Several figures who shaped the professionalization of art therapy in the United States, including Edith Kramer and Hanna Kwiatkowska, were directly affected by the Holocaust. What was at stake in designing the new profession of art therapy? How might have the goal of gaining respect and standing in the unfolding mental health professions been influenced by the shadow of the World Wars and their aftermath? For art therapists, the question could be adapted to: How might art therapists remember our inherited professional past, rooted in the legacies of the Holocaust, to inform a meaningful critique of the present discourse in art therapy and imagine a future of justice for our clients and ourselves? In this blog, we raise questions rather than provide answers to help recognize one among many influences on the emergence of art therapy as a profession in Europe and the US. Today, we reflect on the past to inform a meaningful critique of the present and ultimately imagine a future of justice. This year’s IHRD theme is Memory, Dignity, and Justice, designated by the UN to explore how “preserving the historical record and challenging distortion are elements of claiming justice.” And the international commemoration of the Holocaust is relatively new, indicating the continued work we all need to do in addressing diversity, inclusion, and recognizing our own history to advance social justice. Only since 2005, have the United Nations (UN) and its member states marked this anniversary and honored the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and millions of other survivors and victims of Nazism on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). Nearly 80 years later, we continue to reckon with the scope of the atrocities and genocide that occurred during the Holocaust. While Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp, it was only one of many liberated by Allied Forces in 19. On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi concentration camps and killing centers. Van Den Berg, MA, ATR-P, LPC-Associate & Pat B.
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