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It
is a well-known fact that Holocaust survivors
who endured the concentration camps suffered
agonizing emotional wounds that, for many, have
never healed. Less well-known is how this legacy
has also seeped into the psyches of many of
their children. Bower (1996) studied 80 Jewish
adults born to Holocaust survivors and 20 Jewish
adults whose parents had not faced Nazi persecution.
All subjects were of comparable age and all
had reported experiencing some type of trauma
during their life. At some point over their
lifetime, 29 percent of the offspring of Holocaust
survivors had experienced symptoms of depression
and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as
opposed to zero percent of the control group.
This finding suggests that the child or children
of the Holocaust survivor may be at higher risk
for psychiatric symptoms including depression,
anxiety and PTSD through exposure to their traumatized
parents (i.e., they may be vicariously traumatized).
Survivors who develop PTSD in response to Holocaust
experiences may pass on vulnerability to the
same condition to their children. Yehuda et
al. (1998) found that survivors' offspring who
were diagnosed with PTSD typically reported
Holocaust-related thoughts or images as their
primary traumas. Personal experience corroborates
this finding. My mother is the daughter of Holocaust
survivors. She reports having early childhood
memories of her father's nightmares.
In addition to PTSD, children of Holocaust survivors
also experience many other symptoms. Holocaust
survivors often develop symptoms such as guilt
associated with being alive (i.e., "survivor
guilt"). Other symptoms include melancholia
and identification with the dead. It has been
suggested that survivors may believe that they
are unable to fulfill the needs of their children
and may withdraw from their children (Fogelman,
1998). However, I must comment that personal
experience suggests an alternative response.
I have found that the survivors I have known
have done "everything" for their children
and have deprived themselves in an effort to
provide for their children.
Some data indicate that children of Holocaust
survivors have difficulties with interpersonal
adjustment (Garland, 1993). This may come as
little surprise, since many witnessed destruction
of interpersonal ties and violence of extreme
nature. Such traumatic experiences can lead
to difficulty with social adjustment and difficulty
trusting others. Garland (1993) has commented
that "work has shown that the children
of parents who have carried within them, however
silently, the experience of a destroyed world
have much to contend with growing up…making
normal separation and individuation difficult.
Children of such survivors have an intense need
to act as redeemers for their parents."
Similarly, Fogelman (1998) found that children
of survivors evidenced problems with communication
and identity conflicts. Mor (1990) found a higher
frequency of separation anxiety and guilt in
children of survivors. My family's experience
with separation anxiety supports Mor's findings.
My mother suffers from separation anxiety and
guilt which has been passed down to her children.
Past studies have focused on survivors of concentration
camps and their offspring without regard to
those Jews who survived many different circumstances.
The research that I have examined inevitably
focused on adults who were children during the
Holocaust and people who were hidden from their
persecutors for the duration of the war. Studies
have revealed that the Holocaust impacted a
great deal of the identity development of child
survivors. Many of the adults studied tended
to view their adult experiences with feelings
such as the need to escape reality, hide, or
save others. Garland (1993) found that child
survivors who had experienced loss, separation,
and death of family members exhibited somatic
complaints, difficulties with the expression
of aggression, and pronounced anxieties about
themselves and their children.
The various effects that adults who were child
survivors experience can be attributed to many
aspects of their traumatic exposure. Children
and adults were treated differently in the camps
and consequently their emotional reactions were
different. Children were likely too traumatized
during the war to experience "true"
childhood. They did not know what it was like
to be a child and be taken care of by their
parents. Most of them were taken away from their
parents. Also, because the child's identity
had been in a state of development, their experiences
may have remained buried in their memory (i.e.,
unconscious). This may have impeded their ability
to empathize with others and likely negatively
affected their adjustment to their own offspring.
Another area in which there have been many interesting
findings is with survivors who were hidden during
the war. These would include those who actually
hid underground, in the woods, or in closed
spaces such as attics. Many Jews were also sent
to live with Gentile families or in convents
or orphanages, posing as Gentiles or actually
converting to Catholicism. Others were refugees
during the war. Magids (1998) studied differences
between the offspring of hidden child survivors
of the Holocaust and the offspring of U.S. born
Jewish parents who did not undergo similar traumatic
events. The survivor sample in this study consisted
of adult children with at least one parent who
was a hidden child survivor. Surprisingly, findings
indicated that children of hidden survivors
were no more or less psychologically impaired
than children of non-traumatized, U.S. born
parents. These results lend support to more
recent sociological research claims that the
traumas of the Holocaust may not have had pathological
effects on all survivors.
Helmreich (1992) interviewed a randomly selected
group of 211 survivors and compared them to
a U.S. born group of 295 Jews. Data suggested
that some of the survivors not only managed
to resume their lives but also tended to be
more successful than other U.S. born Jews of
a comparable age. According to Helmreich (1992),
the resilient traits (such as adaptability,
initiative, and tenacity) that enabled Jews
to survive the Holocaust may have also accounted
for their later success and such characteristics
may have been passed on to their children. It
has been suggested that positive traits in Holocaust
survivors tend to be overlooked and that Holocaust
survivors may actually be more task-oriented,
cope more actively, and express more favorable
attitudes toward family, friends, and work (Leventhal
& Ontell, 1989). In short, researchers have
tended to overlook such positive traits (in
the search for expected and anticipated psychological
difficulties).
In all, there is a tendency to focus on the
negativity that ensues after life-altering traumatic
experiences. My contention is that, although
negative traits may develop after having survived
a traumatic event such as the Holocaust, positive
traits also exist. These positive effects should
not be ignored. Further investigation may best
address this observation.
References
Bower, B. (1996). Trauma syndrome transverses
generations. Science News, 149, (20), 310-311.
Fogelman, E. (1998). Survivor victims of war
and Holocaust. In D. Leviton (Ed.), Horrendous
death and health: Toward action (pp. 37-45).
Washington DC: Hemisphere.
Garland, C. (1993). The lasting trauma of the
concentration camps: The children and grandchildren
may also be affected. British Medical Journal,
307, 77-79.
Helmreich, W.B. (1992). Against all odds: Holocaust
survivors and the successful lives they made
in America. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Leventhal, G., & Ontell, M.K. (1989). A
descriptive demographic and personality study
of second-generation Jewish Holocaust survivors.
Psychological Reports, 64, (3), 1067-1074.
Magids, D.M. (1998). Personality comparison
between children of hidden Holocaust survivors
and American Jewish parents. The Journal of
Psychology, 132, (3), 245-255.
Mor, N. (1990). Holocaust memories from the
past. Contemporary Family Therapy, 12, 371-379.
Yehuda, R., & Schmeidler, J., & Giller,
E.G., & Siever, L.J., & Binder-Byrnes,
K. (1998). Relationship between posttraumatic
stress disorder characteristics of Holocaust
survivors and their adult offspring. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 155, (6), 841-844.
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