ABSTRACT
Empathy can be selectively displayed and depends on the circumstances, not just on upbringing or personality or one's genetic make-up. During the war, members of the SS showed as much empathy as one could wish to see—but only to one another; towards their "enemies" they showed none. One of the curious and difficult things about all cases of severe trauma, particularly those caused by the deliberate actions of others, is the way in which time stands still for the victims, even when they have apparently recovered and put what happened behind them. There is relatively little about the impact on the writer of the process of research—discovering, often when least expecting it, terrible stories—or of the subsequent writing up of the story. The patient who admits to the psychotherapist to having done something terrible is still the patient the therapist has.
