With the fury that generated the premiere of El Eternalauta in Netflix, Many are approaching the story behind the mythical character created by Héctor Germán Oesterheld. And they are also discovering that their author lived a tragedy marked by political commitment, repression and forced disappearance. The book The oesterheld, De Fernanda Nicolini y Alicia Beltrami, Reconstructs that life story and family militancy from a deeply human place.
Published by Editorial Sudamericana in 2016, this journalistic work puts in the center the testimony of those who knew and shared life with the Oesterheld: friends, companions of militancy, survivors, colleagues and family. Through 60 interviews, the book reconstructs Hector’s profile and his four daughters – this, Diana, Beatriz and Marina – all Montoneros and missing militants between 1976 and 1977.
The story stops in affective links, parenting, political convictions, loves and daily life of a family who chose to commit to his time. Héctor was kidnapped by the dictatorship on April 27, 1977, after having gone to hiding. At that time, three of his daughters had already been missing. Marina, the youngest, was kidnapped months later. The book also accounts for the destiny of the son -in -law and grandchildren, and the silent courage of Elsa Sánchez de Oesterheld, the mother who looked for them until the end of her days.
The Oesterheld It is not just a portrait of absences. It is, above all, an act of memory. With a sensitive tone, without falling into low blows, the authors manage to transmit the family drama without losing the collective dimension of what was state terrorism in Argentina. The book is read as a novel, but each page is supported by the rigor of an investigation that lasted years.
It is also an opportunity to read the Eternaluta with other eyes: as a story that, like the life of its creator, speaks of possible resistance, decisions and futures.
