In the Shadow of the Holocaust: The Second Generation

by Aaron Hass

Book Overview

Drawing on interviews and survey materials, Aaron Hass provides a vibrant account of the experiences of Holocaust survivors? children.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801424771
• ISBN13: 9780801424779
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

I am one of those rare creatures: a non-Jew who is very interested in the legacy of the Holocaust on the Jewish people. In one place, the author states that Jews view the Holocaust as a Jewish tragedy, while non-Jews see it as another example of "man's inhumanity to man." This is a generalization. I see the Holocaust as complete devastation for the Jews of Europe with traumatic effects that extend to Jews in many other places in the world. This does not mean ignoring non-Jewish victims; Charlotte Delbo, a non-Jew, wrote a painfully honest account of her time in Auschwitz. But I do recognize that there was a difference between those victims who were selected for complete annihilation and destruction of their culture, and those who, while subjected to persecution as individuals and perhaps within their families, were not meant to be elimated from the Earth. Plus, anyone who is familiar with the awful history of European anti-Semitism will know that the Nazis took many of their techniques, such as Jewish stars, denial of rights to Jews, refusal to allow Jews into professions or even speak to Gentiles, and ghettos, straight from Catholic (and to some extent, Protestant as well) treatment of Jews during the Middle Ages. The Holocaust was uniquely horrific; I'm not doubting that. but it's cheap for Christians to absolve ourselves by saying it's "man's inhumanity to man," given the long legacy of anti-Semitism, forced conversions, murders, etc. That having been said - Hass is a child of survivors and a clinical psychologist who felt that the literature on children of survivors was too skewed towards pathology. So he interviewed adult children from the general public. He did not find the level of pathology that some other psychologist authors have found, but he did find heightened mistrust. He states that three words he heard from just about every person in his 48-person sample were: fear, mistrust, cynicism. He directly takes on the complex issues of remembering the Holocaust, the guilt induced by many survivor parents ("for this I survived the camps?"), strong and sometimes conflicted feelings about Jewish identity, relations with the Gentile world, and passing on the legacy to the "third generation." He addresses the nightmares of being chased, being behind bars, etc. that many children of survivors have, while also realizing their good fortune compared to their parents, which often leads to considerable guilt due to having easier lives, while their parents suffered so much. Even those children who rebelled against their parents felt this guilt. At the same time, children of survivors often did not have their own emotional needs met because their parents experienced an overwhelming lack of support in the years following the genocide, meaning that further indifference and refusal to hear about the Holocaust made mourning diffiicult and enhanced the sense that the world was against the Jews. There was often little energy left ov

THE HOLOCAUST LEGACY

Who better to write about the Children of Holocaust Survivors than a Clinical Psychologist who is a Child of Holocaust Survivors himself. The opinions and attitudes of Children of Holocaust Survivors are shared in this book. The truths that Second Generation Children hold on to become quite evident.