Die österreichische Begegnungsgruppe:
The Austrian Encounter
Lebenslauf:
Charles Samson Munn
Date and Place of Birth March 29, 1952 New York
Citizenship U. S. A. and Israel
Education B. A. University of California, Berkeley
March 1973
M. D. Boston University May
1978
Postgraduate Training
Internal Medicine (PGY 1: categorical) - Boston City Hospital - Boston,
Massachusetts
June 28, 1978 June 30, 1979
Diagnostic Radiology (PGY 24: residency)
Tufts University/New England Medical Center/Boston V.
A. Medical Center - Boston, Massachusetts
July 1, 1979 June 30, 1982
Imaging (PGY 5: adult C.T. and ultrasound fellowship)
Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts
July 1, 1982 June 30, 1983
Present Positions Founder and Facilitator: The
Austrian Encounter, from 1995 on. The Austrian Encounter is a non
profit, non therapeutic group who meet to counter racism and to stem genocide
by exploring and discussing personally and publicly their families
histories, consequent ramifications, etc. TAE comprises thirteen people
from Austria, the U.S., and Israel: daughters and sons of Austrian Holocaust
victims who meet approximately each year in Vienna with sons and daughters of
Austrian Nazi perpetrators.
U.S. Liaison and Corporate
President: To Reflect and Trust, Inc., from 1993 on. TRT is
a non profit, non therapeutic group who meet to counter racism and to stem
genocide by exploring and discussing personally and publicly their families
histories, consequent ramifications, etc. Samson Munn founded TRTs
charitable, Massachusetts corporation. TRT (founded and facilitated by
Dan Bar-On, Ph.D., Ben Gurion University of the Negev) comprises eighteen
people from Germany, the U.S., and Israel: sons and daughters of Holocaust
survivors who meet approximately each year or year-and-a-half in those
countries with daughters and sons of Nazi perpetrators.
Participant: The Goldner
Symposium on Genocide, from 1996 on. The Goldner Symposium is an
invited, international group of thirty-six primarily genocide and Holocaust
scholars who meet every other year in Wroxton, near Oxford (England) in an
effort to study and to intervene against racism and genocide based on lessons
learned from the Holocaust. (Founded by Leonard Grob, Ph.D. (Fairliegh
Dickinson University) and Henry Knight, Ph.D. (University of Oklahoma).)
Member, Executive Committee: Friends
of the New England
Holocaust Memorial, from Autumn 1998 on.
P.O. Box 2161, Boston MA 02106-2161
Assistant Professor: School
of Medicine, Tufts University, from ~ 1987 on.
Radiologist: Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, from
1997 on.
Department of Public Health, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
Vice-President, Medical Staff: L.S.H.,
from April 1998 on.
Chief, Department of Radiology: L.S.H., from
September 1998 on.
Radiologist: New England
Medical Center Hospitals, from July 1997 on.
Past Invovlement Participant: Boston JewishGerman
Dialogue, 19946.
Newton, Massachusetts
Part of a group of approximately 1220 people of German
and/or Jewish descent who met (and still meet) on a once-monthly, evening
basis for discussion.
Film Appearances* Children of the Third Reich Timewatch,
B.B.C. (London), © 1993; produced by Catrine Clay. Samson Munn was one of
the four most highlighted participants in a group of eighteen daughters and
sons of Holocaust survivors who meet for profound encounters with sons and
daughters of German Nazis. This fifty-minute documentary has been broadcast
nation-wide in the U.K. (several times on the B.B.C.), in the U.S. (several
times on the Arts and Entertainment and The History Channel cable-TV
channels), in Holland, in Australia, in Canada, in France, in Israel, in
Turkey, and in other countries.
Eine unmögliche Freundschaft ["An
Impossible Friendship"] Provobis (Berlin), © 1998; produced by
Michael Richter. The film documented the friendship between Samson Munn (the
son of two concentration camp survivors) and Dirk Kuhl (the son of the Gestapo
commandant of Braunschweig). This forty-five-minute film has been broadcast
several times in Germany and in Austria.
Out of the Ashes Timewatch,
B.B.C. (London), © 1995; produced by Catrine Clay. This forty-eight
minute film examined Samson Munn and two others and has been broadcast
nation-wide in the U.K. (several times on the B.B.C.), in the
U.S. (several times on the Arts and Entertainment and The History
Channel cable-TV channels), in Israel, in Holland, and in other countries.
Radio Appearances Encounter between Children of Survivors
and Children of Perpetrators [during a religious affairs program on] B.B.C.
Radio 4, June 2, 1996. Samson Munn was one of two people interviewed (live)
for about five minutes in this Sunday morning program broadcast throughout the
U.K.
Second Generation Reconciliation Outlook,
B.B.C. (London), November 10, 1993, © 1993; produced by Kate
Howells. Samson Munn was one of two people interviewed in-depth (live) for
seven minutes by John Waite in this radio, news magazine program, broadcast
throughout the U.K.*
Children of the War Today at
One, Blue Danube Radio, Österreichische Rundfunk (Austrian National
Radio, Vienna), March 13, 1995, © 1995; produced by Jane Duke. Samson Munn
was interviewed (live) for eleven minutes by Hal Rock about the creation of The
Austrian Encounter, then merely incipient, in this Austrian, English
language, radio program.*
The Austrian Encounter Deutsche
Welle summer 1997; produced by Silvia Pfeifer. Samson Munn and a couple of
the participants in The Austrian Encounter were interviewed in Vienna
for an English language program on national German radio.
Encounter between Children of Survivors and Children of
Perpetrators The Stu Taylor Show, WSSH (Boston),
Talk America Radio Network, broadcast December 24, 1993, © 1993.
Samson Munn was the sole guest, interviewed in-depth (live) by Stu Taylor in
this hour-long, call-in, talk-radio program, broadcast nationally.*
Print Appearances* Limpensable dialogue: Les mémoires
de la Shoah IV ["The Unthinkable Dialogue: The Memories of the
Holocaust IV"] Le Monde (Paris), April 28, 1995, page 16, by
Annick Cojean. Samson Munn was one of five sources interviewed and quoted in
this full-page article, the fourth in a series.
Anreden gegen die Schweigespirale: Wie Kinder von hohen
Nazis und Nachkommen der Holocaust-Opfer in London versuchten, einander zu
begegnen ["Arguing Against the Spiral of
Silence: How Children of Major Nazis and Descendents of Holocaust Victims
Sought to Encounter One Another in London."] Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)
June 4, 1996, page 3 (a favored, prestigious position in German newspapers),
by Birgit Weidinger. Samson Munn was one of three quoted sources in this
article, in one of Germanys most respected and widely read newspapers.
Kinder des Holocaust: Reden gegen das Tabu
["Children of the Holocaust: Talking Contrary to the Tabu."] Passauer
Neue Presse (Passau), August 21, 1995, page 3 (a favored, prestigious
position in German newspapers), by Silvia Pfeifer. Samson Munn was the primary
source for this 1/3- to 1/2-page article, which very favorably discussed The
Austrian Encounter in depth in the (then) newly more liberal, main
newspaper of a Bavarian city known for its right-wing views and anti-Semitism.
Brückenschlag der Kinder: Das Schweigen durchbrechen
["The Children Initiate Building of Bridges: Breaking Through the
Silence."] Berliner Morgenpost (Berlin), August 26, 1995, by Jola
Merten. Samson Munn and two daughters of Holocaust survivors are described and
quoted in this article. The three were in Berlin for a meeting, and were
interviewed because of their mere presence in Berlin and because of their
involvements in encounters with sons and daughters of Nazi perpetrators.
Belastete Begegnung: "Es liegt nicht an uns, unsere
Eltern zu versöhnen" ["Weighty Encounter:
It Isnt Up to Us to Reconcile Our Parents."] Neue
illustrierte Welt (Vienna), August/September 1995, page 17, by Brigitte
Halbmayr. Samson Munn was the primary source for this article, a thoughtful
and very positive description of the first Austrian Encounter, which
appeared in a Jewish, Viennese newspaper.
Younger Germany grapples with the sins of its fathers
San Jose Mercury News (San Jose) April 1997, by Ken Garfield. Quoting and
discussing Samson Munn among others, this article discussed a major meeting (entitled
The Presence of the Holocaust in the Present) held in Berlin in January
1997, addressing post-Holocaust dialogue.
Public Presentations Twelve to fifteen: often as part of a
panel, usually in the U.S., in Germany, or in Israel, but also in England, in
Poland, and in Canada. Presentations have been made to public, general
audiences interested in genocide, in the Holocaust, in Germany, and/or in Jews,
and to professional, psychology audiences, ranging in size from 12 to 1200.
They have spanned June 1992 to March 1999. For example:
Individually presented the film Eine unmögliche
Freundschaft and discussed related projects to an audience of ~ 90 at the Goethe
Institut, Boston, the evening of September 24th, 1998.
One of two who jointly presented Opposite Sides of a
Shared History June 2nd, 1996, in London. It was a Sunday
evening presentation of about 2 1/2 hours length, open to the public, produced
by the Second Generation Trust (London) and the Institut für
vergleichende Geschichtswissenschaften (Berlin), held at the Royal
Geographic Society. It was attended by a broad audience of approximately
500, including much of the German population living in and near London, and
was covered very positively by the British and German press.
One of two who were jointly invited to present Grand
Rounds: Second Generation, Post-Holocaust Dialogue at the Department of
Social Work, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, February 18th, 1998. The audience comprised about 40
professionals in social work and psychotherapy in a prestigious Boston
hospital department.
Individually presented The Austrian Encounter at the 28th
Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches February
1998 in Seattle (to an audience of ~ 40), at the 29th Conference
March 1999 in New York (to an audience of ~ 30), and at the International
Conference on Genocide October 1998 at California State University
(Sacramento, to an audience of ~ 100).
Conference Organized International Conference of JewishGerman
Intensive Dialogue Groups held in Boston, July 2628, 1996. This was the
first "council" of representatives of such groups, and was organized
and chaired by Samson Munn. There were thirteen representatives present from
twelve dialogues or dialogue types, functioning in eight countries (Germany,
Israel, Austria, the U.S., England, France, Russia, and Canada).
References Catrine Clay Producer,
Timewatch B.B.C. Documentaries
Annick Cojean Le Monde
Dan Bar-On, Ph.D. Professor of
Behavioural Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Marc Skvirsky Facing History
and Ourselves
Birgit Weidinger Süddeutsche
Zeitung
Leonard Grob, Ph.D. Goldner
Symposium
Publications* Einführung in die Arbeit der Nachkommen
von Opfern und Tätern ["Introduction to the Work of Descendents of
Survivors and Perpetrators"]
Wolff, Roswitha; Munn, Samson; "Scholz, Sabine"; Kuhl, Dirk; and
Goschalk, Julie in Staffa, Christian and Klinger, Katherine, Die Gegenwart der
Geschichte des Holocaust (Berlin: Institut für vergleichende
Geschichtswissenschaften, 1998, ISBN 3-9805206-1-7) 59-70.
The Austrian Encounter Munn, Samson in Kimenyi,
Alexandre, Anatomy of Genocide (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, in press).
* copies available upon request
Facsimile (617) 327.8259 Electronic Mail Munn@compuserve.com
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