Special Report Transcript Episode 83, Section 3, Time 31:47

The Cradock Four amnesty hearing continues in Port Elizabeth next week. If Harold Snyman does testify he may disclose dramatic new details of the chain of command. We’ll have to see what the doctors say. It is difficult for all of us to listen to former policemen and other perpetrators confess to the terrible truth about murder and torture. One cannot even imagine the pain the family members and survivors must go through. But what does this process of remembering the past do to the perpetrators and their families and what makes someone do such terrible things in the name of patriotism and war? Professor Dan Bar-On is a psychologist from Israel who works with the children of Nazi perpetrators and the children of Jews who survived the death camps of Germany. We spoke to him about what we can learn from that experience.

Notes: Max du Preez