Archivo Nacional de la Memoria ANM

History and Founding

The Archivo Nacional de la Memoria (ANM) was created by Decree No. 1,259 of December 16, 2003, under President Néstor Kirchner. It was established as a decentralized body under the Secretaría de Derechos Humanos del Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos. Since November 2007, the ANM has been housed at the Espacio para la Memoria, Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, located in the former ESMA (Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada), which operated as a clandestine detention and torture center during Argentina's last military dictatorship. In 2009, the documentary heritage coordinated by the ANM was registered by UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme under the title "Patrimonio documental sobre Derechos Humanos 1976–1983." In 2025, the ANM became a unit of the Centro Internacional para la Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CIPDH).

Collections and Holdings

The ANM preserves funds and collections of public and private origin related primarily to human rights violations during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983). These include documentation used as evidence in trials for crimes against humanity, testimonies, intelligence files, photographs, audiovisual materials, and records of the societal and institutional response to the repression. Collections are intangible by law—they must be preserved without alteration. The ANM's Archivo Digital de la Memoria has operated since 2001 and was integrated into the ANM's structure in 2003.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The archive holds documentation related to the persecution of journalists and media workers during the dictatorship, surveillance files from intelligence agencies, and audiovisual testimonies from survivors. These collections are essential primary sources for the history of press freedom and censorship in Argentina during the 1976–1983 period.

Access and Usage

The ANM's digital catalog is publicly accessible online. Physical consultation of materials is subject to the archive's access policy (Disposición DI-2022-60264647-APN-ANM#MJ), which guarantees open access to publicly available documents. The ANM also coordinates with foreign institutions for the declassification of documents held abroad that refer to Argentina.