Summary.
Hillel Klein has called the holocaust “the dark core of the twentieth century”. It was the aim of weekly conferences, held in Israel in 1994 and 1996, to explore its repercussions on current behaviour. The topic was “The past in the present”. The participants were Israelis and Germans, the staff international. The method used was the application of the “group relations conference”, specially devised for these conferences. The leadership was in the hands of Eric J. Miller, director of the group relations program at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, where this group method originated and continues to be particularly cultivated still today. It is especially suited when an unconscious conflict between subgroups exists that emerges on the surface in forms which lead to confusion and misunderstandings. The task which had been put to the participants was as follows: to explore how feelings and fantasies influence relations within and between the two groups. This was easy to remember but not always easy to adhere to. There were moments when fantasy and reality got confused, accompanied by intense feelings. Such moments are described with
in the group process where it was possible to gain insight where denial had reigned before.
Zusammenfassung.
Hillel Klein hat den Holocaust „den dunklen Kern des 20. Jahrhunderts“ genannt. Auswirkungen auf gegenwärtiges Verhalten zu erforschen war das Ziel von Konferenzen, die je einwöchig 1994 und 1996 in Israel stattfanden und an denen Israelis und Deutsche teilnahmen.2 Als Methode fand die „Gruppenbeziehungskonferenz“ Anwendung, die am Tavistock-Institut für menschliche Beziehungen in London entwickelt worden ist. Die Aufgabe, die den Teilnehmern gestellt war, lautete, auf Gefühle und Phantasien zu achten, die in und zwischen den beiden Gruppen entstehen. In dieser Arbeit werden Momente im Gruppenprozeß beschrieben, in denen es gelang, Einsicht zu schaffen, wo Verleugnung geherrscht hatte.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nedelmann, C. Die Vergangenheit in der Gegenwart zwischen Deutschen und Juden. Forum Psychoanal 14, 176–189 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004510050014
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004510050014