Descendants of the Holocaust Inherit Two Competing Stories
When my father died, Elie Wiesel came to my home to make a shiva call. The first question he asked, “Did your father write down his story?” This question continues to haunt me every day …
Author: Eva Fogelman
Transgenerational transmission of trauma and resilience: from awareness to working through
I will present Myths and Realities about Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma on Sunday March 6, 2022 between 9:30 am and Noon. Myths and Realities about Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma by Eva Fogelman Abstract: Trauma has become so …
Holocaust Survivor Families Reflect A Generation After 9/11
On a brilliant blue Tuesday in September 2001, the impervious nature of America was shattered irrevocably. The trauma of 9/11 was in some cases multiplied exponentially for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, as in the …
Group Belonging and Mourning as Factors in Resilience in the Second Generation of Holocaust Survivors
Historically, the marker event for the identifiability of children of survivors as a group was the seminal article in the New York Times by journalist Helen Epstein, herself a child of Holocaust survivors, on June …
As a Holocaust scholar and child of survivors, I’m horrified that a bigot may lead Yad Vashem
The opposition is mounting to the prospect of Effi Eitam, a former far-right Israeli politician and general, becoming chair of Israel’s national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. Among those urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change …
For Survivor Descendants, the Past is Prologue
When I see the long lines at the supermarket, I am reminded of my mother telling me about standing in line all night to get a loaf of bread for her parents and four siblings …
Adult Offspring of Holocaust Survivors as Moral Voices in the American-Jewish Community
I am an adult child of Holocaust survivors born in a half bombed out hospital in Kassel, Germany. For me, the whole notion of the Holocaust evokes never ending questions about human beings who annihilate …
Holocaust Survivor Families: The Dynamics of Adaptation
“As a child of survivors and as a psychologist who has worked with survivors and their families for 40 years, I am fascinated in particular by the varied dynamics of adaptation that these families manifest” …
Holocaust Child Survivors, Sixty-Five Years After Liberation: From Mourning to Creativity
Most of the world does not contemplate children as survivors of the Holocaust; surely it is understandable why this is the case. After all, the image that most have is that of Jews spilling out …
Third Generation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
“Why are Holocaust survivors obsessed with future generations remembering? Why do they command us all to Zachor, to remember? What is it they want us to remember?” That is the challenge every post-Holocaust generation will …