In this interview about her book, L’avenir d’un silence. Déréalisation, refoulement, amnésie des masses (The future of a silence: derealization, repression and amnesia of groups), Laurence Kahn describes the psychical functions of silence in both the individual and the group. The silence that hovers over the Nazi crimes in Germany serves to de-realize of the crimes that were committed. In families, silence, which plays a major role in adolescence, can serve the purposes of non-acknowledgement, but it can also, in some cases, serve the purposes of life.

Adolescence, 2025, 43, 1, 11-22.