Communities of implication

Communities of implication – groups of people who have been implicated ingenocidal violence even if they were not themselves the main perpetrators. It describes people (and their descendants) who supported the perpetrators (e.g. by betraying the victims), benefited economically from the violence (e.g. acquired property or other goods). The term was inspired by Michael Rothberg’s concept of implicated subjects proposed in his book “The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators” (2019) and further developed by Erica Lehrer in her article “Material Kin: “Communities of implication’ in post-colonial, post-Holocaust Polish ethnographic collections” (2020)