Repair the World: Group Work in the Deggendorf Displaced Persons Center, 1945-1946

Authors

  • Lorrie Greenhouse Gardella Southern Connecticut State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/gpwk.v28i1.1120

Abstract

 

This paper explores the formation of a transitory community in the UNRRA Displaced Persons Center in Deggendorf, Germany, where Jewish Holocaust survivors used social group work to preserve their past, to restore humane values, and to prepare for new lives.  Social activism through task groups and activity groups affirmed individual and community self-determination while promoting recovery from trauma.  The experience of the She’erith Hapleitah or “surviving remnant,” as they called themselves, though historically specific, has implications for group work with migrants today.

 

 

Author Biography

Lorrie Greenhouse Gardella, Southern Connecticut State University

Lorrie Greenhouse Gardella is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA

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Published

2019-01-21

How to Cite

Gardella, L. G. (2019). Repair the World: Group Work in the Deggendorf Displaced Persons Center, 1945-1946. Groupwork, 28(1), 8-29. https://doi.org/10.1921/gpwk.v28i1.1120

Issue

Section

Groupwork with people who have experienced political exclusion