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Justice Matters: Legacies of the Holocaust and World War II
In the fall of 1992, in a small room in Boston, MA, an extraordinary meeting took place. For the first time, the sons and daughters of Holocaust victims met face-to-face with the children of Nazis for a fascinating research project to discuss the intersections of their pasts and the painful legacies that history has imposed on them. Taking that remarkable gathering as its starting point, Justice Matters illustrates how the psychology of hatred and ethnic resentments is passed from generation to generation. Psychologist Mona Weissmark, herself the child of Holocaust survivors, argues that justice is profoundly shaped by emotional responses. In her in-depth study of the legacy encountered by these children, Weissmark found, not surprisingly, that in the face of unjust treatment, the natural response is resentment and deep anger-and, in most cases, an overwhelming need for revenge. Weissmark argues that, while legal systems offer a structured means for redressing injustice, they
have rarely addressed the emotional pain, which, left unresolved, is then passed along to the next generation-leading to entrenched ethnic tension and group conflict.
In the grim litany of twentieth-century genocides, few events cut a broader and more lasting swath through humanity than the Holocaust. How then would the offspring of Nazis and survivors react to the idea of reestablishing a relationship? Could they talk to each other without open hostility? Could they even attempt to imagine the experiences and outlook of the other? Would they be willing to abandon their self-definition as aggrieved victims as a means of moving forward?
Central to the perspectives of each group, Weissmark found, were stories, searing anecdotes passed from parent to grandchild, from aunt to nephew, which personalized with singular intensity the experience. She describes how these stories or "legacies" transmit moral values, beliefs and emotions and thus freeze the past into place. For instance, cdxfmerged that most children of Nazis reported their parents told them stories about the war whereas children of survivors reported their parents told them stories about the Holocaust. The daughter of a survivor "I didn't even know there was a war until I was a teenager. I didn't even know fifty million people were killed during the war I thought just six million Jews were killed." While the daughter of a Nazi officer "I didn't know about the concentration-camps until I was in my teens. First I heard about the [Nazi] party. Then I heard stories about the war, about bombs falling or about not having food."
At a time when the political arena is saturated with talk of justice tribunals, reparations, and revenge management, Justice Matters provides valuable insights into the aftermath of ethnic and religious conflicts around the world, from Rwanda to the Balkans, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East. The stories recounted here, and the lessons they offer, have universal applications for any divided society determined not to let the ghosts of the past determine the future.
have rarely addressed the emotional pain, which, left unresolved, is then passed along to the next generation-leading to entrenched ethnic tension and group conflict.
In the grim litany of twentieth-century genocides, few events cut a broader and more lasting swath through humanity than the Holocaust. How then would the offspring of Nazis and survivors react to the idea of reestablishing a relationship? Could they talk to each other without open hostility? Could they even attempt to imagine the experiences and outlook of the other? Would they be willing to abandon their self-definition as aggrieved victims as a means of moving forward?
Central to the perspectives of each group, Weissmark found, were stories, searing anecdotes passed from parent to grandchild, from aunt to nephew, which personalized with singular intensity the experience. She describes how these stories or "legacies" transmit moral values, beliefs and emotions and thus freeze the past into place. For instance, cdxfmerged that most children of Nazis reported their parents told them stories about the war whereas children of survivors reported their parents told them stories about the Holocaust. The daughter of a survivor "I didn't even know there was a war until I was a teenager. I didn't even know fifty million people were killed during the war I thought just six million Jews were killed." While the daughter of a Nazi officer "I didn't know about the concentration-camps until I was in my teens. First I heard about the [Nazi] party. Then I heard stories about the war, about bombs falling or about not having food."
At a time when the political arena is saturated with talk of justice tribunals, reparations, and revenge management, Justice Matters provides valuable insights into the aftermath of ethnic and religious conflicts around the world, from Rwanda to the Balkans, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East. The stories recounted here, and the lessons they offer, have universal applications for any divided society determined not to let the ghosts of the past determine the future.
- GenresHolocaustNonfiction
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 29, 2003
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About the author
Mona Sue Weissmark
3 books4 followersFrom:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_We...
Mona Sue Weissmark is an American clinical psychologist and social psychologist, researcher, and author whose work on diversity and justice has received global recognition. She is best known for her groundbreaking social experiment of bringing children of Holocaust survivors face-to-face with children of Nazis, and later, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of African American slaves with descendants of slave owners.
She is also a professor of psychology and author of numerous journal articles and the books: Doing Psychotherapy Effectively (University of Chicago Press); Justice Matters: Legacies of the Holocaust and World War II (Oxford University Press); The Science of Diversity® (Oxford University Press).
Weissmark received a bachelor’s degree at McGill University and a doctorate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and was appointed lecturer at Harvard Medical School, teaching graduate courses on research methods. Later, she moved to Chicago and joined the faculty at Roosevelt University as a tenured associate professor of Psychology and also joined the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University as a visiting scholar.
Weissmark was named Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University and founded the Global Mental Health Studies Program at the Buffett Institute. She also is a visiting professor of Psychology at Harvard University where she teaches the course “Psychology of Diversity” and conducts research on the science of diversity.
Weissmark was born in Vineland, New Jersey. She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband a University of Chicago psychiatrist. They have one awesome daughter.
Mona Sue Weissmark is an American clinical psychologist and social psychologist, researcher, and author whose work on diversity and justice has received global recognition. She is best known for her groundbreaking social experiment of bringing children of Holocaust survivors face-to-face with children of Nazis, and later, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of African American slaves with descendants of slave owners.
She is also a professor of psychology and author of numerous journal articles and the books: Doing Psychotherapy Effectively (University of Chicago Press); Justice Matters: Legacies of the Holocaust and World War II (Oxford University Press); The Science of Diversity® (Oxford University Press).
Weissmark received a bachelor’s degree at McGill University and a doctorate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and was appointed lecturer at Harvard Medical School, teaching graduate courses on research methods. Later, she moved to Chicago and joined the faculty at Roosevelt University as a tenured associate professor of Psychology and also joined the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University as a visiting scholar.
Weissmark was named Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University and founded the Global Mental Health Studies Program at the Buffett Institute. She also is a visiting professor of Psychology at Harvard University where she teaches the course “Psychology of Diversity” and conducts research on the science of diversity.
Weissmark was born in Vineland, New Jersey. She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband a University of Chicago psychiatrist. They have one awesome daughter.
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April 28, 2012Weissmark organized a remarkable meeting in 1992, bringing together the grown children of Holocaust survivors and the grown children of Nazis for four days of intense discussion. She quotes members of both groups at length, and to powerful effect, exploring such questions as "Can good people commit heinous acts?" and "Must a survivor's suffering be passed on to children?" For psychoanalytical context she refers in part to Stanley Milgram's obedience studies; for historical context she refers to the post-war trial of Adolph Eichmann. (Jeff B., Reader's Services)
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