Democratic societies, both the “old” and the “new” ones, that were confronted to a violent past, today don’t seem to share but a fragmented and conflictive memory of this past. The measures of transitional justice that democratic governments took in the Southern Cone and in South Africa (amnesties, “truth”
and reparations) didn’t allow the invention of a united memory. This article tries to take stock of these experiences, from the point of view of four different goals targeted by the governments. Transitional justice contributed to the stabilization of the democratic regime, but did not put an end to the misunderstanding.