Alan Jacobs is a psychotherapist, and also an author and independent researcher on issues related to genocide and the abuse of power.
He has been to Auschwitz and Birkenau many times. During those visits, he intervieiwed numerous survivors and took many photographs of the camps. He also spent many hours viewing artifacts, art and photographs stored at the Auschwitz Museum Archives. He produced a film using his own photography, as well as art done by survivors telling stories of life in Auschwitz. The film has been shown in universities and cultural centers. He has also had several shows of his Auschwitz photographs, including a web show hosted by the Cybrary of the Holocaust
He has published several articles in the Transactional Analysis Journal and elsewhere on the structure of dictatorship and has been writing fiction for some time. His major theoretical preoccupations involve reformulation, new directions and social/psychological applications of Transactional Analysis theory. He is the winner of the 1996 Eric Berne Memorial Award for social applications of theory related to autocratic power, nationalism, aspects of survival, and explanations of why people committ mass murder and genocide.
Jacobs is the editor of Idea, an e-journal of articles, stories and reviews dedicated to discussion and exploration of psychosocial aspects of cults, totalism, autocracy, war, genocide and holocaust.
He has conducted workshops for professional therapists as well as buisness and other types of organizations exploring the use of power in the USA, Lithuania, Russia and the Netherlands.
Jacobs has just completed his twenty-fifth year of psychotherapy private practice in Chicago. Contact at ajacobs@bravenewweb.com.
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