Brazil on Thursday took responsibility for the killing of journalist Vladimir Herzog, who was a political prisoner during the country’s military dictatorship 50 years ago.
At the time, the government falsely claimed that the prominent Jewish journalist had committed suicide while in detention.
The government has officially apologized for the affair and will compensate Herzog’s family in the sum of about $544,800 for moral damages, according to the Associated Press.
In accordance with a prior court order, Herzog’s widow, Clarice Herzog, will receive retroactive payments of a monthly pension.
“This apology is not merely symbolic,” the journalist’s son Ivo Herzog said from the Vladimir Herzog Institute in Sao Paulo, an organization dedicated to preserving his memory, as cited by AP.
“It is an act by the state that makes us believe the current Brazilian state doesn’t think like the Brazilian state of that time,” he added.
Herzog’s story, coupled with the case of victim Marcelo Rubens Paiva—whose story gained popularity following his portrayal in the 2024 film “I’m Still Here” (Portuguese: “Ainda Estou Aqui”) —became a national symbol of the fight to bring justice to the victims of Brazil’s dictatorship, which held power from 1964 to 1985.
The number of murdered and missing victims during those 21 years is officially estimated at 434.
Herzog was born in 1937 in Osijek, Yugoslavia (today’s Croatia). His family initially fled to Italy after the Nazi puppet government confiscated their property. After Italy fell to the Allies, Vladimir “Vlado” Herzog—eight years old at the time—and his family immigrated to Brazil.
During the ’50s and ’60s, Brazil experienced rapid economic growth. Herzog’s parents urged him to study the physical sciences, but he was interested in the humanities.
After working three years for BBC News Brazil in London, he returned to Brazil, this time to a military-controlled country. In 1975, he was offered a news director role at the television journalism department at TV Cultura, a network that was run by the government of Sao Paolo but nonetheless enjoyed independence in its reporting.
On the morning of Oct. 25, 1975, Herzog voluntarily entered a police station for questioning about his alleged spreading of communist ideas. There he was tortured to death with beatings, strangulation, ammonia gas and electric shocks, according to Anu—Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.
The government released a photo of his body, alleging that he hanged himself with a belt.
Brazilian Attorney General Jorge Messias on Thursday hailed the government’s decision to recognize its role in Herzog’s killing.
“Today, we are witnessing something unprecedented: The Brazilian state formally honoring the memory of Vladimir Herzog,” AP quoted him as saying.
“This has been a struggle not only of the Herzog family, but of all the families of the murdered and disappeared,” said Ivo Herzog, the report added.
