- Vladimir Herzog
Vlado "Vladimir" Herzog (
Osijek ,Sava Banovina , Yugoslavia,June 27 ,1937 —São Paulo ,October 25 ,1975 ), was aBrazil ianJew ishTV journalist , universityprofessor andplaywright , who wastorture d to death by thepolitical police due to ideological reasons.Early life
Vlado Herzog was born in the town of
Osijek , in the formerYugoslavia (currentlyCroatia ) inJune 27 ,1937 to Zigmundo and Zora Herzog, both of whom wereJewish . His family immigrated toBrazil when he was just a young boy in the early 1940s, escaping theIndependent State of Croatia (apuppet state ofNazi Germany and Fascist Italy).Education and career
Herzog graduated in
Philosophy from theUniversity of São Paulo (USP) in 1959. After that, he started working in important Brazilian media outlets, such as "O Estado de S. Paulo ". While working for this particular newspaper, he decided to start using the pseudonym of "Vladimir", because he thought that his real name sounded extremelyexotic . He would also work for three years on theBBC . On the 1970s Herzog became the chief of journalism ofTV Cultura , a public station from São Paulo.Herzog also worked as a professor at the School of Communications and Arts of the
University of São Paulo and as of a dramaturgist. He was also active in the civilresistance movement to the 1964-1985 Brazilian military dictatorship.Detention and murder
Herzog was killed while in detention on
25 October , 1975 by the agents of theDOI-CODI , the state's repressive apparatus. He had been arrested after turning himself in at the headquarters of the Second Army to explain his political activities and connections with clandestine opposition movements. The official version for his death was that he had committedsuicide byhanging , after admitting membership in the then-illegalBrazilian Communist Party . TheAutopsy was inconclusive, but at the time forensic pathologists were functionaries of the police and systematically produced false autopsy reports in cases of death bytorture . Two other journalists who were arrested with him and were at an adjoining prison cell witnessed his torture.Public opinion , however, never accepted this version and hismurder generated national indignation. The president of the Republic at the time, GeneralErnesto Geisel was also upset by these and other actions by what he called the "criminals" of the largely parallel power ofmilitary -directed violent political repression. As a result, he ordered a clean-up and reduction in these activities, firing the main ultra-right wing general behind it,Ednardo D'Ávila Melo .According to
Henry Sobel , the chiefrabbi of the mainsynagogue of São Paulo at the time, the murder of Herzog changed the country. "It was the catalyst of the eventual restoration ofdemocracy . His death will always be a painful memory of a shady period of repression, a perpetual echo of the voice of freedom, which will never be kept silent".After finding out that Herzog's body bore the marks of
torture , rabbi Sobel decided that he should be buried in the center of thecemetery rather than in a corner, asJewish tradition demands in cases ofsuicide . This was made public and completely destroyed the official version of suicide. Officially, the first irrefutable proof that Herzog's death was not a suicide was reported in Fernando Pacheco Jordão's "Dossier Herzog - Prisão, Tortura e Morte no Brasil". The author points out that the picture provided by the military as proof of Herzog's suicide portrayed the prisoner hanging by his prison belt tied in his cell's bars with his feet touching the floor and his knees notably bent — it is physically impossible to kill oneself in such a position.By the time time of Herzog's death, Brazil was in extreme tension. The military had been in power for over ten years and the Brazilian population was constantly in fear. Student demonstrations were frequent; opposing movements had already kidnapped two foreign ambassadors (an American and a German) to be exchanged for political prisoners and as a mean to publicize their message in a censored press.
Additionally, Herzog was the thirty-eighth person to "commit suicide" after being arrested by the military. The first thirty-seven however, were not as renowned as Herzog was. Precisely because he was a public figure, his death attracted public and governmental attention to the case. Opposition to the repressive order was rekindled. An active and effective anti-dictatorship movement was launched and this culminated with the re-democratization process and the end of the military dictatorship in 1979. His death is seen today as the beginning of the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Herzog has become a symbol of the fight for
democracy in Brazil and has been honoured in many ways, such as by attributing it to the street where the TV Cultura is located in São Paulo. In addition, a public prize for journalism devoted toamnesty andhuman rights has been established with his name (Prêmio de Jornalismo Vladimir Herzog de Anistia e Direitos Humanos ).Later, in a civil
lawsuit filed by his widow against the government, a federal tribunal recognized his wrongful death and grantedmonetary damages to Herzog's family. A documentary by directorJoão Batista de Andrade , titled "Herzog - 30 anos", was filmed in 2005. In the same year, a new public scandal erupted when new photographs of a still-living and fully-naked Herzog in the prison cell were released on theInternet , authorized by a high-ranking military officer in presidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva 's office.External links
* [http://www.brazilianmusic.com/20cases/case4.html Vladimir Herzog]
* [http://www.perseuabramo.org.br/especiais/vlado/apresentacao.htm Testimonials of witnesses] (In Portuguese)
* [http://www.perseuabramo.org.br/especiais/vlado/apresentacao.htm Press clippings at the time of his death] (In Portuguese).
* [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/10/25/2003208357 Photos bring up past for Brazilians] . The military's response to the publishing of photos of a journalist who died in army custody decades ago has revived anger over military abuses. NY Times News Service, Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Oct 25, 2004.
* Brazil: healing the scars [http://news.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR190152004?open&of=ENG-344] . Amnesty International statement.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.