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War. "They were political, I'm not." She felt guilty, not about her fa–
ther and family friends and their roles in World War II but about surviv–
ing her student days during the Dirty War.
Then a tango called "WeAre Not Bothered by Your Past" was
dedicated to Erich Priebke. No one at my table laughed. A wild-eyed
pianist, a dreamy guitarist, and an impassive accordion player moved the
music in circles. Tangos seem endless because they start to build but then
loop around to where they started. Finally Bianchi turned to me with
his maniacal wide eyes and big smile and whispered, "Now this is tor–
ture."
Judge Eugenio Selvaggi, responsible for extradition matters in the
Italian Ministry ofJustice, insisted that his government was not interested
in vengeance against Priebke. "We have to know the truth about the
past so that it cannot be repeated."
.
That phrase is heard over and over in Italy these days. But not
all
of
the truth is being sought. The indictment was meticulously limited to
the Ardeatine caves massacre. There was to be nothing about Priebke's
other alleged crimes, nothing about deportation of Jews, Via Tasso,
Italian Fascism.
Ricardo Mancini, whose father was shot in the caves when Mancini
was five, was arguing with Giovanni Gigliozzi, the president of the fam–
ily-of-victims group. Gigliozzi was insisting that they had to push the
government or the trial would never happen.
"What worries me," said Mancini, "is that right now, with a very
strong right-wing 'party, a trial could be manipulated by the National
Alliance." Mancini fears that they "can make Priebke become a martyr
instead of a criminal. I think the association should continue what it is
doing. Helping young people arrange visits to the caves."
Gigliozzi argued, "We must not forget history. If we remember we
won't make the same mistakes. When Mussolini spoke to Italians and
they shouted
Duce! Duce!
who could imagine that they would shoot
people in caves?"
In discussions of a Priebke trial the word
manipulate
constantly comes
up. Paladini's widow, Elvira Sabbatini, asked if she thought the
government would be willing to have a trial that touched on the crimes
of Italian Fascists or, for that matter, why it took fifty years to pursue a
man listed in the telephone book, responded, "It won't come out. No
one will know. Kappler escaped right under our eyes in a suitcase.
Anything can happen in Italy."
But also, anything can happen in Argentina. Though the court ruled
for extradition last May, in August the appeals court reversed the
