My guest today is Dr. Paul Valent, psychiatrist, lecturer at Monash University, cofounder and past president of the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and of the Child Survivors of the Holocaust group in Melbourne, Australia. 
In the course of his work, he tells me, he  has come to understand the close connections between mind, body, and society, and how trauma disrupts all these aspects. We discus child survivors’ stories. Their experiences that range from living in hiding to physical and sexual abuse. These stories contribute to questions concerning the roots of morality, memory, resilience, and the trans-generational transmission of trauma. 
Dr. Valent, himself a survivor of the Holocaust, believes that the Holocaust shows us  both, the greatest human vulnerabilities and strengths and everything in between. It warns and explains how people’s minds can become distorted, and how they can apply themselves to wiping out who they see as enemies, even though they are but reflections of themselves. When bureaucracy and modern weaponry are applied to this wiping out, the costs are immense. “I see ripples of the Holocaust in myself, in others, across generations, and across nations.”  Don't we all.

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