Generational Influences On Holocaust Survivors

Brian Albrecht, in his article "Families share the pain of veterans' PTSD" (2013), informs the reader of the effects of ptsd war veterans on their family, children and spouses that may cause higher levels in stress and anxiety. Brian supports his assertion by providing the reader with factual evidence of PTSD war veterans from credible resources, such as "This ‘secondary PTSD’ can include distress, depression and anxiety, said the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD" ( Albrecht). The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the negative effects that ptsd war veterans may inflict in their family and children, in order to treat and prevent higher levels of stress and anxiety throughout the family. The authors creates

PTSD is one mental health issue that can result from a great deal of distress that a person may experience after a devastating event involving any type of physical trauma or threat of physical harm (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A child who develops PTSD either “directly experienced the traumatic event(s), witnessed, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others, learned that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or friend or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Traumatic events are normally unavoidable and uncontrollable. It may overwhelm a child and affect his or her sense of control and safety. Single, brief, and unanticipated events are classified as

Sorscher and Cohen (1997) define a Holocaust survivor as a Jew born in Europe who experienced the Holocaust either in hiding, in under-ground resistance, as a refugee, or in concentration or forced labor camps. Survivors of Nazi Persecution, also known as SNPs, are well described under the broad heading of the Concentration Camp Syndrome, or CCS (Sigal, Silver, Rakoff & Ellin, 1973). After the war, survivors experienced an overwhelming amount of traumatic episodes, with some of the symptoms increasing, as they grew older. Survivors exhibited chronic depression with obsessional thoughts of past events, anxiety,

The Holocaust was a traumatic event that changed everyone that survived. The psychological effects that survivors

Children also went through the trauma of experiencing things that normal childhoods do not include. Essentially, they lost their childhood because of the separation from their families. Children are meant to live care-free lives of happiness; those in the Holocaust, instead, endured lives of watching death, illness, suffering, and hatred. These children were also exposed to extreme emotions such as hatred, envy, and depression. Many did not understand why their people, and not others, had to lose so much, including friendships (Lukas, 138 Kindle).

The Nazis killed over six million Jews and millions of other Polish and Soviet civilians in the Holocaust. They also killed gypsies, physically and mentally disabled people and homosexuals. The number of survivors today are quickly dwindling down. Clinical psychologist Natan Kellermann defines a Holocaust survivor as any Jew who lived under Nazi occupation and was threatened by the “final solution” (Kellermann 199). This definition can be applied to not only Jews, but to anyone in general whose life was threatened by the Nazis. When these survivors were liberated, they believed the suffering was over, but for many, this wasn’t the case. The trauma of the horrors they faced is still evident in their life. By analyzing the effects of post traumatic stress disorder after the Holocaust, readers can see that the aftermath of the Holocaust is still prevalent in the survivor’s everyday life; This is important to show that while the trauma may not be overcome, the survivor can be more at peace with the events.

From 1933 to 1945, millions of lives were thrown into chaos because of the Holocaust. Families were ripped apart and values were washed away as citizens were forcefully placed in concentration camps to either be immediately killed or to work until they died. Every person within the camps faced unthinkable trauma. Once everyone was released, the prisoners began to search for lost loved ones and a sense of normality. However, the anguish did not end with the end of the Holocaust. Following the Holocaust, first generation survivors developed abnormal values, societal dependence, and a need to avoid the topic of the Holocaust as an effect of their trauma; these side effects were then passed down to future generations

The study of psychology refers to collective trauma as the effect experienced by many people in the aftermath of a tragedy or event. The pain of collective traumatic disorders is common among soldiers who experienced military combat, but has the potential to affect an entire community. Although, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can alter relationships with the family and the community, future generations will not have to endure combat directly to experience collective trauma. Many Veterans suffering from PTSD might shy away from others due to stigmas associated with the diagnosis. Some might have difficulty concentrating, or have guilty feelings, cannot find work, feel helpless, fearful, or have a loss of interest in usual activities. All

The term "survivor syndrome" (Krystal, 1968; Krystal & Niederland, 1971) was coined to describe some of the negative symptoms holocaust survivors experienced. This syndrome is characterized by fatigue and reduced energy, restlessness, inability to concentrate, mistrust of others, pathological expression of mourning related survivors' feelings of guilt, chronic anxiety and depression, dread of the future, recurrent nightmares about traumatic experiences, insomnia, social isolation, and other psychological disorders. Various researchers have proposed that some of these symptoms were transmitted to the offspring survivors and even possibly the survivor’s grandchildren. This syndrome has been called the "children-of-holocaust-survivors syndrome" (CHSS). It has been proposed that the second and third generation survivors may experience loss of identity and difficulty in establishing and maintaining relationships. For example, in an investigation of children-of-holocaust survivors syndrome by Sigal, Silver, Rakoff and Ellin (1973), children of survivors at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal,

Studies have concluded that Concentration Camp Syndrome is affecting generations beyond those present during the Holocaust. Some children of victims are affected, since their parent’s own psychological scarring limits their ability and energy as a parent. Studies have shown that children whose parents who are victims of the Holocaust must take on large amounts of responsibility while growing up. Some kids feel the need to act as “redeemers” for their parents, helping them through their daily struggles. Some children of Holocaust survivors have even shown some similar symptoms of CCS as their parents, waking up with nightmares of Concentration Camps, seeing things in their dreams that they wouldn’t have otherwise known about. The fact that the Nazis were able to not only able to destroy the minds of thousands upon thousands of Jews, but also their descendants is beyond

“The fact is they know I went through hell.” -Professor Bacharach, Holocaust Survivor. Ever since many centuries ago, Jewish people were treated unfairly and unjustly according to their religion and characteristics. The Holocaust was a fearful and painful genocide because of anti-semitism throughout European countries. Up to six million Jews died in the harrowing genocide, along with the death of many other religious and ethnical groups ("Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution"). As much as a fraction of the number of Jews survived. With much grief and sorrow during the Holocaust, the survivors had to suffer the emotional and physical trauma after the event. Survivors had to face the reality of rebuilding their lives after the

One example of Boricevic Marsanic and their colleagues is, “Children of male veterans have a higher chance of attempting suicide” (Boricevic Marsanic et. al.).This quote explains how the disorder affects children who may never have a traumatic experience in their life. The disorder has mental effects on all the people associated, the veteran, their family, friends, everybody. Another example of how PTSD affects children and teens is “The presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in trauma survivors has been linked with family dysfunction and symptoms in their children, including lower self-esteem, higher disorder rates, and symptoms resembling those of the traumatized parent” (Mellor et. al.). Mellor and the other authors of this article in an Australian magazine express how children tend to have more problems internally. The quote also states how the children may even have symptoms the parent with PTSD had, which means that it could cause problems for the child without them even having a traumatic moment in their

Many survivors from the Holocaust are more likely to pass on genes containing stress disorders to their offspring. This is a very new idea and is being researched by New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The research team, led by Rachel Yehuda, reached this conclusion by conducting a genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who were held in concentration camps, witnessed traumatic events, and were forced to hide in the Second World War. This idea is very controversial and is known as Epigenetic inheritance, which is means environmental factors like smoking, diet, and stress may affect the genes of your offspring. Due to our environment, our genes are modified by chemical tags that turn genes on and off to adapt. Stress disorders found in the offspring

According to the texts and eyewitness accounts, the Holocaust had horrendous effects on the people who lived through it. During this time Jews were being rounded up and put into concentration camps by order of the German government. Writings and testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust are around even to this day. According to these sources, Holocaust survivors suffered tremendously since they were treated as less than human , they lost loved ones, and were constantly abused.

The American Psychological Association defines a traumatic event as, “one that threatens injury, death, or the physical integrity of self or others and also causes horror, terror, or helplessness at the time it occurs” (American Psychological Association, 2008). With this definition in mind, it no surprise that the Holocaust is one of the most traumatic events in history. Millions upon millions of people either lost their own lives, or watched the lives of their loved ones be taken right in front of their eyes. Many survivors solemnly admit that the hardest deaths to watch were those of children. In fact, an estimated 1.5 million children were killed during the tragedy (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016). However, one cannot help but wonder what happened to the children who did survive. Elie Wiesel was one of those children who was ‘lucky’ enough to survive. However his ‘luck’ came at a severe price. Elie Wiesel suffers both severe emotional and physical trauma in his novel, Night.