International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Hostage Exchange, and the Red Cross

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

As we have entered the second week of the Israeli and Hamas ceasefire, both sides seem to recognize the benefits of this process in terms of the exchange of hostages and prisoners, as well as the chance to regroup militarily.

The actual second physical exchange last weekend was mediated by the vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A colleague of mine conveyed to me that he thought that was a sign of great potential and progress, given that the Red Cross was in the middle of both enemies. I was not so sure at all. First of all, the Hamas soldiers came out of hiding to surround the vehicle and the area, which in itself was probably an escalation in trauma and fear in the women Israeli soldiers.

In terms of trauma triggers, we all should realize on this annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day that, at best, the Red Cross was fooled during the Holocaust at a critical surveillance opportunity. Back then, there was not such an exchange of Jews and others in concentration camps for Nazi soldiers and leaders.

During the Holocaust, Theresienstadt was posed as a model relocation center. As such, it was called a camp-ghetto. In 1944, it was prepared well in advance for a scheduled visit by the ICRC. Afterwards, a favorable report was written, indicating that no occupants were being deported to other concentration camps and that Theresienstadt itself looked like a nice and cultured place to live.¹ In truth, out of about 155,000 individuals that were forcibly sent there during the war, about 35,000 died of hunger and disease, while about 89,000 were deported to other concentration camps and died.

Why the IRCR did not pick up on the deception is unclear. Perhaps it was naïveté. Or deliberate passivity. Other countries apparently believed them, perhaps given the helper reputation of the Red Cross. In the decades following, the reputation of the IRCR seemed to recover some, at least until recent years.² However, during this current war, it quietly failed to get access to the hostages and see how they were doing, thereby losing the opportunity to deliver medications and serve other basic health needs, and failing at their own self-identified mission and moral stance.

In our psychiatric clinical work with patients who have posttraumatic stress disorder, it is incumbent to find out the current triggers that evoke the causative trauma, and then help the patient to find ways to avoid the triggers until the trauma is adequately processed. One of our great psychodynamic skills is to be able to find hidden meanings below the surface information. Incidents like the ICRC delivering hostages may seem minor, irrelevant, or even heartwarming when conducted by a perceived helper, but often are much more complicated.

In this Mideast war, it is similarly important to consider what are the triggers to trauma that both sides experience. That will improve our understanding and how we can be of help as the trauma and dangers ripple out from the war. I understand that the continuing occupation of Gaza is an ongoing trigger to what is called the Nakba of 1948, when the ancestors of the Gazans had to leave their homes as the war was lost, never to return.

Personally, I bristled and felt a cold sweat when I saw the ICRC vehicle carrying the hostages. Previously, I had another trigger to Theresienstadt when I was to begin working in a men’s prison. When it first came into view, I momentarily thought I was driving straight into that concentration camp. I was conceived right after World War II.

The IRCR role in the hostage exchange is a specific example of being a current trigger to the history of the lost opportunity for the Red Cross in the Holocaust, but the wider culprit is deception, and deception is often intertwined with trauma in its occurrence and subsequent dissociation of forgetting by the victim. Deception was a key in the failed strategy of the Pharaoh in the upcoming Passover story of the Jewish slaves becoming free. Centuries later, deception was of the essence in the invasion by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and now we are in a more general time of “alternative facts.”

We often search for the truth in our clinical work. As the ancient saying goes: “The truth will set you free.”

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Adler HG. Theresienstadt 1941-1945: The Face of a Coerced Community. Cooper B, transl. Cambridge University Press; 2017.

2. Abrams E. The sad decline of the ICRC. Council on Foreign Relations. January 21, 2025. Accessed January 27, 2025. https://www.cfr.org/blog/sad-decline-icrc