Descendants of Nazi perpetrators: Seven years after the first interviews

Dan Bar-On

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Numerous publications describe the original sample of descendants1 of Nazi perpetrators in Germany: the silencing by both their families and the German society of their parents' participation in the extermination process during the Third Reich, their working-through process, the "double wall" phenomenon between them and their parents, the logic of the descendants' moral arguments, their parents' paradoxical morality, the descendants' identification and pseudoidentification with the victims (Bar-On, 1989a, 1989b, 1990a, 1990b, 1991b; Bar-On & Charny, 1992; Bar-On & Gaon, 1991; Rosenthal & Bar-On, 1992). In addition, several television programs and journalists have interviewed the German self-help group that evolved as a by-product of this study.2 The present discussion is a follow-up of that study, 71/2 years after the initial interviews took place, and concentrates on three perspectives: (1) The perspective of the German interviewees: In what way did the numerous interviews, the group work, or both affect their life perspective? (2) the positive and negative roles of the media in this process; and (3) the role of the author as interviewer, participator, observer.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)55-74
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Humanistic Psychology
Volume36
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Philosophy
  • Sociology and Political Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Descendants of Nazi perpetrators: Seven years after the first interviews'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this