Victims may reject reparation offers that implicitly demand closure of their suffering

Evidence

For victims, acknowledgment of the past may have positive consequences for it affirms their group’s identity, which is partly shaped by the historical relations between the groups (Barkan, 2000). From the victim’s perspective, acknowledgment of their side of a historical relation may be of considerable importance (Brooks, 1999). Another obvious positive consequence of reparations for victims is the financial compensation received for their suffering. However, it may not be as simple as it seems, for both of these positive consequences may have negative implications for some victims. For example, some victims may not want their group’s past to be acknowledged because it reminds them of their group’s past inferior status position, which may be something they prefer to forget. In addition, being offered financial reparations often involves an implicit request by the perpetrator group to accept the reparation offer and thereby close the issue. For some people, this is unacceptable, because no amount of money could compensate for the suffering experienced by their group (Minow, 1998). — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 731

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: At group level, victims may benefit from not letting go of the past — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 104

Broader Connections

• At group level, victims may benefit from not letting go of the past #expands (0.78) — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations, 104