Opportunities for Mourning When Grief is Disenfranchised
Descendants of Nazi Perpetrators in Dialogue with Holocaust Survivors
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13630413 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathy Livingston (Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 205-222 |
| Publication date | 2010-07-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2190/om.61.3.c |
| PMID | 20873533 |
| OpenAlex | W2030651111 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 38 |
This article explores the concepts of unmourned and disenfranchised grief as a way to understand the experiences of adult children of Nazi perpetrators, who grew up with cultural norms of grieving alone or in silence. The scholarly literature on descendants of Nazis reflects a group unlikely to warrant empathy or support from others because of the stigma surrounding their family's possible involvement in the Holocaust atrocities. This article uses, as a case study approach, the testimony given by Monika Hertwig, the adult daughter of a high ranking Nazi, who appears in the documentary film, Inheritance. From the perspective of disenfranchised grief, defined as grief that is not socially recognized or supported, the article links Monika's testimony with existing research from in-depth interviews with other descendants of Nazis to suggest that, as a group, they lacked permission to grieve their deceased parents, acknowledgment of their grief, and opportunities to mourn. Based on the theory that the effects of grief can be transgenerational, the disenfranchisement experienced by the "children of the Third Reich" does not have to pass to subsequent generations if opportunities for mourning are made possible and some resolution of grief occurs. Studies have shown that ongoing dialogue groups between Holocaust survivors and descendants of Nazis provide opportunities for mourning to both groups
Criminology · Grief · Holocaust survivors · Nazism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Sociology · The Holocaust · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology
Legacy of silence
Disenfranchised Grief
Symptomatology and Management of Acute Grief
A Biographical Case Study of a Victimizer's Daughter's Strategy
Psychosocial Themes in the Lives of Children of Survivors and Nazis
The Increasing Prevalence of Complicated Mourning
Disenfranchised Grief Revisited
Children of the Condemned
Disenfranchised Grief and Nonfinite Loss as Experienced by the Families of Death Row Inmates
Vanishing Acts
Veiling and denying the past
Testing the limits of trauma
To commit or not commit to human life
Descendants of holocaust victims and perpetrators
Treating holocaust survivors
The importance of conceiving of grief as an active process
Adult children of dysfunctional families
Rituals and the Grieving Process
Solace and immortality
The Dual Process Model of Coping With Bereavement
Bereavement as a Psychosocial Transition
Born Guilty
Detachment revisited
Transforming Our Legacies
Holocaust Perpetrators and Their Children
Descendants of Nazi Perpetrators
First Encounter Between Children of Survivors and Children of Perpetrators of the Holocaust
Dialogue Toward Agenocide
Descendants of the Holocaust Meet Descendants of the Third Reich
Unearthing the Construct of Transgenerational Grief
The Intergenerational Effects of Grief and Trauma
Mourning, Meaning, and Not Repeating
The Healing Effects of Storytelling
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2024 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |