastrous D-Day rehearsal, and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.