Mary Lagerwey, Ph.D., R.N.<br/>Bronson School of Nursing, Western Michigan University
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, History of Nursing Seminar Series
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Information: Betsy Weiss, ehweiss@nursing.upenn.edu or 215-898-4502
A growing body of nursing research on nursing in the Third Reich demonstrates that passivity in the face of evil, complicity, and even murder were not isolated events, but involved significant segments of the nursing profession on an international scale. Using stories of nurses and nursing in the Third Reich as exemplars, the presentation will focus on potential responses to “dangerous memories” that challenge and disrupt collective memories and the moral identity of the profession as one of caring and advocacy. Options that will be discussed include defining such events as total aberrations, marginalization of unethical behavior in transmission of memories, and a more complex and cautious sense of moral identity.