Conversing with the Executioners: Denial and Expressed Moral Values in Interviews with Perpetrators from Nazi Germany and Operation Condor

In this presentation, we will expose a research on testimonies of former perpetrators of mass violence coming from two contexts (Nazi Germany, Last Dictatorship of Argentina), when the latter are in an extrajudicial interview situation with journalists or co-detainees. The aim of this paper is to show the heuristical dimension of such sources for the understanding of subjectivity within committed State violence and for the study of the question of “moral-concerns” of massmurderers.

Firstly, we will bring to light the power relationships characteristic of these interactions, as well as strategies carried out by the interlocutors to lead these "veterans" beyond their face-work (Goffman, 1967) and, through the framework of the encounter, make them speak more consistently about their violent acts. Secondly, we will deal with how documents of this type can give us a privileged access to questions of morality in situations of mass violence. To this end, we will look closely at places in the discussions where the mass-murderer reacts strongly and feels offended, while on the other hand he often asserts the legitimacy of the violence he committed. We will focus here on the thematics of indignation in both contexts and more specifically on the relationships to money and the management of resources that emerge for the perpetrators in the course of their duties.