Vladimir Herzog
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Vladimir Herzog (27 June 1937 – 25 October 1975), nicknamed Vlado (a usual Croatian abbreviation for the name Vladimir) by his family and friends,Freitas, Daelcio
"Jornalista morto pelo regime militar: Vladimir Herzog"
UOL Educação was a Brazilian journalist, university professor and playwright of Croatian-Jewish origin. He also developed a taste for photography, because of his film projects."Quem foi Vladimir Herzog"
, no Instituto Vladimir Herzog Herzog was a member of the
Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party sti ...
and was active in the civil resistance movement against the Brazilian military government. In October 1975, Herzog, then
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of
TV Cultura TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo and a part of Father Anchieta Foundation, a non-profit foundation funded by the São Paulo State Government. It focuses on educational and ...
, was tortured to death by the
political police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
of the military dictatorship, which later staged his suicide. It took 37 years before his death certificate was revised to say that he had in fact died as a result of torture by the army at
DOI-CODI The Departamento de Operações de Informações - Centro de Operações de Defesa Interna ( en, Department of Information Operations - Center for Internal Defense Operations) was the Brazilian intelligence and political repression agency during ...
. His death had a great impact on the Brazilian society, marking the beginning of a wave of action towards the redemocratization process of the country.


Biography


Early life

Herzog was born in Osijek,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
province of Sava Banovina (currently
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
) on 27 June 1937, to Zigmund and Zora Herzog, a Croatian Jewish family who emigrated to Brazil in the early 1940s, to escape
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
and Ustashe persecution.


Education and career

Herzog received a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in Philosophy from the
University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...
in 1959. After his graduation, he worked as a journalist in the major media outlets in Brazil, notably in the newspaper '' O Estado de S. Paulo''. During that period he decided to use "Vladimir" instead of "Vlado" as his first name, because he felt that his real name sounded extremely exotic in Brazil. Following the 1965 right wing
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
Herzog together with his wife Clarice Ribeiro Chaves, moved to Britain, where for three years he worked in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. They returned to Brazil in late 1968. In the 1970s Herzog became the editor-in-chief of
TV Cultura TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo and a part of Father Anchieta Foundation, a non-profit foundation funded by the São Paulo State Government. It focuses on educational and ...
, a public TV station managed by the
São Paulo State SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
government. He also became a journalism professor at the University of São Paulo School of Communication and Arts and at
Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado FAAP (Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation) was founded in 1947 by Earl Armando Alvares Penteado, whose objective was to support, promote and develop the plastic and scenic arts, culture and teaching. It is one of the most prestigious and respe ...
's Journalism course. Alongside this, he developed a career as a playwright, mixing with the artistic and theater Intelligentsia of Brazil. Later in his life, Herzog became active in the civil resistance movement against the
military dictatorship in Brazil The military dictatorship in Brazil ( pt, ditadura militar) was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against President João Goulart. The Brazilian dicta ...
, as a member of the
Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party sti ...
( pt, Partido Comunista Brasileiro - PCB). As a news director at the TV station, Herzog advocated the responsibility of journalists to society and reported on the first decade of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Military intelligence spies working inside the TV station reported to their handlers that Herzog is "a problem for the military regime."


Arrest and death

On 24 October 1975 – when Herzog was already editor-in-chief of TV Cultura – Brazilian Army agents summoned him to testify about his connections with the then outlawed PCB Party."Herzog, torturado e morto em outubro de 1975"
 The following day, Herzog went to the DOI-CODI in order to comply with the summons. This meeting however, was actually a ruse to conduct an interrogation of Herzog, wherein he was detained, beaten and tortured. He was arrested with other two journalists, Jorge Duque Estrada Benigno and Rodolfo Konder, who later confirmed the treatment he received. On 25 October, Herzog's body was found hanging in his prison cell. Before revision, his death certificate stated "suicide by hanging". According to opposition, the DOI-CODI officers would have placed his body in the position it was found in order to inform the press that he had committed suicide.


Aftermath

Herzog was married to advertising agent Clarice Herzog, with whom he had two young children. Three years later, she was able to legally blame the state for the death of her husband. Still unable to cope with Herzog's death, she has said that "Vlado would contribute more to society if he were alive". The death of Herzog boosted the movement against the military dictatorship in Brazil. Generating a wave of protests from the international press, and initiating a process in defense of human rights in Latin America, The autopsy was inconclusive, but at the time
forensic pathologists Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...
were members of the police and systematically produced false autopsy reports in cases of death by torture.
Public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...
, however, never accepted this version and his murder generated national indignation. The president of the Republic at the time, General
Ernesto Geisel Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (, ; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was a Brazilian Army officer and politician, who was President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the Brazilian military regime. Early life and family Ernesto Geisel was born ...
was also upset by these and other actions by what he called the "criminals" of the largely parallel power of military-directed violent political repression. As a result, he ordered a clean-up and reduction in these activities, firing the main ultra-
right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
general behind it, Ednardo D'Ávila Melo. According to Henry Sobel, the chief
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
of the main synagogue of São Paulo at the time, the murder of Herzog changed the country. "It was the catalyst of the eventual restoration of
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
. 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 the cemetery rather than in a corner, as Jewish tradition demands in cases of suicide. 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. By the 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. 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. 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 to
amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
and
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
has been established with his name ( Prêmio de Jornalismo Vladimir Herzog de Anistia e Direitos Humanos).


=Litigation and investigation

= Later, in a civil lawsuit filed by his widow against the government, a federal tribunal recognized his wrongful death and granted
monetary damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
to Herzog's family. A documentary by director
João Batista de Andrade João Batista de Andrade (born 14 December 1939) is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 20 films between 1967 and 2006. His 1981 film ''O Homem que Virou Suco'' won the Golden Prize at the 12th Moscow International ...
, titled ''Herzog - 30 anos'', was filmed in 2005. In the same year, new photographs of a still-living and fully naked Herzog in the prison cell were released on the Internet, authorized by a high-ranking military officer in president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...
's office. At the request of several religious and human rights groups, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an independent arm of the Organization of American States, investigated the conflicting circumstances surrounding the death of Vladmir Herzog, and found that the Brazilian junta arrested, tortured and murdered Herzog because of his activities as a journalist. A new death certificate was issued 37 years after Herzog's death to indicate that he died "due to physical torture at the facilities of DOI-Codi in the 2nd Army in São Paulo." His previous certificate indicated a possible suicide. Ivo Herzog, son of Vladimir Herzog, delivered petitions for José Maria Marin's removal from the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Ivo cited the speeches Marin delivered as congressional representative that praised Sérgio Fleury, who was head of the Department of Political and Social Order (Departamento de Ordem Politica e Social) during Brazil's military dictatorship, and for criticizing Herzog in speeches from 1975.


Legacy

In 2009, over 30 years after Herzog's death, the Vladimir Herzog Institute was founded. Its aims are to archive material about Herzog, to promote debate about the role of journalists and new media, and to award the Vladimir Herzog Prize for Amnesty and Human Rights to journalists and human rights activists.


See also

*
List of unsolved murders These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances. * List of unsolved murders (before 1900) * List of unsolved murders (1900–1979) * List of unsolved murders (1980–1999) * List of u ...


References


External links


Testimonials of witnesses
(in Portuguese)
Press clippings at the time of his death
(in Portuguese).
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, October 25, 2004.
Amnesty International: Brazil: Healing the scars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herzog, Vladimir 1937 births 1975 deaths Assassinated Brazilian journalists Assassinated Jews Brazilian communists Brazilian expatriates in Croatia Brazilian Jews Brazilian people of Jewish descent Brazilian torture victims Croatian Jews Jewish refugees Dead and missing in the fight against the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985) Jewish socialists Journalists who died while in prison Male murder victims People murdered by law enforcement officers People murdered in Brazil University of São Paulo alumni Unsolved murders in Brazil Yugoslav emigrants to Brazil