conferences were not the same in composition and structure, a process became noticeable, not only during each individual conference, but also during the development of all three conferences. This process intensified during the third conference when the only interpretation that the staff made available to the participants in this conference was as follows: “Participants have put themselves into a painful situation by coming to this conference, which can be experienced as cruel. This leads to greater dependency on staff for containment, along with fears and disappointment of fantasies about the insufficiency of staff resources. The fearful fantasies may have to do with unexpected, powerful changes in one's sense of identity and the giving up of precious parts of identity, such as the role of the victim (for the Israelis) or the guilt of perpetrators (for the Germans).” One participant had perceived this interpretation as very disturbing but at the same time as leading forward as it had raised questions that required an answer: “For me, the staff had expressed something unbelievable: the role of victims for the Israelis and the guilt of perpetrators for the Germans should be ‘worthy’ parts of the own identity! This is difficult to accept. The hypothesis suggested the idea that parts of this identity could be given up. But if so then what then? Wouldn't that mean for the Jewish group to dis-identify from the role of victim and for the non-Jewish group to dis-identify from the guilt of perpetrator? Wouldn't that mean to separate in a more deep way from parents who, not only in the world of inner objects but often also in real life have to be the space for our own anxiety or wishes for destruction? Where to put these feelings when the space for it would be lost? What could be the consequences for oneself as well as for the meeting with the others? Isn't one that is touching a toboo in danger of becoming a taboo? Fearful questions might follow from this hypothesis, and many more became possible.” One participant in the Israeli group, a so-called “child survivor” had participated in all three conferences and had widely published about the subject. He was concerned about the question of whether Jews have a face for Germans. During the third conference he had apparently taken on the role of The Eternal Jew: he was carrying a plastic bag with him at