Children Surviving Persecution

This international study of children's experiences of organized persecution, explores the Holocaust and its aftermath as prototypical social trauma. Traumatized persons' feelings of shame and guilt as well as a sense of being different may prevail, and they may attribute great power to others, seek safety in isolation, or search for a rescuer. Nevertheless, as a group, the child survivors of the Holocaust have achieved remarkable success as adults. Drawing on the wealth of personal and interview information, the contributors create a synthesis of personal history and psychological analysis. Adult memories of traumatic childhood experiences are accompanied by discussions of their effects and by analysis of the various coping mechanisms used to establish a viable post-war existence. These accounts are distinguished by the fact that they are by and about individuals who grew up in undistinguished Christian and Jewish families; not those of prominent figures or resistance fighters or rescuers. All experienced unrest and many suffered trauma during the Nazi regime, as a result of the war, and during the post-war turbulence. An important collection for students and scholars of the Holocaust and for those professionals in a position to help surviving victims of other organized persecution, civil violence, strife, and abuse.

JUDITH S. KESTENBERG was cofounder and director of the International Study of Organized Persecution of Children. Dr. Kestenberg published extensively on the topic including Children During the Nazi Reign, with Eva Fogelman (Praeger, 1994). CHARLOTTE KAHN is a psychoanalyst in private practice. Dr. Kahn has taught at several psychoanalytic training institutes and was an Associate Professor and Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Syracuse University and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York. She has published numerous articles on stress, shame, guilt and other topics.

Preface by Charlotte Kahn Introduction by Charlotte Kahn Psychohistorical Perspectives The Background of Persecution and Its Aftermath by Milton Jucovy Historical Trauma: Psychohistorical Reflections on the Holocaust by Robert Prince Adult Survivors, Child Survivors, and Children of Survivors by Judith S. Kestenberg Man Behind Walls by Kazimierz Godorowski Interviewing for Indemnification by Milton Kestenberg Impact on the Second and Third Generations by Eva Fogelman Antisemitism and Jewish Identity in Hungary Between 1989 and 1994 by Judit Meszaros Children's Responses to Persecution Child Survivors: A Review by Paul Valent Nazi Fathers by Judith S. Kestenberg The Persecution of Polish Children by Judith S. Kestenberg Yugoslavian Child Survivors by Nikola Volf German-Jewish Identity by Charlotte Kahn Kindertransport: A Case Study by Judith S. Kestenberg Sweden and the Holocaust by Hedi Fried History of the Australian Child Survivor Groups: Melbourne and Sydney by Paul Valent and Litzi Hart Trauma: A View from the German Side by Charlotte Kahn My Contra-Program: A Response to My Father by Gonda Scheffel-Baars Afterword by Charlotte Kahn Bibliographical Essay by Charlotte Kahn Index