Some second-generation effects of survival of the Nazi persecution.

Abstract

Nazi concentration camp survivors are known to continue to suffer the adverse physical and psychological effects of their internment. This is a study of the effects on their children. A clinical sample of mid‐teenage children of survivors was found to have more behavioral and other disturbances and less adequate coping behavior than did a clinical control group. Parental preoccupation is suggested as a contributing factor.

On silence and the holocaust: A contribution to clinical theory

“…The threshold of tolerance for these particular affects consequently becomes lowered and the affect is not integrated within the normal developing affect array. Discomfort with these affects may lead the child to avoid situations outside of the family in which they might be experienced, resulting in poor peer relations (Sigal et al, 1973), a sense of the world as hostile and malevolent (Barocas& Barocas, 1981), and the sense of the family as the sole source of pleasure, gratification, and protection (H. Klein, 1974).…”

The impact of the holocaust on the second generation: Norwegian Jewish holocaust survivors and their children

“…separation-individuation problems, as well as behavioral disturbances were reported in the children (Barocas & Barocas, 1980;de Graaf, 1975; Freyberg, 1980; Sigal, Silver, Rakoff, & Ellin, 1973). Others maintained that, when faced with problems, the children of survivors would suffer from a "second generation syndrome" or "complex" (Kestenberg, 1982; Kinsler, 1981; Levine, 1982).…”

Beyond Trauma

“…The parents examined by Sigal, Silver, Rakoff, and Ellin (1973) and Russell ( 1980) were of ten not a bie to be intima te with their children. They were often so occupied with their war reminiscences that they could not pay enough attention to the emotional needs of their child.…”