Introduction

Introductory Reflections on Perpetrators of Crimes Against Humanity and their Representation in Documentary Film

“…This integrative approach, situational and dispositional, has become a common strategy in perpetrator research (Elizur and Yishay-Krien 2009;Hollows and Fritzon 2012;Pettitt 2017;, is vehemently endorsed by social cognitive theorists, such as Albert Bandura (1997Bandura ( , 1999Bandura ( , 2002, and it was already considered in the seminal Stanford prison experiment conducted in 1971 at Stanford University by Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues in their study of the brutality reported among guards in U.S. prisons.…”

“…It is understandable, as several scholars have already suggested, that this shift in focus could prove highly problematic Lusztig 2013;Buruma 2015;Pettitt 2017;Critchell et al 2017). The reasons behind this concern are numerous: first, the perpetrator's perspective could end up taking precedence over that of the victim; second, the filmmaker could be accused of taking the side of the perpetrator being examined; and third, foregrounding the perpetrator's point of view could elicit a kind of emotional engagement that may undermine the viewer's moral judgement of their horrific acts.…”

“…In addition, understanding is essential to prevent the recurrence of any kind of atrocity. For instance, the role that public education has in genocide prevention has been pointed out by several scholars (Smyth 1998;Elizur and Yishay-Krein 2009;Hollows and Fritzon 2012;Wade Beorn 2015;Pettitt 2017;Critchell et al 2017;, with Theodor W. Adorno's influential essay 'Education after Auschwitz' being one of the first in 1966. As Adorno eloquently asserts, '[t]he premier demand upon all education is that Auschwitz not happen again ' (1998, 191) and to this end an examination of the perpetrator is indispensable because '[t]he roots must be sought in the persecutors' (1998,193).…”

“…As LaCapra suggests, '[t]here is the possibility of perpetrator trauma ' (1999, 723). Several scholars have explored how perpetrator fiction articulates a discourse that humanizes the perpetrators, thereby eliciting a certain degree of sympathy for them (Crownshaw 2011;Leake 2014;McGlothlin 2016;Pettitt 2017). To this end, the fiction creators not only highlight situational factors that could partly justify perpetrators´acts but also attempt to give them back their humanity, conditions that makes the relationship with the perpetrator particularly problematic.…”