Witnessing is indeed a process that involves experiencing the trauma. Goodman and Meyers work with survivors and their children is an area that we need to continually observe. But it is not just the Holocaust that needs repeated witnessingit is all areas of trauma. The Power of Witnessing focuses on the intimacy of the therapist with the survivor, which in turn helps widen the survivors awareness of the residues and their continuing influences. This witnessing makes possible resilience.
Henry Krystal, M.D., author, Integration and Self-Healing
Witnessingmost readily thought of in terms of the Holocaustis actually a vital intersubjective phenomenon that is central to the way that the interpersonal process facilitates individual consolidation and growth. As does a clinical analysis, so does this piercingly wise study of witnessing engage the reader in the active emotional experience of learning, leading one to know from both inside and outside, to understand from new depths. The contributions within this work expose not only the impact of trauma but, importantly, how the very act of witnessing is itself essential to life, to change, and to growth. It was so for me and I believe will be so for others: The reader of this powerful contribution will learn and will be enriched by the learning.
Warren S. Poland, M.D., author, Melting the Darkness
Part memoir, part ethnography, part depth-psychology, and part documentation of an event of human history where mountains of evil and occasions of sorrow met like never before, is a stunning addition to the Holocaust-related literature. Distinguished psychoanalysts have joined hands with poets, painters, geriatricians, professors of English, and performing artists to produce a powerful collage of human suffering and resilience. The book is, at times, painful to read but never does it cease to be engaging and illuminating about the informative role played by those who have faced such suffering first-hand. It gently but firmly takes our hand and invites us to join the circle of witnesses to a great human tragedy. The book therefore serves both clinical and humanitarian purposes!
Salman Akhtar, M.D., Jefferson Medical College, Pennsylvania
Thank you to Nancy Goodman and Marilyn Meyers for the gift of The Power of Witnessing. Once you start this remarkable book, you dont want to put it down. That may seem very surprising when you are reliving and witnessing one of the worst examples of narcissistic rage and human destruction the world has ever seen. In some ways it is still beyond comprehension. However, you realize as soon as you start reading some of these descriptions that we owe it to every single person in the book (and elsewhere) who has suffered like this not only to read their story but to honor their ability to finally tell the world what they have suffered and lost. We must witness all of this and bear the pain. By being there with them and sharing it word for word, we can feel that we are doing our part in helping them not to feel alone and helping the world not to forget. When Dori Laub describes wanting to hug each person after they have given their testimony of their Holocaust experiences, I had the same experience as I finished each chapter. The sense of intimacy was profound. I thank Nancy and Marilyn for this incredible privilege and what they have given the world.
Carolyn S. Ellman, Ph.D., editor, The Modern Freudians
As I began to read this book I thought that I didnt want to feel what others had witnessed. Then I thought perhaps I am too ashamed by my fascination with the views that may be provided by those who witnessed these horrors. I now realize that all of my expectations were set ajar by the depth of humanity of the authors experiences. Rather than turn away in horror I found that I was provided new hope that even in the most terrible of circumstances other human beings can offer something that makes one proud of our species. All who want to be reminded of the honor of life and the valor of some fellow beings should read these deeply moving accounts and new conceptualizations.
Steven J. Ellman, Ph.D., author, When Theories Touch
The Power of Witnessing is a rich, disturbing, provocative, startling but ultimately inspiring collection of essays related to the Holocaust by some of the leading thinkers of our time on some of its key issues. We encounter incredible stories of cruelty, elevating ones on how to rise above it, and the challenge of retelling those stories. Though the focus on one level is the Holocaust, on another level it is really about the human condition. The book holds up a mirror for us to see ourselveswhether we are students or faculty on campus, those involved in interfaith relations or simply wish to reflect on the follies of man. Anyone who believes in our common humanity must take a long, hard look into this mirror. I am grateful to the contributors for allowing us this privilege. Read this book if you wish to confront the human condition and discover ways of transcending it.
Akbar Ahmed, Ph.D., Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University
Nancy Goodman and Marilyn Meyers have contributed a gripping collectiontold by survivors of the Holocaust and the witnesses to their testimoniesabout the power of witnessing. These highly personal essays are an important addition to the growing literature of testimony. There can never be too many. Goodman, Meyers, and the authors in their book affirm that the power of witnessing lies in the restoration of humanity born in the process of the telling and the receiving of the horrors that mark this period in our collective history. The spiral of witnessingacross generations and consulting rooms, in the narratives, poetry, and imagesleaves so much more than a trace.
Rachel Peltz, Ph.D., Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California
In demonstrating The Power of Witnessing, Goodman and Meyers illuminate the many subtleand often surprisingaspects of this under-theorized topic. Without adhering to one dominant theoretical position, but resonating with several, a fundamental thread connects the varied chapters: our omnipresent need for a witness and the traumata that result from its absence or loss. This is a book about lossindividual and collectiveand thus an exercise in mourning. But, more importantly, it is a profound testament to the healing powers of acknowledging, accepting, and absorbing the past through the mediation of witnessing. The reciprocal psychological changes in both witness and witnessed are revealingly articulated with courage and honesty by all who participated in this project. The process of mediation that allows terror of real experience to become symbolized, given voice, and shared are multiple, and multiply represented here: visual images, awake and dreaming; poetry; music; lists of names; memories and stories. Although the Holocaust is at its center, The Power of Witnessing speaks to a wider audience, and especially to those who seek to help others transform loss into hope for a future.
Bonnie Litowitz, Ph.D., Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis
The Power of Witnessing, edited by Nancy Goodman and Marilyn Meyers, invites us to revive the horror, the outrage, and the violence done to blameless people during the Holocaustand to their descendents. As the contributors to this book vividly demonstrate, the acts of witnessing that cause us to remember are not on behalf of a just revenge for injustice done; they remind us to do the work necessary within ourselves and our societies to do everything possible to ensure that its like will never happen again. The book combines oral history and psychoanalytic insight with moral persuasion.
Charles Hanly, Ph.D., President, International Psychoanalytical Association
