An Experiential Working Conference in the Series ‘The Past in the Present’.

The Tavistock Institute is delighted to be co-sponsoring this group relations conference taking place at Kliczków Castle, Poland: August 27 – September 1 2014.

Europe today is undergoing severe crises, affecting European national identity, economic security and financial stability. The dream of a unified peaceful Europe appears to be receding and increasingly threatened. Yet the present instability and strife are rooted in Europe’s past and its painful history. We invite you to attend a conference aimed at uncovering the present impact of these historical traumas.

The shadows and painful residues of World War II deeply affect people and nations across Europe and elsewhere. The injuries inflicted by Europe’s shared history derive from the traumas of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, Soviet Communism and national oppression, and the impact of ethnic tensions, leading to the recent rise of Neo-Nazism. The pain and suffering fed by the horrors of war, occupation, massacres and betrayals are still alive, if hidden, in individuals and subgroups. Religious, ethnic and racial intolerance, as well as economic hardship and cultural imperialism continue to give rise to aggression and victimization. The impact of this anguish is transmitted from one generation to the next. It shapes contemporary struggles within European society, and its impact reaches far beyond European borders.

This is the 2nd conference in this series. It uses a variant of the Tavistock Group Relations model, and builds on the work begun with Germans and Israelis and expanded to include Palestinians and Others. The focus is on the exploration of experience in a variety of group learning opportunities in order to discover the links between personal experience, current tensions and historical trauma.

This residential conference invites people from the nations of Europe and elsewhere – from all walks of life and all ages – who recognize the painful residues of war and historical trauma and are puzzled by their impact on them. No previous experience of this kind of conference is necessary.

For further details and to register please see the Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities (PCCA) website.