Epilogue: Daring to empathise

This chapters points out that daring to empathise—and hence transgressing loyalty codes—can act as the yeast for change that upends seemingly intractable family dynamics. Beata Hammerich and Peter Pogany-Wnendt illustrate how relations in their survivor families were revitalised once they themselves had dared to take the first steps into new emotional territory. The contested terrain of the legitimacy of Israeli politics often comes with fierce requests of political loyalty to either a pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli position. To refuse such simplified positioning and advocate for a more nuanced understanding based on empathic engagement is judged itself a betrayal of loyalty in these politicised forums. In dialogues among people who formerly are in conflict with each other, there is inevitably an element of intercultural learning. Cross-cultural conversations can be of unexpected help when overcoming restrictions due to one’s own specific cultural norms and obligations.