Not only wars, but also genocides and crimes against humanity have shaped and shaken the 20th century. Their traces can still be found today in the psyche not only of the people affected, but also of their descendants. Particularly as a result of the Holocaust, psychoanalysts became aware of the effects that traumas of the victims had on their descendants. They had introjected the anger and shame of their parents in the emotional atmosphere of their families.

This chapter explores the concept of moral injury and its application to the experience of healthcare professionals and allied health professionals. By outlining concepts such as burnout, compassion fatigue and PTSD it orientates the reader to the field of enquiry. It reports the research the author undertook with medical students and explores the ways in which this interrelates with current thinking about moral injury in the health service in the UK.

With the application of virtual reality (VR), tailored interventions can be created that mirror the traumatic experiences of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Visual elements can be mimicked, and auditory and other senses stimulated. In doing so, the degree of immersion can be adjusted to optimize the therapeutic process.

Collective memory of historical events can be transmitted across generations not only through cultural memory but also through communicative memory; that is, transmitted by people who have lived through these particular times. Yet, few studies have examined the temporal horizon of a particular type of communicative memory: family historical memories. In this article, we examine the intergenerational transmission of memories from the Second World War in families with an ancestor who resisted during the German Occupation.