Separation-individuation conflicts in children of Holocaust Survivors

This article examines the developmental conflicts of children of Holocaust Survivors with specific emphasis on psychic trauma and second-generation Survivor effects. Issues related to depression, guilt, and aggression are discussed in relation to Mahler's separation-individuation process. Developmental failures at early phases may predispose these children toward low self-esteem, narcissistic vulnerability, identity problems, and impairments in interpersonal relations. The need for further research and clinical investigation is emphasized to help develop preventive measures and attenuate the effects of the Holocaust on future generations.     

Holocaust Survivors in Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations

This article reports on Holocaust survivorship amongst Hasidim and ultra-Orthodox groups. The role of the social and religious set in organizing response to the Holocaust is traced. Unique dream phenomena in this group, with brief clinical vignettes, is provided. Often recurring clinical syndromes in the Hasidic Survivor population are discussed. A detailed case history with 'a strategic therapeutic approach is provided, and other treatment considerations are explored. The response possibilities of the system memory in traumatized individuals are outlined, and the centrality of activity-passivity conflicts in Survivors is noted.     

A case study of a psychohistorical figure: The influence of the Holocaust on identity

The Holocaust, as well as being a historical event that contributes to an understanding of the shape of current external reality, is also a psychological event that provides themes and metaphors around which personal identity is organized. The history of a child of a Holocaust Survivor who denies any reaction to her father's Survivor status and sees herself as a Jewish American Princess is discussed in terms of how she has unconsciously organized her identity around Holocaust themes that fuse with psychodynamic issues arising out of her family relationships. The issues of psychic numbing with regard to the crystallization of such a psychohistorical identity is also discussed.     

SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST AND THEIR CHILDREN

Despite the importance given in their narratives to the birth of their children and grandchildren, in most of the interviews I conducted with Holocaust survivors they do not discuss their children or family life in detail. Rather, for many of them, discussion is generally connected to how or what they have explained to their children about their experiences during the war. Survivors’ preoccupation with this issue could be understood as a response to the context in which they find themselves, in which a particular social discourse about survivors has developed. This discourse arguably engendered particular responses from survivors: it is a question that survivors expect to be asked, and it is seen as part of their prescribed role. Based on over 50 narrative interviews with survivors of the Holocaust, this article explores how survivors reflect and understand their parenting. It examines to what extent their behaviour has been influenced by their experiences during the war, or in reaction to a particular social discourse. Whilst literature on the second generation has been predominantly based on the responses of the children of survivors, this article provides important evidence of how survivors reflect on and understand their parenting.     

Working with the Holocaust victims psychologically: Some vital cautions

This article traces the evolution of a major psychological organization's involvement with the Holocaust as a fully justified and legitimate topic of concern and of an ongoing commitment to its study and memory. A number of important cautions and requirements are presented for mental health workers who wish to work in the areas encompassed by the Holocaust, including working therapeutically with Survivors of the Holocaust and their children. The special danger of diminishing or trivializing the Holocaust in the course of writing about aspects or elements of it in psychological articles or writings, as has been the case in other kinds of literature, is brought into focus.     

An inheritance of terror: postmemory and transgenerational transmission of trauma in second generation jews after the holocaust

Postmemory, as Hirsch (1997) has defined it, describes the relationship of the second generation to powerful, often traumatic experiences that preceded their births, but that were nevertheless transmitted as to seem to constitute memories of their own. Although subsequent research has created a more complete picture of the interactions between parents and children, Hirsch’s definition has clear bearing on how descendants have attempted to commemorate the prior generation’s ordeals through various means, some narrative, some visual, while still qualifying those modes as acts of transfer or the resonant after-effects of trauma. Focusing on the Holocaust, this article examines certain lines of communication between survivors and their children as mediums of transgenerational transmission of trauma through both theoretical and experiential models of identification. It also attempts to signify how parenting styles contribute to children’s maladaptive behaviors if no intervention is staged. Additionally, I conclude that while second generation Jews may suffer negatively from intrapsychic and interpersonal problems observable by clinicians, they can also learn to integrate and understand their heritage through personal and therapeutic expression linked to the larger cultural context.

     

The Holocaust and Its Effects on Survivors: An Overview

The Nazi Holocaust has had continuing and widely reverberating consequences not only for the Jewish survivors but for the world at large. These consequences are detailed, first through a personal account of an Auschwitz survivor, and then through a discussion of the adaptive measures of concentration camp inmates and the long-term psychiatric and psychological effects on survivors and their families. The Survivor or Concentration Camp Syndrome and its relationship to the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is described. Indirect effects of the Holocaust have been manifested in various ways, particularly through various levels of psychologic denial displayed by Holocaust criminals and (at least during the early postwar period) by the German public. The Holocaust has had profound effects on the ways the Jewish people regard themselves and are seen by others. Finally, the Holocaust can be seen as offering a kind of paradigmatic signature to the worldview of the end of the 20th century, emphasizing the persistence of evil and the limitations of the idea of progress.     

The Holocaust after 70 years: Holocaust survivors in the United States

Over 70 years, there have been different narratives of the Holocaust survivors coming to the United States. Survivors’ stories begin with an event of major historical significance. Difficulties in conceptualizing historical trauma, along with common distortions and myths about Holocaust survivors and their children are examined. This article proposes that it is impossible to discuss the consequences of extreme suffering without consideration of historical meaning and social context with which they are entwined. The evolution of the social representation of the Holocaust and the contradictions in clinical attributions to survivors and their children with consideration of the future is described. Attributions to survivors and their children with consideration of the future is described.     

Holocaust messages from the past

The impact of the Holocaust on the functioning of the survivors in the role of parents, and its influence on the second generation, has now become apparent. Most research findings and observations point to typical characteristics of survivor parents, such as: over-protection, insecurity, separation anxiety, guilt, as well as excessive expectations of their children. While building new families, many of the survivors are haunted by memories of traumatic events-mainly the loss of former families, spouses, and children. The off-spring are often committed to a heritage they cannot understand, which they absorb either by over-exposure or through the protective cover of silence. It is their wish to find ways of transmitting these historical messages to the third generation without the heavy emotional burden they themselves experienced.All quotations are freely translated from the Israeli film Because of that War by Orna Ben-Dror, Niv, with the permission of the publishers-Shani films, Israel. In this film, Yehuda Poliker and his father Jacko, and Yacov Gilad and his mother, Alina, describe their personal experiences. The authentic stories of these two families represent an excellent example of the transmission of Holocaust messages from generation to generation.     

Spared at Random: Survivor Reactions in the Gay Community1

Many gay men who have tested negative for HIV were sexually active prior to a general awareness of how HIV is transmitted. Based on the work of Lifton (1980), such HIV-negative gay men may be considered “survivors” since they have witnessed the deaths of many members of their community and have been spared. Survivors may be expected to manifest one or more of three survivor reactions: guilt about surviving (HIV-related guilt), anxiety about dying (AIDS-related death anxiety), and blunted affect. The present study employed structural equation modeling in samples of HIV-negative (N= 129) and HIV-positive (N= 95) gay men to assess psychological and behavioral variables predictive of the presence of a survivor reaction. Survivor reactions were uniquely predicted among HIV-negative gay men. The larger the number of sexual partners HIV-negative gay men reported having had prior to 1984, the more likely they were to experience a survivor reaction. Greater satisfaction with social support from gay friends, and, indirectly, gay-related community group involvement, was associated with being less likely to experience a survivor reaction.     

Thoughts on representation in therapy of Holocaust survivors1

This paper presents the problems of representation and lack of representation in treating Holocaust survivors, through clinical vignettes and various theoreticians. The years of Nazi persecution and murder brought about a destruction of symbolization and turning inner and external reality into the Thing itself, the concrete, or, in Lacan’s words, ‘The Thing’. The paper presents two ideas related to praxis as well as theory in treating Holocaust survivors: the first is related to the therapist’s treatment of the Holocaust nightmare expressing the traumatic events just as they happened 63 years previously; the second deals with the attempt at subjectification, in contrast to the objectification forced by the Nazis on their victims.     

Holocaust and resistance

This article deals with the following themes: (1) Nazi malevolence in selecting Jewish holidays as dates for some of their most barbarous action; (2) U.S. official observance of the Holocaust; (3) the irresponsible use of the term Holocaust and its precise use; (4) because of extermination of two-thirds of the Jews of Europe, the world Jewish population in 1979 is still 4 million less than in 1933; (5) are we “all guilty?” (6) are we “all Survivors?” (7) were we “all at Auschwitz?” (8) demystification of the Holocaust as a comprehensible event in twentieth-century history; (9) why “never to forgive?” and (10) the quality and extent of resistance.     

Observations on the First International Conference on Children of Holocaust Survivors

This first large-scale gathering of children of Holocaust survivors revealed — more from the unanticipated group process of the conference than from its official proceedings — that the second generation seeks a collective identity subordinate neither to the older generation of parents nor of mental-health authorities. Vital moments of tension and reconciliation at the conference between the children's self-help movement (with a sizable membership of young mental-health professionals) and distinguished mental-health experts indicated the legitimacy of intergenerational encounter and the place that it will likely be accorded in future meetings.     

The Phenomenology of Posttraumatic Distress in Older Adult Holocaust Survivors

This paper focuses on the effects of the Holocaust on its survivors more than 55 years after the end of World War II. The emphasis is on survivors who were either adults during the Holocaust and who are now over the age of 70, or survivors who were children during the Holocaust and whose age is now between 56 and 70. The central question was: What kinds of posttraumatic phenomena are seen in older adult survivors? After an overview of the field, the situation of survivors in Israel is presented in 2 ways. Results of a survey of survivors who were referred to Amcha, the National Israeli Center for Psychosocial Support of Survivors of the Holocaust, is provided to give some insight in a clinical population. In addition, 2 case histories of survivors are presented to give a more in-depth perspective. The gap between the data from the questionnaires and the clinical material has relevance for the way in which we conceptualize the late consequences of massive trauma.     

Challenges for aging Holocaust survivors and their children: The impact of early trauma on aging

ABSTRACT

Is the impact of early trauma continually present or does the negative psychological impact disappear when survivors are younger and then reappear as they age? In Transcending Trauma Project interviews survivors noted the impact of the Holocaust was always present but some stated that it increased as they aged. A small number of children of survivors interviewed observed a dependence upon defense mechanisms to cope with aging which differed from the survivors’ identification of using active and family coping strategies during the war and postwar years. Though children who experienced positive parent-child relationships mentioned the negative coping strategies, they also spoke positively of the impact of their parents in their own lives and expressed empathy for their parents. In the families where tensions existed between the survivors and their children, the children did not express empathy for their aging parents. Several studies supported the importance of family relationships in the aging process. This secondary analysis study further explored the impact of the Holocaust in aging survivors and the views of some children of survivors on aging.     

From psychic holes to psychic representations

Abstract

In this essay, I will explore the term “psychic hole,” and compare it to similar terms from the world of astrophysics and terms used in the psychoanalytic literature. I will then present my own conception of the “psychic hole” in cases of Holocaust survivors' offspring. I will explain how this “hole” is created, and describe a particular aspect of the “psychic hole” that is unique to Holocaust survivors' offspring, namely the enactments (termed “concretization” by Bergman) generated by the negated traumatic themes that reside in it. I will illustrate these enactments using clinical material taken from case studies of Holocaust survivors' offspring that I have previously published. The clinical vignettes reveal the transgenerational impact of the memory hole resulting from negation of survivor parents on the lives of their offspring, up to the third generation. They also show the painful journey from enactments to psychic representations, a journey which exposes the traumatic events that have been denied or repressed, and facilitates the work of mourning and the eventual achievement of a better integrated self. Finally, I will offer technical suggestions for analysts to help patients transform psychic holes into psychic representations.     

Theistic Dissonance Among Religious Jewish Holocaust Survivors: A Psychodynamic Perspective

Coining the term theistic dissonance to capture conflicted attitudes and feelings toward God, this article examines faith-based reactions to the Holocaust. The theological weltanschauung of religious Jewish Holocaust survivors is analyzed, with a particular focus on their attempts to reconcile the notion of a benevolent and caring God with their harrowing experience. Basic religious sources and contemporary literature are presented to elucidate the realm of resolutions of theistic dissonance. It is suggested that elements of defense mechanisms are adapted from the emotional into the cognitive realm, and are used by survivors to facilitate respective interpretations of God’s role during the Holocaust. Dissonance resolution is seen as being informed theologically and experientially for these victims who confronted stark challenges to their religious integrity.     

Intergenerational transmission: The individuation process and the capacity for intimacy of adult children of holocaust survivors

This article deals with the intergenerational processes of adult children of Holocaust surviors. By exploring their level of individuation from the parental family and their capacity for intimacy with spouses, the research findings reveal that: Adult children of survivors are emotionally more interconnected to their parents than are their counterparts (using the MIS). Adult children of survivors have a lower intimacy capacity with their spouses in comparison with the control group. These findings are explained from an intergenerational perspective regarding a post-traumatic population.Received PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Current research in the individuation process throughout adulthood, and the post-traumatic effect of Holocaust survivors.