Seelische Trümmer

Understanding the traumas and emotional injuries of the post-war generation. In 2020, it has been 75 years since the end of World War II. Yet even today, many people suffer from various traumas. Feelings of loneliness, insecurity, fear, and uprootedness are evident even among the now-adult children of war survivors. Those born in the 1950s and 1960s often carry a collectively resonant emotional injury rooted in the unique bonding and upbringing experiences of the post-war period. In her book, Bettina Alberti gives voice to many individuals aged 50 to 70 today, illustrating the impact of the collective German war trauma on this generation and the particular challenges they faced—compounded by their own experiences during the Cold War and the division of Germany. A woman born in 1959 articulates this challenge as follows: “Our parents cleared the rubble of the destroyed houses with their hands—we, the next generation, are busy clearing the emotional rubble.” The author also demonstrates how, with psychotherapeutic support, it is possible to understand the backgrounds of one's own emotional injury, to mourn the family and collective history, to rediscover the language of the soul, and to enable psychological development. In the expanded new edition, the author has included impressions and feedback from many lectures over the past years on the subject of this book, as well as a connection to the current refugee issues of the past four years, and has expanded the aspect of the (new) East-West divide in the chapter on the division of Germany. This important book concludes with a detailed and empathetic afterword by Anna Gamma, the long-time director of the Lassalle Institute in Bad Schönbrunn, Switzerland. Revised and expanded new edition.