Past Between Them

First Meeting Between Children of Holocaust Survivors and Children of Nazis.
Meeting took place at Harvard University. It was organized by Professor Mona Sue Weissmark and colleagues.
For related information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Weissmark

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• Forgiveness
• Reconciliation
• Nazis
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• reconciliation
• forgiveness
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[RElwood11]

It's amazing that this meeting was facilitated in order to release all of the participants from this shared guilt to allow them to move forward.

[RElwood11]

It's interesting how many of the people in the study seemed to share guilt, regardless of their "group identity". Helga, the daughter of a Nazi, explained feeling guilt on behalf of her parents despite the fact that she was ashamed of their actions and was not at all involved in their crimes. On the other hand Sally, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said she felt guilty for participating in the study.

[BeatBoxingBetty]

I think that this was an awesome study; it was really nice to see these two groups come together, even though we've talked a lot about how these were probably exceptionally open groups of people anyway. It might have been interesting to interview the people before they were faced with a room of people to see if their opinions were tempered at all by their company, half of which were from the "other side." (And maybe they WERE interviewed beforehand; I'm not sure.)

[EastsideConnection56]

All in all, an amazing study.

[EastsideConnection56]

This sense of cathartic release brings me to wonder whether some folks came to meet solely for the purpose of cathartic release as opposed to catharsis in addition to getting to know other individuals and their stories. For example, when the daughter of one Nazi talked about releasing herself from the burden of guilt, I wondered if she had come to the meeting for the sake of being able to say, ‘I went. I did my part. I wash my hands, etc.’ If I were a Jewish person there, I might feel offended.

[EastsideConnection56]

I found Helga’s response re: her guilt to be very genuine and painful. She seemed to be having a cathartic release from the discussion, and my guess is several others did too.

[EastsideConnection56]

I agree they are not likely to have a common identity, but instead a connectedness in a shared sense of pain that manifests itself in different ways, and in the shared sense that history has indeed had a heavy, psychic burden on them.

[wilsays]

I think that these two groups meeting was an act of courage on both sides. To meet the children of people who imprisoned and tortured your parents and tell them that you do not hold any hatred towards them is truly incredible. I know that I would never be able to forgive them, and for that I truly respect them. On the other side, to meet the children of people whom your parents tortured must have truly been awkward and difficult to do. This was truly a big step forward for both groups.

[sweenea]

I think one of the more interesting parts of this process is how people deal with and express the idea of moving forward and leaving behind their guilt. Many participants talked about starting a new chapter by moving away from their past, but to do so requires this event in which they all face their past, a past that is only theirs by default. The video points out that "no one wanted to be born into this legacy," but they still feel it's impact so strongly, and must face it to overcome it.

[BConNU1]

I believe the meeting was fully beneficial for both parties. Although, as previously stated, I agree with the statement that they both do not share a similar feeling. They all can agree that the past events have affected their psychological well being today but they are suffering from completely different feelings: guilt and sadness/anger. Meeting the other side was very beneficial because, as said in the video, it is a great start to a forgiving future for these two conflicting legacies.