Memory and Subjectivity in a Major Disaster: The Shoah

Memory and Subjectivity in a Major Disaster: The Shoah

An ongoing task of building to live in dignity

Dr. León Cohen Bello Iberoamerican Eco-Bioethics Network for Education, Science and Technology, UNESCO Chair in Bioethics.

XV World Psychiatric CongressBuenos Aires , Argentina September 18 - 22 2011

I live in Argentina This is my country. It was built by immigrants from around

the world. Like my parents.Our recent history is very complex with regard to Human Rights and Bioethics.Our society is still a young democracy. He has endured many years of military dictatorship.Those were years of blood and tears, in which more

than thirty thousand ( 30,000) people disappearedWithout attempting to make comparisons, the methods and ideology of the Argentine military dictatorship, were not different from those created and developed by the Nazis during the Shoah. In fact, its members were admirers of the Nazis.

Dr. León Cohen Bello Iberoamerican Bioetics Network

Never again

That was the slogan with which we began to work for the restoration of our collective memory in Argentina.

To this purpose, we took inspiration and learned from the survivors of the Shoah, how to cultivate and preserve the values that dignify human existence. Dr. León Cohen Bello

Iberoamerican Ecobioetics Network

Forgeting, Learning, Remembering I would like to show a short film by the young

mexican Ariel Zylbersztejn about the dignity and subjectivity of the Shoah survivors,

In order to attempt to understand those values. To incorporate them into our memory, but also to

forget some things, as they did, and get on with their lives and their projects.

While maintaining their subjectivity. After seeing the movie, I shall briefly a develop

what we understand to be the basis for the transmission of those values.

Dr. León Cohen Bello Iberoamerican Ecobioetics Nettwork

"The tragic greatness of human destiny lies in the paradoxical situation that man has no way out than to fight against injustice,

not for the purpose of ending it, but so that injustice does not end with him.”

Mario Vargas LlosaLatin American Writer

Nobel Prize for Literature

Dr. León Cohen BelloIberoamerican Eco-Bioethics Network

.

October two thousand and five (2005) :

The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights at the General Conference of UNESCO is passed.

For the first time, member states commit to respect and apply the fundamental principles of bioethics, as described in one universal text.

Dr. León Cohen Bello

Iberoamerican Eco-Bioethics Network

How to teach bioethics?

Successful experiences have been carried out worldwide for transmitting the core values of coexistence.

One must learn about the organization and methods used for dissemination and apply them to the teaching of bioethics.



Shoah An extreme experience for humanity from

which we must learn lessons so as not to repeat dangerous situations that would lead us , fatally, to succumb .

Is not a historical novel about the suffering of the Jewish people.

Has nothing to do with victims and perpetrators.

Has to do with all mankind, both those involved and those who allowed it to occur through their indifference.


"Auschwitz was built for the denial of faith in God and in humanity."

Pope John Paul II

"Mankind is helpless only where there is no memory"

Elias Canetti Nobel Prize for Literature



What was the Shoah?

The most tragic event of human history: the cold and calculated determination to wipe from the face of the earth infants, children, young and old for the mere fact of belonging to the Jewish people.



Alan Finkielkraut: "a world without neighbors, that was the project of Nazism.

What we remember of its power is that the humanity in man is not an element of nature, but a fragile quality, always at risk of being extinguished. “

“Upon the ruins of consciousness, the Nazis wanted to create a new man, devoid of the feelings of unity with the human species, who repudiated the idea of humanity in the name of race, and had no obligations to his fellow man."



Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize: "How can we tell our children, that the humanity was able to lose its mind and begin to murder its own soul? "

“It is duty of all democratic governments , the Church, journalism, and schools, to teach, allowing us to create a shield against discrimination, fanaticism and intolerance.“


"Love your neighbor as yourself."

From the Holocaust we must learn that technical knowledge separated from values and moral principles, only serves to transform human existence into a nightmare.

The human condition is not given to us. It is an ideal to be achieved every day of our lifes and only after considering the neighbor as a brother.



Why and how to teach bioethics?.

Hanna Arendt: "To teach is to place new generationsin the world."

Create a scenario. Compose a communication strategy.

Choose education in moral values. Moving from words to deeds, through examples.

Start with the children. Older children may be able to face "the facts."

Younger children lack to maturity to understand historical processes in their complexity.



A growing initiative generating hope: the

International Task Force. Stockholm Declaration Two thousand (2000) "The Holocaust challenged the foundations

of civilization. The unprecedented character of the

Holocaust will always hold universal meaning.

Across Europe, the Nazis have left indelible scars.The magnitude of the Holocaust must always remain in our collective memory.

We must hold up the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it.


Returning to origins An ethical pact, the origin of the

monotheistic religions was written over three thousand five hundred (3500) years ago

in the desert, on two stones.

In the one hundred sixty seven (167) words that compose this pact , lies the foundation of all Western civilization,.

This rules for coexistence and the betterment of the world (Tikum Olam) are task for the man in the ethical and material realms.



Our expectation We believe that our contribution to this

conference is to identify points of contact between the work of the Task Force and the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics for research and teaching of bioethics.

If we have managed to help human and material resources flow in the same direction,

we may be closer to achieving a better world



Thank you very much

for your attention, León

Documents

Memory and Subjectivity in a Major Disaster: The Shoah