THE BOSTON PSYCHOANALYTIC
SOCIETY AND INSTITUTE, INC.
15 Commonwealth Avenue,
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Telephone 617.266.0953 email office@bostonpsychoanalytic.org www.bostonpsychoanalytic.org
Join Us for a Special
Open Members Seminar
Patricia Wright, MD, Chair
MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011
8:00 pm at 15 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
You
can kill us but you can't humiliate us
How do people survive with integrity
in the face of humiliation and terror?
Speakers
Harold
Bursztajn, MD; Geoffrey Brahmer, M.Div
Omar Sultan Haque, MD, M.Div; Anna Ornstein, MD
In
the end, it was a lucky turn that saved the lives of Abraham and
Miriam Bursztajn, only 2 of 877 survivors of the Lodz Ghetto during
the Shoah/Holocaust (1939 - 1945). The path to that intersection
with luck was paved with character, integrity, hope, resourcefulness,
resilience, calculated risk-taking, trusting relationships, and the
help of other courageous individuals who died along the way.
The Fecalists were "Dead People Walking" -- men, women and children whose
jobs were to collect human excrement and trudge "like two-legged horses",
pulling heavy unsealed wagons to transport it. Abraham Bursztajn refused
the "honor" of becoming a Jewish policeman, which involved selecting
fellow citizens for deportation, and was punished with the assignment
to "shovel shit". Later he recalled his choice at the time: "Do I want
to treat people as shit, or do I want to work with shit? That was my
choice." When hope as to outcome was impossible, he substituted the option
of choice for the option of hope. He faced hopelessness without denial
or collaboration.
Geoffrey
Brahmer, M Div will begin the evening with a historical introduction
to the isolation of the Lodz Ghetto. Omar Sultan Haque, MD, M.Div
will then discuss what we know and don't know from social psychology.
Harold Bursztajn, MD will present lessons he learned from his parents'
experience, followed by a discussion by Anna Ornstein, MD.
Learning
Objectives
1.
To use psychoanalytic perspectives to understand Shoah survival narratives
of survival with integrity.
2. To learn what Shoah narratives of survival with integrity have to
offer social psychology.
3. To learn what understanding Shoah narratives of survival with integrity
have to offer psychoanalysis.
References
1.
Bursztajn, H.J. Reflections on my father's experience with doctors
during the Shoah (1939-1945). J Clinical Ethics. 1996;7:100-102.
2. Bryks, Rachmil. A Cat in the Ghetto -- Four Novelettes. Translated
from the original Yiddish by Dr. S. Morris Engel. Introduction by Prof.
Sol Liptzin, preface by Prof. Irving Howe. Bloch Publishing Company,
NY, 1959.
3. Mostowicz, Arnold. With a Yellow Star and a Red Cross: A Doctor
in the Lódz Ghetto. London: Vallentine, Mitchell, 2005. (DS 135 .P63
M67813 2005)
4. Modell, A. H. (1990). Other times, other realities: Toward a theory
of psychoanalytic treatment. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press.
5. Akhtar, S. (1995) A Third Individuation: Immigration, Identity and
the Psychoanalytic Process. JAPA 43: 1051 - 1084.
Speakers
Harold
Bursztajn, MD is
cofounder of the HMS Program in Psychiatry and the Law at BIDMC.
He practices psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and psychoanalysis
in Cambridge, MA.
Geoffrey
Brahmer, M.Div has
a special interest in the history of the Shoah's ghettos. He
is the Educational Coordinator, Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery
at BIDMC.
Omar
Sultan Haque, MD, M.Div teaches
in the Psychology and Social Relations Department at Harvard
University. He is completing a book for Harvard University Press
on redefining brain death.
Anna
Ornstein, MD is
a Lecturer in Psychiatry, HMS; Supervising Analyst, BPSI; Professor
Emerita of
Child Psychiatry,
University of Cincinnati; author of numerous articles and a memoir My
mother's eyes: Holocaust memories of a young girl.
Continuing
Education:
Physicians: This
activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with
the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council
for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint
sponsorship of the American Psychoanalytic Association and
the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. The
American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the
ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians
and takes responsibility for the content, quality, and scientific
integrity of this CME activity. The American Psychoanalytic
Association designates this educational activity for a maximum
of 1.5 hours in category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's
Recognition Award. Each physician should
claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent
in the educational activity. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION
FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of
this CME program have any financial relationships to disclose. Psychologists The
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute is approved by
the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing
education for psychologists. The Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute maintains responsibility
for this program and its content. This
program fulfills the requirements for 1.5 hours of CE. Social
Workers Please contact the Boston Psychoanalytic
Society and Institute's Administrative Office at 617/266-0953
or office@bostonpsychoanalytic.org for
more information.
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Inc.
15 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02116
Telephone 617.266.0953
email office@bostonpsychoanalytic.org
www.bostonpsychoanalytic.org