FILM-RELATED WEBSITES
West Wind Productions | The Judge and the General
The filmmakers' website for The Judge and the General offers a list of upcoming screenings around the world and more information on the team that made the film.
SF360: Exhuming History with "The Judge and the General
The San Francisco Film Society's publication interviews filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth.
Judge Juan Guzmán
BBC News: Chile's Most Famous Judge
This article chronicles Judge Guzmán's transformation from a fairly anonymous member of Chile's court of appeals to a well-known figure within the country. A timeline of the Pinochet trial accompanies the article. (December 14, 2004)
New York Times: Chilean Judge Says Pinochet is Fit for Trial
Reversing earlier rulings which said that Pinochet could avoid facing charges relating to human rights abuses during his reign, Judge Guzmán declared that Pinochet must stand trial for kidnapping and murder charges. Relatives of the victim of Operation Condor approved of the action. (December 14, 2004)
Conversation with History: Juan Guzmán
The Institute of International Studies at Berkeley University talked to Judge Guzm&aan in 2001 about his background, his career as a judge, the Pinochet Case and Chilean human rights history.
Human Rights in Chile
Derechos
This website tracks the human rights record in Chile, from the Pinochet era through today. It also offers resources and links to aditional information and organization. The website is also available in Spanish.
Report of the National Chilean Commission on Truth and Reconciliation
This Chilean commission was formed in 1990 to investigate and document the human right abuses in the country under the regime of Augusto Pinochet. Read the full report.
Human Rights Watch: Chile
The international organization provides reports on various human rights abuses that have taken place in Chile, including "Discreet Path to Justice? Chile, Thirty Years After the Military Coup," and "The Pinochet Precedent: How Victims Can Pursue Human Rights Criminals Abroad."
Amnesty International: Chile
Reports on current Chilean cases, the history of human rights abuses under Pinochet and the legacy of Pinochet are available from Amnesty International. Relevant reports include "Death of Pinochet is Not the End of the Story" and "Probes of Pinochet-Era Crimes Face Shut Down." You can also browse Amnesty International's website in Spanish.
Articles
The New York Times: A Bitter Legacy of Division Survives Pinochet
The death of Augusto Pinochet in 2006 exposed the divisions in chile between loyal supporters and opponents of the general, divisions that have left the country in a complicated political and legal morass. (December 12, 2006)
Time: Legacy: Gen. Augusto Pinochet
This article, written just after Pinochet's death, describes the general's dictatorship in neutral terms and describes how his history of human rights violations paved the way for modern-day South American politics. (December 11, 2006)
BBC: Q&A: Pinochet and Justice
This backgrounder gives an overview of the human rights abuses and tax evasion charges facing Pinochet in Chile before his death. (November 2006)
New York Times: Santiago Journal; Graves Without a Name Yielding Their Secrets
In Yard No. 20 of the General Cemetery of Santiago, Chile, more than a hundred people are buried in unmarked graves. In the early 1990s, Chileans, no longer under Pinochet's rule, begin to exhume the bodies and determine their identities. (September 19, 1991)
Books
The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice
By Roger Burbach
In this book, Burbach discusses the rise and fall of General Pinochet, the clash between those who sought to cover up and wash their hands of him, and the judges, lawyers and human rights organizations that sought to expose his cruelties.
The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents
By John Dinges
Written by a former victim of a Chilean torture camp, this history of the international "dirty wars" by us allies in South America reveals the covert actions of an international intelligence network responsible for South America's worst human rights abuses.
The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability
by Peter Kornbluh
Examines thousands of records that were recently declassified by the CIA, White House, NSC, Pentagon and the FBI. Kornbluh offers new revelations about America's development of a policy dedicated to overthrowing Chile's democratic government and replacing it with a military leader reviled for his coplete disregard for human rights.
Exorcising Terror: The Incredible Unending Trial of General Augusto Pinochet
By Ariel Dorfman
Written by a former member of Allende's administration, this book covers the four-year trial of Pinochet in Great Britain, Spain and Chile while addressing such current issues such as the limits of national sovereignty in a globalizing world.
Chile Under Pinochet: Recovering the Truth
By Mark Ensalaco
Ensalaco, social sciences professor and director of the human rights program at the University of Dayton, investigates the human rights abuses during Pinochet's reign.
The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights
By Naomi Roht-Arriaza
A University of California law professor, Roht-Arriaza discusses Pinochet's extradition proceedings as they played throughout the international community and considers the role of transnational justice in prosecutions and investigations in the national courts of countries where the crimes did not take place.
Find more recommended books for adults and young adults, and films related to The Judge and the General in the downloadable Delve Deeper guide (PDF).
The "Good German"
The "Good German" phenomenon is described by The Judge and the General filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth as a "conscientious person of high ideals ... [going] along with state terror because it offers safety and order in a time of chaos." People who are otherwise good have collectively averted their gaze from horror time and time again, from the "Good Germans" of Nazi Germany to the citizens of Chile during Pinochet's reign.
Jewish Magazine: Evil Lurks
Philosopher Hannad Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem, which examines the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, explains the concept of "the banality of evil," a concept that attempts to explain how seemingly normal Germans could commit terrible atrocities. This article summarizes her findings and examines the memoirs of another Nazi officer to try to explain what leads seeming ordinary people to commit terrible acts.
"The Perils of Obedience"
In this reprint of a 1974 Harpers article, psychologist Stanley Milgram explains his famous "Milgram experiments," which tested whether subjects would perform actions against their personal consciences when instructed to do so by an authority figure, a phenomenon that many believe explains the "Good German" archetype.
Elie Wiesel on "The Perils of Indifference"
Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author, gave this speech on the terrible effects of indifference during a series of Millennium Lectures at the White House in 1999.
Book
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
By Carol Tavris and Elliott Aronson
Psychologists Tavris and Aronson look at how our brains justify our actions, no matter their consequences.
PBS and NPR
PBS
NewsHour Extra: Former Chilean Dictator Pinochet Dies
The dictator who ruled the South American country of Chile for 17 years, General Augusto Pinochet, died Sunday, leaving many disappointed that he will not be held responsible for human rights abuses during his reign. (December 11, 2006)
Newshour: An Interview with Chile's New President-Elect
Michelle Bachelet, Chile's new president-elect, speaks in Santiago about her experience during the 1973 coup led by former dictator Augusto Pinochet and her goals as the country's first female president. (January 25, 2006)
NewsHour: Augusto Pinochet Indicted on Humanitarian Abuse Charges
The Judge and the General filmmaker and NewsHour correspondent, Elizabeth Farnsworth, reports on the indictment of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on charges of human rights violations in part one of a two-part series. (December 14, 2004)
NewsHour: Kissinger on Chile, Pinochet
Elizabeth Farnsworth interviewed Henry Kissinger about the Clinton administration's release of thousands of formerly classified documents relating to us policy toward Chile in the 1970's. (February 6, 2001)
NewsHour: The Extradition Question
The arrest of former Chilean leader General Augusto Pinochet in London six weeks ago has raised numerous legal questions regarding the prosecution of former heads of state. Following a background report, Phil Ponce and guests discuss the legal issues surrounding Pinochet's arrest. (December 2, 1998)
NPR
Talk of the Nation: Pinochet's Chile
News of Augusto Pinochet's death met with celebrations in Chile. The brutal dictator ruled the country for almost two decades and was charged with human rights abuses and corruption. For a look at Pinochet's life and legacy, join Lynn Neary for a discussion with Chileans who experienced both Pinochet's brutality and his positive economic reforms. (December 11, 2006)
All Things Considered: A Dictator's Legacy of Economic Growth
Although many point to Chile's continued economic growth as a positive effect of the Pinochet dictatorship, the social effects of widespread privatization and repression have led many to ask: at what price progress? (September 14, 2006)
All Things Considered: Riggs Agrees to Settlement in Pinochet Case
Riggs Bank agrees to pay $8 million to alleged victims of Augusto Pinochet's regime. The group claimed Riggs helped the former Chilean dictator hide money, which he has since withdrawn. (February 25, 2005)
Morning Edition: Chile's Pinochet to Stand Trial
A judge in Chile charges former General Augusto Pinochet with murder and kidnapping. The controversial dictator has been accused of human rights violations for years and was arrested by Spain in the late 1990s. NPR's Renee Montagne speaks with Peter Kornbluh, author of The Pinochet File. Kornbluh is also a senior analyst at the National Security Archives in Washington. (December 14, 2004)
Fresh Air: Peter Kornbluh
Peter Kornbluh is director of the National Security Archive's Chile Documentation Project. He led the campaign to declassify official documents of the secret history of us government support for the Pinochet dictatorship. That information has now been collected in the new book, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. The book chronicles 20 years of policy in Chile, from 1970 to 1990. This September 11th marks the 30th anniversary of the bloody coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende and led to the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. (September 9, 2003)