Group Analytic Contexts, Issue 77, September 2017

Newsletter – Autumn 2017 101
St Petersburg is a very beautiful city but on both occasions
that I’ve been there I have also been very aware of the loss of life
suffered during the Second World War. However, in the second and
last large group, it was powerfully brought home to me that millions
of Russians were persecuted and died both before and after the Second
World War under the Stalin regime, and that this was difficult to talk
about. At the conference, there were people who lost many of their
relatives from previous generations. In spite of, or maybe because of
the Holocaust having been mentioned during the conference, visitors
were able to take the difficult step of talking about the loss of close
relatives during the Serbian atrocities and the Armenian genocides. I
was deeply touched by the pain present in some group members due
to the loss of close relatives and the image of premature endings and
ruptures in those families stayed in my mind, to such a degree, that as
one of the large group conductors I got caught up in an enactment.
This took the form of attempting to end the large group thirty minutes
early. My enactment might have been helpful in that it was a reminder
that we had thirty minutes left and possibly prompted a member to talk
about her experience of having been in the underground train carriage
where the bomb exploded in St Petersburg on 3 April 2017, and the
challenges of dealing with the aftermath. She felt that immediately
afterwards there were many supportive activities and promises of help
but it has now gone quiet and the victims now felt forgotten.
In group analytic groups we can share pleasure and pain and
I find that being in a group of group analysts is both reassuring and
facilitating of emotional growth.
St Petersburg is a beautiful city and I would recommend any
who may attend next year’s conference to plan in at least a week or
more after the conference to explore the city, boat rides, visit the art
galleries and palaces.
Vivian de Villiers
viviandev@aol.com