Transitional justice and truth commissions: exploring narratives of repair and healing in the post-Holocaust era

The adoption of a resolution by the United Nations declaring 2009 the International Year of Reconciliation signaled the remarkable influence of truth commissions in international and domestic law. This article is a reflection on truth commissions. More precisely, it focuses on forgiveness of perpetrators as a unique outcome of this relatively new trend in transitional justice. The article identifies some developmental trends in the debates on forgiveness in the context of mass atrocity. Using a case example from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the article considers the subtleties of cultural nuances in the dialogical exchange between victim and perpetrator when both victims and perpetrators are black Africans. The discussion raises the question of whether forgiveness in societies emerging from mass violence might be viewed as a moral imperative necessary to heal societies from a destructive past. The article concludes by arguing that stories of forgiveness in politics may inspire reflective engagement with the past by perpetrators and bystanders who supported repressive governments, and that this may help create a reparative humanism and the possibility of societal transformation.