In September 1973 a CIA-assisted coup overthrew the democratically-elected president of Chile, ushering in the Pinochet dictatorship. In 1975, Kathleen Osberger, a recent graduate and lay volunteer from Notre Dame, left for Santiago to teach in a Catholic grade school. Upon arrival, she was told a secret: the religious women she would live with sheltered dissidents in the cross-hairs of Pinochet’s secret police. Given the ever-tightening vise over the citizenry, brave and prophetic people reached out to protect the dissidents’ lives in a world without due process and where detention, torture, disappearance, and death reigned. Soon, Osberger is handed a blindfold, a warrant, and must go on the run.
I Surrender depicts the solidarity of the Chilean people and the transformational role of nuns and priests dedicated to serving the poor, while highlighting the changing and challenged Catholic Church.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Preface xi
Interviews xiii
Part I. Journey: 1953–1975
1. Descent 1
2. Invisible Passports 13
3. San Miguelito, Panama 17
Part II. Immersion in Santiago
4. San Juan de Dios School in Buzeta 20
5. Los Desaparecidos—“Where Are They?” 26
6. In the Población and Los Chicago Boys 30
7. Weekends 36
8. Full House on Orellana 41
Part III. A New Consciousness and a Coup: 1968–1973
9. A New Consciousness 45
10. Touching the Soul 50
11. The Allende Years until the Coup 55
Part IV. It Happened So Fast
12. A Visitor Arrives 62
13. Dinner with Isabel 64
14. Twilight 67
Part V. The Church Bears Witness: October 15–31, 1975
15. Malloco 69
16. I Was Sick and You Looked After Me 83
17. In the Trunk of the Peugeot 90
Part VI. The Day of the Dead: November 1–2, 1975
18. El Día de Todos los Santos 93
19. El Día de los Muertos 113
20. No Place to Hide before the Nation 134
Part VII. Solidarity: November 3–8, 1975
21. Another Fiat and Solidarity 141
22. Reading between the Lies: November 5 153
23. Sheila’s Night of Torture: November 1–2 157
24. Bando 89: November 6 159
25. Inside the Nunciatura: November 7 162
26. Pudahuel: November 7 163
27. Pascal Allende, Phil Devlin, and Diplomats: November 8 167
28. No Need to Say Anything: November 2–8 172
Part VIII. Take Cover: November 9–19, 1975
29. Isabel 180
30. Conflict in the Pews: November 9–10 184
31. Testing the Waters: November 10–16 186
32. A Photo of Sheila: November 12 188
33. Quintero: November 14–16 191
34. A Bait and Switch: November 15–17 195
35. The United Nations Condemns Chile: November 12 198
36. Cardinal Silva in Rome: November 16–28 200
37. Rattled: November 17 201
38. Elfriede and Edelweiss: November 18 202
Part IX. Inside the Consulate: November 18–December 5, 1975
39. Charles Stout: November 18 205
40. Inside the Consulate: November 19 210
41. Daniel Panchot—In the Vortex: November 14–18 213
42. El Pizarrón—The Blackboard: November 20–21 215
43. Comité Pro Paz Dissolved: November 20–22 218
44. The Memo Tells All: November 21 220
45. Consulate Woes 222
46. Exile: November 24–26 225
47. The American Commander: November 25 229
48. Thanksgiving: November 27–30 235
49. A Letter to the Editor: December 2 240
50. Neither Yes nor No: November 7–December 2 242
51. Balcony Doors: November 28–December 5 243
Epilogue 245
Notes 258
Bibliography 270
About the Author :
Kathleen Osberger earned her B.A. at the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. from Maryknoll School of Theology, and an A.M. from the University of Chicago–School of Social Work Administration. Her life was shaped by volunteer experiences when she lived in San Miguelito, Panamá; Santiago, Chile; Chimbote, Perú and the South Bronx. In 1987 she began a seventeen-year relationship with the Maryknoll Lay Missioners as an instructor in their orientation to mission program. In 1993 she joined the University of Chicago Hospitals—Department of Psychiatry. Her work as a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist has centered on the issues of trauma and torture. She currently lives in Chicago.
Review :
“A riveting account of terrors executed by the Pinochet regime upon the Chilean people and Catholic religious communities living among them. Osberger's narrative is heart-stopping. Her memoir witnesses to the suffering and resilience of the Chilean people, to heroic lives of her companions, and most movingly, of her own encounter with the divine in the midst of life-threatening perils.” —Kathleen M. O’Connor, Columbia Theological Seminary
“This book had me quickly and completely riveted to the telling of the author’s experience, sparking a reliving of my own! Beautifully written, giving graphic and prophetic witness to the reality of Chile’s dictatorship.” —Pat Farrell, OSF
“Two years into Pinochet’s reign of terror a 22-year-old enters his house of terrors. We meet nuns and teachers whose ingenuity outsmarts Pinochet’s intelligence police and CIA accomplices. Riveting and inspiring, Osberger places the reader there and you cannot look away.” —Renny Golden, author, The Music of Her Rivers
“An important chapter not only in Chile, but in the Catholic church and in the modern human rights movement.” —Phillip Berryman, author, Latin America at 200: A New Introduction
"The story is riveting, the writing is excellent, the relevance to today's world is frightening." - Sr. Terri Mackenzie, SHCJ, Society of the Holy Child Jesus
"Underneath the breakneck plot is a foundation of deep wisdom built on five decades of reflection on the traumatic events of that November. As she tells her story, Osberger, who later became a social worker and psychotherapist, outlines the United States’ involvement in Chilean politics in the 1970s, testifies to the self-giving faith of the sisters who helped one another escape, and offers a glimpse into the surprisingly solid trust in God that sometimes emerges when all seems lost."- The Christian Century
