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Vladimir Herzog (27 June 1937 – 25 October 1975), nicknamed Vlado (a usual Croatian abbreviation for the name Vladimir) by his family and friends,Freitas, Daelcio. "Jornalista morto pelo regime militar: Vladimir Herzog", UOL Educação was a
journalist, university professor and playwright of Croatian-Jewish origin and born in today's Croatia. He also developed a taste for photography, because of his film projects. "Quem foi Vladimir Herzog" , no Instituto Vladimir Herzog
Herzog was a member of the Brazilian Communist Party and was active in the civil resistance movement against the military dictatorship in Brazil. In October 1975, Herzog, then editor-in-chief of TV Cultura, was tortured to death by the political police of the military dictatorship, which later staged his suicide. It took 37 years before his death certificate was revised to say that he had in fact died as a result of torture by the army at DOI-CODI. His death had a great impact on the Brazilian society, marking the beginning of a wave of action towards the re-democratization process of the country.
After his graduation, he worked as a journalist in the major media outlets in Brazil, notably in the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. During that period he decided to use "Vladimir" instead of "Vlado" as his first name because he felt that his real name sounded extremely exotic in Brazil. Following the 1965 right-wing coup d'état Herzog together with his wife Clarice Ribeiro Chaves, moved to Britain, where for three years he worked in London for the BBC. They returned to Brazil in late 1968.Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, REPORT No. 71/15 CASE 12.879, "Report on the Merits Vladimir Herzog and Others in Brazil", (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.156 Doc. 24, 28 October 2015 Original: Spanish), p. 16
In the 1970s Herzog became the editor-in-chief of TV Cultura, a public TV station managed by the São Paulo State government. He also became a journalism professor at the University of São Paulo School of Communication and Arts and at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado's Journalism course. Alongside this, he developed a career as a playwright, mixing with the artistic and theatre Intelligentsia of Brazil. Later in his life, Herzog became active in the civil resistance movement against the military dictatorship in Brazil, as a member of the Brazilian Communist Party (). As a news director at the TV station, Herzog advocated the responsibility of journalists to society and reported on the first decade of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Military intelligence spies working inside the TV station reported to their handlers that Herzog is "a problem for the military regime."Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, REPORT No. 71/15 CASE 12.879, "Report on the Merits Vladimir Herzog and Others in Brazil", (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.156 Doc. 24, 28 October 2015 Original: Spanish), pp. 16-17
On 25 October, Herzog's body was found hanging in his prison cell. Before the revision, his death certificate stated: "suicide by hanging". According to the opposition, the DOI-CODI officers would have placed his body in the position it was found in order to inform the press that he had committed suicide.
The autopsy was inconclusive, but at the time forensic pathologists were members of the police and systematically produced false autopsy reports in cases of death by torture. The Search for Brazil's Disappeared - The Mass Grave at Dom Bosco Cemetery by The physicians for human rights on March 13, 1991
Public opinion, however, never accepted this version and his murder generated national indignation. The president of the Republic at the time, General Ernesto Geisel was also upset by these and other actions by what he called the "criminals" of the largely parallel power of military-directed violent political repression. As a result, he ordered a clean-up and reduction in these activities, firing the main ultra-right wing general behind it, Ednardo D'Ávila Melo.
According to Henry Sobel, the chief rabbi of the main synagogue of São Paulo at the time, the murder of Herzog changed the country. "It was the catalyst of the eventual restoration of democracy. His death will always be a painful memory of a shady period of repression, a perpetual echo of the voice of freedom, which will never be kept silent".
After finding out that Herzog's body bore the marks of torture, Rabbi Sobel decided that he should be buried in the centre of the cemetery rather than in a corner, as Jewish tradition demands in cases of suicide. This was made public and completely destroyed the official version of suicide. Officially, the first irrefutable proof that Herzog's death was not a suicide was reported in Fernando Pacheco Jordão's Dossier Herzog - Prisão, Tortura e Morte no Brasil. The author points out that the picture provided by the military as proof of Herzog's suicide portrayed the prisoner hanging by his prison belt tied to his cell's bars with his feet touching the floor and his knees notably bent.
By the time of Herzog's death, Brazil was in extreme tension. The military had been in power for over ten years and the Brazilian population was constantly in fear. Herzog was the thirty-eighth person to "commit suicide" after being arrested by the military. The first thirty-seven, however, were not as renowned as Herzog was. Precisely because he was a public figure his death attracted public and governmental attention to the case. His death is seen today as the beginning of the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Herzog has become a symbol of the fight for democracy in Brazil and has been honoured in many ways, such as by attributing it to the street where the TV Cultura is located in São Paulo. In addition, a public prize for journalism devoted to amnesty and human rights has been established in his name (Prêmio de Jornalismo Vladimir Herzog de Anistia e Direitos Humanos).
At the request of several religious and human rights groups, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an independent arm of the Organization of American States, investigated the conflicting circumstances surrounding the death of Vladimir Herzog, and found that the Brazilian junta arrested, tortured and murdered Herzog because of his activities as a journalist.Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, REPORT No. 71/15 CASE 12.879, "Report on the Merits Vladimir Herzog and Others in Brazil", (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.156 Doc. 24, 28 October 2015 Original: Spanish), pp. 39-41
A new death certificate was issued 37 years after Herzog's death to indicate that he died "due to physical torture at the facilities of DOI-Codi in the 2nd Army in São Paulo." His previous certificate indicated a possible suicide.
Ivo Herzog, son of Vladimir Herzog, delivered petitions for José Maria Marin's removal from the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Ivo cited the speeches Marin delivered as congressional representative that praised Sérgio Fleury, who was head of the Department of Political and Social Order (Departamento de Ordem Politica e Social) during Brazil's military dictatorship, and for criticizing Herzog in speeches from 1975.
On 26 June 2025, the federal government formally admitted responsibility for Herzog's death.
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