In this personal response to Gillian Straker's paper in which she analyses the significance of and contributions to the Apartheid Archives, I reflect on memories of apartheid re-evoked for me. These include recollections of the degree to which racial consciousness entrenched by apartheid contaminated personal relationships, as well as a recognition of the complex intersection of race and class in influencing the roles of victims/survivors, beneficiaries, or perpetrators. Other themes touched on are the question of nostalgia for elements of life during the oppressive apartheid period, and on the reclaiming of language that was perverted by the apartheid system. In sum, I affirm the value of the Apartheid Archives in facilitating a processing of traumatic memories and their integration.