KAAD-seminar "Dealing with a Violent Past, Guilt and Collective Trauma – an Approach"

|   Aktuelles, Seminare

In order to approach this topic and reflect on experiences of violence in their home countries, 25 KAAD scholars and alumni from 15 countries traveled to Oświęcim (Auschwitz) in Poland from May 17th to 21st.

Many KAAD scholars come from countries where traumatic violence is part of the past and present. Ethnically motivated hatred plays a central role in this and often makes reconciliation between the involved groups extremely difficult.

This seminar was facilitated by Dr. Marko Kuhn and accompanied by Fr. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Engel OP and Helen Meier. The venue was Oświęcim in Poland. This town is better known by the German name "Auschwitz" and this name has become the epitome of human abysses and cruelty. The different forms, content and functions of the memory of Auschwitz still have a major impact on relations within and between countries. In addition, the analysis of what happened there and its consequences is exemplary for dealing with experiences of violence and its aftermath, making this town a place where the topics of the seminar could be dealt with in a special way.

The analysis of dealing with past violence began with a presentation by Paweł Sawicki, press officer and museum guide at the Auschwitz Memorial, on the subject of "Coming to terms with a violent past as a challenge". Sawicki showed how difficult it is to deal with the absolute horror of the Auschwitz concentration camp, not least with the increasing distance in time since the existence of the concentration camp. Above all, modern social media and their mechanisms pose a particular challenge in this.

Afterwards, Pastor Dr. Manfred Deselaers spoke about “Commemoration as a Way to a Common Future. The Work of the Church at the Auschwitz Memorial”. Deselaers has lived in Oświęcim for over thirty years and is dedicated to German-Polish and Christian-Jewish reconciliation work. Finally, one of the participants, KAAD-alumnaDr. Izabela Drozdowska-Broering, gave a presentation that prepared the group for the seminar by pointing out the history of the Auschwitz camp and its importance for Poland and Europe.

The central element of the seminar was then the visit to the memorial site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and the impressions that the group was able to collect there over a period of seven hours. It was impossible to articulate and analyse all the feelings and impressions the participants got during the tour, but an exchange in the evening tried to make a start. On the next day, dealing with the horrors of the concentration and extermination camps was intensified in a special way by a conversation with Zdzisława Włodarczyk. The now 89-year-old woman survived the Birkenau extermination camp as a child and reported on her unimaginable experiences. This very emotional encounter was a highlight of the seminar for the scholars and formed the basis for the question of the (im)possibility of forgiveness. In the afternoon, the group toured the town of Oświęcim and the local synagogue before driving to the neighbouring village of Harmęże to see the exhibition of drawings by Marian Kołodziej, who survived as a prisoner that was taken to Auschwitz on the first transport in 1940. After decades of silence, he suffered a stroke in 1992 and after that began ‘drawing out’ his memories of Auschwitz with a pencil. The images that emerged in the process repeatedly put Father Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life for that of another prisoner in Auschwitz, at the center of his artwork. His disturbing drawings in the face of contempt for God and man allowed many a deeper look into the extent of the scorn and destruction and clarified the "duty of remembering the victims" that the survivors of the concentration camp had imposed on themselves.

In order to integrate all these impressions into the different perspectives, experience and interpretation contexts of the participants, the last two seminar days were characterized by attempts to come to terms with violence and discrimination. This was done both on the political and on the social level, i.e. with regard to the participants’ own stories of violence. A presentation by KAAD-alumnus Prof. Dr. Rafał Riedel (Opole University) made inroads into this area. His title was “The Experience of Auschwitz – the Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Collective Memory of Europe”. He traced seven circles of collective remembrance in Europe, starting with the Holocaust, war and expulsion, including remembering Soviet communism and dealing with the violence of the colonial era. As a result, negative 'founding myths' gave rise to a unification process that found a success story in the European Union and peaceful coexistence.

The participants then determined the further conversation about the topics of the seminar themselves by discussing them in small groups according to the rules of the ‘Open Space’ method. Following this system, the subtopics came from the group and individual discussants took responsibility for their topics. This way they entered into a lively exchange, e.g. about political interests in dealing with history, the conditions of coexistence after ethnic violence or the role of the global North in civil wars in the global South.

The seminar ended with a Holy Mass, which Manfred Deselaers celebrated with the participants. In his sermon, he recalled the everlasting task of becoming and being human, even under the most terrible conditions and even when violence and atrocities are used to try to rob people of their humanity

 

Voices of Participants of the Seminar in Auschwitz (excerpts, quoted from their feedback)

When one of the survivors of the concentration camp in Birkenau shared her story about the traumatic events, I could see that psychological healing has a lot to do with telling the story and having a purpose in doing so. She appeared surprisingly strong when narrating to us – even though she has not had therapeutically guided interventions. This seminar was very much linked to my study and what is currently happening globally. We all listened and brought our own stories with us.

Juma Kalyegira, Uganda

 

I had watched movies such as ‘Schindler’s List’, but nothing could have prepared me for the experience of setting my foot in Auschwitz! We found ourselves standing at the entrance of the camp, as if stepping into another world. Under the eerie sign of "Arbeit Macht Frei", which dripped bitter irony, we embarked on an emotional odyssey that would leave indelible imprints on our souls. Our guide, seasoned by countless tours through this tragic landscape, unfolded the horrifying chronicles with a gentle touch, but the content of his words felt like icy droplets in our headphones.

It was like an agonizing pilgrimage for us to see the silent, solitary chimneys standing as grim monuments and the wooden barracks that once housed skeletal figures forced to endure inhumane existence. Over one million innocents brutally extinguished!!!! The realization that until the very last moments those destined for the gas chambers remained unaware of their impending end was a revelation that hit me profoundly and left a scar on my heart. On the next day I listened to Zdzisława Włodarczyk, a survivor of the camp, now aged 90 and hearing her story added a depth of understanding that was as humbling as it was heart-breaking.  

Growing up in Zimbabwe and given my deep connection with Rwanda, I was no stranger to man's inhumanity to man. Yet, standing within the dreadful walls of Auschwitz-Birkenau, I was staring directly into the cold eyes of evil. Why? How could any soul entertain such toxic hatred to unleash such unthinkable horrors on their fellow human beings?

Adio Dinika, Zimbabwe

 

I really felt that the soil speaks and the air tells us about the torment that lived here. Visiting Auschwitz gave us the ability to see conflict with a broader vision. We now see the conflicts in our countries and all over the world, realize what our grudge and hatred leads to and how it ignites a fire that burns everyone. Auschwitz reminds us how painful these memories are and how beautiful it would be if we lived in this world in love, peace, and acceptance of the other, regardless of their appearance, race, faith, and beliefs... so that we may not fall into what the people of Auschwitz did and what so many of the world's people are falling into today.

Adele Isber, Syria

 

This seminar, my visit to the Concentration Camp and the synagogue in Oświęcim, exploring Marian Kołodziej’s artwork and listening to the testimony of survivor Zdzisława Włodarczyk, has deepened my understanding of the dark side of humanity and the horrors of the Holocaust. The magnitude of the atrocities made my soul dark while the story of Maximilian Kolbe was heart-warming.

Abel Yonas, Ethiopia

 

I came to this Seminar with little knowledge about the suffering people had to go through during the Nazi regime. I had read a book called ‘Man's Search for Meaning’ and saw some videos on YouTube. But when I saw such horrible memories in front of me and touched some places, I could only ask “how, how, how??”… What struck me was to learn about another type of victim, the one of the “Sonderkommando”, who had no choice to say ‘’no, I can’t do that’’, who was forced to follow the orders of the killers in order to survive. I wondered how I would live every day with the feelings of having been part of all this. I was also deeply saddened by the thought that the victims had no graves or individual memorials for their families to visit.
On the other side, I was also touched how strong the survivors were to save all these memories in a museum and to send the message all over the world what has happened here. Meeting the survivor Zdzisława Włodarczyk showed me what it means that she has forgiven but will never forget.

Sabreen Dawoud, Egypt

 

Visiting Auschwitz is an incredible experience that cannot be described in words. Walking through the corridors, gazing through the rusted iron gates, and seeing the remains of the prisoners' personal possessions such as shoes, clothing, toothbrushes, and glasses strikes an emotional connection that is impossible to escape. As the father of three boys under the age of 10, I felt powerless as I looked at the clothes of the children victims.

The experience serves as a reminder of humanity's worst qualities, as well as the significance of continuing to work to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future, particularly in my own country. I am grateful to KAAD for giving me the opportunity to visit Auschwitz and understand deeper.

Ashenafi Woldemichael, Ethiopia

 

When I was a child, little information was available to me about Auschwitz, even though I grew up in a war-torn country, Ethiopia. Even later, after I had read literature and watched documentaries on the Holocaust I had not understood its magnitude until I personally visited the place. I am very grateful for KAAD to have inspired me to do so and to have done it in a community of other scholars.

It’s difficult to understand that this immensurable brutality happened just a few decades ago. I strongly believe that as global citizens we need to be more mindful of what is happening around us and use our power to promote peace and prevent atrocities. Other acts of brutality, even genocide still happen in countries of Africa or Asia and the ongoing brutalities in Ukraine are just some current examples of this. I have myself shared the impact of brutality and experienced the agony of what happened in my home. This seminar brought together many who shared this experience and it provided us a platform to reflect on the faults of humanity in the past and use our power to spread the awareness of human rights and forgiveness in our respective countries.

Getahun Weldu, Ethiopia