History and History Textbooks

     Ambassador Raúl Estrada-Oyuela adds an important note to our discussion of the relocation of the parliament from Santiago to Valparaíso: "The Chilean Parliament did not move itself to Valparaiso, it was sent there by Pinochet, maybe to keep some distance in case he were the winner at the 1989 referendum."

     My comment: In other words, he exiled the parliament. Does this mean that the situation is frozen, with the parliament in one town and the executive in another? These details are very important, because they change the interpretation of history. This brings us back to the question of history textbooks, a worldwide problem which is particularly acute in Chile.
     Perhaps Pinochet would have been better off being tried in Europe. In Chile over 100 suits against him have been instigated by relatives of those killed by his regime. TV reports on this have been accompanied by film clips of the attack on La Moneda, the presidential palace, where Allende committee suicide. The scenes of the building in flames make the people relive those terrible hours in 1973. TV also shows scenes of the mass executions, thus bringing this period of Chilean history to those too young to remember it.
     This brought up the question of history textbooks. Chilean TV has shown pages of them, written before the present upheaval and giving an account of the 1973 events which is unacceptable to the majority. This is the first time I have seen the issue of history textbooks thus brought up on television.
     The problem is both national and international. Nationally, as in the case of Chile, it will have to be decided by the individual country, even though there may be international implications. Internationally, when two or more nations disagree about accounts of events involving them, a kind of academic international arbitration will be required. In the past, this has had little success. I have not heard much about this recently, so I will send this posting to people who might help. Is there anywhere in the US, indeed in the world, a depository of history textbooks? Such a collection would be of great importance in studying the national and international outlook of the next generation, and with it the chances for a lasting peace.

Ronald Hilton - 5/22/00