~~DRAFT~~

The Second and Third Generations
Where do we go from here?

Lucia Ruedenberg-Wright

Association for Jewish Studies, 29th Annual Conference
December 21-23, 1997, Boston MA
Panel: The Second Generation and Holocaust Memory in America, Europe, and Israel. Chaired by Ephraim Sicher.

The title of this presentation is "The Second and Third Generations: Where do we go from here?"

I was asked to address the issue of what has changed in psychological approaches to the aftereffects of the Holocaust and where we stand now. Since I am not a psychologist, I will be doing so from the perspective of a lay but scholarly academic. In addition to reading the relevant literature over the years, I have since 1979 been a participant in the Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children in New York City, co-founded and directed by Yael Danieli, (Danieli 1981a, 1981b, 1984). The purpose of this Project is to provide a therapeutic setting in which survivors and their children can listen to one another. I have therefore participated in many of the problems, changes and issues that this community faces, and my interest in this topic has always been motivated by the desire to understand my own life circumstances. Thus, I wish to dedicate this presentation to the memory of a friend, a survivor, Eugene Zuckerman, who passed away recently. Eugene was a very active member of the Project. Never married, with no children of his own, he dedicated the last 12 years of his life to reaching out and touching people, mostly 2nd generation who were in pain. He has served as a bridge for many of us who did not have grandparents or parents we could talk to. He will be missed.

The term "second generation," usually refers to children born to survivors after the end of World War II, who did not experience the Holocaust first hand, but rather through their parents. Similarly, the 'third generation' refers to the children of the children of survivors.

I would like to insert a bit of history here that stems from my background in Performance Studies where I focused on rituals of public commemoration of the Holocaust in New York City (Ruedenberg 1994). The term "second generation" officially emerged in the mid 1970s among survivors in New York City who wanted to engage their children in their activities of memorialization. These survivors who founded WAGRO, the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization in 1963, sought to educate the living, memorialize the dead, and defend the honor of both. WAGRO is best known for their annual commemoration in the New York metropolitan area. Some of its founders (for example Benjamin Meed) helped form the American Gathering, created a National Registry of Holocaust Survivors, and helped found the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

The founders of WAGRO wanted to involve their children on an organizational level, as inheritors of a "legacy." A Legacy was in fact written up and handed over as a scroll to representatives of the "Second Generation" in 1981 at the World Gathering for Survivors, in Jerusalem, in front of the Western Wall. Most likely as a result of this highly charged ceremonial setting (both emotionally and symbolically) the term has acquired a quasi ritual status and has been adopted by many children of survivors to refer to themselves. The original group "Second Generation" has long since disbanded. A few years ago an electronic discussion list, however, was created called "2nd-gen@shamash.org." It provides a forum for communication and support among children of survivors worldwide. It is worth noting that there are other second generation groups that have chosen other names. A good example is here in the Boston area where children of survivors, rather than survivors, took the initiative and formed "The Generation After" which also has a branch in Florida.

What has changed in psychological approaches to the aftereffects of the Holocaust?

Again, I would like to provide some historical context to this question. The study of children of Holocaust survivors grew out of the study of survivors. The study of survivors originated during the post-war period with social workers in the DP camps, but primarily from psychiatrists (many of them Germans and/or survivors located in New York) such as Hoppe (1965, 1968, 1969, 1971), Wangh (1971), and Eissler (1963, 1967) who fought a passionate postwar legal battle on behalf of survivors' rights to receive reparations from Germany for psychosomatic damages received during the war (Danieli, 1981c).

Evolving descriptions of a "survivor syndrome" eventually entered the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980 under the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This was, in part, the result of extensive research and undoubtedly political pressure on behalf of Vietnam Veterans. PTSD refers to characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor. The trauma may involve:

direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one's physical integrity; or witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or a threat to the physical integrity or another person; or learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of death or injury experienced by a family member or other close associate. The person's response to the event must involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror....The characteristic symptoms resulting from the exposure to the extreme trauma include persistent reexperiencing of the traumatic event, persisent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness, and persistent symptoms of increased arousal (DSM-IV, 1994).

The diagnosis acknowledges the possibility for psychological damage that occurs as a result of being exposed to trauma (independent of pre-existing conditions), experienced at any age. As it is currently defined, it does not address the symptoms experienced by children of survivors of trauma or the mechanisms of the possible intergenerational transmission of the effects of trauma.

In exploring the effects of trauma on successive generations, concepts such as "vicarious traumatization" or "co-victimzation" have been used to describe the experience of family members, rescue workers, or the impact of trauma on family born after the event. The term "secondary traumatization" has been used to describe the symptoms of children of Vietnam combat veterans.

Studies in the "intergenerational transmission" of trauma is becoming a field of study in its own right. Yael Danieli's forthcoming "International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma" (1998, Plenum Press) is an introduction to this new field. She has edited a collection of studies that focus on how trauma has been or is being experienced over the generations, in a variety of cultural contexts. Contributors examine the Holocaust, World War II, genocides in Armenia and Cambodia, the Vietnam War, the fall of Communism, the experience of indigenous peoples in America, Africa and Australia, the effects of repressive regimes in Russia, Chile, Argentina, Southeast Asia, South Africa, and Iran, the impact of domestic violence and urban crime, infectious and life-threatening diseases, and a "biology of intergenerational trauma." I have drawn upon this study for my presentation today.

The intergenerational transmission of trauma

The study of the psychological impact of the Holocaust on children of survivors began in the mid sixties with the clinical studies of John Sigal and colleagues in Montreal (1971). These initial clinical studies were followed by numerous empirical studies of non-clinical samples.

Both clinical and empirical studies suggest that exposure to the trauma of the Holocaust has long-term effects on the children of survivors. In an overview of the findings of empirical, controlled studies of North American non-clinical samples of "Holocaust offspring," Irit Felsen notes that measurable differences suggest a "psychological profile" (Felsen, in Danieli, 1998).

For example, empirical studies provide substantial evidence that children of survivors experience difficulties in the arena of psychological separation-individuation, within the range of normal functioning. This confirms clinical observations of the difficulties in families of survivors, where "separation" becomes associated with life and death, right and left, victims and persecutor, together or apart forever.

Empirical studies also indicate that hindered intra-familial communication about the parents' Holocaust experience is associated with adverse effects on the children. (Felsen, in Danieli, 1998). This finding confirms the clinical assumption that talking is usually better than not talking.

Finally, empirical studies confirm that a parents' "deficit in the experiential mode of being" leads to similar deficits in the children (Felsen, in Danieli, 1998).

There has been considerable resistance to the notion of a survivor syndrome or similar symptoms in their children. Numerous researchers (Danieli, 1998) have noted the phenomenon of a "backlash" that has produced a literature that focuses solely on survivors' coping skills and achievements. This literature challenges observations of impairment rather than acknowledging a diversity of responses (Yehuda, in Danieli 1998). Rachel Yehuda observes that the literature on children of survivors is divided into "two camps": those who describe adverse effects and those who do not. Many researchers have noted that this polarization of opinions regarding longterm effects of the Holocaust is both unusual and informative.

The polarization in the literature reflects a similar polarization in the survivor and children of survivor community. In fact, most researchers in the field are themselves members of this population. The polarization is often attributed to ambivalence and fear of being stigmatized and abused, shame over being a victim, and the need to maintain a fighting stance. At the same time, the need for understanding and recognition gives rise to "insider" groups that provide social context and meaning. Survivor groups, not unlike landsmanshaftn, provide a sense of community as well as an opportunity for social action, public commemoration, memorialization, and education. It is the children who formed "support groups." At their best these groups have provided an avenue for personal growth and social action. Others stagnate in shared misery and rage. Such groups always present the problem of being able to both foster a sense of community and nurture a victim identity or tribalism based on shared wounds. Letting go becomes confused with forgetting, remembering confused with obsessing, forgiving confused with betrayal, and the need for justice confused with revenge.

In his work with families of World War II survivors from the Dutch East Indies, Petra Aarts reviews the various schools that have contributed to the understanding of the intergenerational transmission of trauma (Aarts, in Danieli 1998). Drive theory helps conceptualize how a traumatized parent's confrontation with the emotions of a young child can reactivate conflicting affects and self images in the parents, confronting them with traumatic images from their past, and affecting their ability to parent.

Psychoanalytic object relation theory, especially Mahler's work on separation-individuation process in children, has helped to understand the problems of separation within survivor families. The concept of "projective identification" helps understand how conflicting, split off parts of a parents' posttraumatic imagery can affect their children who are at risk of internalizing or acting out the parents' repressed conflicts.

Many clinicians note that an important characteristic of the second generation is that they have fantasies about their parents' past. These fantasies are determined by a combination of the parents' actual communication and the particular developmental stage of the child. There seems to be a general consensus among clinicians that "children of parents who were not able to master war-related traumas run a higher risk of developing complaints and pathology" (Aarts, in Danieli, 1998). It is therefore reasonable to expect that unless children of survivors work through their own issues, they will in turn pass them on to the third generation. We all work through the unfinished business of our parents.

Many second generation come from families where the underlying dynamics are shrouded in a "conspiracy of silence" (Danieli, 1982, 1984, 1988). The impact of a "return of the repressed" within these families depends on the severity of the parents' conflicts and the susceptibility of each child.

Other second generation come from families where there was too much talk, too soon, or too often. In a study of the phenomenology and biology of the intergenerational response to trauma, Yehuda et.al. conclude that children of survivors may develop PTSD symptoms in response to hearing about their parents' experiences during the Holocaust (Yehuda, Schmeidler, Elkin, Siever, binder-Brynes, Wainberg, Aferiot, Lehman, Guo & Yang, in Danieli, 1998). They have studied cortisol levels in children of survivors and have found that low cortisol levels are associated with the tendency of these individuals to indicate distress about the trauma of the Holocaust.

I have a friend who felt traumatized by his father's bedtime stories of war experiences, and spent much of his adult years obsessed by the Holocaust. Yet when he had children of his own, he "hid" all his Holocaust books, as if to spare them the trauma he had experienced. Another friend has a son who was recently put on prozac when he began to exhibit suicidal thoughts. She blames herself for having exposed him as a young child to Holocaust imagery, yet she does not seek counseling to address her own issues. In her opinion, talking does not help. Her mother, a survivor, talked alot.

In her work on the narrative analysis of life stories, Gabriela Rosenthal (1991, 1993) explores how a trauma is retold by different members of a family, sometimes worked through over different generations and other times distorted. Together with Bettina Volter, she examines antifascism as a form of substitute mourning in Jewish families in East Germany (Rosenthal and Volter, in Danieli 1998). Similarly, Dan Bar-On's studies of the transmission of Holocaust memories examines the meaning of dialogues within three primary social contexts: the family, one's peer group, and the significant 'other' of one's social, cultural identity (Bar-On, 1991, 1994, in Danieli 1998). Both individual and collective identities can be reworked through such dialogues. Thus, some children of survivors meet with children of Nazis and discover common issues and meaning as they help each other shed light on the "shadowed" side of a shared history. Similarly Bar-On's exchange groups between Israeli and German university students help the third generation explore their relationship to the Holocaust.

We all have a backdrop to our lives. We were born into a 'scene.' If that scene is hidden and mystified or, alternately, too loud and overwhelming, then it interferes with our physical, emotional, social and spiritual growth, albeit in different ways. Too much mystery acts like a black hole, draining us of our energy and attention. Too much traumatic information can be frightening and overwhelming. Either way, we lose our sense of self. We need some understanding of the backdrop we are born into in order to differentiate ourselves as individual players in our life.

Where do we go from here?

Twenty years ago, the burning issue for children of survivors was separation. How was it experienced, and what did it mean in survivor families? Today one of the more common issues is caring for elderly parents and mourning.

In 1979, Helen Epstein's pioneering book of interviews with children of survivors inspired many, including me, to open up the "pandora's box" of the Holocaust. Today she mourns her mother. Her most recent book reconstructs the lost world of three generations of women in her family (Epstein 1997). Mourning the death of one's parents is an inevitable part of life. Many survivors die prematurely. Helen's mother was only fifty-five. Yet, we have a grave to go to, something most of our parents did not have.

Many children of survivors are only just now coming to terms with their family history, prompted perhaps by the death of a parent or an issue with a child. Some were simply not ready to face it earlier. Others were born to child survivors and are therefore younger than their peers. They also have some very different issues. Others were born to their parents very late and are only coming of age now. A significant number of children of survivors are coming out of the "Christian Closet", so to speak. Individuals who were converted or raised unaware of their Jewish identity, or have been in "hiding" or isolated in non-Jewish areas. Many of these turn to the Internet as a point of contact and a source of information. The Internet has demonstrated potential for promoting communication among disparate communities, publishing, story telling, geneology searches, and fighting Holocaust deniers.

Whereas studies of children of survivors twenty years ago occurred in a vacuum, today the study of the impact of trauma occurs among many groups: the Armenians, Japanese American internees, Hiroshima bomb victims, children of Nazis, children of Vietnam Vets, Indigenous peoples, to name but a few.

In fact, Yehuda et.al. (in Danieli, 1998) notes that there is less research that measures PTSD among Holocaust survivors and their children than among the families of Vietnam Vets. She suggests that this lack of research in the Jewish community stems from an ambivalence between identifying the cause of a symptom and stigmatizing the victim by suggesting permanent damage, thereby threatening the sense of having survived. Perhaps the increase of research in other traumatized communities can provide a new opportunity for research within the Jewish community. I will point out several areas of research that have been neglected.

Children of survivors who live in Germany today, whether by choice or because they were born there to survivor parents (who settled "in the mouth of the beast" as some put it), present a problematic picture and are accepted by their peers with difficulty. The resurgence of Jewish communities in Europe is a potentially important area for further research.

The relationship of German Americans to the Holocaust and to the American Jewish community could be further explored. Studies of "American Jews" need to include the children of Israeli immigrants to the US, many of whom are "third generation," the grandchildren of survivors.

In general, there is very little research on the 3rd generation. Some scholars attribute this to a resistance to accept the possibility of damage being extended down through the generations. In a recent survey, Natan Kellermann, chief psychologist of AMCHA, (an organization for providing psychological help to survivor families in Israel), notes that publications on the effects of the Holocaust on the families of survivors peeked between 1980 and 1990, and have declined since then. About 18 papers were written on this subject each year during the 1980s, whereas less than 10 papers have been written each year since 1991. Perhaps when the third generation comes of age, they will initiate a new phase of writing and examination. Today most of them are still too young to have found their own voice. Of the few that are becoming young adults already it is clear that the Holocaust plays an important psychological role in their identity. Many view themselves as the "last link" to the survivors, whom they knew as grandparents.

There is some research from a cultural studies perspective that explores the experience of the third generation who participate in officially organized pilgrimages to the death camps in Poland. For example, Oren Stier's work on the March of the Living, a youth pilgrimage undertaken every two years since 1988 by thousands of Jewish highschool students from all over the world (Stier 1995, 1996). Similarly, Jackie Feldman (1995) has examined school sponsored Israeli Youth Pilgrimages to Poland. These studies examine the meaning and impact of collective remembrance activities and illustrate how the third generation has been given a symbolic role in this endeavor.

In my own search for physical and psychological health, I have been exploring the notion of abuse as a toxin. Toxicity provides a metaphor for understanding how the body and mind can be damaged and repaired (Levine 1997, Cichetti, Null 1992/1997, Van Winkle 1997). I once heard Henry Krystal define "rage" as "love outraged." Fear, anger, rage and resentments are emotions that, when harbored, are harmful to the brain and the body. The diagnosis of PTSD describes "psychic numbing" and "emotional anesthesia" as beginning soon after the traumatic event. There is a need for alternative, wholistic treatments for the effects of trauma.

Finally, I would like to end on a note that celebrates the arrival of the 4th generation. We know of the joy that many survivors experience in grandparenting, and of the special bond that can occur between survivors and their grandchildren. As one child of survivors put it:

my parents....by the time they recovered somewhat, my children were born and they were wonderful grandparents. Or, perhaps, they recovered somewhat because of the creation and hope of the next generation, in my children. Both my children experienced them as wonderful, and have no idea of what my parents were like with me.

She is the first great-grandchild for my parents, also Holocaust survivors, so you can imagine the emotion and joy for all of us. Never having had any grandparents of my own, I feel all kinds of highs and lows at the same time. I know this life cycle thing is normal, but it ...feels miraculous.

I never did this before my own child was born, nor have I seen it done by my mother or aunts. I just realized that I wanted to give something I created especially for this child, something she may one day say that was made by her grandmother. Because I realized I have nothing passed down from my grandparents. Aside from the treasured pictures, I hardly know about them, as it was too painful for my parents to talk in detail. So for me also, becoming a grandparent, beside the wonderful phenomenon itself, holds so much more meaning."

Perhaps we become the grandparents we never had, by living what they were not able to experience. This carries with it the potential for closing another circle and healing the wound further. As the cycle of the generations is reestablished, a kind of normalization returns and life occurs once again within the context of "family."

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