EVIL, GOODNESS, AND CREATING ACTIVE BYSTANDERSHIP

A Holocaust survivor reflects on the roots of violence and the moral courage required to resist.

As a young Jewish child in Hungary, Staub survived the Holocaust alongside his family due to what he later termed “active bystandership,” or the choice to intervene on behalf of those in danger. He credits several people with saving the lives of himself and others—most notably his family’s Christian caregiver, Macs, who hid them at enormous personal risk, and the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, whose letters of protection saved thousands, including Staub’s father. Liberation did not bring immediate peace, with the subsequent communist occupation of Hungary introducing new forms of repression and fear, reinforcing the author’s understanding that cycles of violence can persist even after one regime falls. This realization followed him as he fled to Austria and eventually immigrated to the United States. Though he didn’t initially set out to become a psychologist, his academic interests led him to explore the psychological and social conditions that give rise to mass violence and genocide (“I was about to embark on a lifelong study of good and evil”). Staub moved beyond theory when he became deeply involved in applied peacebuilding efforts, traveling to Rwanda and working with leaders in Amsterdam to promote interethnic relations. Part memoir, part psychological treatise, this work blends personal testimony with decades’ worth of scholarship to offer a heartfelt meditation on moral courage while calling for individual people to resist indifference in the face of injustice. Though the division of chapters into numerous subsections can at times feel disjointed, the larger arc of Staub’s narrative remains compelling. This structural choice, in addition to the work’s detailed descriptions of research findings and experiments, give the book a slightly academic tone that might distance readers seeking a more traditional memoir, yet these elements also emphasize the depth and rigor of Staub’s project.

A measured blend of memoir and scholarship with urgent contemporary relevance.