Posts by Anke Richter
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to Hat,
Hat - thank you for pointing that out. I have taken part of my comment down so that this woman is less identifiable. The reason for giving more context (i.e. about the publication where she went public) was to show that she had sought a large forum, in a respected magazine - and yet she was horrified by the thought of someone mentioning her name in this context years later. That's the contradiction or complexity I wanted to show. Her story was such a prominent one and so relevant to many things that happened at Centrepoint - every interviewee referred to her case and her persona at some point, in one way or another - that it would have been journalistic neglect to leave her and her family out of my book. My defamation lawyer was adamant that she had no right to stop me from mentioning what was already out in the public arena. But I was torn between what was my right to do as a journalist and my compassion for those who had suffered at Centrepoint and reacted with panic. It's interesting that not just the perpetrators had that fear.
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to ,
Yes, she was one of the victims. But she was protective about her story, even though she sought publicity about it in the 90s. Some perpetrators – like John Potter – were cooperating with me and pleasant in their dealings, some victims – like the former actress – tried to stop me. Just one example how confusing it all became, how it’s not all black-and-white. Some victims and whistle blowers feel that they have paid a high price for their actions of going public or lying charges and do not want to relive any of that again. That was one of the dilemmas and the opposition I faced.
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Emma and Russell: They called this technique “blowing off” at Centrepoint, and it’s still passed on through the men’s movement in NZ where there are some ties to pro-CP guys. CP did indeed bring a lot of sexual freedom to many people who needed it, especially back in those days, and all their therapy has helped many. But then again, emphasizing this is – at least to me – like saying “But Hitler built the Autobahn and the crime rate in Nazi Germany was really low”. The analogy with the 3rd Reich came up for me many times: guilt, denial, redemption – “innocent bystanders” or enablers of evil? And where would I have found myself on that spectrum?
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Rosemany – what it means is that you have to “go there”, as much as it hurts or confronts or shocks you, instead of sweeping the past under the carpet and let it rot there until it becomes toxic waste. It also means, in the case of those who were there and not directly guilty of any offences but bystanders, to look at the part they played and face their own guilt. That would help the victims immensely, more than seeing more people prosecuted. I find that there’s real flip side to the Kiwi mentality of not wanting to dig to deep in the dirt, of keeping it light and pleasant and nice, and the notion of “just get on with it”. There are lots of festering wounds still in the CP field and families where this subject has become such a taboo, but is crippling people in various ways two decades later. Those secrets are so damaging.
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Up Front: Fringe of Darkness, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Thank you, Stephen. Yes, there have been some pretty strong responses. Two of them resulted in letters to North&South, and I have had a visit from a woman who is finally confronting her family about the abuse that happened to her at CP. I wouldn't be surprised if more lids come off now that the story is online.I am still not sure if it leads to what the Germans call "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" (coming to terms with the past) - as any mentioning of the dark side of CP means that everyone who was there feels tarnished again. Many people who had a happy upbringing at the community have been deeply scarred by the association with CP and not being able to talk about it in any positive terms. Or seeing their parents' names mentioned as sex offenders - having to live with that shame, feeling guilty by association. That was one of my moral dilemmas: How to tell the truth and not hurt people all over again?
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Emma, thank you so much for your moving piece - and for your empathy and understanding. I know of the strong reactions you had after having to listen to hours and hours of my interviews. You were probably the only person at the time who "got" what I was dealing with, who had the same insight into the minds of my interviewees, their contradictions, dramas, denial, stories. The female senior therapist you mention sums up the whole conundrum and adds to the complexity of my story or of what I was trying to bring across. Reading your comment makes me grieve the book it could have been. Maybe we should have written it together? I'm serious.
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Fantastic piece, Donna. Thank you. Maybe you could speak publicly at a refugee event here in ChCh?
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My post appeared as an article in The Press this week as well. The long quote below is from a letter that a young German woman sent to me and The Presss yesterday in response. She went to see Tarantino's film, and that was her reaction - (and please excuse her bumpy English, I have left it as it was):
"I never felt awkward or bad, because I am German. But in the last two months it happened twice.
The first time I felt not just bad or awkward, but kind of guilty to have this part of history in my origin, was about a months ago in the US. After I had seen the advertisement for “Inglorious Basterds” on TV, I wanted to watch the movie. I thought it could be funny (ads can mislead) and I was curious how that would work with the Nazi theme. Honestly it didn´t work well at all! Of course I was aware of the cruelness of Quentin Terentino movies, but with the German history as a background it becomes a dangerous combination. I got the confirmation for that right there in the cinema. The audience, I would guess 98% Americans (my boyfriend, Kiwi, and I probably the only exceptions), had the time of their life. They laughed and applauded in every scene, where Germans got slaughtered or tortured in the cruelest ways. And when the cinema in the movie burned down, with all the Germans (and a few French) in it, there was almost a party going on. I couldn´t believe it. While I was sitting there, shocked, in a cinema with all those people having fun while Germans (yes, Nazis, but still humans) get slaughtered I was wondering about a few things: How can a cruel death be a reason for joy for people? How do you call those Americans, enjoying a death of a foreigner so much? Do those people know that a lot of Germans hadn´t had a choice to be Nazis or not in fear of losing their lives? Are they laughing as well, about the war and what is going on in Afghanistan? What would have happened, if the guy in the seat next to me would have found out that I am German? Would he stopped laughing and applauding? Or would he have seen me as a Nazi as well? And how many uneducated people in the world leave this movie with the conviction that this is exactly what happened? Americans are the heroes and Germans are the bad guys? We still are obviously. I was afraid of letting anybody know that this is my history and I am German. Even my boyfriend felt awkward and even if he has not German roots at all."she then goes on about the Oktoberfest at Lincoln.
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Thanks for all your comments. I just passed them on to a German friend who had studied in Lincoln and she was equally impressed with them.
just to add fire to the debate: Another friend commented that I have a metal plate/plaque (?) of Mao hanging on my toilet wall amongst other political kitsch art. Got it from a a flea market in Hongkong. My friend asked how a Chinese would feel about that, if his/her grandfather had been killed or tortured by the Great Chairman's regime. And would I hang up a mock picture of Stalin, for instance? Probably not... -
Hi Linda, please keep in mind that my observations on kiwi culture in this blog are purely satirical - hence the stereotyping.